The Time Slip

Someone was knocking on the door. He was pondering the likelihood that the early morning interloper had the wrong address. All of his friends knew about his aversion to unannounced visitors. He had gone into voluntary exile to discourage law enforcement agencies from seeking an audience with him related to his special talents.

His consternation turned to curiosity. He could choose to ignore the dogged persistence of the unannounced visitor. Whoever it was, he couldn't imagine that they would be able to match their persistence against his desire to maintain anonymity. It was this feeling of invulnerability that weakened his resolve. The false sense that he could regain obscurity at will lessened his determination. Perhaps the years of voluntary exile had slowly replaced his fear of exposure with a degree of loneliness. Never the type of person to admit to any weakness especially loneliness, he found himself creeping toward the door to investigate further.

He pondered whether he should employ any ruse to insure a return to the sweet solitude he had embraced for so many years. He decided to use one of his arcane abilities to give him some piece of mind that answering the door was safe. Bending time was always risky. His time delay talent provided enough security that he felt confident answering the door.

He always compared this ability to the capacity of radio stations to delay a broadcast by a few seconds to allow censorship of unseemly language. If something unseemly happened to him, he could dial time back to before the incident, negating the event. Confident that he had some measure of control, he opened the door.

"May I help you?" he said, as he sized his visitor up.

She was a young woman of extraordinary beauty. He was so taken aback; he almost drew the time curtain prematurely. This would have at least give him some time to gather his wits.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you, but I need your help finding a killer." She said. "I was told you were one of the world's greatest detectives."

He had heard enough. Almost on instinct, he slipped back in time to just before he answered the door. Suddenly, he found himself standing inside the house where he stood moments before. He felt a bit like a coward, but it seemed that his isolation had robbed him of the ability to interact spontaneously with others. He felt justified, given his visitors request for his help solving a murder. He listened to her knock at the door, wondering how long she would persist.

He made his decision to open the door again even as he formulated a plan to unravel part of the mystery. He could have ignored the door until she gave up and walked away.His curiosity would have been unbearable. After all, he reacted prematurely, not even giving her opportunity to introduce herself. With a little more information, he could withdraw again to investigate at his leisure. His plan entailed obtaining as much information as he could from her as she stood on his front steps. Then he would slip back in time, more equip to perform his magic without her being aware of his involvement. When the need arose, he would contact her.

He opened the door. This time he didn't give her the time to say anything. He jumped right in.

"Good morning. Don't be alarmed but I know why you are here. You want my help investigating a murder." He said.

She looked surprised but only as much as she would by his sudden appearance at the door. He was expecting more of a reaction when he revealed that he knew why she was seeking him out. He dismissed the thought. Even with his ability to harness time, he had some constraints if he wanted to stand by his original plan.

"Just tell me everything you can about the murder. Leave nothing out." he said.

For the next 30 minutes, she detailed every aspect of the crime. He recorded the entire monologue so he would miss nothing. When she finished, he said, "That's all of it? Fine."

Before she said more, he slipped back in time. He found himself standing on the other side of the door. As before, she was knocking. This time he had enough information to launch his investigation.

She knocked for a long time. She finally gave up. As she walked away she was thinking, it was for the best. It was risky getting him involved.

Some people thought as she did; that through their own involvement in an investigation, the truth could be maligned. He stood outside her home with a squad of officers, a warrant for her arrest in hand.

Someone was knocking on the door.