Time and Again

On Monday morning, Si plans to be present when Pickering and Carmody meet at midnight to exchange money for blackmail materials. After some trouble figuring out how he can be present in Jake’s office when the deal takes place, Si has some luck: The janitor he met from his previous scouting trip in the office building gives him the spare key to the office, still believing him to be Pickering.

Si makes a duplicate key and returns the spare to the janitor. He is then able to get into the office and discovers an opening in the wall where the new elevator s being constructed. A run to a hardware store gives him the tools he needs to make a hiding place for himself for the night.

When he returns to the boarding house, he has a tense meal with the household. He taunts Pickering by mentioning the infamous Inspector Byrnes, whom Pickering hates and who is well known for his corrupt methods of prosecuting criminals. The household share stories they have heard about the Inspector, including his predilection for beating prisoners and planting false evidence to get a conviction.

That night, he visits Julia’s room. He tells her about Pickering’s blackmail scheme, pretending to be a private detective to explain his involvement. Julia does not seem surprised, as if the story confirms her suspicions. She insists on joining him that night when he sneaks into the office.

That night, Si and Julia wait until Pickering leaves his office to go meet Carmody, and they then crawl into the hiding hole in the wall to await their return. Both men return. Carmody has a briefcase full of money, but it is only $10,000, not the $1 million Pickering demanded. Carmody explains that he does not feel Pickering’s threats are more than a nuisance and that this is all he’s willing to pay on the matter.

The men threaten each other until Carmody loses his temper, hits Pickering on the head with his walking stick, and ties him to his office chair. Carmody spends the night searching the office for the blackmail documents, while Pickering taunts him and Si and Julia hide in the wall. In a fit of rage, Carmody decides to burn the entire office to destroy the evidence. Pickering escapes from his bindings and the two men wrestle, while a small fire spreads quickly.

Si and Julia stay hidden at first, torn between wanting to stop the fire and not wanting to be discovered. The fire grows and they burst from the wall, telling both men to run as they run out of the office themselves. The fire spreads through the building. Si and Julia are nearly caught until they climb onto the sign for the New York Observer that Si had taken notice of before and then climb over into the next building.

Si describes the scene in enormous detail as the building burns down, with many people trapped inside or trying to jump out of windows, as firefighters try to stop the fire with insufficient equipment. At one point, Si sees a woman at a window, too high for the firemen’s ladders, and he rushes in to save her.

During the chaos, Si learns from Julia that the office building was called The World Building, thus explaining the meaning of the letter that started his adventure. Later as he and Julia are leaving the scene, Si sees the footprint of the star and circle that he and Kate saw on their first trip: the symbol that matches Andrew Carmody’s gravestone in the future. He realizes that the symbol is made by custom nail patterns on the heels of men’s shoes. He believes this is proof that Carmody escaped the fire, though they do not know if Pickering did as well. Exhausted, Si and Julia return to the boarding house to sleep.

The next morning, Julia feels immense guilt over the fire, believing they should have stopped it before it spread. Si reads a newspaper that explains the firefighters had never seen anything like the fire and that it happened so quickly that no one could have stopped it. He comforts her by insisting that they could not have stopped it.

A policeman arrives at the boarding house to take Si and Julia away. The infamous Inspector Byrnes is waiting for them. They are taken to the police station, where the officers assault Si when he demands to know what they are being charged with. Their wallets and money are confiscated, and their photos are taken.

Then, Byrnes takes them to Carmody’s mansion where a man purporting to be Carmody, heavily wrapped in bandages and very badly burned, gives an account of his dealings with Pickering. He claims that Si and Julia attacked them just as Carmody was giving Pickering the money, stole it, and possibly killed Pickering in the bargain. Though it will be some time before Si and Julia realize it, this is Pickering pretending to be Carmody.

Si tells Byrnes it is a lie, though he can’t prove it without explaining where he came from, and Byrnes pretends to believe him. He lets Si and Julia go and then announces that two prisoners have escaped, the plan being that their escape will be seen as an admission of guilt.

After running from the police all day, Si and Julia take refuge in the arm of the Statue of Liberty, where they fall asleep. Si impulsively tells Julia the truth about who he is and where he comes from. Julia does not believe him at first, but then Si uses his self-hypnotism skills to shift them both from the Statue of Liberty in 1882 to the one in his time, now fully constructed.

Si shows Julia around the New York of his time. She is scared and enchanted, though she takes the shock surprisingly well. Si explains airplanes, electricity, television, movies, and changes in clothing styles, as well as medical advances like the near eradication of smallpox and polio.

At Si’s apartment, Julia sees a book about World War I and is horrified. Si does his best to avoid telling her too much about either World War. As they talk about what had happened with Carmody and Byrnes, Julia realizes that she had seen Pickering’s shoes in his room and that the pattern that Si recognized was not on Carmody’s shoes, but Pickering’s.

Si is finally able to put all the pieces together: Carmody died in the fire, and Pickering, badly burned, went to his home, making a deal with Carmody’s widow to take his place so that the widow could keep her fortune. This is why when Carmody/Pickering dies by suicide later, his widow prepares the body for burial without letting anyone else touch it—they would see the tattoo of Julia’s name on his chest and realize who he was.

Finally, Si and Julia confess their love for each other. But when they discuss the possibility of her staying in his time, she says no. Si believes that her time is better and that it would be cruel to ask her to stay in his. She will go back and asks if Si will join her. He is unsure and says that he must at least take care of business in his own time first.

Once Julia has returned to her own time, Si checks in with Rube and the others. Esterhazy has taken control of the project since Danziger left. After his debriefing, Si says he would like to resign. However, Esterhazy and the rest of the council have another assignment for him.

They discovered that Carmody (really Jake Pickering) eventually became an advisor to President Cleveland. He had little influence, except in one incident. Cleveland had an opportunity to buy Cuba from Spain, and Carmody/Pickering advised him not to. Esterhazy and the council believe that if Cleveland had bought Cuba, then Fidel Castro might never have risen to power and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis might never have happened. They want Si to go back to 1882 one last time and discredit Carmody/Pickering so that he never becomes an advisor to Cleveland.

Si is horrified by the prospect of changing the timeline in ways they cannot predict. He demands to know how they have the right, and Rube rather than Esterhazy answers, insisting that they know what is best. Si initially refuses, but when Rube says he will simply send someone else, Si relents. He requests a week to settle his affairs.

Si briefly visits Kate to tell her the truth about Carmody and break off their relationship. He also writes an account of his experiences. Then, he calls Danziger, feeling the man deserves to know what is happening at the project, and he promises to stop the council’s plans.

Finally, Si returns to 1882. However, instead of going to the boarding house, he goes to a theater. Remembering Danziger’s story of how his parents met in February 1882, Si orchestrates events so that Danziger’s parents never meet, thus ensuring that Danziger is never born and his time travel project never happens. With that complete, he walks down the street, headed for 19 Gramercy Park.