Phillips looked up and saw the man who was speaking to him. He would recognize the man anywhere. The man was his mentor. Only he looked as he had when Phillips was a young man, not the wasted old man his mentor would become.
“William?” Phillips asked.
William looked at Phillips. “Aye? How is it you know my name? I have no markings. Do I know you from somewhere?”
Phillips smiled. “It’s me, Bagster. Bagster Phillips.”
William didn’t smile back. “Have you been taking the drink, man? If you’ve taken a nip or two, be gone with you. We’ve enough to lock up around here without an old man to worry about.”
Phillips was confused. He knew the man in front of him – he almost saw him as a father – but William did not seem to recognize him. He tried again. “You are my mentor. I don’t know how you are here, still alive, perhaps this is a dream?”
William grew angry. “Look, you old fool. Leave or I’ll take you to the cell, which you don’t want, believe me. Them are bad men in there and no place for an old man. Do you have a place to go?”
Phillips, in a numb haze, nodded that he did and an image of his home in London pierced his mind. Scotland Yard disappeared and he found himself sitting in his living room in the present time. “What’s happening to me?” he asked aloud.
He thought briefly of Hanwell Asylum in Wales and wondered if he was lunatic enough to be admitted there. The next moment he was inside of the walls of the asylum.
In his fear, he asked God to be with him and thought of the original chapel of the asylum. He found himself facing the chapel, not as it looked in his time but as it looked several decades earlier when it had first been built. The newness of the building unnerved him.
He again thought of his home in London and again he was there during the present time.
This went on for some time until Phillips recalled the item that had belonged to Vacher that he had placed behind his ear. He removed the item and the strangeness that he had felt only a moment earlier disappeared. He thought of the room in France where he had been staying. Nothing happened. He thought of some other places he had been over the past year. Again nothing happened.
He returned the item behind his ear and again thought of his room in France. Suddenly he was in that room.
Phillips took the item from the back of his ear again. He looked at it very closely. He didn’t know what the item was exactly but he knew it was something very special and something that would change everything for him.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock at the door. He rose from his seat and opened the door to see the Commissaire from the local station. “Is everything okay, Monsieur?” the Commissaire asked.
Phillips was confused briefly. “Of course I am. Why would I not be?”
“You missed your dinner with the Inspecteur Général. That is unusual for you, no?”
Phillips remembered the appointment. He was embarrassed. “Yes, of course, dinner. I truly apologize. In fact, it has been quite a day. I am quite embarrassed to tell you that I am an old man and as a result, I do not have the endurance I once had as a young man. I fell asleep and have only just now awoken.”
The Commissaire smiled. “It has been quite a day. Yes, you’ve contributed much. Your exhaustion is understandable. Would you like me to extend your apology and reschedule dinner for tomorrow night?”
“Thank you. That would be capital. I appreciate your time in coming here and apologize you were put in position to check on an old man.”
The Commissaire smiled again. “It is my pleasure, Monsieur Phillips. Good evening.”
“Good evening,” Phillips replied closing the door. Missing a scheduled dinner was not in his nature and he was sorry it had happened. Normally it would have bothered him but as he closed the door, he forgot all about the dinner once again. His thoughts moved back to the item he had taken from Vacher.
He sat down in the lone chair in the room and thought more on Vacher. He realized that Vacher could have escaped any time he wanted to. He wasn’t sure why Vacher would allow himself to go through imprisonment and psychiatric treatment if he simply just could have left. Perhaps Vacher actually was insane, he said to himself. Maybe this item caused that. I need to be careful.
He took the night to determine what he would do next, although he was fairly certain what his next action would be. In the morning, after rest and with a clear mind, he confirmed to himself the decision he had already made the previous evening.
Phillips attached the item to the back of his ear and disappeared.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Ypres, Belgium – Present Day
Phillips spent the next few months learning about the item behind his ear. He learned that he could travel to any place or time he wanted by pure thought. During this time, he learned to master the device and also became much better at pinpointing exact locations and dates.
After much thought, Phillips decided if he was going to use this new ability to make the world a better place – the reason he decided to join the police force in the first place – he would need more freedom to do so, unhindered by other commitments. He knew he would have to fake his own death.
He discussed this with his wife and told her that he would never be able to live a private life due to his work with the Ripper
