Whiplash

degree was in forensic science, lots of options there. I moved to Stone Bridge five years ago, got my license, and set myself up in business. I've supported myself very nicely, at least after my first two years or so in business. Most of my income came from teaching ballet in the lean years. Now, it's become more a hobby, something I enjoy and it keeps my hand in. Or my feet,' she added and gave them a fat smile.

Georgie said, 'Erin found my house key once. I looked and looked. I nearly called you, Daddy.'

'That wasn't a biggie,' Erin said. 'You'd stuffed it inside your sock and tossed your sock in the waste basket because you found a hole. My dad told me all about how to find where missing keys were hiding.'

Bowie waved his glass at her. 'Thanks.'

Erin grinned at him, waited a beat, and gave the agents a bright interested look. 'Enough about me. Bowie told me you guys were sent here to assist him in his investigation into this Helmut Blauvelt's murder.'

Sherlock shot Bowie a look, saw that he was concentrating on helping his daughter stuff moo shu pork into her burrito. Well, Erin was a professional, and she seemed smart and savvy. Evidently Bowie thought so. Why not use her brain? Sherlock said, 'We've got a witness who saw our girl wriggle out of Caskie Royal's bathroom window, land in the bushes below, bounce right up, and take off running into Van Wie Park.'

22

Erin nearly fell off her chair in a dead faint. She cleared her throat. 'Did the witness give you a description?'

'Yes, he did. Longish hair flopping up and down out the back of a baseball cap. Probably brown, like yours, Erin. She was tall and rangy, the guy said. Slender. He said she didn't look like a runner, but he was struck by how gracefully she moved. Fluidly, smoothly, he said. Isn't that interesting?' And Sherlock held her eyes.

She can't know, she can't know, she can't- Erin laughed to keep the terror out of her voice. 'That is an odd thing to say. I wonder who she is.'

Bowie said, 'Whoever she is, she's got Caskie Royal's fate in her hands, and he knows it. His lawyers sure know it, and I'll bet now his bosses in Germany know it. He's scared, but not enough to let us help him yet, the idiot.'

Sherlock added, 'We also had a gorgeous German agent added to the mix today. Dolores Cliff, one of Bowie's agents, thinks he looks like Adonis. He's not Dillon, but I've gotta be honest here-he's a pretty close second.'

Bowie said to Georgie, 'You remember Agent Cliff?'

'Oh, yes, she kicked my soccer ball clear out of the field. It took Coach and a bunch of parents to find it. She showed me how to do the splits. I'll bet Erin does the splits better than anybody.'

'Don't kiss up,' Bowie said. 'Yeah, that's Agent Cliff, a real hardnose. Only thing is, she's acting like you'd better not act when you turn thirteen, kiddo, and discover Y chromosomes.'

'What's Y chromosomes?'

'Y chromosomes give fathers nightmares.' He ruffled his daughter's hair. 'Boys,' he added.

Erin said, 'You mean this guy, this Adonis, bowled her right over?'

'Yeah. I had to team him up with a guy who wouldn't care what he looked like.'

'Why does he look like Adonis?' Georgie asked.

It was left to Sherlock to describe Kesselring, and she did him justice.

Georgie thought about this as she took another bite of her moo shu pork burrito. 'I bet Krissy would really like him.'

Bowie blinked. 'Why do you think Krissy would like this foreign agent, sweetheart?'

'I heard Krissy tell you that she really likes your sexy stomach muscles. I'll bet this guy has sexy stomach muscles like you.'

Bowie looked appalled. Erin thought he looked like his heart had seized.

Savich said easily, 'This makes me wonder if Sean has passed along any phone conversations he's overheard. Scary, isn't it, Sherlock?'

Sherlock laughed. She leaned over to Georgie. 'Do you know, I've probably said the same thing about Dillon. Hmm. I have to say that Agent Kesselring does look like a real dish. But you know what? Even though he looks like a chocolate sundae, I don't like him much. He isn't a straight shooter like Dillon or your dad, and that's something super important. I don't think he's got much respect for us women, either.'

'A woman's got to be honest too,' Bowie said. 'Even if the woman is still a kid,' he added, looking at Georgie.

Georgie spooned on some more sauce and took a big bite of her burrito. 'Daddy's always honest except when he lies to Krissy.'

Another heart stopper.

Bowie eyed his daughter. 'I don't lie to Krissy. Why'd you say that?' Why had he asked that question, he, the well-trained FBI agent?

All the adults watched Georgie chew and swallow, and take a drink of her water. 'I heard you tell her once that you were head-over-heels with work and couldn't see her. Then you took me out for pizza and a movie.'

'Okay, but it wasn't a lie, not really,' Bowie said. 'I worked after you went to bed.' Talk about lame. Well, he had checked his e-mails.

'What about when she wanted to give me a movie-star Barbie birthday party and you told her my birthday was going to be at Grandma's?'

'That was very nice of her, but something came up. Hey, I threw you a party, remember?'

Georgie said to Sherlock, 'I was Wonder Woman. I looped all my friends with my lasso of truth so they'd be forced to tell me what was written on the card in their hand-Daddy wrote down stuff-and they had to tell me if it was a lie or not. It was totally fun although the lasso didn't work very well. Well, Billy Bennett did tell me he'd stuck his finger in the frosting on my birthday cake.'

'What did Wonder Woman do about that?' Sherlock asked.

'Billy helped me climb up to where Daddy hid the cake and I got a swipe too.'

Bowie stared at his daughter, who looked very pleased with herself, the center of attention. 'I wondered why the cake was all smeared.'

'Billy and I tried to smooth out the frosting,' Georgie said. 'With our fingers.'

After dinner, Sherlock dried glasses in the small kitchen while Erin washed. 'Imagine, both guys tucking Georgie in.'

Sherlock buffed up a dish and set it in the cupboard. 'Dillon told me he'd like to see how it works with a little girl as opposed to a boy. He's very good at reading bedtime stories.'

Erin handed her a plate to dry. 'She's precocious. I'm reading her Nancy Drew's Mystery at Lilac Inn right now.'

'I remember I always had a Nancy Drew under my pillow,' Sherlock said. She added after a moment, 'I know Bowie's wife died in an automobile accident. Do you know what happened?'

'Sorry, I don't. Georgie told me once that her mama was in Heaven, but I didn't want to ask her what had happened. And as I said, I only met Bowie yesterday.'

'Looking at the three of you, it seems like much longer. You're all very comfortable around one another. Are you working any interesting cases right now, Erin?'

'Yes, one,' Erin said without thinking as she washed a fork. She shot a look at Sherlock. 'Well, it's not all that important, not really.'

Sherlock didn't change expression. 'I hope it's not following a cheating husband?'

'Oh, no, I don't do those sorts of thing, at least not anymore. When I first started out, I did half a dozen to feed myself. No, this is about a man whose father is ill and-he's asked me to look into a-financial problem with his drugs.'

Sherlock cocked an eyebrow.

Shut up, shut up, do you have a hole in your head? She was facing a real professional who could smell something crooked in the next county.

'What do you think about this murder?'