Chapter 7

"A set-up? But why?" asked Holly increduously.

"Well, I wager that's what we're going to have to find out. I think we need to start by talking to that friend of your husband's. Do you know how to contact him?"

"I should be able to find his contact information at my house."

Robert looked at Holly blankly. After following her to Montreal three years ago, the hurt of seeing her and leaving was simply so much that he had gone cold turkey. It was almost painful to realize that he didn't know something as basic as where she lived now.

"How long do you think it will take us to get a flight to London?" Holly asked, quickly catching on that Robert didn't know where she called home.

"Shouldn't be too much trouble if we get ourselves to Buenos Aires," replied Robert.

"Well, I'm all packed," said Holly with a grin as she grabbed her shopping bag, "but you're going to have to buy me a ticket."

Robert couldn't help but grin back. So much of the tension between them had defused once he realized that she was not directly involved with Crylium.

London, England

Almost a day later, the pair arrived at Heathrow Airport, exhausted from the hours of travelling.

They exited the tube station, and made their way to Holly's house. As they got closer, Robert suddenly grabbed Holly's arm. "Hold on there for a minute!"

"What?"

"You seem to have forgotten something. You're supposed to be in jail in another country. That means you can't just go waltzing in your front door."

"Hmm. Can't we just waltz in through the back door instead? There shouldn't be anyone there. I had to let the housekeeper go."

Holly and Robert entered the house through the back door. The house was in complete disarray; drawers off their hinges, papers everywhere, furniture knocked over. Holly gasped.

"It's a good thing you let that housekeeper go. People just don't take pride in their work anymore," quipped Robert.

Holly went into the office, looking for Dougald's electronic organizer. The office had been ransacked like the rest of the house. She turned everything over, but found no trace of it.

Meanwhile, Robert wandered around the living room. A strange feeling of melancholy overcame him to see the home that Holly had made without him. He picked up Holly and Dougald's wedding picture. It had obviously been a small affair, judging by their outfits.

"It was in the Registry Office." Holly's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I don't seem destined to walk down an aisle."

"Sorry," Robert apologized, and put the picture down.

"Not a problem. I would probably be doing the same thing, in your place." Holly smiled sadly at Robert.

"How long were you married?"

"For a couple of years. We - it - "

"I'm sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want. It must still be very hard for you."

"No, it's fine. I haven't talked about it much. I'm just having trouble coming up with words to explain things to you," explained Holly. "Dougald adored me. He was a sweet man; it was hard not to reciprocate those feelings in some way. One should have better reasons than that for getting married, though. I was tired of being lonely." Holly paused for a moment.

"Losing him was different than los-, well, let's just say it was like losing a dear friend. Not like losing the love of one's life." She looked away from Robert to hide the unshed tears in her eyes.

A loud noise outside caught Robert's attention: "Holly, we shouldn't stay here any longer. It's not safe."

"Hang on a minute." Holly grabbed a suitcase from the front closet and headed back upstairs. Robert followed her and watched nervously as she began filling it with clothes. Once done, they headed out of the house; Holly turned and looked wistfully back for a moment, anxious for some peace and quiet.

The Pelham Hotel, London

"One room again?"

"One gun," retorted Robert, "unless you managed to fit something other than clothes into that suitcase. Besides, it's also one bank account at the moment."

Holly entered the room and flopped dramatically onto one of the beds. Things were not going smoothly. She hadn't been able to find the information on Dougald's co-worker that she had been looking for, and now they had to come up with a different way of tracking him down. Not to mention that her lovely little house had been turned upside down, and she didn't even know when she would get to sleep in her own bed again. And to top it all off, Holly was especially frustrated that she had let down her guard in front of Robert.

She picked up the remote and started aimlessly flipping channels. She and Robert had bickered all the way to the hotel about how they could locate this mysterious man. All Holly could remember was that his first name was Evan.

Robert decided to give Holly a little space. "I'm going out to get food. I'll bring you back some."

Robert came back to the hotel room in a much better mood, brandishing two bags of food. He could tell in an instant that Holly's mood had improved as well.

"Behold the mighty hunter! What are you watching?"

"Curling!" Holly responded with a large smile, one that tore at Robert's heart a little when he realized how long it had been since he'd seen it.

Robert sat and stared at the television for a few minutes, completely confused by the game. "This has to be the most boring sport ever." He tried to grab the remote control, but Holly snatched it away, and placed it under the pillows she was leaning against. "How can you watch this? What kind of crazy person puts this on television?"

"It's really fascinating once you learn the rules. I learned how to play a few years ago when I was living in Canada."

"When you were in Montreal?" Robert asked, then immediately regretted his question.

Robert's slip did not go unnoticed by Holly, who mentally filed it away. "Uh-huh. Are you going to share any of that food with me?"

Robert breathed an inward sigh of relief at the change of topic. "Yep. You still like mu shu pork?"

"Are there pancakes?"

"Of course. And extra hoisin sauce."

After dinner, Robert watched Holly for a while, and then opened his fortune cookie. His mind drifted to another fortune cookie, years before:

"It says Confucius say 'people who live in glass houses should bathe in the basement.' "

"What does it really say?" laughed Holly.

"Robert will love Holly forever and ever."

Trying to be inconspicuous, Robert looked over at Holly again. Despite the mounting danger they were in, it had been years since he felt as happy and as comfortable. He had forgotten how much fun he had with Holly. Robert floated on these thoughts for a few moments, indulging the fantasy of a reconciliation with his former love. And then came crashing down to earth once he recalled his activities of the last several years. "Too many people have been hurt because of me," he thought, and closed in on himself like a turtle.

Holly had been watching Robert from across the room as well. She saw his face harden, and thought to herself, "as soon as I think he's opening up, he goes right back to the 'man of steel'. He's not the same Robert I loved anymore." Her self-preservation instincts restored, she turned her attention back to the curling.

Author's note: The curling reference is for the good folks over at the Welcome to the Scorpios messageboard (you know who you are).