I'm terribly sorry about the terribly long stretch between updates, but here's a brand new chapter! I hope you enjoy it! :D

Chapter Nine

It is 6:46 PM local planetary time in the sleepy San Francisco suburb of Walnut Creek.

Only, this evening, it is not so sleepy.

This evening, its habitually bucolic streets are wide awake to the wail of sirens and the colored flashes of emergency lights, all congregated around the Pie Hole from which Dilly Gherkin had run, and to which she had returned to pledge her non culpability - this time in the company of one former and two current Starfleet officers.

"Murder," Geordi said again, his frown a deep, solemn crease as he, Data and Tasha stood among the crowd gathered to gawp at the titillatingly macabre spectacle playing out before their homes and windows. "Here, on Earth, in this day and age… It's hard to believe this is real."

"Please, please, please, you've got to prove I'm innocent!" Dilly called to them as a stern detective worked to push her into a police shuttle. "I didn't do this! I wouldn't kill anyone, and especially not Tilly Tillingham! I swear it!"

The facts were these:

Three years, four weeks, and ten days before his death, Dilly Gherkin and Timothy 'Tilly' Tillingham met at the historic Santa Anita Race Track located in Arcadia, California. He was there investigating the suspect finances of a wealthy Ferengi investor and his human business partner - a compulsive gambler with a taste for exotic and expensive cuisine. She was riding the headlining favorite in the third race - a Vulcan-bred Arabian named Sucrose Intoxication.

Possessed of an obsessive personality and an intensely narrow focus that had served him well in his career, the smitten finance lawyer soon became the young jockey's biggest, and most demonstrative, fan. They had remained close, Dilly and Tilly, her dependence on his adoring support only increasing after the accident that had forced Dilly into early retirement.

An accident she had long blamed on him...

"Don't know what she expects us to do," Tasha muttered, the look of concerned compassion on Data's pale face irritating the once dead, now mysteriously alive-again security expert like a burr pressing into her neck. "This is a police matter. We're not the police."

"That does not mean we cannot conduct an independent investigation of our own," Data said, his golden eyes fixed on the desperate young woman as the wailing, flashing shuttle lifted her into the air and away. "I believe we should help her."

"Yeah?" Tasha straightened. "Well, I believe she did it. You didn't see the mess she and that man made of that restaurant. There were enough angry sparks there to light up a city block!"

"Emotion, no matter how strong, cannot provide power to urban infrastructure," Data pointed out. "But, it can provide motivation to injure, or to benefit another person. Dilly came to us. She came to me. And I, for one, am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt I feel regarding her role in this tragic event."

He turned toward Geordi and Tasha, his gaze still skirting any direct contact with her increasingly irritated face.

"Your assistance in this matter would be appreciated," he said. "But it is not mandatory. If you do not wish to participate, I am quite capable of conducting this investigation on my own."

"Well, I'm with you," Geordi said. "Whether Dilly did it or not, I don't like the idea of a killer roaming around my sister's neighborhood. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better. Besides, I'd rather keep myself busy than sit around here waiting for the ax to fall, as it were."

Data tilted his head.

"By 'ax', you are referring to the summons from Captain Bryce to prepare our testimony for the tribunal?"

"Yeah, that," Geordi said uncomfortably. "So Tasha, you in?"

Tasha stared intently at Data's face, willing him to look at her, if it was only a flicker of a glance…

"Tasha?" Geordi prompted again.

She sighed, breaking her stare to give Geordi an acknowledging nod.

"Fine," she said. "I'll help out. If only to prove to you both that woman is trouble. Even if she isn't a killer…"

"Excellent," Data said, scanning his eyes over the crowd to rest on the apron-clad pie-maker, talking to police with his shoulders hunched and his flour-dusted hands sunk in his pockets. "Then, let us begin with some interviews. Dilly's employer may know—"

"Hold on," Tasha said. "Before we go blundering into the fray out there, let's take a minute to consider our best approach. Remember, this isn't a Starfleet investigation. We have no official standing. In fact, those cops out there will probably see any efforts on our part as interference. So, I recommend we take the subtle approach. Give everyone the night to settle down then come back in the morning, once the rush of adrenaline has passed and our potential witnesses may be thinking more clearly."

Geordi quirked his eyebrows over his VISOR.

"Makes sense to me," he said. "Besides, I'm hungry. Do you think Ari saved our plates from dinner?"

Data was not pleased by the prospect of waiting an entire night before diving into the investigation that might prove the innocence of the intriguing young waitress who had been so kind to him. But, he had to acknowledge the logic of Tasha's argument. It would not do to be charged with impeding an official police inquiry, especially when he and Geordi faced a trial of their own in only a few days.

A trial both officers feared could be potentially catastrophic to their future careers.

"Very well," the android said at last. "Tomorrow, my friends. This game is afoot!"

Tasha winced at his departing back, the confident stride he'd just assumed...

"Oh god..." she said. "That wasn't..."

"Sherlock Holmes?" Geordi finished, and chuckled. "Yep. I'd say tomorrow's shaping up to be pretty interesting..."

Neither of them saw the dark figure standing in the shadows cast by the emergency lights as they followed Data back toward the house.

But the figure saw them...its eyes settled firmly on the lively security officer who should not have been living...

To Be Continued...

References Include - TNG: Lonely Among Us; Elementary Dear Data; Ship in a Bottle; the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home novelization; Pushing Daisies: Girth.

Thanks for reading, and sorry again for taking so long with this. Your reviews are always welcome! :D