Chapter 6 - 6

Monica went to check out the fake painting for herself. She was curious see if she could sense anything unusual. Emma chose not to go with her. The whole thing was getting too weird and she didn't want to dwell on it. Following Agent Reyes' advice seemed like the best idea. She planned on enjoying the events for the remainder of the day. Monica wanted to track down the Gunmen to check if she could be of any help so she got Emma to agree to wait for her before she did anymore wandering around.

When Agent Reyes saw Langly in his kilt and leather armor with the enormous sword strapped to his back, she did a double take. He crossed her path, obviously intent on where he was going. "Langly? Is that you?" He turned around and seeing her made a deep bow in her direction.

"Fair lassie, to what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

"Frohike asked me to come and keep an eye on Emma and her friends but she tells me that it's no longer necessary."

Langly reverted to his usual self to confirm the bad news. "Yeah, unfortunately we don't need to be as careful anymore. The deed was done right under our noses, actually, in front of our cameras would be a better way to put it." He shook his head feeling like a failure. He continued, "I'm going back to the van. Byers has been looking at the tapes to see what we missed. He thinks he may have found something."

"That's encouraging. I'll let you go then but do you know where Frohike is?"

"He was checking out the cameras he had placed around the grounds to see it they had been tampered with. Just a sec." Langly reached into a fold of the loosely gathered kilt that he was wearing and pulled out a headset. Putting it on he asked, "Byers, can you see where Fro is?" He listened for a few seconds. "Where's that?" He turned and looked back the way he had come. "Got it." He listened some more. "Monica is here, she wants to talk to him." More listening. "I know but Emma's obviously on to it." Pause. "Alright, keep your shirt on, I'll ask." Turning back to Monica. "He wants to know where Emma is."

"Tell him I left her in the booth with her friends and we're going to meet back there in a bit."

"Did you hear that?" Langly asked over the headset. "All right. I'm on my way." He removed the headset and put it away. "I gotta go. Frohike is in the green building over there," Langly said while pointing out the structure. "He and Yves are talking to security. Just flash your badge and you should have no trouble getting in."

She didn't need to show her badge. Monica met Frohike and a blond woman as they walked out the front door of security headquarters. "Monica, where's Emma?"

"She's back with her friends in the vendor's hall. I told her to wait there for me. She's on to us you know."

"Yeah, your partner blew his own cover. She's not stupid but at least she didn't kick a fit."

Agent Reyes held her hand out to the blond woman, "You must be Yves. My name is Monica."

Frohike introduced the two women to each other. Monica asked for an update on all that had gone on briefly outlining what she already knew.

"We're now nearly positive that not only has the original been switched for a fake but that it was been removed from the grounds as well. I checked my security cameras and they all looked fine but I found this." He dug around in his sporran and pulled out a small electronic device. "The folks here say it's not theirs."

"We suspect it interfered in some way with the signals from all the security cameras on the grounds, not just ours," Yves explained.

"Wouldn't you have noticed it though?" Monica asked.

Frohike shook his head. "Not if the feed was uninterrupted. I'm going to take it back to the van and see if I can figure it out."

He began to walk away but Yves stopped him. "Melvin, wait. I'm sure Harris has already delivered the painting to his buyer. Why don't you go find your daughter and spend the rest of the day with her and her friends? We might as well salvage what's left of the weekend instead of sitting shut up in the van doing something that can wait until tomorrow."

Agent Reyes could see that she and Yves were thinking along the same lines. It would definitely help to get Emma's mind off her 'faeries' to spend some time with her father at the Games as she had originally planned.

Frohike brightened at the suggestion. "You know, you're right. That's an excellent idea. I'm still going to go back to the van and drop this off. While I'm at it, I'll pry Byers's butt out of there, too."

"It was Langly who told me where you were. He was on his way over there."

"Good, that will save me from having to hunt him down. Yves, do you know where Jimmy went?"

"Yes and I'll take care of him. But first I'm going to go get rid of all this make-up." Much to Monica's surprise, Yves reached up and pulled off the short blond wig, revealing a mass of black wavy hair underneath.

"It seems there is more to you than meets the eye," Monica observed.

Yves was amused by this statement, "And it's probably more than you can even imagine."

The decision to spend the rest of the day enjoying the Highland Games instead of poring over surveillance tapes was well received by everyone. It was a delay of less than 24 hours but as Yves stated, it wouldn't hurt to take the time off. The painting was gone and, probably, so was Harris.

Jimmy really wanted to try tossing the caber and Byers wondered if an old friend of his would be part of a Gaelic language choir that was scheduled to perform later that afternoon. He had given up on the idea earlier but now would have the time to go find out. Langly had seen a vendor whose service included looking up people's genealogies on the internet. He was curious as to what program the man used to do this and wanted to go check it out.

Frohike just wanted to spend time with his daughter. He still felt guilty for spoiling most of her plans for the weekend and wanted to try to make it up to her. Emma was delighted to find that everyone was now free of work and ready to have some fun. Monica was right; having her father and her closest friends around drove her worries away. She was too busy trying to organize the rest of their day.

When she found out that they all had something in mind, she asked only that they would all be together for one event. That was for the massed bands. She insisted that they all needed to hear it. Since not much else went on at the same time, there was no problem making her happy.

Emma watched with satisfaction as they went off to enjoy their own pursuits. She turned to find her father waiting for her. "Well, honey, what do you want to do?" Emma considered her dad for a couple of seconds wondering if telling him the truth would hurt his feelings. Megan and Rachel had been waiting for a long time for her to be ready to go see the Highland cattle with them. It wasn't really a 'bring your dad along' kind of activity especially since Agent Doggett had shadowed them all over the grounds the day before. It would be nice to run around without adult supervision. She decided to see if her dad could take a hint.

"Well, Megan, Rachel and I were going to go out and see the cattle. You've probably already seen then considering how much you wandered around yesterday."

"Yeah, I saw them but I'm willing to go again."

Darn, that didn't work. Maybe this would. "Are you sure you want to spend all your time hanging out with us? We're really very boring."

Frohike barely succeeded in hiding his grin that time. He had gotten it with the first comment but sometimes he just couldn't resist making her squirm.

"I can't think of anything I would rather do more." Now Emma was really getting uncomfortable. How could she tell him she wanted to be alone with her friends? Frohike could tell that she was struggling but had to bug her one more time. "Well, what are you waiting for? I'm sure the girls will just love to spend the day with me."

That did it. It was too far over the top. He knew it and Emma finally saw that he was purposefully trying to be difficult. "Oh, Dad, you can be such a snot sometimes!"

He grabbed her and put her in a headlock. "Take it back or I'm not letting you go!"

Emma's laughter was muffled as she declared. "No, I'm not taking it back because you know it's true."

He let her stand up straight as he said, "All right, fine, insult me and desert me. I'm sure I can find something to do around here."

Pat had been watching the exchange between father and daughter. "We can put you to work. We can always use help at the sword tables to make sure no one hurts himself."

"Thank you, Pat, at least someone appreciates me," Frohike sighed in an overly melodramatic manner.

Emma laughed again, "Oh, stop it. You know I always appreciate you. Even when you are a snot." She jumped out of reach, waving to him as she exited the booth. Joining the other girls, Emma trotted off with hardly a backward glance.

Smiling at the easy exchange between the two of them Rosalie said, "They do grow up quickly, don't they?"

"I don't mind," Frohike admitted, "I'm pleased to see that she can make friends and wants to be with them. I worry that she spends too much time with us four guys and not more with kids her own age."

"Once school starts back up that should be less of a problem."

"I hope you're right. Michelle had her change schools shortly before she died. Emma didn't really make any close friends there before the end of the school year. Your two granddaughters are the first friends I've ever seen her with. Did I thank you yet for bringing them?"

"Yes, you did, a couple of times and I'm sure they would have been quite upset if we hadn't. They've always enjoyed Emma's company and when they found out we intended to come out here the first thing they asked was, 'Will we get to see Emma?' When I told them we were staying with you they wanted to leave immediately."

Both adults smiled privately at the idiosyncrasies of young girls.

Rosalie noticed that Becky was getting overwhelmed at the cash register and went to help her. Frohike stepped up to the sword table to see if he really could be of any assistance. After asking a few questions and watching how Pat and Bruce dealt with the customers, he soon fell into the routine. Because he was wearing a kilt, people assumed he knew more than he did but he didn't hesitate to refer them to one of the other men. He paid attention to the answers given and was able to offer more assistance as the morning wore on.

One customer was particularly interested in several of the antiques. He had been by the day before and had discussed the history of individual pieces with Pat. When he walked away without buying anything, Pat was not discouraged. A purchase of that size was not made lightly and the man had made several notes on the back of their business card.

Pat saw Frohike talking to the man he had spent so much time with the previous day but he was fitting a baldric onto a customer and figured Fro could handle it. Pat heard his name and turned to see Frohike pointing at the lock on the case that held the antiques. Taking his keys out of his sporran, he tossed them to his new salesman who caught them one handed. "The key and the lock have matching numbers," Pat said turning back to his customer.

When Pat had completed that sale, he found Bruce wrapping up four of the antiques for the other customer to take home. Becky was showing Frohike how to work the credit card machine. Pat went over to speak to the man who was willing to spend so much on their wares. After telling Pat which ones he had decided to buy, the man explained, "I came in here with the thought on buying only three of them but your associate there talked me into the fourth."

The total sale came up to well over $10,000 dollars. It was far and away the most they had ever made on a single sale at a Highland Games. Pat slapped Frohike on the back. "You can come and hang out with us anytime you want if you can convince people that they need to spend that much."

Frohike gave him a crooked grin. "He already knew he wanted all four swords and was just trying to justify spending the money. I simply gave him a nudge in the right direction."

The girls had visited the cattle and checked out the sheep dog trials. The dogs were amazing but Emma felt sorry for the sheep. After listening to a harp demonstration for about 20 minutes, Emma suggested they go see what was going on over at the athletics field. She thought she could hear the tell tale sound of the thud and ring of wood hitting the ground which meant they were tossing the caber.

She was right. They climbed up into the bleachers to watch. After they had chosen a spot to sit, Emma noticed Yves walking toward them. She had taken off all her make up and the blond wig. Emma didn't know if she should wave and say hello or not. Yves wasn't in disguise anymore and Emma wanted to introduce her to the other two girls but she had promised.

Yves solved the problem by smiling at the three of them and climbing up to where they sat. Emma relaxed and quickly made introductions. Yves sat down with them and informed them, "I was down talking to Jimmy. He tried the caber once but couldn't get it to flip over. As soon as they go through all the other novices, he's going to try it again."

"All right!" Emma was excited. Megan and Rachel echoed her sentiment.

They sat watching the progress on the field. At Games like this, they often encouraged new comers to try their hands at the various athletic events. The caber was the most difficult but with experienced competitors around to help spot the newbies, it was fun to watch.

With help, the athlete got what looked like a small telephone pole up on end. He would then wrap his arms around it and hoist it up into the air enough to get his hands under the bottom, bracing the length and weight of it against one shoulder. At least two other men would stand nearby in case there was any danger of the tosser tipping over backwards. If the pole started to fall in that direction, he would need to twist his body out from under it and allow it to fall to the ground.

Once it was safely balanced, the man began running with it to give it some forward momentum. Then he pushed up with his hands making the caber fall away in front of him, hopefully flipping so that the end that was in his hands landed facing away from the him in a 12:00 position.

Several men stood waiting their turn. Jimmy was with them. The girls watched him hoping he would notice them. When he finally looked their way, they waved vigorously. He waved back but wisely did not give up his place in line.

The other novices were entertaining to watch. Some managed to get the pole up in the air but very few got it moving. Most just jumped out of the way as the pole started to fall. One guy did really well and actually got it to flip over but it landed at an odd angle. Two others got it up on end but then it fell back toward them. A couple more attempts by other athletes and it was Jimmy's turn.

Two men balanced the caber while Jimmy wrapped his arms around it. He lifted it up and managed to get his hands under the bottom. For a few seconds it looked like he was going to tip over backwards but he maintained his grip and got the pole in the correct position. Emma could see the look of intense concentration on his face. He began to run with the pole and when he reached the appropriate spot, he heaved upwards and away from his body with all his might. The caber flipped over in the air, landed on the correct end and fell into about a 1 o'clock position, better than anyone else had managed.

Megan, Rachel and Emma jumped up and down screaming and cheering. Many other people in the audience joined them in applauding Jimmy's success. He looked up at them in the bleachers and raised both arms in a triumphant pose.

Jimmy noticed that Yves was cheering, too. Maybe he had actually impressed her, something that seemed very difficult to do. He saw that all four of them were coming out of the stands to congratulate him so he came around the fence to greet them. Emma caught Megan and Rachel each by an arm to slow them down so that Yves would get there first. Both girls turned to see what Emma was doing.

"Wait. I want to see what happens." She was gratified to see Yves hug Jimmy and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. They couldn't hear what the couple said to each other. When they turned to look at the girls, Emma no longer restrained her two friends but let them go talk to Jimmy. She was the last to congratulate him. She hugged him and he lifted her off her feet in his enthusiasm. "I knew you could do it. I just knew it," Emma managed to say even though she could barely breath from the bear hug.

Jimmy put her down and stood grinning at her. "You were right. It was so cool. I thought I lost it there for a second. And when I tossed it over I was sure it was going to fall back on me! And I almost got it to land at 12:00 o'clock!"

"You just need more practice," Emma offered as encouragement. "Man, I wish I'd brought my camera."

"Don't worry, Em, you can always take pictures next year. I'll be much better at it by then."

"You mean it? Do you really want to come again next year?" Emma asked excitedly.

"Yeah, a lot of these guys," he waved his hand in the general direction of the field, "meet and practice together. They asked me if I wanted to join them."

"That is so great!" Emma felt vindicated. Until the investigation with the painting came up, she felt that the others were humoring her and were only coming because it was so important to her.

"Listen, are you guys hungry?" Jimmy felt like celebrating by treating everyone to lunch.

Emma spoke quickly before the other girls could chime in, "We have other plans but why don't you and Yves go ahead?"

Yves gave Emma a quick look that said, "I'm on to you," but Emma didn't care. She grabbed her confused friends each by a hand and made a speedy exit.

Rachel had the decency to wait until they were out of earshot of the two adults before she complained about the rough treatment. "Let go of me. That hurts!"

"Sorry."

"What were you doing? We could have gone to lunch with them."

"No, I want them to be alone."

It was Megan's turn to question Emma's motives, "Why?"

"If I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone?"

"I guess."

"What about you, Rachel?"

"Sure, unless it's something really creepy."

"I'm not going to tell you anything creepy. It's just that I think Jimmy is in love with Yves and I'm hoping she'll finally notice. If we're around, she won't."

"Why doesn't he just tell her?" Megan was always practical.

"I'm not sure. Maybe he's shy or something."

"Why don't you tell her then?"

"Because I'd just get in trouble. I brought it up once and almost got my head taken off. So I have to be sneaky. Look, why don't I buy us lunch? I haven't spent half of the money my dad said I could use this weekend." This sounded like a good idea so they ran off to find something they could all agree on.