A/N Thanks again for all those who take the time to review. They really are important to me and I have always believed they influence me more that I know. I am still borrowing these characters.

When they arrived back in Pasadena, they realized they had been letting some other cases slide. It was decided that Sheldon would stay at the office and work on those cases.

Deciding they needed to get Kurt involved right away, they entrusted him with talking to people at Cheryl's apartment. It was a risk he could alert Cheryl but that could happen to Leonard and Sheldon as well.

They told him to show Steve's picture around and not even mention Cheryl for this first run.

As for Leonard, he left himself the job of talking to Penny and Bernadette. He was still afraid of how Penny would react but knew he was the one that needed to do it.

A little to Bernadette's surprise, Penny greeted Leonard with a big hug and then saying to hell with it, kissed him on the mouth.

She pulled away and said, "I am so glad your back. I missed you."

Leonard who had been a little stunned by her reception, smiled and said, "I missed you two."

He then turned and said "Hi," to a smirking Bernadette.

"Hey, Leonard, I missed you too but don't expect such treatment from me."

Both Penny and Leonard blushed and they all sat down.

Leonard then said, "Before I go on, I want to let you two know that Sheldon and I have asked Kurt to join the agency."

As they both showed their surprise, he went on, "We had realized for some time that we needed help and we were both impressed about how Kurt handled himself."

"Now about the trip." As Leonard explained the trip starting from the beginning about how they had come to wonder about Wyatt, Leonard carefully watched Penny. Although he could see she was shocked and often seemed like she was going to say something, she let him finish.

With both him and Bernadette looking at her, "I am not going to lie. It bothers me a great deal that you would ever suspect my Dad." She hesitated, "But if he and my mother can understand, I guess I can too. I do trust you and Sheldon and can concede that you had your reasons."

She looked him in the eye, "But I will have to think more about it."

Leonard was glad she seemed to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but was a little sad that he could tell it still bothered her.

But then she said, "But let's talk about Cheryl. I know she has trouble with me, but I didn't think she would come after me. I don't understand why she would kill Steve. She must have known he and I were through. I also can't see that she would be cunning enough to plan to pin it on me. How would she know I didn't have an alibi?"

Leonard was proud of her, that paralleled a lot of what he had been thinking, "I know, Penny, but I still can't accept that it Is just a coincidence that she was at the restaurant. I don't know how, but I am sure she is somehow involved."

Bernadette spoke up, "So what now?"

Leonard turned toward her, "Sheldon is catching up on some open cases we had. I don't think any of them are at such a stage that he will not be able to help us. Kurt is showing Steve's picture around Cheryl's apartment, hoping someone can say he was there."

He started to get up, "I suppose I should get back and see what's going on. I will keep you guys informed."

He turned to Penny, "Now that we have an idea how those things came to be in your purse, maybe you can think of something that might help. I was thinking, when was the last time you took something out of your purse. Can you say for sure the gun was not in there before the restaurant?"

She sat and thought, "The only time I can think of doing anything with it was when I paid the bill at the station. But my money and cards are in a pouch on the outside."

She looked apologetic, "I'm sorry I can't help."

"It's fine, I think we all know now it happened at the restaurant."

As he headed for the door, Penny got up and went with him. He looked back and said, "Goodbye, Bernie, I'll call you later."

She nodded and told him goodbye. At the door Penny said quietly, "Can I come over tonight? I really did miss not having you there."

"Of course, Penny, just let yourself in. Should I bring Chinese?"

"Sounds good." She kissed him softly, "I just want you guys to know how much I appreciate this."

"It's our pleasure, Penny. And don't worry, we'll get it all figured out."

"I know you will."

When Leonard got back to the office, Sheldon was engrossed in what he was doing and apparently Kurt had not returned. Seeing if he could help, he went over to where Sheldon was but he signaled he was about done.

Leonard grabbed a diet coke out of the refrigerator and sat down as Sheldon finished up what he was doing. Getting himself a water, he sat opposite Leonard. "Well, I think I have caught up enough to keep everyone satisfied for a few days."

He then surprised Leonard by asking, "How did it go with Penny?" Evidently Sheldon listened to him more that he realized. "It went okay. She said she still has some thinking to do but she is still coming over tonight so I guess we're all right."

Sheldon nodded. He wasn't really that interested but he did recognize the need to observes some social protocols and Leonard was his best friend.

As they sat there, Kurt came through the door. He put down the picture of Steve and getting himself a beer, sat down on the couch by Leonard.

Leonard spoke first, "Well, how did it go? Anybody recognize him?"

Kurt took a long drink and shook his head, "Not a nibble. I talked to about twenty people and none of them had seen him around." He took another drink, "I don't know if it could matter, but a couple of them recognized him as the guy who was murdered from his picture in the paper."

Sheldon broke in, "I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you didn't mention anything about Cheryl."

"Not a word. If you ask me, I don't think that if they were together, it was at her apartment. I talked to the landlord and he said he was around the building all day and night. It seemed like he was pretty much on top of what was going on."

Sheldon nodded, "If you agree, Leonard, I think we should look at alternate possibilities. If nothing pans out, we can take another shot at her apartment."

When Leonard agreed, Sheldon went on, "As I see it, the other main possibilities are that he has a place of his own somewhere or they went to a hotel or motel."

Kurt nodded but said, "You know, we could be wasting our time. We don't know they were together."

Leonard and Sheldon had to agree, but it was something they had to check out. If Cheryl was involved, it would seem logical she had been spending time with Steve. And there was the fact they had left the bar together.

Sheldon stood up, "I think it is time to use our heads instead of our feet." He turned to Leonard, "I suggest we see Hacker."

Kurt asked, "Who is Hacker?"

Leonard smiled, "Actually, it is Howard 'Hacker' Wolowitz, computer hacker extraordinaire. He had his moments of fame a few years ago until the Feds caught up with him. But they decided he was so valuable as a way to test their security, they let him go with a promise to say out of certain systems."

Sheldon broke in, "Fortunately, what we need him to do does not break those limitations."

When they knocked on the door of a house in the suburbs, it was opened by a rather large woman. Her eyes lit up when she saw who it was. "Leonard, Sheldon, it's so good to see you." Then she noticed Kurt and he had to smile as she displayed what he assumed was meant to be a flirty look, "And who is this good-looking guy?"

Leonard had to smile, "This is Kurt, a friend of ours."

Keeping her eyes on Kurt she stepped back and let them in, as Leonard asked, "Is Howard in?"

She rolled her eyes, "He is always in. I swear, he would probably burn up if I could ever get him outside. He is in his playroom."

As they went down into the basement, Leonard and Sheldon exchanged a look and hung back telling Kurt to knock on the door. When Howard opened the door, his eyes widened as they saw Kurt. He quickly stammered out, "Big Mike said I had until tomorrow. He knows I am good for it." He scowled when he saw Leonard and Sheldon join them with big smiles on their faces.

"Very funny, guys. I could have had a heart attack."

Leonard explained to a puzzled Kurt, "Howard likes to play the horses."

He added, "Howard, this is our friend Kurt."

Howard stepped back, still scowling. They entered and looked around; the room was filled with electronics equipment. Leonard and Sheldon had always wondered how he had been able to accumulate all the stuff he had.

Howard was saying, "So, I assume this is not a social call."

Sheldon answered, "You assume correctly. We need you to access some credit card information for us."

Howard looked a little disappointed, "Is that all? I was kind of hoping for something a little more exotic."

Leonard interjected, "I thought you were supposed to avoid 'the exotic.'"

"It depends. As long as I don't run afoul of the government, I am okay."

Sheldon broke in, "Well, I am afraid credit card information is all we seek."

Howard shrugged, "Very well. He sat down in front of an open laptop, "Okay, who we got and what do we want to know?"

Sheldon held out a paper with Cheryl's and Steve's names and other information on it. "These are the two. We need anything they charged for the week of April fourteenth."

"Anything specific you are looking for."

"Mostly motel or hotel receipts but we would like to look at any activity they had."

As Howard started to type, he smiled, "Are you guys ready yet to introduce me to that Luscious Lawyer of yours?"

As Leonard rolled his eyes, Sheldon looked condescendingly at Howard, "Ha-ha is to laugh. As you know, I believe in an infinite number of Alternate Universes and I can assure you, you and Bernadette Rostankowski are not involved in any of them."

Howard glared at him but concentrated on what he was doing. It wasn't long when he announced he would print out the information for them. As it printed, he asked if there was anything else he could do.

Sheldon hesitated, "It might help to access their bank records."

"You know I can't do that, Sheldon. That is a big No-No. What did you need anyway?"

"I just hoped we could see if Baxter paid rent."

"Why didn't you say so? That is easy information to get." A few minutes later he triumphantly announced, "There, he rents an apartment on fourth street. It must be one of those efficiency apartments near downtown."

Gathering their information together, they thanked Howard and agreed to let him know if the information proved valuable. As they left, they could hear him mutter, "Must be at least one Universe."

As they left, Mrs. Wolowitz caught up to them. "Kurt, isn't it?. Feel free to drop by anytime. I will cook you something very special." Kurt smiled a little nervously, "Thank you, Mrs. Wolowitz, but we are pretty busy."

"Please, Debbie. There is no hurry."

They quickly made their exit as Sheldon and Leonard had to smirk that it was Kurt who was a little nonplussed. Leonard smiled, "She really is a great cook."

Kurt winced, "I'll take your word for it."

When they got back to the office, they pored over the information they had received. There were no charges for motels or hotels but they did have Steve's rental to check out. They also saw a charge at a small clothing shop on the morning of the murder on Cheryl's card.

Leonard and Sheldon said they would check out the apartment. And although they agreed it was probably nothing, the fact that it had happened on the day of the murder, made them decide Kurt could check out the shop.

Calling it a day, they agreed to meet at the office in the morning before heading out for their assignments.

As Leonard picked up the Chinese food, he looked forward to being with Penny. Although it had only been a couple days, he had missed her a lot. He knew that as long as this case hung over their heads, they needed to stay where they were. But he also knew that when she was exonerated, they needed to explore what was between them.