A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery or Geoffrey, but Sam and Cat are my babies. Thanks go out to a Guest for reviewing. This chapter takes place right after the previous chapter.

Valkyrie looked at Cat as the three friends got served their coffee while Sam got a libation of another sort at the bar, happy she'd found Sam at last. "How did you two become the detectives you are now again?" She asked. Cat had never told her, but she thought that since they both knew Skulduggery's story, which got better every time he told it, that it was OK to ask theirs.

"Well, I was investigating an abandoned mansion in the South.." Cat paused, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"You went in alone?" Valkyrie asked.

"Yes, I didn't have a partner at the time..." Cat trailed off again, frowning thoughtfully. "That can't be right. But it is, I went in alone." She paled slightly and glanced over at Sam who was at the bar sipping Jack Daniels, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was the object of discussion. "Valkyrie, I went in that mansion alone, I'd swear to it."

Valkyrie felt a shiver pass over her. "Maybe Sam is also a Sensitive of sorts, like Geoffrey." She tried. "Maybe there's just something from before that he didn't want you to remember." Skulduggery kicked her under the table. "I mean, maybe you two had a fight or something and you broke up as partners so he made you forget." It was the worst explanation ever of a suddenly appearing partner and she knew it.

"Or he made me remember a past as partners that we never had." Cat said, staring at the table. "Val, do you remember exactly how you were told you were going to meet us at the airport? Think carefully."

Valkyrie frowned and Skulduggery answered. "We were told to expect one detective, not two. When you arrived together you said you were partners, remember?" He was prodding gently to help Cat remember, and Cat nodded.

"Then who is he? The memory of him being in the fire with me seems real, so does our past as partners. And he knows everything about me. He is real right? You two can see him?" That Valkyrie could answer.

"He's real and he's either your partner or a fraud. If he is a fraud we need to figure out what he's after. Here he comes, try and act natural."

Sam had finished his whiskey and joined the others at the table, slipping an affectionate arm around Cat and nuzzling her, and she covered her ducking away with a muttered: "You smell like Jack Daniels and cigars."

Sam frowned slightly. "Never bothered you before." He looked at Cat keenly and Valkyrie knew she had to distract him. She let her hand jerk suddenly, knocking both her and Cat's coffee cups over, managing to splash all four of them. Cat got up with a perfectly executed dismayed shriek and the women departed the table to go clean up in the toilets.

"Maybe we shouldn't leave Skulduggery alone with him." Cat muttered as Valkyrie manipulated the coffee out of their clothes and into the sink after wedging a garbage can against the door.

"He'll be OK." Valkyrie reassured her but when the women emerged and returned to the table Sam and Skulduggery were gone.

Plot twist!