Robbie held the gate open for Ellen to enter their garden. He gestured to a chair on the patio and sat opposite her. Laura stayed on the bench near Flavia. Osborn sniffed Ellen's ankles then emitted a growl undetectable to human ears and went to stand guard near his baby.

"Thanks Robbie. Laura always said you were a sweetie." Ellen sat and when offered, replied she would love a glass of wine. Robbie went in the house to get another glass.

Ellen sat forward on the edge of her seat. "Laura bring the baby over here so I can see him."

Laura put a hand on the sleeping child's chest and felt it heave up and down and spoke softly, just barely loud enough for her friend to hear. "She's a girl, Ellen. And we have a rule in this house, never wake a sleeping baby." She put her finger to her lips.

Robbie returned and handed Ellen a large glass and tried unsuccessfully to steer the conversation into another direction.

Ellen took a big drink of wine. "I'll just have to come see her then."

Laura steeled herself. It was wrong to interfere and she would let the chips fall where they may. Ellen got halfway over to Flavia when Osborn placed himself between Ellen and the infant swing.

Ellen stopped in her tracks. "Laura your dog is rather unwelcoming. You would think he didn't want me to see the baby."

"He's just being protective." Laura got up and patted the dog's head and said unconvincingly, "It's okay Osborn, Ellen is a friend."

Osborn allowed Ellen to get a little closer. She took a look at Flavia and made a comment about her clothing, a blue romper with a red fire truck emblazoned on the front. "That's not a very ladylike outfit."

"We like it. Our Jack picked it out for her." Laura smoothed out the fire truck over Flavia's belly.

Ellen's attention was easily diverted as Monty jumped off the the canoe, making it rock back and forth.

"Oh Robbie, you'll have to take her for a ride in your boat."

Osborn barked and this time Robbie and Laura did not try to quiet him.

Over the din of the dog Robbie told Ellen, "The canoe stays on land. Jack and his sister Susan use it for a pirate ship. I'm sure the bairn will want to be a pirate soon too."

The barking woke Flavia and she expressed her disapproval loudly.

Ellen put her hands over her ears as Laura picked Flavia up and soothed her. The crying stopped and Ellen moved closer and put her hands out to take the baby and was assaulted by infant projectile vomiting. After apologizing and showing Ellen to the powder room to clean up, Robbie brought Flavia inside to change her clothes.

He returned to the patio with a clean child to find Laura explaining to Ellen why her niece Caroline had chosen this name for her daughter.

Ellen decided to keep a safe distance from the little erupter but did want to take a second look. The fresh outfit caught her eye and she had to ask.

"The dodo?"

Robbie turned away from Ellen carrying Flavia like a rugby ball and headed towards Laura. Over his shoulder he told Ellen, "It's a famous Oxford icon." Flavia rewarded him with a tiny giggle.

"They'll be extinct someday and out of style."

Laura tried to be hospitable. "More wine Ellen?"

"I wish I could drink you out of house and home but I have an early meeting tomorrow so must go."

"Sorry you can't stay longer." The relief was evident on Laura's face only Ellen took no notice.


"These Lizzie, are the tools of destruction." Brad waved his left arm over the two laptops.

Lizzie wasn't convinced. "I thought only harmless old ladies used laptops anymore."

"Precisely the point. No one would give them any notice."

The keyboards on both laptops started to glow in varying shades of green. "The Identidust detects the use frequency of the keys." Brad made a rapid assessment of the evidence. "Ah, now I know the most frequently used letters, numbers, and symbols." He saw Lizzie's puzzled expression. "To figure out the passwords."

Lizzie had several questions and chose the most pressing, at least in her mind. "Where did they come from?"

"The long story is one of undercover surveillance and espionage, the details of which I can't talk about. The short story is Mick Capelan brought them."

Lizzie recalled the most recent investigation she worked on with DI Hathaway. "But Mick Capelan is dead, isn't he?"

"A body is not dead until my sister sticks a fork in it."


After Ellen left Robbie and Laura brought Flavia inside and the three of them snuggled together in bed. When Flavia fell asleep Laura gently placed her in the cot and got back under the covers to cuddle with Robbie.

Robbie knew Laura was worried about Ellen's reaction to the baby. "She didn't see it?"

"No. Of course you know Ellen, she mostly notices hair and clothes. I expect she'll be calling the fashion police about Flavia's attire."

"She wanted to see the baby and if that's all she takes away from it, so be it."

Laura had some happier news. "Someone else called today who wants to see the baby." She felt the slightest movement of Robbie raising his eyebrows. "Flavia and I are taking a drive tomorrow to meet Jean Innocent for lunch. I've got the car seat installation procedure down to only 5 minutes now and she should fall asleep on the way home."

"Give Jean my regards. Moody's okay but I miss her. James got along better with Jean because she appreciated how smart he is. Moody and James are like chalk and cheese."

"At least they didn't make Peterson the new Chief Super."

"Yeah, small mercies, I suppose, even if I did get assigned to work with him."

"And then Peterson did one of the same things Jean did that bothered you."

"Ha, yes sending me a new DC just out of uniform. I must be the station's designated babysitter."

"How is your new right-hand man doing?"

Robbie explained how Green made some astute observations about the CCTV footage from the Red Crawl and was now posted there undercover. "We had to doll him up quite a bit so he would fit in at the club." He reached over to get his phone off the nightstand to show Laura a photo of Green's new image.

Laura sat up and examined Green's photo from head to toe, tossed her head and told Robbie, "I like a man with a tattoo."

A little too quickly Robbie responded, "Alec Pickman had a tattoo."

Laura had seen it eons back. "How do you know about that?"

"It was in the case notes. James asked me to read them over, see if he missed anything."

"And did he, miss anything?"

"Not that I can tell. There was something rather surprising in the report."

Laura had a suspicion based purely on speculation. "What's that?"

Robbie put his arms behind his head and lay back down on his pillow. "A canoe went to Alec Pickman's boat to pick something up the night he died."