The IA officer had come for him shortly after Mike Hanson left. He had grilled Henry at length on his stalker, the pugio, Lucas' actions in securing the dagger for him, and Henry's relationship with Jo. He was fishing and Henry knew he wasn't satisfied with his answers. He told the truth whenever possible, avoided lying as much as possible, and wished mightily that his face hadn't been such an open book, and that he had better skill at telling believable lies. He did make it clear that Lucas was simply doing his job and had no idea what he intended to do with the dagger. An admission which led to questions regarding the dagger and just what he intended with it. Henry lied, claiming he had questions of a technical nature and was taking it to another specialist for a second opinion. The investigator didn't believe him, but they had nothing to hold him on either as he had handled the knife at Griffin's place, before Jo took it as evidence, and he had every right to get a second opinion. The worst they could accuse him of was not going through proper procedures in obtaining permission to take evidence off-site, but that meant paperwork and lost time, and they had seen the state of his desk. Probably in great detail before he arrived that morning. They finally let him go, officially suspending him pending the result of the investigation. He was warned to not discuss the investigation or the pugio case with anyone - and further that he was not to leave the city.

Henry entered the apartment he shared with Abe through the back entrance and sighed heavily as he removed his coat and scarf. Life was simply getting too complicated. He was getting too old for this. He listened at the door leading to the shop, wanting to make sure Abe hadn't heard him come in. The last thing he needed was to worry Abe. He almost walked away when he heard Abe speaking to someone, until he heard what they were speaking about.

"Do you recognize this sketch?" It was Jo.

"That's Adam. He came into the shop once, before I found out who he was. Where did you get that?" Henry couldn't hear her answer, but she must have asked about Adam's theory because Abe began explaining it to her, adding, "At first we thought it was bunk - but now I'm not so sure. He seems to be ageing."

"Ageing?"

Henry opened the door. "Hello detective." Then to Abe, "I decided to come home early." He stood by the door, uncertain what to do now. It was an impulse, really, that made him step through the door. Better to show himself than eavesdrop on anything Abe might not want him to know. Abe knew him too well.

It was the first time that day Jo had looked at him. Her mouth compressed into a flat line and the skin around her eyes tightened. Was she angry with him? Then her eyes focused on the grey in his beard. Not that there had been much, mind you, except that in all his 200+ years he'd never had a single natural grey hair. Her staring made him self-conscious in ways that Abe's gawking that morning couldn't. Henry rubbed his chin, "Now I wish I'd shaved." He tried to smile, to make a joke of it, but he caught a flash of pain in Abe's eyes and couldn't. Jo crossed the room, stopping in front of him and pulled his hand down. His fingers curled around hers almost by reflex and he stilled them.

Jo searched his face and looked deeply into his eyes. "You could have told me about Adam," she said at last.

"I tried..." His desperation made it difficult for him to speak. "At the museum," he added in a stronger voice.

Jo looked down, "When you said you believed the lore of the dagger." She looked at their hands and pulled hers free as if just aware of the touch. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you." She looked him in the eye, "but you were doing your best to sabotage my case."

It wasn't much of an apology, but it was more than he deserved at the moment. "I really was trying to protect you. Adam is extremely dangerous." He realized, in the same moment her eyes blazed with anger, just how much modern women despised that kind of protection.

"If you really had wanted to protect me you would have told me the truth - that your stalker was back, that he murdered Zander, and that he put pressure on you to get his dagger back. Just what did he threaten you with anyway that so completely fried your ability to think rationally?"

Henry just looked at her, "I thought I was being rational at the time." He hadn't examined his motives very closely, too afraid of what a closer examination would reveal.

"Do you ever give a straight answer?"

"I'm sorry detective." Henry took a deep breath, "Adam was there, when we found Zander. After you left me alone he revealed himself to me and threatened to kill anyone who got between him and his dagger." Adam had threatened to kill her, not in so many words, but with a simple look - which in its own way was far more terrifying.

"I see." She said, leaving no doubt in Henry's mind that she actually did. "Adam believes that the weapon that originally killed you the first time could actually kill you again."

"Yes."

"What killed you the first time?"

"A pistol," Abe spoke up for the first time. "Adam stole it from our safe while I was out having lunch. Henry brought it back from the hospital."

"The hospital?" Jo's eyes narrowed. "Why don't you tell me everything?"

So Henry did, beginning with his phone call to Adam after he got the pugio and arranging a meeting at the abandoned subway tunnel. Giving him the pugio and pretending to walk away. He wasn't sure what he thought Adam would do, his concern for Jo overriding every other rational thought. Jo had become his Achilles heel, the realization of just how faulty his thinking had been terrified him. When he finished, Jo was silent for a long time. She asked Abe to see the pistol, then paced the shop floor while Abe went to fetch it. Pointedly ignoring him, or lost in thought, Henry wasn't sure.

"What are you going to do?" He asked her at last.

"Seeing I'm not supposed to be speaking with you about this maybe it's best if you don't know."

"Fair enough," he said.

Abe brought up the pistol. Jo put on gloves and asked for a plastic bag. "I'll bring this back later," she promised, then left.