Henry's old apartment. Saturday afternoon. May 7, 2005.

"Whoa," said Henry when he opened the door to his former apartment. The flooring had been pulled up, with a stack of hardwood planks in a corner probably being saved for reuse later. The kitchen had been torn out, and the wall between the two apartments was demolished. The effect was almost disorienting. They'd spent the morning giving Neal a tour of the university where Noelle taught, and had stopped for lunch on their way here. He'd taken the opportunity to stuff himself with Maryland's famous blue crab, but now Henry's stomach was churning.

He walked to the windows. "If not for the view, I wouldn't recognize this place."

Noelle followed and glanced at Joe. "I thought you said the construction didn't start until next month?"

"That was the original schedule. Graham said he wanted to push that up if he could. Looks like he got his wish."

"Why the rush?" Neal asked.

Henry was wondering the same thing. It was weird to think of his grandparents living anywhere but the home they'd owned since before he was born. They were so active and vibrant that he'd been taken aback last night about the comment that they were getting older. Did one of them have a serious health issue?

The extra day to plan this con — mystery, he corrected himself. The extra day hadn't been enough. There was too much background information that Joe hadn't shared. If this was only a con of some stranger maybe it wouldn't matter, but these were people he loved, and he was too much in the dark. If they ever planned another mystery, he'd take over and run it himself.

Noelle placed a comforting hand on his back, which meant he'd slipped and let his feelings show. "Is something wrong, sweetheart?"

He shrugged as he struggled for something to say. "I honestly can't imagine them living here."

She smiled at him. "When you see them moved in with their furniture, it will feel more natural. Looking at it now, it's hard to imagine anyone living here. I hope your place in New York was more finished when you moved in."

"It had good bones. At least that's what Eric said," Henry explained, referring to the architect Joe had recommended. "There's still work going on, but nothing this extreme. The big project is the new office space I leased for Win-Win." He turned his attention to Joe, "Getting back to Neal's question, why the rush here?"

"Two factors, I think. First is Julia's involvement. You know she took the lead in the design of their sailboat?"

Henry nodded.

"Once she reviewed the details of what I was proposing here, she dove in headfirst. Her love of math took over and she was calculating the ideal layout for the kitchen, the exact sizes of the rooms to best fit their furniture, and so on. She was developing some kind of mathematical theory behind it all, and the more she got into it, the more eager she was to see her formulas translated into the physical space. And then there's your grandfather." Now Joe looked a little sheepish.

"What about Pops?"

"A few weeks ago I introduced him to a couple I'd met through another of my projects. Recent transplants to Baltimore, they're living in an apartment while they look for the perfect house. They have kids and need a big space. Your grandparents' home would be perfect for them, but they're under a time crunch. They need to move into their new home in less than six months. After he met them, Graham asked me if this project could be finished by then."

"Can it?" Noelle asked.

"In theory, if the crew doesn't split their time on other projects, I could see it being done in five months. Honestly, I introduced the couple to Graham because I thought he might know of another house in his neighborhood that was for sale or going on the market soon. I met Graham at the wedding, but most of what I knew about him came from Peter's descriptions of interactions between Win-Win and the FBI. He called Graham shrewd, smart, hard-nosed, and an expert negotiator. I didn't expect your ex-father-in-law to turn into a marshmallow when he met this couple."

That made Henry grin. "That's Pops. Did he offer to move out of the house and live in the sailboat if this condo isn't ready before the family needs to move?"

"Not yet," Joe said. Then he grinned back. "Maybe your grandparents will want to stay at your place instead. How would you like some houseguests for a few weeks? Or months? Construction projects are notorious for delays."

"Right. Can I lend a hand here this weekend, to help the crew stay on schedule?"

Joe patted Henry on the back. "I'll let you know if they fall behind."

It was a nice moment of bonding, but Henry couldn't help noticing how quiet Neal had been. "You okay, kiddo?"

"I don't see the desk anywhere, but there's an area where the floor is less dusty than everywhere else," he said.

Neal was sticking to the script, and Henry couldn't count how many times he'd wished for Neal to do that during schemes over the years. Now that he was finally following the plan, it was worrying.

Noelle walked over to take a look. "That's the size I remember the desk being." She turned around, studying the floor. "Those tracks look like they were made by wheels. Something was here, and then recently was picked up and loaded onto a cart." She followed the tracks, until they disappeared beneath the footprints they'd left when they entered. "Rolled out and taken away." She returned to where Neal was standing and crouched to lift a beige piece of cloth that was crumpled on the floor. "This looks like a dust cover that might have been over the desk when it was stored here. Oh, look!" She picked up an ornamental brass key that had been hidden by the cloth. She stood and handed it to Neal.

"Do you recognize it?" he asked.

"Yes. It looks exactly like the key to my desk. I'm certain itwas here. The key was probably in the lock and fell out when they moved it."

"We're on the right track, then," Joe said. "You're right about your in-laws storing the desk here recently to keep it out of sight. With the construction starting they needed to move it out of the way. It could be in a storage facility or with whoever they hired to refinish it."

"If we were in New York we could take the key to the FBI to run the fingerprints." Neal shrugged. "We've kind of contaminated the evidence, though."

"We could run the prints at Win-Win," Henry suggested, going off script to see what Neal would do.

"You can do that?" Joe asked, clearly surprised.

"Win-Win is a law unto itself sometimes," Noelle said, "and I've been trying to convince Henry that isn't normal or good. We are definitely not using company resources to answer a question of personal curiosity."

"You sound a little like Peter right now," Neal said.

"He has a good head on his shoulders," Noelle said. "Now, enough of this nonsense. I'll learn the truth about the desk when Graham and Julia intended for me to learn it. Let's get started on normal Mother's Day weekend activities. I want flowers."

Henry decided that was the perfect excuse to spend time with Joe, getting more information and strategizing. "We'll drop you and Neal at your place. Joe and I'll go shopping."

Noelle's townhouse.

When they were dropped off at the townhouse, Noelle led Neal to the back porch, where there were several pots filled with dirt. "These are the remnants of last Mother's Day. Henry always brings me flowers to brighten my porch through the spring and summer. We need to dump out this dirt. They'll bring potting soil with them."

Glad he was wearing jeans, Neal sat on the ground and upended a planter.

Noelle sat beside him, using a spade to empty another planter. "Did you hide that key under the dust cover?" she asked.

She didn't look angry about it. Neal decided his best bet was to give a partial confession and figure how much she knew. "How did you guess?"

"I kept thinking about that desk last night. It simply didn't make sense for Graham and Julia to move it to Henry's apartment. If they wanted it out of the way, why not leave it in The House? I hadn't been there for years."

"Until yesterday. There was always the risk you'd drop in. You were thinking about moving back."

"Hmm. Yes, but I hadn't told them about that plan. The chances of me showing up there were slim. If they were concerned about it, though, they could have moved it to a storage unit. That would have been much more practical."

Was his first Mother's Day with Noelle going to be a bust? It seemed like their plan to amuse her had turned into an annoyance instead. "I see your point."

"Are all three of you in on it?" She didn't wait for an answer, but nodded. "Yes, you are. What are Joe and Henry up to now?"

"I think they're negotiating some kind of truce, because they both like to be in charge and they're kind of stepping on each other's toes. I can tell them to put an end to this if you want, but I promise, it's not a con. They... I mean, we thought you'd enjoy a mystery."

"Will this all be wrapped up before you leave?"

"We're nearly at the end. You'll solve it tomorrow." He made a point of looking around to make sure no one was listening. "We even read a Nancy Drew novel to get into the spirit of it. Well, we read most of it. Henry and I kinda got off track a few times arguing about who was the culprit. We plan to finish it on the drive back to New York."

She gave him a goofy grin. "You did that for me?"

"Well, yeah." He saw a brightness in her eyes that might be tears and he decided to change the subject. "Yesterday when we were talking about childhood bedrooms, we didn't ask about yours."

"Which one? We moved so many times. Dad's assignments in the diplomatic corps usually lasted one or two years at most. The house in D.C. was meant to be our home base, but we didn't really live there much until I started high school. Mom worked some magic to get us based there for a few years, and then she stayed with us our senior year when Dad was sent overseas again. You know, my older brother got tired of the moving before we did. He decided to attend a boarding school in D.C. from the time he started junior high, and he joined us abroad for summers and holidays."

"So you don't think of D.C. as home?"

"Oddly enough, I do. Mostly because Mom and Dad are there, I suppose. And do you think of St. Louis as home?"

"I did, growing up. But not anymore. Mom left after I ran away, and even Ellen's moved away now. I don't see much point in going back, so no, it doesn't feel like home anymore."

"What about the Burke's home?"

Neal thought about it. "Kind of. I feel at home there, if you know what I mean. It was the same way spending last Thanksgiving at Peter's parents' house. I felt like I belonged." He smiled. "And the Burke family cabin, too. Is that weird?"

"I think it's good. I hope once Joe and I get settled someplace, you'll feel at home there, too."

"Yeah, and there's Henry's new apartment. He's made it clear he expects me to hang out with him sometimes. It'll probably start to feel homey, too."

"What about your loft?"

"Can I borrow that?" Neal took the spade to remove the dirt that was stuck inside the planter. "It does, and it doesn't. The loft, I mean. I like being there, and it feels like my escape when I want to be alone. I don't feel like I need to ask permission to have anyone over. But it's part of June's house. It's her furniture. So in some ways I feel like a guest."

"I remember you thought you'd be disinvited when Byron died. June said she considered the loft yours as long as you wanted."

"Yeah, that helped."

"Have you thought about what would make it seem more like your own place?"

"No, not really. I mean, I've thought about changing some things, but like I said, it's June's furniture." When Noelle simply looked at him expectantly he elaborated, "The TV is a monster from the 1990s. If I could get rid of it and bring in a flat screen, that would leave more space for guests."

"That sounds like a perfectly reasonable change to make, especially if you plan to live there for several years. Why not talk to June about it?"

"Yeah, I will."

"Good for you! Now I have a question I've been dying to ask. Do you know what's in that pillowcase Henry brought from The House?"

Neal shook his head. "No idea, and as far as I know it's not related to the mystery you're supposed to solve."

"Good! He left it here last night, and I wanted to peek. Let's hurry before they get back."

As Henry had told them, there were shoes, a book and an extremely odd looking toy. It seemed to be a plastic rendition of a rolled up newspaper. The headline read Man Bites Dog, and when Noelle squeezed it, it squeaked. She gave Neal a watery smile and said, "This was Lulu's favorite."

"Oh, right. Henry's dog. What happened to her?"

"She died about a year before the divorce. Every once in a while I'd ask if Henry wanted to get another dog, but he always said no. I didn't realize he kept her toy."

"You think he wants to get a dog now? He travels so much for his job, it doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Eventually he'll have a team there in New York and they can share the travel. I think it would be a great idea for Henry to have a dog again. Talk about making his new place into a home, a pet to welcome him home would be the perfect touch." She put the toy back in the pillowcase. "What book did he bring?"

"A Hardy Boys mystery." Neal held it up for her to see. "Looks new."

"He never read it. I gave it to him, oh, it must have been his twelfth birthday. I'd been such a fan of Nancy Drew, I was certain he'd love the Hardy Boys. But his father was already working hard to turn him into a miniature detective, and he simply couldn't bring himself to read a mystery for pleasure. I think leaving it behind when we left was symbolic of leaving behind everything his father represented."

"You think he'll read it now?"

"Who knows? I'd guess the story will pale in comparison to the adventures the two of you had over the years."

They heard the overhead garage door open, and hastily put the pillowcase back where Henry had left it.

Joe and Henry entered with their arms full of purple flowers. "Larkspurs!" Noelle said. "You remembered."

"Told you she'd call them larkspurs," Henry said. "Joe kept saying they were delphiniums."

"That's what the sign said," Joe protested.

"Let's get these outside," Noelle said, putting the men to work transplanting the flowers into the now empty planters. Since the larkspurs were a Mother's Day gift, she sat on one of the outdoor chairs to watch.

"Mom always wanted larkspurs, if we could find them," Henry said as he showed Neal how much potting soil to pour into the planters. "She had a book about them and she was obsessed with it." He looked up at Noelle. "Do you still have the book?"

"Yes. Remind me to show it to you. I think you'll find it enlightening." She winked at Neal.

"You wouldn't let me touch it when I was a kid," Henry complained.

"I was concerned you and Lulu would tear it apart. You were a little ruffian, in case you've forgotten. Now I think you're grown up enough to appreciate it."

Henry gave her a sideways look. "Wait. This isn't some kind of erotic —"

Noelle laughed. "Far from it. I've had that book since I was nine, as I recall."

"You were a ruffian, too," Henry muttered. "I've heard the stories."

"Books can typically survive one ruffian. Two is too many. Now get back to work on my flowers."