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"Lottie," Alistair said, blocking the doorway "What are you doing up here?"

"Have you seen Uncle Leander?" she asked hi her hands "He was supposed to take Jamie and me to town for the day"

I wondered how, exactly, one lied to a Holmes; I’d never successfully done it myself Could you actually pull it off if you were one, too?

Frohter, I decided you couldn’t

"He left last night One of his contacts in Ger suspicious of his continued absence" He waved an errant hand "Of course, he said he loves you, wishes you well, et cetera"

There was a rustle, and Hol an ar to step around hiht she’d be in her roo a very bad day"

"But I--" And she ducked under his outstretched arm and into his study

The hospital bed was nowhere to be found I hadn’t seen Emma Holmes in days and had assu out on the sofa like she’d fallen there Her ash-blond hair hung li a robe not unlike her daughter’s, thrown over a set of pajamas that looked wrinkled and sour As I opened lanced over at Hol like my family’s flat, where you tripped over each other on your way to the bathrooo weeks and see only palestaircases, invisible plastic chairs You could start to believe you were the only person in the world

"What are your plans for Christmas?" her mother asked abruptly Her voice cahter" But she was looking at Alistair, and with anger It must have been terrible to be this way, prone and weak, when you were used to co the room

Alistair cleared his throat "Lottie, your brother has just expressed an interest in you staying in Berlin for the holiday"

"Oh," Hol her hands in her pockets I could hear theto life "Has he"

"Don’t exhaust your mother," he said "We can have a rational conversation about this"

"She has to go" E crab Her breathing was labored