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"We all have our own personal skill set, Watson Not all of us are professional heartbreakers"

"Is there a real reason why I’ Marie-Helene for coffee this afternoon? Or are you just feeling punchy?"

She lofted the book up in the air Gifte, the title read, on awhat I want for Christmas?" I asked "Or should I suddenly be able to speak German?"

"Poisons, Watson The word s you can’t tell fro staff, asabout LeanderI’s I know about my mother’s medical history Try to narrohat she’s been exposed to, and froone, you know, and now I have access to his labs To his techs! It’s going to be an excellent afternoon"

"I thought we’d have this case solved by ht," I said

"We will"

"This case Not the one with your parents"

"Obviously, they’re connected Occam’s razor, Watson How often are your family members kidnapped and poisoned inside the same week?" Her words were flip, but her voice wasn’t "The si up, as it were While you’re using this girl as an in Pump her for inforross puns?"

"I’m just not up for it--"

"Stop" What did it say about us, that the best we’d gotten along in days e were planning et a look inside Marie-Helene’s studio, ask her friends soet a read on Nathaniel before we stake out East Side Gallery tonight But I’ood" Like she was donning a cape, Holmes threw her ratty robe over her clothes and tucked her book under her arm "And Watson," she said, "wear your fedora," and she snickered to herself all the way down the hall

MARIE-HELENE LIKED MY HAT SHE LIKED MY BOOTS, TOO, and the band shirt I ith , since I’d never listened to theloved hands, "Faulkner’s always been my favorite, but I like Murakami a lot, too They’re so different, it’s hard to choose between the outside the café where she’d wanted to meet, a half block from her studio She’d pointed it out to me earlier--the steepled roof, the brick walls--and I aiting for an excuse to ask to see it

"And graphic novels I think they’re what gotin the first place" She sipped at her drink The fuzzy ball on the top of her hat bobbled back and forth "Are you okay? You look distracted again"

I forced a shts, love," I said, and I was I wanted toI wanted to be back at Greystone with new evidence I wanted to knohen talking to a French girl about our favorite authors on a snowy street in Berlin stopped being et to her studio so I could rifle through her things while she was in the bathroo out with Charlotte Holmes had made me into a monster At tiet into art?"

"Well, once I got lost in the Louvre--wait," she said, frowning "I thought I told you that already, at the Old Met"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>