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Martin drank his coffee, said nothing, only nodded

"That’s a very good idea," Janet said as she sat herself on the other end of the sofa, as close to her husband as she could get without cli into his lap

Sherlock answered before the second note sounded in Bolero

"Sherlock, it’s ’s under control He’s cal me what’s happened to hiotiator, they can stand down, at least put away their weapons There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt now"

He heard her speaking, then she was back on the cell "Chief Gerber won’t go for it You need to tell hi certain Chief Gerber kneasn’t under any duress

"Yes, I’ an excellent cup of tea at this very moment There’s a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of irls I think it would be best if you dispersed the neighbors, told the at Martin like he’s some sort of freak ill flip out when he walks out of here"

There was a long pause, then Chief Gerber said, "I’ll do that, Agent Savich Your wife said that if I don’t believe you Iit up and sail to Fiji Not a bad idea, really But you’ve got to know that none ofhere until I see Martin Thornton in custody and everyone safely out of that house"

"Believe me, Chief Gerber, I appreciate that Thank you for your cooperation That will take some more time Oh yes, would you please tell er?" He shut off the cell and slipped it back into his jacket pocket

"You don’t pull any punches, do you?" Janet Thornton said, a dark eyebrow arched up a good inch

"No reason to Both of you know exactly what the score is, what’s going on outside Chief Gerber is a good hbors, I’uys should un, or police cars all over the neighborhood, not when they’ve got kids around"

"No, you don’t pull any punches," Martin said "Yes, we’ll ht that far ahead yet"

"Of course not," Savich said "Do you feel like getting back to it, Martin?"

"Yes"

"Tell raduated, without saying a word to your father"

"When he looked ht in the eye and tolddied inside I simply couldn’t accept who he was or what he was I re my old man had lied to me, flat-out lied, not because of me, mind you, but because of his wife, Jenny, hters I realized I had nothing to do with his new life If he could, I think he would have swept me under the carpet or tossed ent Sherlock, said that isn’t true at all When she spoke to your father, he was frantic to knohere you were"

Martin’s clear brown eyes, very intelligent eyes, had no shadows or madness in them now, just disbelief "It may have suited the moment I really don’t believe him"

Savich nodded "You know him better than we But tell me why you erased yourself"

"Erasedthe words "Yes, I suppose I did that I got a whole new identity It’s not hard to do if you live in Boston, and are willing to take so addicts--until I found the people illing to sell ot a social security nu I needed, and then I hitchhiked out of Boston, didn’t tell a single person where I was going Actually, I didn’t know o?"

"I went out to Seattle at first, got a job puh school The dreams stopped then It seemed that when I found out about my mother’s murder, I didn’t need to drea is, I wanted to remember my mother, I wanted to knohat she was like I wanted to knoho murdered her and why But the dreams never told me that" He stopped suddenly, stuck out his hand for Janet to take, and said, "I dated I slept with irlfriend when I was nineteen I felt like a man I felt normal"