It was a cave. Granted it had some carpets and furniture, and a rather - no make that very - messy series of lab tables and a desk that was even messier. There were things bubbling on the worktables, and the place mostly smelled of, well, cave. Which was rather a surprise considering the things bubbling.

The man standing there, looking shocked and stricken when Simon and Bobbie Jo zapped in, was short and rather square, with thick glasses and an unruly mop of hair that was badly in need of a cut. He had several days worth of beard as if he'd forgotten to shave, and wore a stained lab coat over jeans and a tee shirt that had faded to gray from black from too many washings. It read, "I want to believe!" which was more like a plea than a prayer.  Bobbie had seen him before, but she didn't remember the lab being in a cave.

"You promised me, Simon! You PROMISED me you'd never bring anyone else here!"

"Yeah, well, she doesn't know where 'here' is Smitty, so you're still pretty safe."

"You PROMISED me!" Smitty yelled, a stubborn look on his face.  "I'd have met you at the other place!" Smitty hissed.

"Yeah, but, see, we need to talk."  Simon walked over to one of the steaming glass beakers, put on fire-resistant gloves and asked Bobbie, "Coffee?  It's actually pretty good."

"Uh yeah, sure," Bobbie said, reflecting on the fact that her tetanus shot was current.  "Smitty I'm really sorry we've upset you by coming here but it's actually pretty important and he's right, I've no idea where this place is."

"You threatened me," Smitty muttered, still not mollified.

"I was angry at Simon and took it out on you.  I apologize," she said.

Simon walked over with a steaming mug of coffee for Bobbie Jo. When she'd taken it he turned to Smitty. "Listen can we just talk for a minute?"

Smitty frowned but after a moment nodded.

Simon walked over to take a seat near the messy desk, cleaning off a second chair for Bobbie Jo. Smitty dropped into the wooden swivel desk car and stared at Bobbie.

"It's about the notebook," Simon began.

"I'm NOT giving it back," Smitty said before Simon could get any further.

"I'm not here to get it back," Bobbie said.  "So take a chill pill, okay?"

Smitty crossed his hands over his chest, looking like a 10 year old who was about to throw a tantrum.

"It's about the symbol you've been researching.  Bobbie Jo's sister needs to talk to you. I'd like you to go with us and bring your notes."

Smitty's mouth fell open. "Are you crazy?  That woman would kill me."

Bobbie set her mug aside, the coffee untasted.  "What woman?"

"The creepy one. Elihu isn't scary, he's kinda nice, but her... "  Smitty shivered.

Bobbie kept her face impassive by sheer will power alone.  "Elihu died, Smitty. I've very sorry.  And the person who wants to talk to you is one he left his things to.  Is the other person Miryam?"

"I dunno. His lover. Whatever her name is. She thinks I'm an idiot. Elihu died?"

"Yeah," Simon replied. "And he left everything to a young woman named Dia. She's the one I want you to talk to."

"Dia?  She's little ain't she?"

"Little?" Bobbie echoed.

"Ten? She looked like she was 10 to me."

"Uhm, she's grown up now," Smitty.  "Elihu left her everything."

"Oh. Not the witchy one?"

Bobbie shook her head.  This was like explaining something to a five year old who wasn't very bright.  "No and the little one, Dia, she's my sister and she needs your help to understand the things Elihu left her to care for."

"Oh.  I'll meet her at the other lab," Smitty said.

"No, I want you to come with us," Simon replied. "People are trying to hurt her and I think it might be best if we go to her.  Bring your notes."

"Wait... I don't think..." Smitty protested.

"Please," Simon said. "You agreed to do the research for Elihu. So you should give it to the woman who he left the stuff to."

"And we'll make sure nothing happens to you," Bobbie said.

Smitty looked from Bobbie to Simon and back again. Then asked, "Wny are you helping them, Simon?"

"Because I'm in love with Bobbie here and Dia's her sister."

"They don't look anything alike. How do you know they're really sisters?"

"We have different mothers, Smitty and the same father.  Please Smitty.  She really needs your help and if you'll do it, I'll fix you whatever you want for dinner," Bobbie said.

Smitty gave it some thought. "All right. But I'm not getting dressed up."

"You look just fine the way you are, honey.  No need to worry about that," Bobbie said, resisting the urge to sigh in relief.  It wasn't over yet.

Smitty got up and bustled around for awhile, digging three notebooks out of an untidy stack of them.  He looked around the lab as if trying to remember if there was anything else. Then he looked at Simon. "I'm trusting you, Si."

"Yeah, I know, Smitty. I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise."

Smitty nodded. "Okay then."

"Okay honey, here we go," Bobbie said and a second later they were at the townhouse in London, and she was knocking on the door.

Lev opened the door, looking them up and down. "Who's this then?"

"Smitty. He's done some research for Elihu and wants to tell Dia about it."

Lev peered down at him. Smitty cowered.  "All right," Lev finally said. "Come in."

"Who's he?" Smitty whispered to Bobbie Jo as Lev led them back toward Ian's study.

"He keeps us all safe," she said.  "He's a pussy cat, really, who only looks mean and you can't hold him responsible for that now can you?  He's a very nice man."

"I heard that," Lev said as he opened the door into Ian's study. Ian was sitting back behind his desk. Betty Jo was sitting on the corner of the desk looking down at him. Dia was surrounded by papers, notes she'd been making on what she'd learned at the British Museum.

Smitty looked around, and not finding the witchy woman there, breathed a sigh of relief.

Dia tilted her head at him.  "I know you, don't I?" she asked. 

"Dia, this is Smitty, he's been doing some research for Elihu," Bobbie said.

"Last time I saw you, you were this big," Smitty said, holding his hand out to indicate about 5 feet tall.  "I'm sorry that Elihu died."

"So am I Smitty.  He was a kind man.  Did you enjoy working for him?" she asked, sitting down on the sofa and patting the space next to her for him to sit down.  "Would you like something to drink while we talk?"

"No... Okay, maybe a Coke." Smitty sidled over to the sofa giving Lev and Ian both a wide berth. Simon sat near the door and Bobbie sat on the arm of that chair.

Ian must have told Edwards mentally about the Coke, because only a few minutes later Edwards arrived with a glass with ice in it and a can of Coke.

Smitty, during this time, had been looking at Dia's notes. He found a pen in the breast pocket of his lab coat and began scratching through some of them and adding margin notes to it.

"See, this," he said, pointing to one bit of research, "this is a false trail. Went down that road several years ago. Lots of false trails, to make you look in the wrong places."

She gave him a dazzling smile.  "Oh thank you.  You just helped a lot.  Now what about this one here?  Have you worked on that possibility?" she asked, pointing to a diagram on the next page.  "That one occurred to me based on the related symbology in the illuminations of the manuscript.  The repetitive thread, I mean."

Smitty studied it frowning. Simon poured his coke and handed it to him. He sipped and read. "That's good. But I think this bit here I have some additional notes on," he added, putting his coke on the rug and reaching for one of his notebooks, thumbing through it quickly. "See, here," he said showing the page to Dia. "Sorry, Simon says no one can read my writing."

"No it's fine.  No one can read mine either and you're doing great with it," Dia said absently.  She read through Smitty's notes and then groped for a pen.  "Oh this isn't going to work," she muttered and the next second there was a large chalkboard in front of the sofa.  "Look Smitty," she said, chalking up a diagram rapidly, "this is what you came up with and when you add in mine," she went on, still sketching swiftly, "we get this, and then, if we go back to..." She let it trail off as she drew the result, oblivious to everything else.

"Well," Betty Jo said, watching the two of them work, "I'm fascinated, but clueless."

Ian was obviously fascinated too, his attention on the chalkboard. "I've something on that sigil there, if you need it," he offered. "From some medieval tome I found somewhere."

Simon made a face. "Let's go out to the garden and let the geeks hash it out," he suggested to Bobbie and Betty.

"Uhm, Smitty, before we leave you guys to it, what do you want for dinner?" Bobbie asked.  "So I can do that for you."

Smitty looked up, thought for a minute, then said, "Chicken fried steak with sawmill gravy."

She nodded.  "Cream corn, too?  With fried potatoes and biscuits?"

"Yeah!"

Ian looked horrified. Lev, leaning against a convenient wall, just grinned.

"I'll call you when it's ready, sweetie," Bobbie promised.  "You guys have fun."

Smitty was still eating the last few bites of his apple cobbler (after eating every bite of the chicken-fried steak, gravy, potatoes and biscuits) when two additional guests popped in for a visit.

"Hey y'all," Leroy said, looking at the empty plate enviously.  "I see things, are, uhm, progressing."

Bobbie laughed.  "There's more if you'd like some, honey," she said, and went to fix him a plate without waiting for him to say yes.

After Leroy had almost licked his plate clean, he said, to the gathered assembly, "Remember I said I'd seen that symbol before?  Well, I was darn positive it was on a tapestry I'd seen in the vault. But I've been through the vault four times now, and even reviewed the logs, and it just ain't there."

"But it's on the inventory," Billie said, accepting a fresh cup of tea.  "Of all the stuff that came over from Langley."

"Was there a photographic inventory made?" Betty Jo asked.  "When we got the stuff?"

"Not that I've found, and I've been through the stuff several times. All I can find is an itemized list," Leroy replied.

"You could see if Langley had one," Betty suggested.  "They often do that so there's no disputes over the condition of the articles down the line.  They'll video each item as it's packed for transport."

"Good idea," Leroy agreed. "I'll check with them."

"Tapestry?" Smitty asked, surfacing from his mental playground to pay attention to their conversation.