He and Olivia stepped out of the Porsche and into bitter cold and a vicious wind that whipped the tree branches. They hurried, heads down, to the covered front porch, relieved when Dr. Emanuel Hicks immediately opened the solid oak front door of his beloved colonial. He waved them in and quickly closed the door.

Dr. Hicks shook Savich’s hand, inquired after Sherlock, then turned to Olivia. “You’re my first visitor from the CIA.” He studied her face. “Do you know, I was picturing an Amazon from how Agent Savich described you.”

Amazon? Olivia liked the sound of that, made her think of Wonder Woman. “Where could I get a chariot and a breastplate?”

Savich laughed. “Dr. Hicks, this is Agent Olivia Hildebrandt.”

He took Olivia’s hand in his, held it, and smiled down at her, not that far down because she was tall, a lovely young woman, her thick French braid showcasing her strong face with its high cheekbones and dark, nearly navy blue eyes. He said, “Your hair, my Mary has nearly the same, so many shades. She calls the color chestnut. Do come in. Agent Savich asked me to see you here because he didn’t think you’d be comfortable in a nest of FBI students at the academy in Quantico.”

He gave her a smile impossible to resist and Olivia smiled back. She studied him a moment. He was a tall man, skinny as a sapling, with beautiful, gentle, kind eyes. “On our drive here, Dillon said you impersonate Elvis, that you always play to a full house.” She grinned. “He also told me you have to belt a pillow around your middle.”

“That I do. My wife, Mary, always tries to fatten me up, but it’s no go.”

“Do you play ‘Heartbreak Hotel’? My grandmother says once upon a time she danced the night away to that song.”

“Oh yes, but my specialty is ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ Now, Mary left some tea and scones out for us. Let’s go back to my study.”

They followed Dr. Hicks into a long high-ceilinged room with French windows at the back, giving onto a walled-in garden. Olivia imagined it would be beautiful when spring arrived, ivy and roses twining up the mellow red brick. It was a masculine room, obviously Dr. Hicks’s study, all soothing earth colors and three walls of floor-to-ceiling books. A fire burned in an old blackened fireplace. It was cozy and welcoming, the morning sunlight pouring in an added bonus.

Dr. Hicks waved her to a worn burgundy leather sofa. “Do sit down. May I call you Olivia?”