“You’re absolutely right. So if I said you did not have thoughts of being intimate with Sean that would be correct?” He smiled. “I need to check off the right box on the multiple choice test here.”
“God, I feel like I’m on the witness stand being cross-examined.”
“Self-examination can be even harder than getting drop-kicked by a skillful shyster in the courtroom. So, no feelings of intimacy toward the big teddy bear?”
“Just go with your gut, Doc. That’s all I can tell you.”
“That actually tells me a lot. Thank you.”
“Now that we’re finished with Sean, I suppose you’ll want to know if I wanted to sleep with my dad.”
“Let’s talk about that.”
“Come on, I wasn’t being serious.”
“I get that. But how is your relationship with your father? Good?”
“No, great! He was a police chief, retired now. He and Mom are in Hawaii on a second honeymoon. That’s the reason I didn’t want to let them know about me. They would’ve just rushed back.”
Horatio didn’t let on that he had already learned part of this from Sean. “Very thoughtful of you. Do you think they’d be surprised you’re here?”
“I hope they’d be stunned!”
“I understand your brothers are cops as well. Ever think of doing something else for a paycheck?”
Michelle shrugged. “Not really. I mean I had the usual pie-in-the-sky ambition to be a professional athlete, but that wasn’t going to happen.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re the first Olympian I’ve ever treated. A silver medal in rowing, Sean said.”
“Yeah,” she replied, a smile tugging at her mouth. “That was great. The high point of my life, or at least I thought so at the time. Maybe it was after all,” she added quietly.
“And then you were a cop for a while and then you joined the Secret Service. Any special reason for the change?”
“All my brothers were cops. I thought it would be cool to be a fed.”
“And your father was okay with that?”
“Not really. He wasn’t big on me being a cop actually.”
“And how’d that make you feel?”
“I understood. Daddy’s little girl and all. My mom didn’t like any of us being cops. But I did it anyway. I’m sort of independent.”
“You’ll be stunned to learn that one I’d already diagnosed,” Horatio
said. “So I take it you love your parents very much?”
“I’d do anything for them.”
Horatio looked a bit curious at this statement. “Would you give me permission to talk to them about you?”
“Not my parents, no!”
“How about one of your brothers?”
“You can talk to Bill, he’s the oldest, a state trooper in Florida.”
“Whatever you wish, milady.”