He wore Buddy Holly glasses and a black dress shirt and slacks. Like everybody else in this damn place, He was staring at his phone. Like most parents of small children, the guy looked tired.

Heinrich sat opposite him. “Mr. Murphy?” he asked.

“Ah, Mr. Müller, glad you could make it.” They shook hands. Heinrich hoped Brixton’s hand hadn’t been wiping the brat’s nose or anything.

“How can I help?” Best to cut to the chase. Heinrich didn’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.

Brixton’s face assumed a pained look that emphasized the circles under his eyes.

“It’s my wife. Casey left me and took one of our daughters.”

“Kidnapping is a police matter.”

Brixton gave a little shrug. “It’s not really kidnapping, and I don’t want the police involved.”

My clients never do, Heinrich thought. Out loud he said, “I think you need to explain better.”

Brixton shook his head. “Sorry, my mind’s been in a muddle. Everything’s happening so fast.”

“It’s all right. Take your time.”

“Zhe just up and left one day, taking our daughter Arizona with zir. That was a week ago. I found out only yesterday that zhe was in Amsterdam.”

Heinrich blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

Murphy began repeating his statement. Heinrich stopped him.

“Who’s Zhe?” Heinrich asked.

“Oh, that’s Casey’s preferred pronoun.”

“Huh?”

“Casey is gender fluid. Zir preferred pronoun is zhe because zhe doesn’t adhere to any traditional gender definitions. At times zhe feels more like a woman, and at other times more like a man, but always somewhere in between.”

“But she gave birth to your kids. That makes her a woman.”

A flicker of annoyance crossed Murphy’s face. “Just because zhe has a uterus doesn’t mean zhe’s a woman.”

Heinrich laughed so hard, people at the other tables glanced over at him.

“If you’re going to be phobic, I can get another detective!” Murphy snapped.

That woke up the baby nestled in his sling. The kid started to cry.

“Aw crap, I’m sorry,” Heinrich said.

“Sadly, I’m used to it. But try to be a little more open-minded, OK?” Murphy said, stroking the baby’s head.

Actually, I was apologizing for waking up your kid, Heinrich thought.

“Shhh, it’s OK, Serenity,” Brixton whispered as he pulled out a milk bottle.

Heinrich waited as Murphy comforted the baby and gave her some milk. He suspected it was soy milk, judging from the disgusted look on her face and the fact that she spat up more of it than she swallowed. Poor kid.

Once she had quieted down, Heinrich said, “How about you tell me everything that happened.”

Murphy took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Casey and I had a happy marriage, or at least I thought so. We both make good money. I have a social media startup and zhe’s a professional dominatrix.”

Heinrich suppressed a chuckle. Murphy went on.

“I thought we were happy.