All Dressed in White

15

She was greeted by the smell of chicken roasting in the kitchen and the familiar sounds of cartoon fighting from the living room. Pow! Hah! Timmy was playing Super Smash Bros. on his Wii, while Leo read the sports section on the sofa. Laurie had tried to restrict Timmy from these types of games for as long as possible, but even she had been forced to cave.

“Mario doesn’t stand a chance,” Laurie said, recognizing one character on the screen battling her son’s virtual self.

Timmy unleashed a lethal kick and then let out a satisfied “Yesss!” He scrambled up to hug her.

“There she is,” Leo said as he stood up. “How was your meeting with Brett?”

Laurie smiled, appreciative that her father remembered that today had been the scheduled pitch. “Better than I could have expected.”

“What was his reaction to the cases you were torn between?”

“Forget them. Something really terrific came up today.” She gave him the short version of the surprise visit from Sandra. “Do you remember the case?”

“Vaguely. I was still on the job back then, so there were enough crimes in New York to keep me busy.”

Laurie heard the musical chime of a game coming to an end, and Timmy set his controller down. Obviously, he had been listening to them. “So does this mean you’re going to be leaving again?” he asked, a touch of anxiety in his voice.

Laurie knew that Timmy worried about her schedule. When they filmed the last special, she decided to pull him from school for two weeks while his grandfather watched over him on the set in California. She couldn’t possibly do that for every installment.

“You’re going to like this one,” she told him. “Instead of going somewhere so far away, it’s in Florida, and that’s only a two- to three-hour flight. If the project is approved, I’m even hoping to schedule it for next month before you go back to school.”

“Is there a water park?”

Laurie sent a mental thank-you to Grace, who had already looked up that kind of pertinent information. “Yep. They’ve got a slide that’s forty-feet high in one of the pools.”

“Awesome. And will Alex be there?” Timmy asked. “I bet he’d try the slide with me.”

Sometimes Laurie worried how excited Timmy was about Alex being part of their lives. She’d made a point of not rushing their relationship, but of course earlier in the day, her mind had leapt to the same place as Timmy’s, picturing herself with Alex on the beach.

“Yes,” she said, “Alex is an important part of the show. I’ve checked with him. He’s ready to go. And Grace and Jerry will be there, too,” she added.

“Grace is probably chartering a private plane for all her shoes,” Leo said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Two hours later, as Laurie cleared the dishes from the table, a text message from Jerry came in. He was still at the office and had contact information for everyone they wanted for the show. Can’t wait to get started! he said.

His college-aged obsession was proving handy already. As Laurie thought about the various people she needed for the production, she worried that the groom and his new wife were absolutely essential. No matter what Sandra had promised, they were also both lawyers, which might make them reluctant to cooperate.

Fortunately, Laurie knew an excellent attorney who could be extremely persuasive. She sent a quick text to Alex, who was the guest of honor at a trial skills conference in Boston for the weekend: Any chance you have some time Monday night? It might take a couple of hours. It’s about the show. And please bring your car. I hope we get to meet with one or two of the participants.

His response was immediate: I always have time for you.

She replied, I’ll call Monday morning with details. Good night, Alex.

Smiling, she plugged her phone into the charger.