Justin,” Mitchell said. “And if you want to talk any further about this, you can call my lawyer.”
There wasn’t much room left for negotiation, so I checked my watch, made noises about how late I was (which was true), and headed out the door. I beat the kids home by about ten minutes, which is the last sentence you’ll ever read from me that starts with “I beat the kids”. . unless we’re talking about a game of “Trivial Pursuit,” in which I’m a merciless competitor. Ask a freelancer about trivial stuff, and you’re bound to strike gold.
Ethan wasn’t any less surly than usual, and no more so, and when a boy is about to become a teenager, that’s really the most you can expect. He did his homework, grumbling, and showed it to me, with even more grumbling, but without the four-alarm meltdown we’d had the day before. Some days, that’s good enough.
Leah, anticipating the arrival of her relatives, was less effervescent than usual, but seemed to know she stood a decent chance of getting a present out of the visit. Knowing her uncle Howard, I was willing to bet it’d be a swell bag of peanuts with “Continental Airlines” printed on one side, but perhaps I was projecting just a bit.
Just before I was going to start making dinner, Lori Shery called. I filled her in on my monumental lack of progress with Justin Fowler, and she, being Lori, expressed her concern that she’d asked me too big a favor.
“I’ve asked you to do something that’s impossible,” she said.
“You expect it because you do impossible things three times a week,” I reminded her.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked. Lori should have that put on a business card, or have a tape loop made of her saying it, to cut down on needless repetition.
“Talk to some doctors,” I said, knowing that “no, I can handle it” would have been unacceptable to Lori. “Psychologists, neurologists, people like that. Give them the details of the case as you understand it, and see if they can poke any holes in the theory that Justin shot Michael Huston just because he was the first guy he encountered. The more experts we have, the better off we are. And if you get any good ones, tell them I’ll be calling to do an interview.”
Lori already sounded more upbeat now that she had an assignment. I’m the same way, but I generally get paid when I have an assignment. “Anything else, boss?” she asked.
“You don’t know any gun experts, do you?” I asked her.
“No, but you do,” she said. “Justin Fowler. You know you can ask him anything about guns, and you’ll have a hard time getting him to stop. He is one of our children, after all.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say it quite like that,” I said. “Abby gets jealous so easily.”
“Right.”
Abigail hadn’t known exactly when Howard and his entourage (pardon me, family) would be showing up, so I made enough dinner for four of us, since a) I assumed they’d eat on the plane, b) I knew the correct proportions for four people, and was at best questionable as a chef and c) I didn’t really care whether Howard ate or not.
It occurred to me at this point that it was possible I wasn’t entering the week-to-come with the proper attitude. I didn’t really care about that, either, I decided.
But Abby did, and if there’s one thing on this earth I do care about, it’s her. So I’d have to at least make the best attempt I could to get along with her brother—right after dinner.
On a day like today, any excuse to turn on the oven would do, so I made a meat loaf, which with my level of expertise, was basically a large, baked hamburger. Put some mashed potatoes on it, and it’s a Shepherd’s Pie. Just in case, I tossed some potatoes into a pot with water and put it on the stove. Never let it be said I didn’t make an effort.
Ethan had long since ascended to PlayStation Heaven and Leah was in the living room listening to a Harry Potter book on her Walk-person. We’d borrowed the audiobook from the library, since Leah liked the way the man reading the book changed his voice for each character. She was laughing out loud when Warren stood up, walked to the front door, and started to whimper at the top of his admittedly low-to-the-ground lungs. The