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Monday morning, Harri Winters’ eyelids popped open, and she rolled over on her back. Some wrongness had infiltrated her sleep. No, it was the absence of something.
It was still dark outside. She was in her own bed in her own bedroom in her loft from the greenish glow of her alarm clock. Her husband Tim lay beside her, snoring slightly. She inhaled deeply.
That was it. A lack of coffee aroma from the loft across the hall. Even though Rey didn’t drink the beverage himself, he always got up early to make Aisha a pot of coffee.
Tim jerked upright. “What’s wrong?”
Harri chuckled. “I never realized how much we depended on Rey to start our own days.”
Tim groaned and flopped down on the mattress. “This is why we should get a coffee pot with a timer.”
She cuddled against his side and pulled the covers over them both. “Can’t you install a timer on our current coffee maker?”
“I could.” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. “But it’s kind of a waste of my talents considering coffee pots with timers are already on the market.” He yawned.
“It’s too quiet with them gone,” she murmured. “I kind of wished Molly would have taken the Garcias’ offer to loft-sit while they’re in France just for the noise.”
Tim laughed. “You want her throwing parties across the hall?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“When does Aisha start back to work?”
“Today,” Harri said. “I don’t think it’s her being gone that bothers me as much as missing some of our godson’s milestones. Mitch will be walking by the time they return to the states.”
“Let’s just pray he’s not flying yet when they get back,” Tim said. “Regular parents do not realize how fast toddlers can be. If Mitch ends up with Rey and Aisha’s power set, he’ll be hell to deal with.”
“Locks on the cookie jar?”
“I was thinking more of a titanium-reinforced safe for all the junk food.”
Harri giggled at the idea. “You could probably sell that to a ton of parents.”
“Heck, I could use one to keep you from eating all my Girl Scout cookies next month.”
“I said I was sorry!”
“Prove it.”
She rolled on top of him and launched her very thorough apology.
##
Later that morning, Harri took her first sip from her second cup of coffee when the intercom buzzed. She glanced at the two clocks displayed on the corner of her laptop’s monitor. Nine a.m. in Canyon Pointe equated to five p.m. in Paris. Aisha was right on time.
Harri jabbed the intercom button. “Yes?”
“Cathy Blanchett from the 126th Family Court is on line 1 for you,” Patty Ames chirped. Their paralegal, receptionist and all around Girl Friday was the only person at the firm who was more of a morning person than Harri.
“Thanks. If Aisha calls while I’m on the phone with the court, tell her I’ll call her back in a few minutes.”
“Sure thing,” Patty said.
Harri picked up the receiver and punched the flashing button. “Hey, Cathy, what can I do for you?”
“It’s your turn to play ad litem,” the court clerk replied.
“Already?” Harri sat back in her chair. “I just signed up in December.” In fact, her husband, her foster siblings, and all her staff insisted she volunteer as an ad litem in the family courts. Apparently, everyone was fed up with her mothering them.
“The judge needs someone with supers experience, Harri.” Cathy sighed. “The parents are in the middle of an ugly divorce, and she wants someone who will actually look out for the kid.”
“Are the parents supers?” Harri straightened in her chair and flipped her legal pad to a clean page.
“Nope, but they’re both looking at the kid as a meal ticket, which is why there’s a huge battle for custody.” Cathy paused a second before she added, “Harri, if you don’t take custody of him, you know the NSB will. Special Agent Nesmith said they’d back off if you are assigned as ad litem. He was adamant no one else would do.”
Special Agent Wilbur Nesmith had become a particular thorn in Harri’s backside. He was doing his damnedest to earn the firm’s trust. But someone within the National Superhero Bureau had set up Rey to be abducted and experimented on by Professor Paranoia, so trust of the NSB didn’t come easy to anyone at Winters and Franklin.
And Harri knew she’d be lying to herself if she thought Rey, Aisha, and Mitch were totally safe from the U.S. government while they were in France.
“All right.” She sighed. “I’m assuming you already made arrangements for me to meet with the kid?”
“The next hearing is scheduled for two this afternoon to decide who gets temporary custody,” Cathy said. “Can you be here?”
“Nothing like waiting until the last minute,” Harri grumbled. “Yes, I’ll be there. How old is he?”
“Thirteen.”
Line 2 started blinking on Harri’s phone set.
“Cathy, can you shoot me a copy of the file by e-mail? I’ve got an international call scheduled for now.”
“Sure thing,” the court clerk chirped. “See you at two.”
Harri clenched her teeth. If this kid’s case didn’t keep her mind off her godson, nothing else on earth would.
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