Page 72 of Feared

“Mary, you were rushed to the doctor yesterday—”

“I wasn’trushed.”

“Honey, come on.”

“I wasn’trushed,” Mary repeated. “I was sitting in a meeting and I had to leave the meeting.”

“All I’m saying is, you don’t want anything to happen to the baby and neither do I. Because that would be unthinkable, and you would never forgive yourself.”

“Nothing is going to happen to the baby.” Mary felt nervous even saying so, as if she were jinxing something. Herself. Her pregnancy. Maybe even the baby.

“Okay, good night.” Anthony leaned over, kissed her quickly, and lay back down, throwing an arm over her. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Mary looked at the ceiling, knowing she’d never get to sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Mary and Judy stepped off the elevator the next morning, ready for the day, or as ready as they would ever be. Mary hadn’t been able to sleep after the conversation with Anthony, then had finally given up and read through theLondon Technologiesfile, so she was prepared to defend the deposition, at one o’clock. Judy hadn’t been able to sleep either, so she had been up early, too, calling funeral homes to arrange a memorial service for John.

“Mary, Judy, hurry!” Marshall called from the reception desk, with a frown. “I was just about to text you guys.”

“What’s up?” Mary hurried/waddled to the desk, and Marshall leaned over, keeping her voice low.

“Jim and Sanjay fromLondon Technologiesare in the conference room.”

“Why?” Mary asked, taken aback.

“I don’t know, but everybody just went in. You’d better go.” Marshall handed Mary and Judy thick packets of phone messages. “Also these are for you, mostly the press but some clients. They say they’ve been trying to reach you but they haven’t been able to.”

“Thanks.” Mary and Judy took the messages, then Mary said,“Marshall, I need you to do something. I want you to go through John’s email on the firm server and search under the name Michael Shanahan, a supervisor at Glenn Meade, the group home where his brother William lives. Print all of them for me. I’m looking for anything about Shanahan’s care of William or a complaint about William’s care that John was intending to file with the DHS.”

“Okay.” Marshall made a note.

“And look through his desk and file cabinets, too. We need to know what the cops took, if anything. I’m looking for a file of his personal papers, like anything relating to his guardianship of William.”

“I got it.”

“Where’s Lou?”

“He came in but he went out again. He said to tell you he’s on it.”

“Thanks.” Mary and Judy took off, hustled down the hallway, and reached the conference room, where Bennie and Anne looked up, smiling in a professional way.

“Mary, Judy, perfect timing!” Bennie said lightly, from the head of the table.

Anne gestured at the clients. “Hi, please, meet Jim and Sanjay.”

Mary and Judy shook hands as Anne introduced the two men taking their seats. Jim was a tall, lanky forty-year-old, with hipster glasses, a scruffy haircut, and an unstructured black jacket and jeans. Sanjay was in the same cool-guy outfit, but handsome, with thick dark hair and melting brown eyes, generally crushworthy if Mary had been in the mood, which she wasn’t.

Mary flashed them a smile meant to inspire confidence, which was her job. Unfortunately, she could see the men alternately staring at her belly or trying not to stare at her belly, even though she had worn a navy blazer over her maternity dress.There were a lot of things they didn’t teach in law school, and lawyering while pregnant was one of them. Most male clients wouldn’t generally feel protected by a lawyer whose belly had a mind of its own.

Bennie sipped coffee from herI CAN SMELL FEARmug, speaking to the client side of the table. “Gentlemen, I’m so glad you came in this morning. This gives you a chance to meet your new team, after the tragedy of John Foxman’s murder.” Her expression fell into grave lines, and Mary knew that much of her feelings were genuine. “We are devastated, as I know you must be.”

“Absolutely,” Jim said, frowning. “You have our sympathies. It’s a terrible tragedy. I spoke to him on the phone last week.”

“Yes, deepest sympathies.” Sanjay nodded.

“Thank you.” Bennie straightened at the head of the conference table. “However, we know that the show must go on. As I emailed you, we briefly considered postponing Steve’s deposition a day or two, but the defendants refused, and we chose not to go to the judge. Mary and Judy have stepped in to take John’s place, so we have a full-court press on this litigation. Anne has briefed them both, and Mary’s fully prepared to defend Steve’s deposition today. We have a discovery schedule to follow and we intend to keep the defendant’s feet to the fire.”