MARY CLARK - Piece of My Heart

“Then I’ll take the compliment, I suppose.” Laurie reminded herself that she did not want to like the woman accusing her father of wrongdoing.

“Well, I’m glad, because I’m afraid that’s all you’re going to get from me,” Tracy said glibly. “No way am I letting my client go on national television to be questioned by Leo Farley’s daughter.”

“As a fan of the show, I’m sure you’re aware that I don’t do the actual questioning. That would be done by the show’s host, Ryan Nichols.”

“Oh, even better: a blow-dried, blowhard former federal prosecutor. No thanks.”

A year ago, Laurie actually would have agreed with Tracy’s dismissive description of Ryan Nichols. Her boss Brett had chosen him over Laurie’s reservations, not because of his Harvard degree, Supreme Court clerkship, short stint at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, or even his sandy-blond hair, bright green eyes, and perfect teeth—but because he happened to be the nephew of Brett’s college roommate from Northwestern. After a rough start, however, Ryan had managed to ease into his role at the studio. He’d never fill Alex’s shoes or be her BFF, but he had proven to be an excellent on-camera questioner, deserving of at least half of the praise he enjoyed lavishing upon himself.

“Right now, your client has a handful of fawning celebrities who make a hobby of his case to burnish their own public images as justice crusaders. Sure, he’s gotten a couple of sidebar write-ups in national magazines, but I can offer him a prime-time national television viewing audience.”

“Again, courtesy of a biased producer.”

“You don’t think I’m aware of the potential perception of a conflict of interest?” From the corner, Alex flashed her a thumbs-up. She had run this argument past him in advance. “If anything, I’ll be the one to bend over backward to give Darren a fair shake. The last thing I want is for people to question my professionalism and say I was covering up for my father.”

“Giving him a ‘fair shake,’ as you say, might not be so easy when it involves some very serious accusations of wrongdoing against the beloved Leo Farley.”

Laurie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In her heart, she knew that no set of facts could ever convince her that her father would perjure himself to send an innocent man to prison. She pictured Johnny, alone in a dark room, crying. One step at a time , she reminded herself. Johnny first, worry about the show later.

“I wouldn’t make the offer if I didn’t think I could handle it,” Laurie said. “And if I’m not mistaken, it’s not your decision to make, Counselor. You have a duty to extend the offer to your client, do you not?”

She heard Tracy sigh on the other end of the line. “Guess you can’t be engaged to Alex Buckley without learning a thing or two about this job of mine.”

“Guess not.” She smiled in Alex’s direction.

“I’ll get back to you.” She did not say good-bye before disconnecting the call.

Laurie heard a knock on the door connecting Alex’s room to hers and Timmy’s. “Mom, is that you?”

She opened the door, and Timmy entered, wearing his Star Wars pajamas, his expressive eyes still sleepy behind the sandy-blond bangs that hung over his brow.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was locked,” she said. “You mean you could hear me through the walls?” She brushed his hair back away from his face and planted a kiss on his forehead. “I didn’t think I was that loud.”

“Nah, but I could sort of hear a woman’s voice and I thought, Well, that better be my mom. ” He flashed a toothy grin at Alex. “Happy Birthday, Alex!”

“Why, thank you very much, kind sir.”

It was so much like her sweet boy to have someone else’s birthday at the top of his mind first thing in the morning.

“Is Johnny back yet?”

She saw the disappointment in his eyes as he read her expression. He looked down at his toes, and she pulled him into a hug. “Everyone’s still looking. Try not to worry.”

“But it was supposed to be surf lesson day. And then opening presents at lunchtime. We can’t do any of that without Johnny. We have to wait for him to come home.”

“I know, sweetie. And you’re right. We’re going to save all the fun stuff for him. And your grandpa has an idea about where Johnny might be, and I’m helping him figure it out.”

“Really?” Timmy’s eyes brightened with cautious optimism. She felt a pang in her heart. How long would this little man believe that his mother could fix the world’s problems?

“We’re going to try. Depending on how things play out, we may need to go back to the city early.”

An hour later, she and Alex were in Marcy and Andrew’s suite, helping them prepare for their press conference while Timmy played a video game. She stepped to the corner of the room to answer an incoming phone call. It was Tracy Mahoney.

“I spoke to my client. Against advice of counsel, he insists on sitting for the interview. But he wants it all on camera. I’ll be in the room, but won’t interfere, absent something beyond the pale, and I get a copy of the unedited footage in case you’re tempted to doctor it. I leave it to you to make arrangements.”

All eyes were on her when she ended the call. “Gunther took the bait. He’ll do the interview.”

They had already agreed that she’d be going back to the city to get her team ready in the event Gunther agreed. Marcy nodded stoically. “Thank you so much.”

“I’ll stay through the press conference.”

“No,” Marcy said. “I don’t want to waste a single minute. We’ll be fine here. Please, go do everything you can from the city.”

“Okay. I’ll be in constant touch.”

She was almost done packing when Alex arrived in her room, his own roller bag in tow. She had assumed she and Timmy would be driving his car home alone.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Marcy and Andrew insisted. I go where you go.”

Chapter 25

Marcy felt an involuntary smile break out across her face as Chloe and Emily spoke over each other with breathless delight on the other end of the telephone line.

It had taken her four tries before she was able to reach them. It turned out that Leo had lost his cell phone signal during the drive out to Montauk, but she had spent the intervening minutes in a panic, terrified that her girls had fallen into danger, too. She wondered if she would ever spend another moment unworried about her children again if they were out of her sight.

Now that she heard the girls’ happy voices, she realized they couldn’t be any safer than with Leo—always vigilant and always armed.

Even though most people would say the twins were as identical in sound as they were in appearance, Marcy had no difficulty differentiating their voices as they yelled into Leo’s cell phone.

“We went to a diner, Mama, and Grandpa Leo let us order chocolate-chip pancakes with blueberry syrup and whipped cream on top!” That was Chloe, always so excited about her food. “And we had bacon, too—the real kind. Don’t tell Aunt Laurie because she tells Grandpa he’s supposed to eat the turkey kind.”

“And now we’re driving to see the lighthouse,” Emily squealed. “Grandpa Leo says we’ll be able to go to the very tip top and look out over the entire ocean.”

They had started referring to Laurie’s father as Grandpa Leo the previous evening after dinner, and Leo seemed happy enough to accept the honorary role.

She was on the sofa in their hotel suite. In a chair across from her, Andrew used his laptop to check the Find Johnny website for any tips that might have come in overnight. She placed her hand over her heart, letting him know how relieved she was that the girls were safe and sound after all of the redialing she had been doing in her search for them.