Quote Originally Posted by InTheMachine View Post
November 8th
Providence
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Emi says with a grin. “As far as my father goes, John has actually impressed him. I know that my father is an intimidating man, but your brother has done well. It helps that he has great manners since my father is partial to such things.”

“Was there anything else you wanted to know to fill out your mother’s notes?” she asks. “You won’t find much in the internet. Most of that has been scrubbed.”
“If she really feels the need to know, she will ask,” Kate conceded. “If I am as much my mother’s daughter as Dad, Jefferey, and others say, I suspect part of it is the thrill of the hunt—figuring it out for yourself. Fair warning: John has more than a little bit of that from her as well.”

“I’ll have to try and sneak a look at the folder to see what I missed,” she whispered conspiratorially as she heard her mother coming down the stairs and chatting with her father. “That’s a part of the game—can I predict what she wants to know or not and avoid whatever she is using to see if someone peeked.

“Did you see anything in there you wanted me to feed to her? She won’t have included anything in there about how I am supposed to be investigating, if she was hoping you would find it, so I can be an effective double agent.”

Spoiler: Meanwhile, one room away
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“Kate and Emi are currently perched on the counter in the kitchen, conspiring about something,” Joe informed Mary with a soft smile. “They are already as thick as thieves.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Mary replied as she walked into the office, fixing her earring as she mentally ran through her day. The most enjoyable part—breakfast with the family and its new potential addition—would be over all too soon but promised to make a happy way to start to the day.

“Do you have any sense of when they plan to depart?” Mary asked as she reached down to pick up her briefcase. “I can always meet you three for lunch, if they have time.

She stopped, noticing the thin sewing needle lying along the baseboard.

The needle that she had put against the bottom of the Hot Folder.

The needle that fit just under the edge of the notebook cover and could not be seen except at eye level, which required kneeling down.

The needle she put there so that it would roll off and onto the floor if anyone removed the notebook from the shelf.

Mary smiled. Although it was more contained than Kate’s excitement had been the night before, there was something of the same quality about it.

She had got her.

But more than that, she thought as she picked up the needle and placed it in the drawer where she stored some of her keepsakes. More important was that Emi fit in. Like it was for the rest of them, mysteries and puzzles were to be solved.

She glanced at Joe, whose smile was not quite reproving but certainly amused at his wife’s need to know. She knew he had grown to accept that little character flaw long ago—especially since her concern for him while he was in the field kept fueling it.

While her decision to lay a trap for the beautiful, young psychic had bordered on ruthlessness, she also knew it was necessary. She needed to know that Emi possessed those qualities as well.

Her smile broadened a little as she pulled the Hot Folder off the shelf and turned again to the pictures of Emi and John. It was clear that Emi would be able to not only keep up with her brilliant son but that she could and would be able help keep him safe—just as he would do the same for her.

That was important in the ruthless, dangerous world they inhabited.

After checking to see if Emi had left any notes from her, she looked up. Joe was standing there, looking at her with his bemused but beautiful smile.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked quietly as he approached his wife, struck, as he was so often, by how beautiful she became when her mind was fully engaged.

“They’re worth far more than that,” she bantered back quietly, glancing toward the kitchen as she set the folder down. “I really like her, Joe. She fits in well and is so good for John.”

“Their choice, Mary,” he reminded her.

“I know,” she replied. “But I can sleep better knowing that, whether it works out or not, that they are good for one another and can take care of one another.”

She turned back towards him. “Pancakes ready?”

“They’re on the table.”

“Stephen,” she called out.

“Coming, Mom,” came the reply from the third floor.