I sighed loudly and headed down to the warehouse where the best I could get out of Burt was the fact that Leah had said she'd had some errands to run. Her office was empty and there was nothing written on her calendar. I tried her cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail.
"Dammit, Leah!" I muttered as I took the back stairs up to my office. "Where are you?"
I marched back into the office and gathered up the files I'd been working on before heading out. I'd asked Norma to join us for dinner, partly as a witness, but also as a backup for all the information we'd spent the week gathering. I knew that when Lincoln and Sloan started pushing my buttons, I'd need backup in the form of some logical, fact-based input that neither one of them could dispute. Norma and Leah were my backups, but without Leah here to go through the information, Norma had become a very important part of the plan.
"You'll be there before 8:00, right?" I said as I walked through the front office where Norma was taking care of the last bits of the day's business.
"You can count on me, darlin'," she said with a wide smile. "Wouldn't miss little Miss Snotty Pants getting her comeuppance for the world."
"Norma, you're a piece of work," I laughed. "Just remember that you and Leah are my backups if things get rough."
"Darlin', I've got family, too," she said with a knowing nod of the head. "We'll have your back."
I had Jimmy make two stops on the way home and then drop me off before sending him back to the office in case Leah showed up. I cursed myself for not having hired a separate car for her when she and Riley had moved in, and I made a mental note to fix that as soon as possible. If I'd done it sooner, I'd know where she was right now and wouldn't be worrying about whether she was going to show up or not.
My mother had prepared the dining room for our guests, and it looked just as I had hoped it would.
"You've outdone yourself, Mother," I said kissing her cheek as she arranged flowers in a vase on the sideboard.
"I'm glad you approve," she smiled. "I did my best to set up what you wanted. I've got a kitchen full of people preparing dinner, and the cook is not very happy about that."
"I'll make it up to her," I said as I scanned the room and made sure to take note of where my mother had set the place cards. "Norma will be here by 7:30 to do a quick run through of the program, but I can't find Leah anywhere. Have you heard from her?"
"No, dear, I haven't," my mother said. "But I wouldn't worry. She'll be here. Of that I'm sure."
"Well, if you're sure, then I'll trust your instincts," I said warily. I wasn't entirely convinced, but there wasn't anything I could do about it now.
I ran into Riley as I was just about to head upstairs to shower and dress. She was red cheeked and excited about something she held in her hand as she raced through the downstairs toward the dining room and my mother.
"Betty! Betty! Look what I found!" she called as she collided with me. "Oof! Sorry, Jack!"
"What have you got there?" I asked looking down at her cupped hands.
"A frog!" she cried as she opened her hands and a tiny green reptile crawled up her fingers before launching itself at me. "Jack! Watch out!"
Instinctively I reached up to brush it off my shirt, but the frog was a step ahead of me. It launched itself into the air again before attaching to the entryway wall.
"My frog!" Riley cried as she ran to grab the little green jumper. Before she could put her hands over it, it had climbed up the wall out of her reach. "Jack, he's getting away!"
"Indeed, he is," I grinned as I stepped around her and quickly put a cupped hand over the frog to prevent its escape. "Help me out here and get a sheet of paper or something flat so I can scoop him up without losing him again."
Riley ran to the front entryway and pulled a page from one of her notebooks. She rushed back and handed it to me. I quickly slipped it under the frog as I kept my hand covering it. Riley followed me to the back door and opened it. We walked out to the wall surrounding the patio where I released the stunned creature. He sat breathing and blinking for a few moments as if trying to get his bearings, and then launched himself off the wall and disappeared into the bright green grass on the lawn.
"Nice rescue," Riley said, sticking her hand out for me to shake. "You're a hero."
"Uh, not so much," I said, gripping her hand and shaking it firmly.
"To that frog you are," she said solemnly, looking out at the lawn before adding, "And to me and Leah, too."
"You like living here?" I asked, sidestepping my heroism—real or imagined.
"I love living here," Riley said. "It's calm, and there's always food in the fridge. No one yells at me to take them to the bodega for beer or cigarettes, and I don't have to fight with anyone to get my school work done."
"I see," I said, trying to imagine what kind of life she'd been living before they came to stay with us. "So, you wouldn't mind staying here?"
"I'd like that very, very much," Riley said hesitating a little. "But I'm not sure if Leah would like it. You might want to ask her."
"You don't think she'd want to live here?" I asked.