When James stumbled out into the main room of the apartment a few minutes later, his brothers froze in guilty resignation.
“Sorry,” Finn said, keeping his voice low. “We were trying to be quiet.”
James rubbed his eyes. “I was awake.”
“Why? It’s early.”
James shrugged. “I just was. What is all of that?”
“Everything the blonde wonder could possibly want over the next few days,” Grady said proudly. “We got tons of food. I got Oreos and M&Ms – her favorite junk food. I got those dill pickle potato chips she likes, too.”
“Emma picked out a bunch of magazines and some of those puzzle books,” Finn added. “She’s got a Kindle, so books aren’t an issue. We got her a hundred-dollar gift card so she can buy as many as she wants.”
“That’s great,” James said. “Thanks.”
“We didn’t even get to the best part yet,” Grady said, his eyes twinkling. He pushed a blue plastic bag across the counter toward James.
James opened it, smiling when he saw what was inside. “The complete Friday the 13th and Halloween collections on Blu-ray?”
“She already owns every shark movie ever made,” Grady said. “I know she loves these. I was going to get A Nightmare on Elm Street, too, but she said she only likes the first one in that series.”
“This is really great.”
Grady studied James when his brother was looking down at the movies. He looked exhausted. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“How is Mandy?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Grady said. “How is she?”
“She’s struggling,” James said. “She’s in pain. She’s tired. She’s cranky. She wants to shower. She’s worried about not being able to shower because she thinks that’s going to turn me off. She’s just … a mess.”
“And that means you’re a mess,” Finn supplied.
“I’m not sleeping,” James admitted. “I keep having these nightmares.”
“I think that’s normal,” Finn said.
“Normally, I would be able to hold her,” James said. “That’s what I did after the fire to shake them. I can’t do that now. I can’t touch her.”
“It won’t be forever,” Grady said.
“It feels that way now,” James said. “We just have to get through it. It’s going to be fine.”
“Well, we have some other things to talk to you about,” Grady said. “That’s why we came so early.”
“About the bomb?”
“The sheriff’s department is agreeing to share information,” Finn said.
“Since when? They’ve never been interested in sharing information before,” James said.
“Since Judge MacIntosh exerted some force,” Grady explained. “I have no idea what he did, but whatever it was has the department jumping through hoops to work with us.”
“And?”
“And they’re getting me the specs on the bomb tomorrow,” Grady said. “I know a guy over in Oakland County who did munitions in the Army for a decade. I’m going to be working with him to see what we can find out.”
“Good,” James said.
“I’m hitting up the judge and Heidi tomorrow,” Finn said. “We’re going to go through some files and trying to put a risk assessment together. It’s not perfect, but we have to start somewhere.”
“That’s smart,” James said.
Grady and Finn exchanged a look.
“We think that it would be a good idea to keep the office closed this week,” Grady said. “You’re going to be busy here, and we’re going to be focused on this case elsewhere. Opening the office is just an added distraction we can’t deal with right now.”
James ran a hand through his hair wearily. “I don’t like it, but I don’t see a way around it.”
“We thought about having Ally here to answer calls,” Finn said. “We weren’t sure how you’d feel about that.”
“I trust her to answer calls,” James said. “I don’t trust her to stay away from Mandy.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“No, we’ll just keep the office closed,” James said.
“I’ll put a sign on the door and we’ll change the message on the voice mail,” Finn said. “I figured we would refer people who need help immediately to Morgan Security out in Ferndale.”
James nodded. “Yeah, they’re good.”
“You don’t have to worry about anything,” Grady said. “We’re on this. We’ll keep you updated. Just focus on Mandy.”