Something About Harry(41)

But Keegan wasn’t totally buying it. God, he was a nosy ass sometimes. He sniffed the air, a frown knitting his eyebrows together. “Something’s not right. I can smell it.”

And tactic number four in the Marty Handbook of Avoiding Getting Caught: get away. “You’re not right. So knock it off, Keegan. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Look, I have to go. I have a ton of work down in the lab. So quit harassing me about my life and go live yours, pal.” She turned to scurry toward the stairs, but Keegan grabbed her arm.

“Dinner tomorrow night? Sloan’s coming. So is Jeannie. She’s bringing her better-than-crack brownies.” He smiled the way he used to when he was apologizing for interfering in her very adult life without actually saying the words.

But she warmed—only because she loved Jeannie, her brother’s djinn-caterer wife. She made the absolute best pastries ever. How she managed to run the djinn realm and still keep her catering business going like gangbusters always left Mara so full of admiration. “Text me the time. And I accept your apology for being a nosy ass,” she said on a laugh, standing on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before darting off to run for her guilty cover.

As she ran down a flight of metal stairs, her phone chimed a text from Wanda.

She paused to read it, her limbs growing shaky, her eyes widening. Her head swam, the words of the text blurring, then sharply coming back into focus as horror began to settle in her gut.

“Need you here STAT. Fletcher and Mimi are missing!”





CHAPTER

8





“Mimi?”

“Uh-huh?” she asked from the corner of her frightfully pink bedroom as she tried to force a bonnet onto poor Coconut’s head. Amidst the clutter of her dolls and assorted play strollers, Mimi played like any other five-year-old would after school on a snowy day.

It was all Mara could do not to rush over to a seemingly unfazed Mimi and smother her with hugs and kisses chock-full of limb-shaking relief. Instead, after spending two hours with the police, being questioned as if she were the criminal, Mara approached her with an easy stride, smiling as she hunkered down next to her and poor tormented Coconut. “Can you tell me again what the lady who picked you up from school looked like?”

“I already told the policeman.”

Mara nodded. “You sure did, and you did a great job, honey. I didn’t hear all of it, though. So I was just wondering. No big deal.”

Mimi shrugged agreeably. “She had hair just like you. Long and swingy,” she murmured, stroking Coconut into submission. “But she wasn’t as pretty as you are. She was just really nice to us,” she assured Mara, her round eyes bright and totally minus the least bit of trauma. “She gave me this.” Mimi held up her wrist to show her a bracelet, her name spelled out amongst the beading.

It was all Mara could do not to scream her anguish and horror, but she stayed as calm as possible. “And where did she take you when she gave you that, sweetie?”

Mimi made a face as Coconut began to protest his hat. Mara took her small hand and instructed, “Gently, honeybunch. Coconut doesn’t understand what you’re doing, and he’s afraid. See?” She demonstrated by stroking Coconut’s chin, fighting the panic thrashing her heart around like a ship lost at sea.

“I wasn’t afraid,” Mimi offered, easing her hold on Coconut until he sat in her lap, puffing her chest out to show her valor. “Auntie Nina said I should always be afraid of strangers no matter what, even if the lady didn’t scare me, and even if she’s nice to me.”

So it was someone who had a rapport with children. “So where did she take you guys, Mimi?”

“Just on a quick walk, but we came right back and she said we were really good.”

Terror raced through Mara’s veins. Who would take Harry’s children, unauthorized, from school? And where was the sitter, Cora, Harry’s designated pickup? “And what did she say to you again?” she asked, her voice unsteady and trembling.

“She said to tell you and Uncle Harry she sees you. I think she meant to say hello. I forgot to tell the policeman about that.”

Mara’s blood ran cold just as Harry burst through the door, almost knocking her out of the way to get to Mimi. He scooped her up in his arms, pulling her to his chest.

The police had separated the adults from the children when they’d questioned them about the incident, and while Harry had answered questions succinctly and stoically, he was clearly allowing himself to feel the panic now that the dust had settled. “Are you okay?” He held her from him, letting her legs dangle as he assessed her from head to toe with a critical eye.