The Call That Wasn’t About Evidence

A post-series Mercer Files bonus scene

Eli set his phone against the sugar jar and checked the screen.

Mom occupied the largest square. Luke and Gemma shared another from Port Sabine. Morning sunlight reached Noah and Lori's table in Queensland.

Rosalie returned from the counter with two cups and slid into the chair beside Eli.

Mom counted the faces. "All seven. Good."

"You checked before you started this time," Eli said.

"I learn."

Rosalie moved his cup closer. The bandage on his hand had shrunk since the last call, but the paper sleeve still helped.

Mom lifted a sheet from beside her phone. "I have one rule. Nobody is to discuss a court order, a sealed file, a ship, a mine, or Blackwater."

Luke leaned toward his camera. "How long is this call?"

"As long as it takes."

"Then we may run out of subjects."

Gemma turned to him. "You have other subjects. I've heard at least four of them."

"Name one."

"Boats."

Luke turned to Gemma. "Mom banned ships, not boats."

"Boats too," Mom said.

Noah picked up his mug. "What about weather?"

"Permitted, unless it damaged a boat, a ship, a mine, or an archive."

Lori glanced toward him. "That eliminates most of your weather."

"I can report clear skies."

"Accepted," Mom said. "Now I want a date."

Eli reached for his phone. "For what?"

"Put that down. You're not building a schedule while I'm speaking."

He rested his hand beside the cup.

"I want all seven of us at one table," Mom continued. "Not on four screens. Not in four time zones. One table."

No one answered at once.

Eli began sorting the obstacles. Noah and Lori were still in Australia. Luke's work could send him offshore. Gemma had a newsroom. Rosalie's next assignment hadn't been set. His own leave would end.

Mom held up the sheet. "And before you give me seven reasons it can't happen, I've written down the one reason it will."

"What's the reason?" Noah asked.

"I'm your mother."

Luke nodded. "That's fairly strong."

"Strong enough," Gemma said.

Lori drew a small notebook into view. "Do you have a month in mind?"

"I have several. Pick one."

"I can check the review calendar," Lori said.

Noah turned toward her. "The review she forbade us to discuss?"

"I didn't discuss it. I named the calendar."

Mom made a mark on her sheet. "Lori understands the rules."

Rosalie covered a laugh with her cup.

"Where?" Luke asked.

"Louisiana."

"Port Sabine would be easier for Gemma and me."

"Queensland would be easier for us," Noah said.

"Seattle has a large airport," Eli added.

Mom waited until all three brothers faced their cameras. "I raised three sons. That means three sons can travel to me."

"Four of us would be traveling from the United States," Luke said. "That's inefficient."

"Don't encourage him," Rosalie told Mom. "He'll turn dinner into a routing problem."

Eli shifted his cup away from his phone. "It is a routing problem."

"It's gumbo," Mom said.

"That changes the calculation," Noah answered.

Luke pointed at his screen. "Seafood or chicken?"

"Both, if you arrive on time."

"We'll be there."

Gemma caught his wrist before he could reach for a calendar. "She hasn't picked the month."

"Doesn't matter."

Across the four screens, the plan took shape without becoming a plan. Lori offered three possible weeks. Gemma ruled out one. Noah promised to handle the longest flight. Luke volunteered a vehicle large enough to collect everyone from the airport. Rosalie asked Mom what she should bring.

"Yourself," Mom said. "The boys can carry everything else."

Rosalie looked toward Eli. "I can manage that."

He picked up his coffee. "I'll confirm flights when we have dates."

"You can confirm them tomorrow," Mom replied. "Today, we're having a family conversation."

"We are talking about airline connections."

"That is as close as this family gets."

Noah laughed first. Luke joined him. Eli tried to defend himself, but Gemma had begun listing the words Mom should ban from the next call: manifest, itinerary, transfer, verification, and contingency.

"Add spreadsheet," Noah said.

Lori held up her notebook. "Objection."

"Sustained," Rosalie said.

Mom wrote the three possible weeks on her page. "I'll call each of you tomorrow."

"Individually?" Eli asked.

"Yes. If I call you together, you form a committee."

Gemma raised her phone. "Hold still. I want a picture before anyone leaves."

Luke adjusted their screen. Noah brought Lori's chair closer. Eli moved the phone until Rosalie sat fully inside the frame.

"All seven?" Mom asked.

"All seven," Rosalie answered.

Gemma took the picture.

When the call ended, Eli opened his calendar.

Rosalie placed one finger across the screen before he could type. "Tomorrow."

"We have three possible weeks."

"Tomorrow."

He put the phone facedown. "What do we discuss until then?"

She moved his coffee back within reach. "I was promised a second date."

"You were."

"No files. No ships. No routing problems."

"That doesn't leave much."

"Your mother thinks you'll manage."

Eli glanced at the dark phone, then at the woman across from him.

"She has a strong record," he said.