“Hell, yes,” said Carol. “It’s pretty dang awesome, if you ask me. Especially in the food court, where they had this big skylight. The exotic plants in the planters have gone all Pleistocene, and some of the local species have gotten in there and joined in the party. A couple are blooming right now. You should spend the night; we can go check it out in the morning. It’s like visiting the future.”

“Are those bats?” asked Donny, looking at a grainy black cloud emerging from the roofline and spreading out against the darkening sky.

“Yep,” said Carol. “Mexican freetails. They moved in a few years ago. You should come check it out while you can.”

“I wish I could, Grandma. But I need to head back to Houston. I’m going to try to catch the night bus. This case I’m supposed to take to trial next month is falling apart on me.”

“No wonder you look so wound up. How come you can’t learn not to take the work home with you? Maybe you should try one of these brownies. Get a little perspective.”

“Knowing your brownies I’d be tripping for a couple of days. But I’m already so burned out I can barely muster the energy to keep fighting. Just when I’m this close to closing the damn deal. Real justice, right there, right in my grasp, and I feel like some kid trying to grab the moon.”

“We all know what that feels like.” She took another bite, and watched the hummingbird working its way through the yucca by the door. “What’s the case again?”

“The only good case I have left—against AMR, the private-prison-camp people.”

“I thought you said you had the witnesses you need. What happened?”

“Not so bueno, Granny. I found the names, but most of the witnesses I need seem to have disappeared—or been disappeared. And now my lead plaintiff is dead. Killed on a mission, according to the news.”

“They probably killed him.”

“It’s possible,” conceded Donny. “But if they had done that, you can bet they would have made sure the body showed up, so there would be no doubt.”

“What did the judge say?”

“That she is required to dismiss the case. She gave me a week to come up with a reason to convince her otherwise. But I’m running out of options.”

“She’ll give you more time than that.”

“I’ll tell her you said so when I blow her deadline. It’s in the rules. She doesn’t have any flexibility.”

She didn’t need to know that he’d already blown the deadline that really mattered, because of his own negligence.

Carol took another bite, and watched the cloud of bats slowly disperse into the dimming light.

“Don’t you have people who can help you find him?”