Harvey looked at the clock: 7:54PM. He was the only one left in the office that Thursday. Louis had taken Sheila to the matinee showing of Cats, and Donna was out with some of her castmates to celebrate their final week of rehearsals before her new show kicked off the next week.
He was in the middle of writing a note to himself to order flowers for her opening night when his phone rang.
Peter Anderson, it flashed across the screen. Peter, the Assistant Commissioner at the New York State Office of Child and Family Services, was someone Harvey knew from his days in the DAs office, and had reconnected with earlier that year when he was helping a longtime client with an adoption case that was held up in the system. Normally, that wouldn't be the kind of stuff he would go for, but with Mike in Seattle, Harvey wanted to see what all the feel-good pro bono hype was about, and help out his colleague. He would never admit it, but he teared up a little at the adoption hearing when the two little girls officially took his friend's last name.
But this was wrapped up 6 months ago.
"Commissioner Anderson," Harvey said picking up his phone. "It's after 4pm, isn't it a little late for someone on a government salary to be working?"
"Mr. Specter –"
"Mr. Specter? Pete come on, I'm just messing with you. Is everything okay with the Holton family case? We had that wrapped up as tight as it could be."
"The Holton's are fine. Harvey, I - I'm calling about a more personal matter. Can you meet me at my office downtown? I have something, well, someone I'd like to discuss in person."
Harvey was silent. Something inside of him told him he needed to get there, now. Hanging up on Pete he called Ray and was out the door into the car in 60 seconds flat. He had a million thoughts racing through his mind. Marcus's kids? It wouldn't make sense but what did he know. Nothing. He knew nothing. He didn't ask anything else of Pete before hanging up. Yelling the address at Ray, he tried to make sense of the intensity that he was feeling; the sweat from his palms leaving marks on his pants as he gripped down. It was probably just another case that Pete wanted to talk about. A case in family court of all places shouldn't be making it this difficult to breathe. But it was late. It didn't make sense. He should have pushed for more information over the phone instead of barreling though Manhattan in the middle of the night.
They made it to the office in 18 minutes.
"Would you like me to wait?" Ray asked as Harvey stared up at the building.
"Please. This shouldn't take long." Harvey responded, stepping out of the car, now decidedly annoyed with Pete for dragging him down here, and frustrated with himself for his irrational reaction.
The security guard, seemingly having been made aware of Harvey's impending arrival, buzzed him in and called the elevator to the 9th floor. When the doors opened, Harvey walked around the corner and swung open the doors to Pete's office.
"If you're going to try to dump a case on me after 8pm you can least buy me a drink firs—"
But it wasn't Pete who Harvey locked eyes with when he walked into the room.
His heart sank.