“Like I’ve told you before,” he muttered, taking in a mouthful, “I come here often.”
“I know you said that,” she replied, “but I really didn’t understand whatoftenmeant. But, in this case, I guess I do. Just not often enough for her, huh?”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” he noted, with a smile.
When Mama came back a few minutes later, she brought French bread and a big tub of garlic butter and never spoke a word. She refilled their water and checked to see that they were actually reducing the volume of their servings, and then, with a satisfied smile, she took off again.
Kate just watched her in amazement. “She has so much energy.”
“And she’s always here, but she also has a ton of passion for what she does,” he muttered. “And that’s what keeps me going sometimes when I get a little depressed and fed up. I have to remember that we all have our purpose in life, even if it seems not so noble as other purposes in this world. People like Mama—who do what they do best for the rest of us so that we can function—allow us to do what we do best.”
She nodded slowly. “And I’ve thought about that a couple times,” she admitted. “It’s just hard when it seems like I’m making no progress.”
“And you know that it can come in a flash, and, before you know it, you’ll have so much progress that you’ll be slamming against criminals, catching the bad guy and locking him up. And you’ll be sitting there, with a calm, quiet sense of pride, because that asshole’s been taken off the street.”
“It just can’t happen soon enough,” she muttered, “particularly in this case.”
“I hear you there,” he noted. “This guy needs to be stopped, and we’ll do our best to make that happen. But, in the meantime”—he motioned at her plate—“let’s eat.”
With a laugh, she picked up her fork yet again and dove in.
*
Simon drove tothe last possible building per the church windows chosen.
“It would be ironic if it were the last address on the list,” Kate murmured, with a nod.
“Yeah, and just makes you realize you should have started at the other end,” he teased quietly, as he looked up at the apartment building. “Do you really think it would be something like this?”
“No, but it’s the only one left on my list,” she stated, staring up at him.
“Who did the list?”
“Rodney and Owen, I think,” she muttered. “Well, technically, our IT crew, maybe with the help of our analyst and her people.”
“You can always check with them and see if they have any other addresses.”
She sent off a quick text, which reminded her to update Missing Persons as well. “We still have to check this one out.”
He nodded, and, as he opened the driver’s side door and stepped out onto the sidewalk, he turned, then looked around and frowned. “I wonder if this church has windows on the other side.”
“Well, we usually drive around the whole building first,” she noted. “You want to do that?”
He nodded, “Yeah, I do.” She wasn’t even out yet, so he got back in and started the engine, then headed around the side.
“What made you bring that up, anyway?”
“Well, because we did drive around the other churches first. I don’t know why I parked so fast. I just saw the address and stopped. We should have taken a quick gander around to see.”
She didn’t say anything.
He looked at her. “Why?”
“Nothing, just your instincts.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know about instincts. But this looks like something major.”
As they headed around the church, she pointed at another apartment building. “That one looks like it’s slated for demolition.”