“Yeah, sounds like you,” Harry pointed out, shaking his head. “Better not take on any more. Looking after yourself appears to be hard enough right now.”
Simon just glared at the man, who was grinning at him. “Good thing I like you. Otherwise I might have to punch you out for that one.”
“Nah,” he argued, “you know I only mean good for you.”
“I do. But what the hell do we do when there’s a woman driving herself into the ground with these cases?”
“Ah,” Harry noted, “the lovely detective.”
Simon nodded. “That she is. But she’s also constantly in danger and running on the edge of her sanity all the time.”
“And she’s probably doing it because that is what she loves,” Harry reminded him. “Remember. She probably wouldn’t take it kindly if you were to try to take that away from her either.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” he agreed. “Matter of fact, she’d get downright pissed.”
Harry laughed. “I’m pretty sure she would.”
“So, what do I do?”
“You make her life as easy as you can, so that she can get out and do that job every day,” Harry suggested. “Then you make it so you can cover what she can’t do herself.” At that, the front desk phone rang, and Harry stepped back to answer it.
Simon took Harry’s advice with him up to his penthouse, wondering how Harry got to be so wise. Because it was a hell of a good idea. Simon didn’t know that she would like it, but, if she didn’t know what was happening, she couldn’t argue with him. Feeling much better, he headed into his place, and, starting with a shower, he rinsed off the stink of the day, before it took over the rest of his life. He could at least shower off his stink. He wasn’t so sure in Kate’s case. He thought getting out and facing that stench of humanity day in and day out was probably something that was a struggle for her to wash off every night.
Not his worry right now. But, if he were to take Harry’s advice, Simon would have to figure out how he might help Kate with that.
Chapter 9
When Kate finallycollapsed into her bed late that night, her mind was spinning so much that she was afraid she wouldn’t sleep. So much was going on. They hadn’t been able to find the muscle car, but they had run the license plate and had a name, though it wouldn’t do them much good because it had been stolen early that morning out of a garage. She closed her eyes, willing everything to disappear.
*
Thursday
Before she knewit, she was sound asleep and waking up to the sound of birds outside her window. She lay in bed for a long moment, wishing the aches and pains in her body would go away before she moved and had them all jumping up and screaming at her. She needed a couple days of downtime, though she didn’t even know what she would do with them. But the thought of staying in bed and doing nothing appealed at the moment.
The cases were always hot and heavy. Though some would go on for months, some would show progress in two days and be solved in three. However, far too many of them were just a terrible twisted mess, like this one. She knew that time was running out for that window of closure, and, once a case lasted for months and months, it became one of those that you worked on the side because new cases were always coming in and taking priority.
She just never caught a break and could put them aside. Always another case and another one came after that, getting in the way. She shook her head and pushed herself into a sitting position, groaning as her body screamed at her. She needed to go for a workout, but several files at her office were calling her; plus she needed to check on her emails to figure out if anybody had found that car.
She groaned and pulled herself upright and, with a final push, stumbled toward the shower. Once in the hot water, she slowly felt her body loosen and her brain start to wake up. Coffee, that was next. Wrapped in a towel, she headed to the kitchen and put on a pot of joe, hoping to get a couple cups down before her phone erupted. She got dressed, then came back out, snagged her first cup of coffee.
She headed for the couch to enjoy the hot brew. She laid the cup down gently and then basically curled up in the corner and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to check her phone. She didn’t want to check the news; she just wanted a moment to recuperate. When her phone buzzed with a text, she just knew it was Simon. She snagged her phone and looked to see a heart, followed by a couple more messages.
Hi.
Good morning.
She smiled and replied.Good morning. Any more nightmares?
When there was no response right away, she felt bad, yet, at the same time, not bad enough. Then a message came in.
Yeah. A bad one last night.
She hit Talk, and, when he answered the phone, she asked, “The same one?”
“Yeah,” he noted. “Except the scream is silent now.”
“Wasn’t it before?”