“If we get any breaks, we’ll call you,” Lilliana offered. “I’ll be here for a little while longer.”
Kate looked at Lilliana in surprise. “Okay, good, if you guys don’t mind.”
They shook their heads. “Go,” Owen said. “You’ve been burning the candle at both ends for too many days. Let your team carry some of this.”
“I’d be happy to,” she added, with a yawn. She stumbled to her feet and asked, “Can you tell Rodney?”
“Will do.”
She stopped, looked back at them, and asked, “How does any of this fit with the guy who shot at us?”
They both looked at her blankly, then at crime scenes photos up on the whiteboards. Owen shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“Unless it was the killer,” Lilliana suggested. “Maybe we’re closer than we think.”
“And, if that’s the case,” Kate added, “we need to take another look at everything. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense though.” She shook her head. “Not now. But it will. Let’s go over this from the old case to the new one, while IT is working on those church window photos.” She turned toward her desk again.
“You go crash,” Owen ordered. “Get some food, and, if you want to come back tonight, fine, but make sure you don’t return until you’ve had at least a few hours of sleep.”
They got no argument from her on that. She grabbed her wallet and stepped out of the bullpen. Heading toward the front door, she stood outside, taking several slow calming breaths of the fresh air. She wasn’t even sure where she was going, but she needed food and wondered if Simon was even at home yet. She wanted him to be. She opened her phone, called him, and asked, “Hey, where are you?”
“Just heading home. What about you?”
“I’m off for a few hours,” she replied, yawning again. “I need food, and I need sleep.”
“Do you want me to bring the food to your place?”
She thought about it and then answered, “Maybe I’ll come to yours, if you’re okay with that.”
“I’m more than okay with that,” he said quietly.
She turned in the direction of Simon’s place. She didn’t have wheels, and it was way too far to walk, as tired as she was. She caught the first cab she saw, and, as she arrived, Simon walked up the front steps.
He looked at her in surprise. “Hello, that was quick.” He took one look and whistled. “You look like shit.” She glared at him, and he shrugged. “You don’t want me to hold back the truth, do you?”
“No, but you don’t need to be quite so honest,” she muttered. “But, yeah, I definitely look like shit. I’m tired. I’m not sleeping. I need food, and I’ve got an asshole of a killer who’s tormenting women. Where the hell is the good news in that?”
“None of it’s good news,” he replied. “But the bottom line is that you’ll get there. And you can’t beat yourself up in the meantime.”
“Which is why I’m here with you,” she noted, “and I sure as hell hope you brought food.”
He laughed and held up the bag in his hand. “It’s right here, as promised.”
“Pasta?”
“Yep, I was over at Mama’s.”
“That’s awesome,” Kate replied. “That woman has a heart of gold.”
“She does, and then she believes that her food is the answer to everything.”
“Food and family,” she corrected.
He looked at her in surprise. “You’re right. She did tear a strip off me tonight, thinking I had chased away my girlfriend again.”
She looked at him and started to snigger. “Did you tell her that you didn’t?”
“I tried, but she didn’t believe me.”