Plus, running on pavement wasn’t her thing, and running in a cement city really wasn’t her favorite thing either, and she didn’t know of any running trails here. There should be some, but she didn’t know about them. She frowned as she considered that, then got into her vehicle and—almost without thinking—headed toward the running path out by the beach. She knew that, as long as Simon didn’t know about it, she’d be fine.
And as long as that asshole who had followed her last night didn’t know about it, better still. She thought about that, wondering if she was being foolish, but, so far, the murders had happened to couples, definitely not to singles, and there was no real reason for her to be targeted.
She checked her watch and noted that it was a bit later than when the murders had happened, so that helped ease her worry at the same time. Not enough maybe. At least that’s what Simon would say. Not nearly enough to make him happy. Still, by the time she finally got out to the pathway, she almost didn’t even want to go for a run anymore.
“No wonder people find places to live close by where they want to run because this driving to a different location sucks.” On a whim, she drove around through the blocks where the two women had lived, studying the vehicles and looking to see if anything here was like the vehicle that had followed her to Simon’s last night.
But she saw absolutely no sign of it. She frowned at that. She’d already checked the DMV and found no record of either of the husbands owning that vehicle. That didn’t mean thatthey didn’t have access to one through siblings, friends, or even stealing one, but they didn’t own one personally. That was a little more reassuring, and they returned to their positions a step farther down the suspect list.
As she drove up to the running paths, she smiled to see other vehicles parked here. She got out and stretched for a few minutes and watched another couple come by, wave at her, and then head off. She waited a moment and then headed off behind them. At least if she was close to other people, she wouldn’t be a target either. Nobody was idiotic enough to try and take down three of them. It still bothered her, as she moved through the heavily vegetated pathway, that somebody would actually take out two at a time. That was just greedy. The wordgreedywasn’t exactly what she meant, but it’s what her mind offered in the moment.
She thought about it, pondering it back and forth. Was somebody really just being greedy? Was this more about a challenge? Was this more about what somebodycoulddo versus what theyshoulddo? That didn’t even make sense to her. She was still mulling it over when she finally got loosened up enough that she felt her muscles starting to hum along nicely. The first mile in a run was always hard for her. She didn’t run enough for it to actually be something her body started to crave, but, once she got enough miles under her belt, then she felt like everything was starting to move the way it should. At least she thought so.
Something about the freedom of running that she absolutely loved. It had never occurred to her to join a club though. She was more of a loner than a team player, even though she was finally finding ways to settle in with her coworkers. Yet still not necessarily her preferred way to work. If she had her way, they’d all be off working their own cases, and she’d have hers.
As she thought about it, that was the way she had it set up now. Whether it was good or bad, she didn’t know, because shewasn’t exactly getting anywhere on this jogger case, and that point was being driven home further every day, as she struggled to find a way to bring this case to a final resolution. It just drove her nuts that she didn’t have the evidence she needed right now. However, it could surface someday—like in ten years, when somebody opened their mouth and actually spoke up.
A lot of old cases were eventually closed that way, but she didn’t want to wait that long. And it wasn’t about her ego; it really wasn’t. This wasn’t about having the greatest number of cases closed or being the top detective. This wasn’t about being the best or proving herself to the rest of the team. This was all about getting these assholes behind bars. And, even then, she used the plural term.
She frowned at that, wondering why, and let her mind roam freely as she ran, her body starting to get excited about the next curve, the next hill. Something was addictive to that ebb and flow of nature, as the hills twisted and turned. It was very different running here than what she was used to. Often she was on a track at a gym or on the sidewalk, where everything was pretty evened out. Here, it wasn’t even at all, and she was really glad when she narrowly avoided stepping into an unexpected pothole in the path, thankful she had come without Simon because he could have easily gotten hurt on the rougher terrain.
They had done fine the other day, but she hadn’t known about his knee. She wondered how often it went out and whether it was something they could work on with conditioning—because she would really like to run like this more often. With him. She’d come alone by choice today, but, as she thought about the couples who were victims in these joggers’ cases, couples who had run together and couples who had run apart, she wanted to be a couple who ran together. She’d have to talk to him about it when she got back.
Maybe today, while they were at the beach, they could talk about what they could do to build up the strength of that knee. She wasn’t any pro on this stuff, and, as a matter of fact, he seemed to be much more into it than she was. But still, there was always that sense of wanting to know more about what he was doing, as long as he didn’t feel like she was pushing him. She had a feeling that too much pushing from either one of them would be the end of their relationship.
She frowned, her mind automatically going from bits and pieces, trying to figure out just what in this relationship she was working so hard to save, when she realized it was everything. She was doing her damnedest to try and keep him in her life and to not step out of bounds in any way that would upset him. There was just so much to love about it all. So much to love about him.
And that was the part that got to her because she realized that she was hooked on him. She shook her head. “Really not a good idea,” she murmured. And, of course, there was no smart, rational answer for any of that. Because you did what you did, and it didn’t matter how any of it worked because, in reality, you were caught up in the emotions, and, while you were hooked, that’s the only thing that counted.
She’d been in love before a few times—or at least had thought so. It didn’t matter, and they apparently didn’t mean a whole lot, when they fizzled out so fast that she wasn’t even sure how she got there. It’s not that she had fallen in love and then had fallen out. After the first flush of love, their relationships, their jobs, and their lifestyles had finally all collided. She worked to try and make everything fit but finally realized that she didn’t care to work at it anymore.
The point when you feel like your relationship is just too much of a pain in the ass is also when you’d rather just get the good sex because the rest of it was too much work. And then, when the good sex was no longer great but just average and soonbecame mediocre, you’re asking yourself why you were even still there. At least she did.
It may have made her sound shallow, and she didn’t mean it that way, but it became a hindrance in her lifestyle, then something that was an irritant, and finally, when she realized she was ignoring her boyfriend’s incoming texts, she knew it was already over. And yet, with Simon, it wasn’t like that. He was different. He was exciting, and it hadn’t taken very long for her to get hooked on him. Though a part of her was definitely worried about that.
Like where would they be three months from now? Would they be out here running together, or would she be sneaking off because he was pissed off but she wanted to run anyway? She hoped not; she hoped that something was there to sustain them further.
The fact that they each did their own work thing was good, right? She didn’t even really know or understand what he did in his job, just as he was new to her detective world. This whole psychic thing should have been enough to keep her away from him for a long time. But now here she was and didn’t quite know what to do with it. So far, she had just ignored it all, except to utilize whatever information she could gain from his visions. Again, that didn’t make her sound very good.
She wasn’t trying to be difficult; she wasn’t trying to be anything other than herself. But being herself often seemed like it wasn’t quite good enough. She winced at that because it brought up remembrances of her mother all over again. Her mother had knocked her down from the get-go, even as a small child, blaming her for everything, but especially for the loss of her brother. And that was another thing that really bothered her.
She’d always kept herself so busy at work that she hadn’t had a chance to hunt down her missing brother, and that really bothered her. There had to be something that she could doto find him. But, so far, she kept coming up blank. Like the case that she was currently working on kept turning up without evidence, and that added to her frustration. She never wanted to be a person who walked through the world being completely ineffectual. And yet that seemed to be exactly what this jogger case was doing to her. She shook her head at that.
“Run faster,” she murmured, “run, run, run.”
The mantra went over and over in her head, as she ran faster and faster and faster, absolutely loving the blood pounding through her system, the sense of freedom, and the strength that poured through her veins. It was an incredible feeling. As she plowed her way up yet another hill, she slowed at the top and kept jogging, but took stock of her surroundings. She was miles away from the car park at this point. Still another thirty minutes of running probably. She smiled, wondering if Simon was awake yet, and how he would feel when he found out that he was alone.
*
All Simon heardwas the woman saying, “I’m going for a run.” And the man reaching out to say, “Don’t.”
He smiled, knowing that the woman would get back into bed with her lover. Only this time she got up and headed for the door. Simon wanted to call out to her, saying, “Don’t. Stay, stay with him.”
But she was silent as she dressed quickly and moved to the front door. Something was familiar about her, something about her body frame. Now everything about her seemed familiar, and, as she opened the door, the lights from the hallway flashed on her face, and he realized it was Kate. He shot awake almost instantly.
He sat up, his heart slamming against his chest. “What the fuck?”
He tried to take stock of what had just happened, but it was a little too crazy for him to even sort out. Was it Kate that he had seen in his dreams or had he dreamed it all because he knew she had wanted to go for a run this morning, and now she was overpowering his dreams? At that, he turned and looked at the bed beside him, then bolted to his feet and checked out the rest of his apartment. No sign of her. He raced to her gear, noting that most of it was still here, as he dug through her belongings, not giving a damn for her privacy—until he realized her running gear was gone. He snatched up his phone and called her. When she didn’t answer, he sent a text immediately.Where are you?