“Well, this morning I had another vision of her sliding out of the bed and taking off, even though her partner asked her not to.”
She frowned. “So is she here?”
“Well, that’s why I came running. And I admit I may not have caught it the first time, and I sure as hell didn’t recognize it until now. With that person and that vision, the one who I connected to was the probable next victim,” he stated.
She frowned and asked, “Yeah, but who was it?”
He reached up two hands, grabbed her on either side of her shoulders, and gave her a slight shake. “It was you. I saw yourface in this morning’s vision, and then realized you’d taken off on me, without even letting me know that you had gone running. That’s why I came racing after you.” She looked up, shock and horror rippling through her.
“Seriously?” she asked.
He nodded. “Seriously.”
“Holy crap. That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”
“What? That I connected to you?”
“That we’re so close that we connected at all.” He looked at her for a long moment, not saying anything, making her feel like she’d just messed up big-time. She shrugged. “Look. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing.”
Simon shook his head. “That isexactlywhat you are saying.”
She frowned. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I’m tired, exhausted really, and it’s a little freaky to think that we connected through these abilities that I’m still trying hard to admit even exist,” she muttered.
At that, a smile broke across his face. “Ah, so it pushes your buttons again and your boundaries as to right and wrong in reality.”
“Sure,” she said. “Doesn’t it yours?”
“Well, it did,” he replied, “but I have to admit that I’m starting to get used to it.”
“Yeah? What happened to make you accept it?”
He added, “Realizing and understanding just how much good I can do with it. Because, my dear, I know you’ll tell me that it’s all bullshit, but there’s a really good chance that having connected to you on this case kept you from being the next victim. So, the fact of the matter is, you didn’t become a victim, whether that was by your hand, by my hand, or whatever combination you want to discuss,” he suggested. “But the bottom line is, you’re fine, and, if I hadn’t had that vision, I don’t know that it would have ended that way.”
She looked up at him, not even sure what to say.
When she did go to open her mouth, he placed a finger against her lips. “Don’t even start. We won’t talk about it right now. We won’t argue about it. We’ll just let it rest. Because I know what I know, and you don’t know what you don’t know. And, until you’re ready to accept everything that I’ve already got to this point of accepting,” he noted, “we’ll just be on opposite sides of the coin. For right now, let’s just accept the fact that this is a good day because we both survived.”
At that, she smiled up at him. “You know what? That is something I can get behind. And, as long as tomorrow’s beach day still happens,” she added, “I’ll be totally okay with however this works out.”
He looked down at her and smirked. “I’d give you a kiss right now, but have you any idea how dirty your face is?”
She groaned. “No, I really don’t, but I didn’t think it would matter to you.”
He laughed and said, “Good point.”
And, with that, he gathered her into his arms, and he kissed her, softly at first, then hard and passionately. When she finally came up for air, she heard catcalls around her. She lifted a hand and said, “Well, no thanks to you guys, I’m alive, thank you very much. And this asshole on the ground is our killer.”
At that, Rodney came running down the last bit of the hill. “Seriously, he’s the one,huh?” He looked at the dead body and asked, “Who the hell is he anyway?”
“He was a friend of the husbands,” she explained, “and the president of the running club they all used to belong to. He had developed a really big hatred for women. But, just like a lot of other runners, this one finally met his match and, through his own actions, came to the end of the road. And I, for one, am damn glad. Now we can clean up this mess and take care ofbusiness. I’ve got a shit ton of reports to write and a few other things to do, and then I am taking a couple days off.”
Rodney looked over at her, then grinned. “Aren’t you supposed to go to the beach today?”
“I wish I could.” She reached up a tired and skinned hand, wiping her face. “We’re pushing it off to tomorrow. So, I want everything wrapped up today, so I get Sunday off.”
“I think we can manage that.” Rodney laughed. “Especially now.”
“Yeah,especiallynow.” Kate turned to Simon and said, “It’ll be a long day, so you may want to go home.”