“I often do. Remember Robin, most recently.”
“No, I know, and I guess the kids. They weren’t dead yet, but neither were they well.”
“Some were, not all of them.”
“Jesus,” she repeated. “I really don’t want to think that this is somebody else who’ll die. Did you see their faces?”
“No such luck. First the room was dark. Second, I saw only her legs. Third I didn’t want to see the kiss and the rest. Besides, she kissed his forehead, and I saw above that.”
“Too bad. As much as I keep telling people we can’t assume it’s the husband, I really don’t want it to be another serial-killing scenario.”
“Well, what you want isn’t necessarily what you’ll get,” he stated, “and I certainly can’t say this latest vision was related to your current murders. All I’m saying is that, this woman got up and then went back to the bed with her partner.”
“Well, good for her,” Kate said. “Let’s hope it means nothing. Look. I have to go. I’m really late for work.”
“Bye then,” he immediately replied, then hung up.
She stared down at the phoneagainbecause she’s the one who had called him. It’s not as if he had been interrupting her. She immediately sent him a text.Sorry. I just realized how late it is.
And it was late. It was damn late, and she would get shit for it. Then she stopped and shook her head. Of course she wouldn’t get shit for it. This is the job. Some days she could make itat a certain time; some days she couldn’t. She did her best to always make it there consistently, but it’s not like she hadn’t been working around the clock on this case, starting this past weekend.
When she did finally get to the office, she grabbed a coffee before heading to her desk. She looked around to see who else on her team was here, frowning at Andy’s empty desk.Right, he took off this week. Lucky guy. She sat down with a heavythudthat resounded around the room.
“Wow,” Owen said from behind her, “you okay?”
“Fine.” She yawned. “I need to catch some sleep though.”
“Yeah, that gets to be a never-ending problem for us,” he noted, with a knowing glance.
“We do the best we can”—she yawned again—“and sometimes, when you think that you’re all good and that sleep should be right there, it’s just not, and that’s damn irritating.”
“Yeah? Wait until you have kids,” Owen added.
Sergeant Colby entered the bullpen and added, “If you’re having trouble sleeping, you can always make an appointment with the department’s shrink.”
She looked up at him, shook her head. “It’ll be one hell of a long time before I ever do that willingly. You know that, right?”
He glared at her. “They’re not all the same.”
“Maybe not,” she agreed, “but just the thought of that one we had previously, talking to her pedophile brothers, while talking to us, is enough to make my insides creep out completely.”
He nodded. “I have to admit that I’ve had a similar thought or two. Try taking a sleeping pill then.”
“Nope, not going to,” she stated. “I can’t stand what drugs do to me.”
“You’re just being stubborn,” Owen remarked, with a chuckle.
She shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll deal with my sleep problems in my own way.”
“As long as it doesn’t affect your job,” the sergeant noted.
“It hasn’t yet.” She glared at Colby, as if challenging him to argue with her. But, of course, she also knew he wouldn’t. She had done a huge amount of quality work for the department, and their case closing rate had skyrocketed since she had arrived. She knew he was pleased with her and with the team. And if she had trouble sleeping? Well, she’d deal with it in her own time, in her own way, like everybody else.
“We got two other cases that came in overnight—unrelated,” the sergeant relayed.
“I want to keep working on the runner case,” she stated instantly.
He looked over at her. “Is it complex?”