She looked at him and asked, “Does anybody ever come to terms with something that’s not settled?”
He shrugged. “I think some people do. I think some people can realize that it’s a done deal and walk away.”
“Well, I’m not one of them,” she noted, trying to keep the harshness out of her voice and failing miserably.
He nodded. “I didn’t think so. You look like somebody who’ll search for answers for the rest of your life.”
“I will,” she declared. “Absolutely I will. Even more so because of the guilt that was thrown on top of me.”
“That was just bullshit,” he said. “You were a little kid.”
“A kid who’d forgotten her homework at school,” she added, “so I ran back inside, and that’s all it took.”
“That’s all it takes for anybody because this was a predator,” Rodney stated quietly. “You know—as an adult and as a cop—that these guys only need seconds.”
She nodded. “That’s what I gave him, and it changed our lives forever.… Victimology lives on long after the crime, and I just saw another reminder of it.”
He nodded. “Which is another reason we do what we do, so these guys are caught and can’t keep going out and terrorizing even more people.”
She smiled. “Now if only these guys could stay in jail forever.”
“That part is out of our hands.” Rodney smiled at her. “So don’t get yourself caught up in their sentences and whether it makes sense or not. We do our best, and that’s all we can do.”
With that, she had to be satisfied.
*
When Simon gothome at the end of the day, Kate was sitting in the lobby of his building. He stopped in surprise, and she looked up and said, “I didn’t feel comfortable waiting upstairs.”
She looked over at Harry, who immediately turned to Simon. “I thought it would be okay.”
“It would have been fine,” Simon confirmed, “but I’m not surprised that she could be just as difficult about going up as anything else.”
She shrugged. “It’s your place. I’ll go inside with an invite but not without.”
Something was almost abrasive about her tone, as if she expected a fight. Instead of giving her one, he just nodded.
“Wherever you’re comfortable,” he replied, leaving it up to her. She frowned, as if not liking that answer all that much, but he wasn’t up for an argument. “Long day?” he asked, as they took the elevator up.
“Very,” she muttered. “And difficult.”
“I’m not sure you ever have easy ones,” he murmured. “Not given your line of work.”
“No, maybe not, when you consider that I deal with murder day in and day out.”
He nodded. “Do you want to go for a run?”
“No, I went to my dojo and did a workout already.” He looked at her in surprise, and she smiled. “It’s just fun for me.”
“I get that, and staying fit and alert is a major part of your job, I’m sure.”
“It is for me. I don’t want to be in the position where I’ll be a victim.”
Something in her voice was just off. He waited for her to say something else, but she didn’t.
Finally she broke down and admitted, “Look, Simon. I’m in an odd mood. I probably shouldn’t have come.”
“Why is that? Do you think you always have to be in a perfect mood here? That’s not how relationships work.”