“Push them off or push them back?” he asked calmly, checking his watch. “It’s only four-thirty now.”
“I know, but it won’t get any better. I’ve got a lot of testimonies and camera images here to go through.”
He hesitated and asked, “You’ll work at home?”
“I’m still at the office, so I’m not sure.”
It was obvious that she was really distracted by whatever was going on in her world. He immediately decided to let her off the hook. “Tomorrow then?”
“Yes, as long as this case doesn’t run over and take over tomorrow too.”
“A little bit of help might keep it under control for you.”
“Maybe. Rodney is on the case with me.”
Simon vaguely remembered Rodney. More of a big hulking teddy-bear type than anything. “I’m sure that’ll be helpful,” he said quietly.
“It will be. Rodney’s good. And he’s not veryin my faceabout anything, so that’s always welcome.”
“He’s obviously not at your side either.” Simon laughed.
“No, he stepped out.”
“Is he going home?”
“No, I don’t think so, but he’ll be back. Oh, I know. I think he was just grabbing some food.”
“Have you got anything with you?”
“No,” she said quietly. “I’ll get something in a bit.”
“If you would accept a delivery, I’d send something over.”
“I’m not quite ready. Maybe in an hour or two I can leave this place for a bit and go home. The change of pace might clear my head.”
“It probably would. I’ll check in with you in a little bit, and we’ll see how you’re doing.” With that, he rang off, placed his phone on the table beside him, and polished off his light dinner.
He stared out at the humming bustling street around him. That was the problem with being with a cop. She would always be busy, and there would always be another case. It’s funny that it had never concerned him before. It wasn’t anything he’d ever bothered with. He had always tried to stay clear of the police. He didn’t get into anything that was too shady or would involve an investigation, so he had managed to spend the bulk of his life without having any contact with them. But now he could think of nothing else. Well, with one detective anyway.
He’d like to have contact with her anytime, anyplace. He smiled, pocketed his phone, and picked up his coffee. He took another big sip, closing his eyes at the absolutely stunning aroma, as it drifted through his nostrils.
Shaking his head and wondering what was going on with his senses, he got up from the table and moved off down the street. Absolutely everything looked, seemed, and smelled far better and stronger than before. When a vehicle went by, shooting out a black cloud of exhaust, he frowned because the scent, the smoke, just assailed his senses, making him wince. Not only were the good things amplified but so were the bad ones.
Deciding that home would be better than this, he turned and headed back in the direction of his own place.
Chapter 5
Kate put downher phone and turned toward her monitors. From behind her, Lilliana said, “You know that you do get to leave. You get to have a life.”
Kate turned to look at her. “I didn’t realize you were still here.”
“Absolutely. We’ve also got a case that’s driving us nuts.”
“Right, you caught that downtown hotel shooting case, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, and it’s crazy,” she said.
Kate knew she looked just as tired as she felt, nowhere near as perfect as Lilliana always seemed to appear. And that said something about how Kate felt about her case. “I’m sorry. That has to be rough.”