“It’s the life we live. The nightmares catch us when we’re subconsciously weak and get in through our lowered defenses, then attack us to the point that we don’t even know if we’re coming or going.”
He sat here and stared.
Kate asked him, “What? Did I say something wrong?”
“No, it’s just that forthright honesty that I love so much.”
“Good. So what’s the blackmail thing?”
“She says that she made recordings of when I was having nightmares. She said she would release them to the public, and that some pretty horrific things were on them.”
She stared at him in shock. “Jesus, that’s a pretty mean and lowlife thing to do, isn’t it?”
“That’s Caitlyn for you.”
“Did she really record them?”
“See? That’s where the confusion comes in. She says she didn’tnow.”
“Oh, but she said she did when she needed you to find her nephew?”
“Exactly. She was looking for leverage. I would have helped her anyway, and I did, in fact, try to help her. As it happened, I did connect with him down the road. I didn’t do it because of the blackmail, but she thinks I did. So now she’s using it. I think she’s keeping that in the back of her mind as a weapon.”
“Wow, I really don’t like this person. It’s pretty interesting that she was your choice of a partner.”
“Don’t even go there. Sometimes you look back on your history, and you wonder what the hell you were thinking.” He looked at her. “Isn’t there a relationship somewhere in your background where you now wonder what the hell you were doing?”
“Yep, another cop. I knew better—Don’t do it, bad news, stay away—but, no. Hormones got the best of us. We were jumping in the sack every chance we could get. It wasn’t until later that I found out he was married.”
At that, Simon winced. “Ah, shit.”
“Yep, guess how I found out.”
He stared at her and waited.
“The wife came to me. That was a pretty ugly scene. Not doing that again, and I wouldn’t have done it in the first place if I’d known. But I also didn’t check it out, so it’s my bad.”
He agreed. “Back to thatpeople can be peoplething, huh?”
“That’s the lesson, isn’t it? That people will be people, and it’s up to you to protect yourself.”
He winced. “And we both learned that the hard way.”
“And that’s one of the reasons we’re good together. But it’s also damn scary.”
He reached across, grabbed her hand. “But I trust you.”
She looked up at him, her thoughts shattered, as she said, “And I trust you. But are we sure this is a good idea?”
He studied her for a long moment, seeing the insecurity and the doubt in her face, and nodded. “Yes, it is.”
Chapter 10
Kate woke inthe middle of the wee hours of the morning to the sound of her phone, the incessant drumbeat rolling through her brain, bringing her exhausted and yet happily humming body to full awareness. She groaned, as she turned over and reached for her phone, noting Simon was still here, had even slept through the buzzing of her cell.
When she answered the call, Rodney said, “Sorry, kiddo. We’ve got another body.”
“Great.” She yawned. “Where is it this time?”