“Look. I’m not a shrink or anything,” she said. “All I can say is that I’m sorry if this in any way contributes to the loss of a friend.”
Muttering an expletive under his breath, he got into the vehicle and said, “Hop in. I’ll drive you home.”
She didn’t argue and got in. When they got closer to the area of her apartment, she said, “Drop me anywhere. I’m heading back to the office.” He looked at her in surprise. She shrugged. “Just because that job is done doesn’t mean anything else is,” she said. “I still have a ton of work pending, and I don’t have time to let it all slide.”
“Slide?”
“All I can tell you is that she’s not the only widow right now, or widower, for that matter,” she said. “And I really would like to make sure we don’t have any more.”
*
Pissed, Simon watchedas Kate walked up the sidewalk toward the station, hating to see her walk out in the dark alone. He shook his head at his own foolishness, since her martial art skills were probably better than his. But he got out and waited until she was safely inside. Then he stepped back into his vehicle and headed to his place. As he walked into his penthouse apartment, his phone rang. Not thinking, he answered it.
“Hey,” Caitlin said.
“Oh,” he said, his voice dropping in disgust. “What do you want?”
Her voice sad, she said, “I know you don’t have any reason to be nice to me, but I wanted to tell you that I really appreciate what you did.”
“That’s nice,” he said, tired and fed up. “You also put me through hell before that.”
“And I guess that’s why I’m apologizing,” she said quietly. “I know it’s stupid, and I shouldn’t have done it, but I was pissed off and upset that you broke up with me.”
“Maybe, but you sure as hell shouldn’t have played all those games with my life.”
“Right,” she said, “big bad you and all that.”
“Don’t even go there.” She was so damn irritating. But then he seemed to have a problem with irritating women because he was certainly fascinated with the very prickly Detective Kate Morgan. “Whatever,” he said. “It’s water under the bridge, as long as you don’t continue your shenanigans.”
“No,” she said, “I won’t.” She hesitated and then said, “Are you seeing someone else?”
He stared down at the phone. “We’re well past the point of that being any of your business to even ask that question,” he said coolly.
“Oh,” she said, “I guess I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go for a coffee or something sometime.”
“No,” he said, “I do not. I went down that pathway and didn’t like the place I ended up.”
“No,” Caitlin said, “I understand that. I really do. I wasn’t a great person. I understand why you broke up with me.”
“Yeah, the problem is what you wanted and what I wanted were very different things, and I wasn’t about to be controlled,” he said quietly.
“But seeing Leonard go missing like that and realizing that it was through my own actions and inability to respect the needs of a seven-year-old, then coming so damn close to not talking to him or not getting him back,” she said, “honestly I’ve changed.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” And he was sincere in that. If she did change, it would be a good thing because, wow, it was needed. The fact that she was even now apologizing was amazing. “I’m glad you’ve had a change of heart.”
“I was really a bitch before, wasn’t I?” she said sadly. “I do want you to know that I’ve changed and for the better, and I have you to thank for that. I won’t bother you again.”
And, with that, she hung up on him.
Chapter 8
Kate Working Late
Kate buried herselfin work and tried to forget the look on Simon’s face—and on Louisa’s—when they heard Kate’s questions. But they were necessary. Something really strange was going on, and, at the very worst of all this, somebody was quite likely causing people to commit suicide. Kate wasn’t even sure what charges the prosecutor would put against this bad actor, and she didn’t give a damn as long as she got them to stop. So she was primed to pull an all-nighter.
When Rodney came in the bullpen, she lifted her head. “You staying late too?”
“You busy?” he asked.