By the time everybody was in, Colby stepped out into the bullpen area. “Report.”
“We could let her do that,” Owen said.
She stared at him. “You were the one who told me where to go.”
“To go where?” Colby asked. “What were you doing downtown anyway?”
“I was stalking Simon,” she said, a round of snide laughter came behind her. “The psychic,” she snapped. “With the info on the kids’ cases.”
Colby looked at her in surprise. She shrugged. “I followed him downtown, after talking to Jennifer in Missing Persons. They put a tail on him, so I went to join in on the fun. St. Laurant ended up in a private poker game and a couple oddities. We didn’t find Leonard, the missing seven-year-old boy, but I did find the toddler,” she said. She checked her watch. “And I checked the hospital this morning. I’m supposed to call at eight for an update.”
“But he was alive?” Lilliana asked from behind her.
Kate nodded. “Alive, bloodstained pants, but I don’t know if that was his blood or someone else’s. It broke my heart to hand him over though,” she said, staring at Colby. “I had just passed him over to the ambulance crew,” she said, “and was standing there, trying to regroup, when Owen called me to tell me they had found the little girl.”
“And how did that get called in?”
Owen looked at her; she looked back. “Simon St. Laurant.”
Colby’s eyebrows rose to the surface. “Him again?”
“Yeah, I warned him that he was a little too involved in my cases,” she said, “and either I would haul him in and see how he was involved, or he better get the hell out of my world.”
“Haul him in,” Colby said. “That is an order. We don’t want anybody with that kind of information walking around town.”
“I get it,” she said. “I talked to him last night. Well, way after midnight this morning.”
“And?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” she said. “I don’t think he had anything to do with it. He said that he just came upon her.”
“What, another psychic tip?”
“I suspect he’d sayintuitionmore than anything.” Her phone rang just then. She looked down and frowned. “Jesus. It’s Simon.”
Colby said, “Answer and put it on Speaker.”
She groaned, hit Speaker, and said, “What do you want?” She knew the other detectives were startled at her response.
“I want to talk,” he said.
“That’s good, since my sergeant just ordered you brought in for questioning.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” he said. “Where do you want to meet?”
She looked over at Colby, and he pointed at his feet. “I’m not kidding,” she said. “Colby wants you in here for questioning.”
“Well, you tell Colby he can go fuck himself,” he said. “I just came from the hospital, and you’ve got another body here.”
“Did you kill this one?”
He gave a startled laugh. “No, I didn’t. He actually shot himself.”
“And why would he do that?” she said, slowly rising.
“Because he was at the game last night and lost everything.”
“And?” she asked. “There’s obviously more to that story.”