by Fuller, Levi
“You are on probation. How is it suspicious to make sure that the rules of that probation are being followed?”
Kate gave him a small smile. “Your thoroughness is duly noted. Here’s my report for the day.”
Olsen took it, flipped slowly through her work, clearly hoping to find some gap somewhere he could exploit. “Four cases closed.”
She nodded, catching the wink from Adams. “As you can see, a very busy day. Not a moment to spare.”
Jack coughed, but Olsen didn’t seem to take notice, his glare reserved for Kate alone. He then turned away. “Good work, Dr. Adams, Detective Carson. Let’s get this wrapped up.”
Kate watched him leave and grinned. “That’s right, Olsen. You’re stuck with us both, whether you like it or not.”
Jack shook his head, having heard the whispered words. She gave him a wink. “Let’s go get our third musketeer.”
5
“Jack,” Kyle said, pushing up slowly from the cot in the corner of the cell that had been his home for the last few days. “Any news yet?”
Jack flashed him a grin and held out a piece of paper.
Kyle let his blue eyes flash over the paper until they found the word “release,” all the other words fading and becoming unimportant. “You got me out?”
“You know, if you’re going to insult me, I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Kyle looked up, brushing his mop of sandy brown hair off his forehead. “Sorry. I’m not surprised it was you, just that it’s happened so quickly.”
“Liar,” Jack said good-naturedly, as he stepped back to let the officer open the door. “Besides, it wasn’t just—”
“You’re out,” Kate said, giving them both a big smile.
Something about her arriving here set Kyle’s teeth on edge. Maybe it was because he hadn’t forgiven her for abandoning him at the worst time of his life, or maybe it was because she’d waltzed back into his life, demanding he help her face a trying time in her own life.
“Disappointed?” he asked, cutting her a hard look.
Kate’s smile faltered. “Why would I be disappointed?”
“Because with me behind bars, you could ignore your end of the bargain, and just take the spoils. It’s what you do, isn’t it?”
Kate flinched, but instead of the glare Kyle had been expecting, she looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears and filled with confusion and hurt. Before he could make sense of her reaction, she had turned on her heel and fled back down the corridor.
“Doesn’t like hearing the truth, does she?” he asked, though his gut squirmed with guilt.
“You know what, Kyle?” Jack said, slapping him hard over the head. “You are an idiot.”
Kyle rubbed the back of his head and swallowed a curse, as Jack, too, began making his way down the corridor. “Hey! Like what I said wasn’t true? Has she given you anything on Becky’s case since I’ve been in here?”
Jack shook his head.
“See? So how was what I said out of line? She’s selfish and—”
Jack spun around quickly and knocked Kyle back into the wall. “You know why she hasn’t worked on Becky’s case? Because she’s been too busy losing sleep over yours. Olsen’s let her in, but on an idiotic probation she needs to pass, which means she isn’t allowed anywhere near the case she wants yet. Every day, Adams has kept her drowned in menial tasks, so she has worked at night, combing through things, helping me spot the pieces that are out of place so that I can follow up. You were right before. I could never have gotten you out so fast. One, because my brain is slower to make leaps than hers, but two, because she believed you hadn’t done it from the second you were accused, and that lit a fire under her.”
Kyle could only stare. He had never before heard such a long speech from Jack, nor such a passionate one. “Are you falling for her?”
Jack huffed and stopped, pinning him to the wall. “Sure, change the subject. I know she hurt you bad, but I never thought you were the sort who would only be happy once they’d gotten even.”
Kyle watched him walk away and straightened. He knew Jack was right—he just didn’t want to admit it.
****
Kate wasn’t sure how she’d gotten here without getting in an accident, but somehow she had. She turned the key and the car fell silent, the gray-black smudge that had been the second of her childhood homes marring the ground beyond the drive she’d automatically pulled into.
This relic was no longer an active crime scene. Adams and her team of techs had spent almost every moment since her arrival sweeping every square inch, shifting the ash aside and retrieving any and all objects for cataloging and, if deemed necessary, further analysis. She herself, as sole heir, had been given clearance to the remains of the house and the land as both were now hers.
Kate stepped from the car, flicked on her phone’s flashlight, and began to walk slowly towards the house.
She was probably being incredibly foolish. A trip like this, in the growing dark of night, was likely to bring on a host of nightmares she’d not had since childhood, but she couldn’t help it. Besides, stopping now would not alter the later consequences. She stepped through the exact point where the front door would have stood. She’d helped choose that door. Bright red, with three circular windows down one side and a doorknob shaped like an apple, leaf and all. Mae had been determined that Kate put her own mark on the house—make it her own.
She shook her head and let her feet follow what would have been the hallway, her mind superimposing the image of a blue runner carpet, family pictures filling the walls with their life and memories. Though her feet trod through ash-blackened snow, she was determined to see what had been instead, as she made her way through the once-familiar house.
Kyle’s attack had been uncalled for and brutal. Was that really how he saw her? She shook her head sadly and caught a glimmer in her torch light. In the superimposed image, she knew this was the pantry, the place where the knife had been stolen from. Had the techs missed one of the blades from the set? There’d been nothing else in here that would have resisted the heat of the fire, if she was remembering the figures from the fire department’s report correctly. She bent closer, training the torch beam from her phone on the half-buried object.
She felt her brow furrow, and the superimposed world made of memories and filled with life vanished, leaving her alone in a world of ash and death. She didn’t touch the object, although she already knew what it was. A microscope. Not one of the fancy high tech ones they have at the lab, but still, a decent one.
Kate glanced over her shoulder. Her bedroom had been on the opposite side of the house. There had been no room above the pantry or utility room, both having been added on later to the original build. If it hadn’t fallen from a room above, then what was it doing here?
Kate felt her mind shift, into that calm space from which she worked. She rose, snapped several photographs, including those that showed footprints not made by her, and then hurried to the car for her field kit that she was never without.
Back at the scene, she snapped on gloves and carefully shifted the frozen ash and snow aside. Perhaps that was it. The heavy snowfall might have hampered Adams’s team in their search, and unlike her, they wouldn’t know what should and shouldn’t be where. They had their remains, and they had their weapon: they wouldn’t have been looking too hard anyway. Kate gritted her teeth, thinking that it had likely been a similar story with her parents. The remains pointed to a murder-suicide; the team found the murder weapon, case closed.
She pulled the microscope free and her mind stalled. This wasn’t her childhood microscope, bought by Ben and Mae to be an exact replica of the one her parents had once bought her, but had been damaged in the fire that took them. This one was a Bresser Biolux, a professional-grade microscope Aunt Mae had presented her with when she’d been accepted into the forensics department in New York. It had come with a complete lab setup of test tubes, a measuring beaker, pipettes, and a bunch of differ
ent chemicals. She remembered having to resist rolling her eyes, after all, she would never have need of the thing. It was still in the apartment in New York, boxed up and brand new.
She tilted her head to the side, even as she bagged the object. Perhaps, as had often happened, both Mae and Ben had had the same idea and made good on it before talking to one another, resulting in a double.
But why keep it though?
She almost laughed as she imagined Aunt Mae making a case for keeping the duplicate, in case anything happened to the first. It would be a typical Aunt Mae-ish thing to do.
Kate shook her head and placed it carefully in the empty bag for evidence collection.
She looked at the desolate surroundings and dithered about going home. In the end, she stayed where she was, digging through snow and ash for anything else they may have missed. Back at the hotel, all she would have were bad feelings about Kyle—and nightmares. At least here, she could be useful, her mind calm and focused, looking for the clues that others might have missed.
6
“Jeez, Summers, are you alright?” Jack asked, as she stumbled into the precinct.
Kate looked up, but he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was glancing quickly around to see if anyone else had noticed her entry. The answer must have been no, because in the next minute, he had grabbed her by the elbow and hauled her back outside, moving quickly towards his car through the blinding sunlight.
“What happened?”
Kyle, Kate mused, wondering why her eyes were taking so long to adjust to the sudden brightness again. He actually sounds concerned.
“I don’t know, but we can’t let Olsen see her like this,” Jack said, opening the door and basically dropping her in.
Why is he being so rough?
“Has she fainted?” Kyle asked, as arms gripped her and adjusted her in the seat.
Kate heard the words but had no time to compute them, as the world, instead of resolving into focus, dissolved into darkness.
“Kate? Kate!”
“Let’s just get her out of here,” Jack said, keeping his voice low.
Kyle looked at him over his shoulder then nodded, reaching to buckle Kate in and shut the door.
“She’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday,” Jack commented.
Kyle didn’t miss the underlying accusation. Yes, he’d said something hurtful, but was it really his fault if she’d behaved like a child and wandered the streets all night? He frowned. The Kate he knew would likely not have been so self-pitying. She would have found something to do. There was only one thing he could think of that could engage her attention in this town of misery.
“Wait,” Kyle said, opening the door again and rummaging in her pockets, ignoring Jack’s protest. He stepped back and shut the door once he had the keys he’d been after. “I’ll follow with her car. It’ll only raise questions if her car is here, but she is not.”
Jack pulled up at the hotel and waited for Kyle to arrive before getting out and pulling a still- unconscious Kate into his arms.
He walked around the back, leaving Kyle to follow.
Kyle muttered to himself, but followed anyway and moved past them to open the door to her room. Thankfully, they had passed no one coming this way.
“Just lie her on the bed.”
Jack gave him a long look. “As opposed to what? Dangling her from the ceiling? What the heck did you think I was going to do with her?”
Kyle bit back a laugh, but raised both his hands. “Carry on then.”
Jack laid her down with deliberate care, removing her coat and covering her with a loose blanket, then stepped back, looking faintly lost.
Kyle breathed a soft laugh. “Go back to work. I’ll stay with her.”
“You don’t think we should call a doctor?”
“She likely passed out due to a lack of sleep. You said she’d been getting very little, to have time to help me, and it looks like she got none last night.” Kyle bent to touch her forehead, then neck, then slipped a hand under her shirt to feel her back—all were toasty warm. “She’s not hypothermic, despite her nighttime sweep.”
“Sweep?”
“Look at her boots. She’s been at her aunt and uncle’s all night.”
Jack looked at the ash-streaked shoes; the soles were clogged with mixed snow and ash. “Then shouldn’t we just leave her to sleep? We can leave a note explaining why she’s here.”
Part of Kyle wanted to take the option, not because of the slight undercurrent in Jack’s words, but he knew he could not. Perhaps it was guilt over what he had said to her yesterday, or perhaps it was because with her sleeping like this, defenseless and peaceful, it made him unable to see anything but the girl he’d stood beside always—the woman he’d once loved.
“Given her choice of activities last night, I don’t think she should be alone,” Kyle said at last, trying hard to sound like this was simply the logical thing to do.
“Then why you? I’ll stay. I’d wager she likes me better just now.”
Kyle let his lips turn up on one side. “I’d wager you are right, but I, and not you, have been given the day off. So I will stay. You go. I’ll make sure there’s a sick note for Olsen to read.”
Jack looked torn for a moment, and Kyle fought to stay impassive.
I just don’t want Jack getting hurt like I did. The lie sounded feeble, even to himself. She’ll go back to New York when all this is over. That one stuck better.
“Fine. I’ll be back later. Message me the minute she wakes up.”
Kyle nodded and moved to the plush armchair on the other side of the room. “Will do.”
The door clicked shut behind Jack, and Kyle let his own eyes slide shut. He hadn’t gotten much sleep either yesterday.
****
Kate was running. She could feel her legs pumping hard, the air tearing through her lungs like a million little blades, but for all her effort, she was getting nowhere. Her family was still looking at her, their eyes wide with fear. She could feel the heat of the flames rising and knew that soon they would all die. She fought harder, but it was as if her body was trapped.
Kate could see the fire now, hungrily carving a path towards her mother and father, her aunt and uncle. She looked down, desperate to see why her feet were not gaining enough purchase on the ground.
She tilted her head to the side. There was nothing below her feet—nothing to grip. Someone screamed, and her head snapped up again.
The room had changed. Where once there had been furniture, there was now just an empty space surrounded by mirrors, but they did not reflect the room. They seemed to show only darkness, like the abyss beneath her feet. Still, she reached out as the fires finally took hold of their targets. Her fingers crumpled against a cold smooth surface. Glass. A mirror, like all the others. Suddenly her reflection filled them all, the screaming hit a peak, and the abyss beneath her finally swallowed her whole, casting her down, down.
Kate awoke screaming and trembling, but something was off about it. It took her fear- addled mind a moment to pick up what didn’t belong. There were arms, strong and warm, wrapped around her shaking frame. There was a cheek, prickly with stubble, pressed to her head. And a voice, deep and soothing, whispering calming nonsense into her ear.
Kyle.
“Kyle?”
Her voice seemed to break the spell and he let her go, shifting off the bed and standing in one fluid movement. “Are you properly awake now then? Or are you still determined to scream loud enough that the owners of this fine establishment call the cops?”
Kate watched his eyes, as the harsh words flowed, and smiled. The level of worry and care was not hidden well enough. “I’m fine. Sorry.”
Kyle let out a long sigh. “I’m the one who should apologize,” he said, turning to look out the sliding doors. “I acted like an idiot yesterday, and I am sorry.”
Kate looked quickly away from his reflection, the imprint of the nightmare still too strong. “Don’t worry about it. I
could’ve come back here. Instead, I ended up there.”
Kyle looked back at her. “Still. Thank you. For helping Jack get me out so fast.”
“Anytime,” she said with a small smile, sitting up properly and casting off the blanket.
She sucked in a breath through her teeth, and Kyle was beside her in a second.
Her sweater sleeves were strewn with spots of blood, still wet and seeping.
Kyle took her wrist, then held it tighter, as she tried to pull away, and lifted her sleeve. This time, she had scratched enough to cause open wounds. Two names seemed to be written there, though they were distorted by other lines crossing them. Ben. Mae.
He pulled up her other sleeve, but she already knew what would be there and looked away. Mom. Dad.
“Do you have your cream and pills?” Kyle asked.
She almost smiled, this moment a perfect extension of their past and likely their future, had she not run away and cut ties through silence and abandonment.
“In my vanity bag.”
Kyle moved to the bathroom and came back with the correct objects. “Here. Put on the cream, and then pack.”
“Pack?”
He gave her a level look. “You can’t stay here. For one, I’m not sure your bank balance would appreciate it, and two, this is going to be hell for you. You shouldn’t be alone, and more importantly, you need a test barrier between you and Olsen. You do realize what would have happened to you if he had seen you like that?”
Kate tilted her head. “So I did go to work? I thought so. You brought me back?”
“No. Jack did. I followed and stayed. Now come on, pack.”
“Where will I go?”
He arched an eyebrow. “My house, of course.”
7
Kate had settled into Kyle’s house with as much grace as she could muster. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the offer, or that he’d been wrong in any of his reasons for it being needed, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was imposing. Like their being here together was giving the ghosts of their past more strength.
