by Fuller, Levi
Kyle buzzed the man out, having neither the energy nor courage to try and hold him longer.
The flea? Kyle chuckled. Yes, a small irritating bug that kept biting and nipping until you were smart enough to kill it. That sounded about right.
7
Kate stretched out in bed. For a moment, a fog of confusion hung over her as fragments of her dreams refused to settle. There had been a dark house, filled with sounds—the sounds of many people sleeping. A few coughs and rumbling snores, muttered words, and the creak of mattress springs as the occupants turned in their sleep. So peaceful. Then had come the flickering light of a match, the hiss of a fuse, and the world was turned to white, a bang shattering the sleepy scene and spraying body parts everywhere. Kate shifted her head now, from side to side, as she felt sure she had done then, casting off the nightmare. Sunlight fell on her shut eyelids, the brightness bringing with it an image of Jack, eyes bright as his hair, and filled with hunger as he pulled his shirt off.
Kate let her eyes fly open, cursing, as they were blinded by the glare, and felt her cheeks begin to burn.
Not wanting to allow the dream’s images to return, Kate turned her mind forcefully to work. It had been five days since she had gone head-to-head with Olsen, proving to him that it was too costly for him to keep Kyle locked away on a false charge. She sighed. Despite her biggest hope in Landers, but turning out to be more of a hindrance than anything else, she felt they had made good progress.
Then there was Dr. Adams. Yes, she was annoyed at Adams. The woman seemed to have irrevocably joined Olsen, although, from all the arguing happening in the corners, Kate guessed that she had been likely bullied into it.
Kate sat up. She had voiced her concerns to Kyle and Jack. Jack had been overjoyed that she seemed to share his worries and assured her he was on it. Yesterday he had invited her over for dinner and the results of his search. Olsen was being a good boy. Whatever reason Adams seemed to be aligned with him was not because of some under-the-table deal.
The memories of that dinner made her cheeks begin to heat again. She had overstayed a bit—too content in the knowledge that Adams might actually be arguing with Olsen frequently because she was defending her—and full after a delicious meal. She had seen the change in Jack’s face, watched him shift nearer, but it wasn’t until his lips were on hers that she realized exactly how badly misleading her silent content must have been for him.
But I left. Straight after that. Kate told herself firmly. She had told him, as nicely as possible, that New York was her home, and as soon as this was all over, that’s where she’d be heading. That there was no sense in them starting anything.
Kate got out of bed, wondering why her mind had decided to take what was already going to be an awkward moment between them and make it even more awkward by turning it into a dream that made her cringe.
She wandered down to the kitchen. “Kyle?”
Kate frowned. The house was silent. Usually, they left for work together, but on rare occasions, if one had a meeting or such, they’d always leave a note on the fridge.
The fridge was bare. Shaking her head, Kate turned to make her breakfast and noticed the clock above the counter.
Her yelled profanity echoed around the kitchen as she raced back up the stairs. Tugging her shirt on roughly, she snatched her phone and hit Kyle’s number.
“Green.”
“Why the hell didn’t you wake me up? You think it’s funny to let me oversleep?”
“Kate?” Kyle’s voice sounded torn between confusion and annoyance. Annoyance won. “How can I wake someone who isn’t home?”
“What the hell are you talking about? I am standing in your house right now, after having woken up in your guest bedroom and discovered the time on your kitchen clock.” There was a moment of dead silence, as Kate tugged on her shoes. She thought she could hear sirens in the background from Kyle’s end and stood. “Look. I don’t have time for your attitude or your bad jokes, but I am expecting a proper explanation, Green, and you’d better hope Olsen doesn’t use this as the excuse he’s been waiting for.”
She hung up, grabbed her coat, and sprinted for the door and her car beyond it.
****
Kyle stared at his mobile as the line went dead. Kate was at home? He checked his watch. He had left early today, it was true, but even so, it had been nearly six and he was one hundred percent sure that she had not been there. Now, two hours later, she was yelling at him for making her late?
“Detectives? The fire marshal says he’s ready for you.”
Kyle pushed the thoughts, and the worry they caused away, turning to the officer that had called them. He glanced at Jack, who had seemed out of sorts all morning.
“Jack?”
The man looked up and seemed to steel himself. “Did Kate say anything to you this morning?”
Kyle frowned. “Not you too. Look, I didn’t see Kate at all.”
Jack frowned too. “You didn’t? I thought . . . well, I guess . . . never mind.”
Kyle felt realization click into place, his body going hot and cold, then hot again, in the space of a few breaths. “She was with you last night?”
Jack raised his eyes. “Does that bother you?”
“What did you do?”
Jack’s eyebrows rose. “You actually want me to answer that?”
Kyle opened his mouth then shook his head and lifted his phone. “She’s just called me to moan at me for not waking her in time for work.”
Jack tilted his head to the side. “She what?”
“She claimed to be at my house, extremely annoyed that I let her oversleep.”
“But—” Jack’s confusion was interrupted by the officer calling them again, this time a definite note of irritation in their voice.
“We’ll discuss this later,” Jack said, moving past Kyle.
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Kyle muttered, shaking his head. Kate was heading back to New York, though he hadn’t expected her to toy with Jack. He’d have to talk to her. After all, he was the one who was going to be left with a heartbroken partner, if they weren’t clear about what they were doing.
He turned his eyes back to the scene as he followed. He had received the message to haul ass and get here at half-past five this morning. The scene had been secured overnight, but today, the real work had to begin.
The building was a huge, converted house, one of those old affairs, that had been turned into winter lodging for Asheville’s homeless. Or at least those that were lucky enough to pass the vetting process to get a bed.
Or unlucky, he thought, spying Adams and her team already crawling over the scene, enough bright yellow markers on the ground for him to know that the house had been full when it exploded.
“She isn’t here.”
Kyle turned abruptly, facing a gap between two police tents. “Speaking of people who shouldn’t be here,” Kyle said, eying Landers significantly.
Landers looked away from the forensic tech squad and back at Kyle. “It seems against her personality to turn down coming to a fresh scene. Especially one caused by fire.”
Kyle stilled, locked in the pitch dark eyes that held him. “She overslept.”
“Busy night?”
Kyle felt a faint flush reach for him and pushed it away. “She and I haven’t had that kind of relationship in a long time.”
“I wasn’t referring to you,” Landers remarked, eyes sliding to the side.
Kyle didn’t turn, knowing Jack would be the object of Landers’s gaze. “Do you have a purpose here? Otherwise, I must ask you to leave. This is an active crime scene.”
“If you let the past keep biting you, the future will be harder than it needs to be,” Landers said, looking back at him. “I am done. I have seen what I needed. A good day to you, Detective Green. I hope you will be ready soon. We are running out of time.”
Kyle watched the little man walk away, seized by both his intense desire to hit something and a deep fear, twis
ting his belly. What had Landers come to see? The nature of the scene? A search for Kate?
He shook his head as Jack hailed him
“What were you doing?”
“Landers,” Kyle replied, from the corner of his mouth, nodding a greeting to the fire marshal.
“Detectives, please sit.”
“Will this take long?” Jack asked, looking towards the scene with fire in his eyes.
“As this was not an accident, yes, I imagine this will take quite a long time for us to sort through.”
Jack looked back, and Kyle sought the offered seat. “So the gas explosion theory . . .”
“Oh it was a gas explosion, but it wasn’t an accidental one. We found traces of a fuse and various other components.”
“When?” Kyle asked, Landers’s voice seeming to grow louder in his head.
“We estimate between midnight and two.”
Kyle looked at Jack, as the man sat beside him, but couldn’t bring himself to voice the question lodged in his throat.
8
“You want to bring her in?”
Kyle stifled a sigh. “I want to talk to her, Jack, and as you were the last one to see her, I want you there.”
“Kate was with me the whole time. How can you think that she had anything to do with any of this?” Jack demanded, still barring Kyle’s way into the forensic building. “I think you’re just feeling a little je—”
“You’d better not finish that sentence,” Kyle growled.
“If you two start fighting, you won’t be in time to save her.”
Jack and Kyle both turned, their already high tempers flaring further, as their gazes fell on Landers. In Kyle’s case, however, the anger quickly morphed into a choking fear. He, unlike Jack, had grown up with Kate. He knew the signs, and apparently, so did Landers.
“Get out of here, Mr. Landers. We have everything we want from you. I won’t hesitate to arrest you if you make any more comments that threaten Kate’s safety or mental well-being.” Jack folded his arms, drawing himself up, face hard.
Landers merely cocked his head to the side, an arrogant and intelligent crow, watching some lesser creature stumble down the wrong road. Slowly, Jack seemed to deflate, the unblinking gaze draining him of confidence.
“I’m going to find Kate.”
Kyle watched Jack go, the fear curling in his belly. He should probably stop him, let him know that Kate may not remember their evening together, but he couldn’t summon the breath to call after him. If Kate was losing time again, which seemed obvious, Jack would likely simply become more protective of her, insisting that she was right to be suffering ill effects after some monster murdered all her family. He let his eyes slide back to Landers, who was watching him now and loosed a heavy breath. He was smart enough to understand Landers’s insinuations, but he couldn’t believe that. No, whatever was going on here, that was not it. It couldn’t be.
“You seem to be but a single step away,” Landers mused, his lips curling in the kind of smile that spoke of sadness and success. “Good. When you are ready, I believe you know where to find me.”
“Stop. I want to know what you do. Now.” Kyle said, stepping closer, ready to physically stop the little man, if he chose to ignore the command.
Landers looked back and turned slowly. “I know what you know, only I am not afraid to admit it.”
“Enough games,” Kyle bit out. “She’s my friend.”
“Oh, she’s more than that. I understand. Now you had better get going.”
“Hey! I’m not done here!” Kyle said, trying hard not to be undone by the man’s clear gift for causing discomfort.
Landers sighed. “Your partner has, no doubt, reached Dr. Summers by now. How do you think he will respond if she can’t remember what he does? How do you think she will react?” Landers eyed him in silence as the words sank in, then nodded. “I see you understand how useful the answers to those questions will be. Go.”
****
Kate looked up from the report, her confusion turning into embarrassment, as Jack all but barreled into her lab area, face flushed and eyes alight.
“Jack. Is something the matter?”
He seemed to debate something for a minute, then stepped closer. Too close. “I missed you this morning.”
Kate felt embarrassment suddenly, overshadowed by something darker. “What?”
“You left without saying goodbye,” he said, shrugging slightly. “I mean, I get you wanting to get a fresh change of clothes, but you could have woken me. If we’d gone together, you wouldn’t have overslept.”
Kate carefully put down the report that defied logic and turned to the detective who was equally making no sense. She hadn’t stayed beyond ten-thirty. Why was he making it sound like her cringe-worthy dream had been real? She’d know if it had.
I would remember; I would.
A chill raced over her skin, and she stepped a little away. “Jack, we had dinner. Don’t people usually go their separate ways afterward?”
“Come on, Kate, we’re alone. Although, I already told Kyle, so if you were worried about his reaction, don’t be.”
Kate felt her blood slowly begin to freeze, moving sluggishly through her veins. Why would Jack make something like this up? And why taunt her? He didn’t seem liable to be the sort to do either, although she’d admit that she didn’t really know him that well. Her gut squirmed, sending another fissure of fear up her spine, where it seemed to be accumulating in some dark corner of her mind. She had lost time all her life, usually simply minutes, nothing to be overly concerned with, and certainly, nothing had ever happened in those blank moments.
“Jack. Please. If this is some kind of joke, or prank, or . . . just please tell me now. I won’t be mad, I promise.”
Jack’s face shifted through several emotions, before he reached out and grabbed her arms. “You won’t be mad? Shouldn’t I be the one allowed to get mad? We slept together, and you’re acting like nothing happened.”
Kate felt herself turning pale, the room beginning to blur at the edges. It seemed like her sluggish blood was having difficulty delivering the right amount of oxygen to her cells.
She shook her head mechanically, and Jack’s eyes darkened.
“Let her go, Jack.”
She turned her head to the side and saw Kyle standing in the doorway. She didn’t know how much he had heard, although, from his face, he had heard enough.
“Stay out of this,” Jack said, his hands tightening instead of loosening.
Kyle met her eyes. “Did it happen again?”
Kate could only nod, although the action required immense effort, as if some primal part of her was begging her not to reveal this fact, fighting against her own will to keep the secret.
“Jack. Remember when she went AWOL, and it turned out she’d just lost track of time? Well, that’s kind of what happened this time. She’s lost a block of time.”
Jack huffed a rueful laugh. “I get it. This is all some stupid joke, cooked up by the two of you. It’s in poor taste, but fine, whatever. I’ll let it slide, for now. I hope you had fun,” he turned his eyes back to Kate. “You’re having dinner with me again today. No excuses. And I expect a decent apology for this nonsense.”
Kyle stepped aside, as Jack released Kate and left the room, shaking his head and muttering.
“You should’ve stopped him,” Kate said, after a pause long enough for Jack to have made it all the way back to the police building.
Kyle shut the door, then leaned back against it. “He’s in denial. Repeating our words won’t help right now.”
“But I didn’t,” Kate began, determined to have someone back the sane part of her mind.
“Wait. Let’s do this properly,” Kyle said, raising a hand. “Close your eyes and just answer my questions to the best of your knowledge. Forget Jack’s claims for a minute.”
Kate took heart from his tone and sat back, beside the test results, and shut her eyes. Kyle seemed to take a
moment, shifting slightly, and then began.
“What did you do yesterday after we met up for lunch?”
“I came here. Ran more evidence, putting in for a fingerprint analysis on prints. I pulled one of the bigger items; it made me finish a little later than expected.”
She imagined Kyle would have nodded, then he spoke again. “And afterward?”
“I was leaving, and Jack came to see me. He’s been helping me look into the whole Olsen-Adams dynamic to make sure all was above board. He said he had his results and invited me to dinner to discuss them. I agreed.”
“That’s when you texted me that you were having dinner out and might be back late?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Kate felt her cheeks heat. She briefly went over the finds of Jack’s investigation, their supper, the light-hearted chit-chat, and then his kiss and her clear rejection.
“What happened next?” Kyle’s voice was still in the same tone—calm notes, simple, unhurried, and empty of any expectations or projection.
“I left. It was an awkward moment; I didn’t want to drag it out.”
“And you came back to my home?”
Kate was about to say yes and felt the word stick. Though she fought hard, there didn’t seem to be anything there, unlike the rest she had just related. “I think so.”
Kyle shifted slightly, and she could picture the way his expression would tilt to a concerned frown. “Assuming you did, what time would you have made it back home?”
“Ten thirty, eleven at the very latest.”
Kyle shut his eyes. “I was home and up until eleven forty. You weren’t there.”
Kate’s eyes flew wide, in time to see Kyle’s slide slowly open. “Is that some kind of joke?”
“You know it isn’t.”
Kate shook her head. “You must have missed me,” she said, standing abruptly, snatching up the report. “I know what you’re thinking, but I have never done something in my moments of lost time, nor did they last that long. Now, excuse me, I have work to do.”
