John managed to break himself away from Katie. “I’ll meet you at your house with pizza after I shut down some stuff here.”
“Deal.”
He disappeared into the forensic examination lab. Katie could still smell the light fragrance of his soap. She was amazed how much she felt like a teenager; everything seemed new and exciting in their relationship.
She moved paperwork around and made sure her notes were visible for McGaven to see if he came back to the office that weekend or first thing Monday morning. Due to some overtime restrictions at the department, she had to take tomorrow, Sunday, off. But that wouldn’t stop her from making notes or working on her laptop. She also looked forward to spending some time with her uncle tomorrow afternoon.
Katie headed home to take care of Cisco, who would probably be unhappy that his dinner was late. Maybe her uncle had stopped by, but then again, he was probably with his new girlfriend. It made her smile. She was happy that he had found someone to spend time with—her uncle was a kind, gentle man behind his tough and authoritative demeanor as the sheriff of the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department.
The evening weather had turned chilly, and as she walked to her door she thought it might be a nice thing to have a fire. She cleaned up, took the trash out, fed Cisco, and began building a fire. She didn’t know if it was from the past two days of finding evidence and visiting with the Young brothers, but she seemed to carry a chill with her.
She quickly changed her clothes to something more comfortable and debated jumping into the shower, but decided to wait. She let her hair down because she usually wore it eitherin a ponytail or twisted up with a large barrette holding it in place. The fire was burning nicely and she went to the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. As she was away from work, she finally felt her body relax. Being with John had been so good for her and she hoped it wasn’t just a new-relationship euphoria period, but rather their chemistry. She was grateful they had found each other.
A knock at the front door interrupted her thoughts. Cisco jumped up with a couple of barks, but it was clear he knew who was there waiting to come inside. Katie opened the door, where John stood holding a large steaming pizza box. He had changed his shirt to a comfortable-looking sweatshirt.
“Come in,” she said, holding the door. “That smells great. I’m hungry.” She sighed.
John went to the kitchen, and of course was followed closely by Cisco. After they got their pizza slices and glasses of wine, the couple made a comfortable area to eat and relax as they sat on large pillows in front of the fire. It was picture perfect.
Cisco gave up on begging for food and sat on the sofa. Katie and John were quiet as they enjoyed the first pizza slice and sipped wine. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence; they were enjoying each other’s company without needing words to fill the gap. There was a feeling of love, safety, and true enjoyment.
“Wow, this is nice,” he said.
“It really is.” She leaned forward, giving him a quick kiss. For some reason John brought out her romantic, lighter side.
“I know when we spend time together, we don’t talk about shop, but…” he said.
“But?” She smiled. Her curiosity got the better of her.
John sat up and moved close to Katie, so they were sitting side by side. “I’ve never seen a case like this. I received the evidence from the Collins farm. I will have an answer soon to the blood type on the bat. There’s enough to test against Bruce Collins and…”
“I know what you’re going to say. He was also murdered, so there’s this strange line of events.”
“Yeah. I mean… I worry about your case.”
“Why?”
“Well, for one, there’s a weird guy dressed in black wandering around out there who attacked you. And then there’s the ex-Marine living off the grid somewhere like a mountain man.”
John’s brows knitted together and his mouth turned down. His dark, intense eyes stared into Katie’s. It was as if he knew her deepest thoughts.
“It’s okay,” she said. “We’ve requested more help due to the paperwork involved and trying to chase down background information to connect all these events. You know it’s part of the job, more than just about anyone.” Katie remembered all the cases where John was right there and he had the detectives’ backs.
John couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, I know. And I think I know you well too. You found me when I was giving up because I knew I was going to die. I know how incredibly capable you are, how strong, resilient, and brave.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You are. And I have to admit I’m worried about this case. I think it’s due to the evidence from the trap that was supposed to brutally kill someone to the unknown man who’s following your moves.”
Katie looked down; she knew all too well that this case had unusual circumstances and her safety was at risk. She had a major concern from a profiling perspective and her experience with killers. She hadn’t mentioned her thoughts to McGaven yet, but she felt compelled to bring them up to John.
“I know it seems we’re just following a trail of breadcrumbs to solve old crimes, but I really believe there’s going to be a major event soon. That everything right now seems tamecompared to what’s going to happen.” She spoke with a voice barely above a whisper.
“Like another murder?”
“Maybe, but I’m thinking that whatever this entire case is really about… they are going to make their intentions known. And I think it will have to do with the construction of the police and fire training center.”
John digested this before he said, “What makes you think that?”
