He blinked several times, as if snapping out of a daze.
“Okay,” he said. “What are you doing here? I thought your text earlier said you were working a case with Sam Goodwin.”
"I am. We just left the crime scene. Sam's on his way back to the station now, but I wanted to stop by to check in on you and Kat."
“I think she’s in the living room,” he said in a disconnected tone, sharing information she obviously would already have discovered upon arriving home.
“I just saw her,” Jessie said, before adding playfully, “what are you up to there? Doing some online shopping?”
“I was just checking out how the Dodgers did last night,” he said turning the laptop so she could see the screen. She looked at it and saw that while the banner was for the L.A. Dodgers website, the page had a big “404” error message. She wondered how long he’d been staring at the page, unaware that it hadn’t loaded properly, but she said nothing about it.
“Did you eat lunch?” she asked, trying to sound chipper.
“I was going to make a sandwich,” he said dully.
“Now?”
“Soon.”
“Well, come on out and I’ll give you a hand. We can tag team it.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “I’ll do it a little later.”
She sighed silently, trying to hide her anxiety.
“Well, don’t forget,” she said. “Remember, you’re supposed to go back to work next week and you’ll need your strength. Load up on protein.”
“Okay,” he said, turning the laptop back to face him but making no effort to reload the webpage.
She stood in the doorway for a second, unsure how to proceed. Then she walked over and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you tonight."
“Sounds good,” he muttered, though she wasn’t sure he’d really heard her.
After she left the bedroom, she found herself back in the hall, facing the front door. It occurred to her that she was looking directly at the spot where she’d shot Ash Pierce, first to wound, and then to kill. The blood stains were all gone now, removed by a cleaning service that specialized in that sort of thing.
But in her head, the bright red of the splatter as she fired her weapon at Pierce's heart was as vivid as ever. Shaking off the memory, she focused on Kat, who was in the living room doing her rehab exercises.
“Looks like you’re progressing nicely,” she said to her sweaty friend.
“Getting there,” Kat grunted as she held a light dumbbell in her right hand while making concentric circles. Her once-broken wrist didn’t seem to be giving her as much trouble now.
“I hope so,” Jessie said, “Because that’s your gun hand.”
“I’m well aware,” Kat said with a grim smile. “Remember, I’m planning to return to my apartment this weekend, so I’ve got to be mostly self-sufficient. Are you still able to help me move back in?”
"You bet," Jessie said, "with all the obvious caveats, of course. If I'm still working this case, then there might be complications, but fingers crossed, we solve it well before then."
“A rough one?” Kat asked.
Jessie nodded. “The scene was bad. And the aftermath may be worse. There’s a potential political component that could make things volatile. The media is already all over this one.”
“I hope it goes well,” Kat said, “for both our sakes.”
Jessie looked at the time. It was 12:20 P.M. “Could you do me a favor?’ she asked.
“As long as it doesn’t involve lifting anything heavy, sure.”
“If Ryan hasn’t come out of the bedroom to make himself some lunch by 1 P.M., would you be willing to throw a sandwich together for him?”
