Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(63)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

“Well, in that case,” Helen replied from the sideboard, “I hope we don’t need to call you.”

 

“Exactly, but considering how many women die due to domestic violence each year, I would certainly understand if I were called.” Kate shrugged.

 

At that came silence in the room. Helen bustled around and made tea, while Kate tried to rack her brain for any other questions she had. “Do you remember anybody in the Clement case, any names, anybody who was concerned, anybody the Clement women were concerned about, or who were concerned about them?”

 

“Her son. I don’t remember his name,” Helen said, turning to look at Lisa.

 

“No, I don’t remember his name either, but I guess he’d been beaten by his father too. However, when they’re adults, we can’t take adult males here,” Lisa said apologetically. “They have to go to a men’s shelter.”

 

“Right. That makes sense,” Kate remarked.

 

“Exactly. If he’d still been a child, … that would have been a different story, but he was at least nineteen or twenty. Good-sized lad too, as I recall,” Lisa noted, looking over at Helen.

 

Helen nodded. “I think so. It seems such a long time ago though. … But how sad that Elizabeth’s dead,” Helen murmured. “That girl was bound and determined to get her life together.”

 

“So was Patricia,” Lisa pointed out.

 

At that, once again silence fell, this time a little more awkward. When Kate was given a cup of tea, she sipped it gently, trying to figure out what else to say. And then she came to. “Is there anybody else who helps you with repairs here, like Simon does, anybody else you interact with on a regular basis, anybody who would know when Simon came and left?”

 

The women looked at her and then slowly shook their heads. “We don’t deal with any males here,” Lisa said. “Obviously, if we have to bring in a contractor, we ensure that they don’t have any exposure to the women. Nobody knows it’s a women’s shelter. We keep it very much that way on purpose,” Lisa declared, with a reservation in her tone. “Even if we did have some repairman in here, he would think only the two of us were living here, so the answer really is no.”

 

“So you do your own bookkeeping, your own cooking, get food delivered?”

 

Lisa nodded. “Sure, to help hide our shelter here and to keep costs down. In fact, not too long ago, we had to let Julianne go. She helped us out so much, but the money was just not there anymore. Yet she still helped us out voluntarily, until she landed a full-time job.

 

“But back to your question about food deliveries,” Lisa said. “We don’t use the same people. We just act as if we’re a household, and anybody who delivers here wouldn’t know the difference.”

 

Puzzled, Kate asked, “But why Simon?” She got a blank look from both of the women. “If both Patricia and Elizabeth had been through your shelter, I’m wondering whether the attack on Simon was random or also connected to their deaths.

 

“Oh dear.” Lisa stared at Kate in horror. “He’s done so much for us. I’d hate for him to get hurt because of us.”

 

“I understand how you feel. I also know he helps because he cares,” Kate replied. “Anything he does is because his heart’s in it.”

 

“That’s true. Simon is one of the few people who does care.” Helen sat down with her own earthenware cup in her big beefy hands and shared, “Lisa needs to go lie down.”

 

Kate looked over at Lisa, who smiled and said, “I’m fine. I’ve been dealing with some flu, so I’ve certainly not been as good as I could be.”

 

“You’ve also got cancer,” Helen shared, looking back at Lisa with a sad look on her face. “She’s recovering from her chemotherapy.”

 

“Oh my.” Kate regarded the woman sadly. “I’m sorry. It doesn’t seem fair that you should suffer with that as well.”

 

“Yes,” Lisa agreed, “but the other side of that is waking up every day and being grateful for not still being in that situation and knowing that the women here are grateful for not being in their prior situations,” she murmured. “And that Kate Morgan can make all the difference in the world.”

 

*

 

Simon woke in the hospital with a pounding headache. He stared at the curtain around his bed and groaned. Almost instantly the curtain whisked to the side, and Kate poked her head around. She frowned at him, and he glared at her.

 

“I’m glad to see things are normal,” she murmured, as she stepped closer, reaching out for his hand.

 

He immediately grabbed hers and brought the back of her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “And once again you came to my rescue.”

 

“Isn’t it the other way around?” she asked, with a smile. “Aren’t you the one who always comes to my rescue?”

 

“No,” he replied, “but I did when it counted, so that matters.”

 

“Of course it matters,” she murmured. “It all matters.”

 

He rolled his head gently to the side, wincing at the pain screaming through him.

 

“I don’t suppose you saw anything, did you? I saw Lisa, standing over you protectively. She answered your phone when you fell. She came around the corner and saw you pretty quickly.” Kate studied Simon’s face, as she talked to him. “So she picked up your phone, when I was still screaming your name into it, while I was already driving down here. By the time I got directions from her, I was on the scene pretty fast.”

 

“Of course you were,” Simon declared. “I wouldn’t expect anything different.”

 

“Did you see anything?”

 

“No. Somebody came up behind me and slammed me on the side of the head.”

 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

 

“I gather no evidence was at the scene.”

 

“No, there isn’t. I have Rodney going over cameras in the area, but none cover that alleyway or block, for that matter.”

 

“I was stepping around the corner of the alleyway, so I could talk to you.” Simon sent a wry look in her direction. “So I’m damn sure there won’t be any footage.”

 

“No, I wouldn’t be at all surprised, but we will do our due diligence.”

 

“He can go home now too,” the doctor said, from behind her.