Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(93)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

“Do we have her complete history?”

 

“No, but it won’t take too much to bring it up,” she noted, with a sigh. “I suspect it’ll be the same as what we’ve already seen on a regular basis. An abusive relationship starting at home in Helen’s childhood, quite possibly some of the worst we’ve ever seen. She linked up with Lisa, as a way to find her soul again, fell in love with Elizabeth, one of the women in the shelter, but was jilted, left behind, and Helen realized that really there was no going forward, ever. To Helen, it would always be a repeat of the same BS.”

 

“Pretty sad and depressing,” Rodney noted.

 

“We’ll figure out her whole sordid life story, but it’ll be something along those threads,” Kate declared.

 

“It sucks,” he murmured. “So much potential and so much pain.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” she agreed.

 

Rodney stood. “Go home. Go home and get some rest. I can stay here if you want.”

 

She looked up at him and smiled. “I’ll sit here for a while, just to remind me that Simon is alive and that it will be okay.”

 

He patted her on the back. “You have fun, writing up the reports.”

 

“Hey, I thought we were partners on this one?”

 

He laughed. “I’m supposed to be playing guardian angel.” He shrugged. “Reports? They’re all yours.” She groaned at that. “But I might be nice and give you a hand.”

 

She smiled. “That’s what teamwork’s all about.”

 

He stopped at the doorway, smiled and said, “Yeah, and we’re damn good at it.” And, with that, he was gone.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 24

 

 

 

 

 

Kate walked into the office the next morning to a round of cheers. She shook her head. “No cheers,” she said. “Simon pretty well saved his own sorry ass.”

 

Lilliana laughed. “How’s he doing?”

 

“Well, I saw him this morning.” Kate smiled. “He’s doing fine, already throwing a fit about having to stay at the hospital, but they’ll keep him there for the day, and good luck trying to keep him past that,” she stated, with an eye roll.

 

The sergeant walked in just then. “Seriously, it was all about a love gone wrong?”

 

She nodded. “Yeah, and we’ll have to do a bunch of paperwork and interview Helen, but I talked to Simon earlier this morning, and it was all about Elizabeth Clement apparently.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Helen fell in love with Elizabeth. They had one night together. Elizabeth was confused, disoriented, and struggling to deal with the loss of her mother, which apparently Helen admitted to Simon that she’d killed Mary as a way to isolate Elizabeth—figuring that she’d be better off to start fresh with Helen somewhere else, not to mention Elizabeth’s mother was against their intimate relationship. Instead, of course, her mother’s death was so appalling to Elizabeth that she took off and disappeared for years. When she came back some three, four weeks ago, she didn’t plan on seeing Helen. It was a case of finding closure and saying goodbye to her mom, visiting the grave. That’s what set off Helen this time. As mentioned, she killed five people the first time—those four women on our whiteboard, plus Mary Clement.”

 

“Great,” Colby said with a headshake. “What a fucked-up world we live in.”

 

“We do, indeed,” Kate replied, with a sorrowful look.

 

“But the good news is, this time the good guys won.”

 

“Although not in time,” she noted, “and that’ll be some pretty rough phone calls to make to families.”

 

He nodded. “But you’ve done a great job, Kate. So get the reports done, get some interviews done, and then take a few days off.” And, with that, he was gone again.

 

Lilliana nodded. “Another case will hit us hard and pretty quick,” she reminded Kate. “So, if Colby says take a few days, take a few days. Besides, I’m sure Simon will need somebody to look after him for the next day or so.”

 

Kate rolled her eyes at Lilliana’s big grin. “Well, Simon might try that, but chances are, he’ll be up and raring to go and not listening to anybody.”

 

“But if there is anybody he will listen to, it will be you. So do whatever you need to do and then push off and get a life for a couple days.” Lilliana added, “And remember. The whole reason why people go off the rails is because the whole unrequited love thing sucks, and we want to make sure that you and Simon are solid.”

 

Kate laughed at that. “I’d say we’re solid, but who knows.”

 

“Exactly. So don’t make the same mistakes. Take some time, and enjoy being together.”

 

And that’s what she did. It took a little longer than she’d planned to get everything written for the reports and for the last interviews. So, by the time she was done and headed down to the hospital, she heard Simon arguing with the staff about letting him go.

 

The head nurse saw Kate as she came in, and, with a wash of relief, she muttered, “Well, thank God for that. He’s yours. You do with him what you will.”

 

“Can I take him home?” Kate asked.

 

“Please do,” the nurse replied. “It will help us keep our staff here.” She turned to Simon, glaring. “You are a terrible patient.”

 

Simon glared right back. But, when he saw Kate, his face wreathed up in smiles, and he opened his arms. She walked over, gave him a hug, and said, “Now get your ass dressed, so I can get you home.” He stared at her in delight, and she nodded. “But I had to promise my firstborn to keep you in bed for the next twenty-four hours.”

 

Immediately a wicked grin lit the depths of his eyes, and she rolled her eyes at him, even feeling the heat washing over her face. She murmured, “Yes, I get it. Now, can we go, please?”

 

And, with that, she headed off to do the discharge paperwork and very quickly had Simon back home again. As she got him into bed and curled up beside him, he asked, “Is it really over?”

 

“It’s really over. Helen will go for a psychiatric assessment to see if she’s capable of standing trial, but I’m not too sure how that outcome will progress. Obviously she was cognizant enough to plan all this over the years,” she noted, “and I’m sure there are a few threads to tie up still, but, for the most part yeah, it’s over with.”