“Will do. I sure hope you get this guy fast. He shouldn’t be allowed to continue living after what he did to her.”

  “You mean, killing her?”

  “Yes.” Then she stopped and whispered, “She was raped, wasn’t she?”

  “No, as far as we know, she wasn’t sexually assaulted. Where did you get that from?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, “but you know how rumors are.”

  “We don’t have anything back from the coroner yet, confirming any such thing. Besides, there were two of them, and I’m not sure he would have raped both.”

  “No, that’s true,” she answered thoughtfully. “I just assumed, in a case like that, he would have just knocked one of them out.”

  “I don’t think it’s that simple,” Kate noted, “but, if you think of anything else, let me know, please.”

  After getting off the phone, she turned and looked at Simon. “Do people just assume details in cases like this or just make shit up?”

  “I think their imaginations go wild, and misinformation runs rampant,” he replied. “Nobody really wants to get the right information. They just want to get details they can pass on to others.”

  “It’s a sad world.”

  “We’ve already been over that a couple times,” he noted, a laugh in his voice, “because, indeed, it is. At the same time, it’s fairly common that they only hear little bits and pieces, and they add to it until they get a whole story. If you guys haven’t released any details about sexual assault, then it’ll just be whatever assumption people can make because the victims were females. It’s almost automatic to think that the women were knocked out in order to become sexual assault victims.”

  “Interesting world,” Kate murmured, “because—of course, in this case—there wouldn’t have been time. And I don’t think that was his interest anyway.”

  “No, I don’t think so either,” Simon agreed. “This was too deliberate. I just don’t know if it was deliberate to take out two, deliberate to take out those two specifically, or just deliberate to try out a methodology.”

  “None of which makes me feel any better at all,” Kate noted.

  “Nope, I’m sure it doesn’t.” He chuckled. “Now, can we finally go enjoy a stroll along the beach?”

  She nodded, reached out her hand, and together the two of them walked the beach. She looked at the sand, smiled. “I feel like walking barefoot.” And that’s what she did. Socks and shoes off, she headed to the water’s edge, only to find Simon beside her, with his pant legs rolled up.

  She laughed. “You know, when you get to this point in time, a barefoot walk on the beach can sure make a shitty day end up better.”

  “That it does,” he replied. “That it does.”

  *

  Simon and Kate had spent the first part of their evening together at her place, then ended up back at his. As he watched her leave, he was sad, but, at the same time, at least they’d had hours together this time. He stared at his bedroom, not wanting to go to sleep, even though he knew he needed to. Tomorrow was a busy day for him, and his lack of sleep was starting to affect his energy level.

  At some point in time, he would have to beat this dragon called nightmares. But it all seemed to be connected to the visions, so he wasn’t sure how to make that happen. He could dull his sleep with some drinks, and he did want a whiskey before bed, but that wasn’t enough to knock back all the visions as they came through. As he had learned recently, the booze just delayed the visions.

  He showered, stripped his bed, and made it back up with fresh bedding, then curled up and crashed almost immediately. When he woke a little later, he found himself wandering around in the dark. He stopped and stared, wondering what the hell was going on. He walked himself back to the bed, got back in, and sat here for a long moment, a little more unnerved than he’d thought. “Since when is sleepwalking part of my world?” And did it mean more visions? Less? Or foreshadowing of something else?

  And that brought up an element that he really didn’t like. Determined to not let it happen again, he did drift off to sleep, but, when he woke up the next time, he was getting out of bed.

  “Oh no, hell no,” he said out loud. “If this is a vision, it needs to stop. I’m not walking around my place in the nude in the dark without any idea why. So, whatever the hell this is, knock it the hell off.”

  And then realized it wasn’t his bedroom he saw.

  He frowned. “Whoa, whoa.” The walls were blue, the curtains closed. There was a great big bed and a fluffy duvet. He stared down at his body and saw long legs. A female’s body, just the lower part. Immediately the thought kicked into his head that they were legs built for running.

  The woman quickly dressed, while he tried to disassociate from the vision. Yet it was happening so fast that he didn’t understand. She got into running shoes at the doorway. When a man called out from the bed, she hesitated, and he whispered, “Please.”

  She sank back down onto the bed beside the man and kissed him on the forehead. That immediately snapped Simon back into his own vision. “Good Lord,” he moaned, “like I need see that.”

  But, at the same time, he had to wonder. She was about to head out on a run and stopped. Somehow that seemed important. He just didn’t know what it meant and what the importance of that stopping meant too. Was she meant to be a victim and then didn’t become one because she changed her mind? And, if that were the case, why the hell was Simon even connecting with her?

  Dissatisfied with it all, and unnerved by the change in the vision, he tried once again to go to sleep. This time he zoned out, until bright light streamed through his bedroom window. He woke up with a start and realized he was late. He swore, got dressed, and raced out of the penthouse. This had to stop. If he could just gain some control over his visions, his daytime would be a hell of a lot more manageable because he would get some sleep at night.

  Something he rather desperately needed at this point in time was some way to make that all happen. He really needed to take control of that area of his life—before something else went crazy and things really went wrong. Something he didn’t need in the least.

  Chapter 4

  Monday Morning

  Kate woke up late and with a sudden start. She instinctively reached for her phone, her heart slamming against her chest. Without even giving herself a chance to question why, she called Simon. When he answered, his words calm and measured, she immediately relaxed. “Jesus, I just woke up and immediately thought of you.”

  “Well, that would be a good thing,” he replied, amusement in his voice, “except I don’t think you were thinking the right things.”

  “Honest to God, it felt like something was wrong,” she blurted out. “Please tell me everything is okay.”

  “Everything is okay,” he repeated instantly.

  She took a long slow deep breath and let it out noisily. “Thank God for that,” she murmured. She reached up to rub her face. “I’m not even sure how the hell I slept in, but it is definitely later than I would like it to be.”

  “You’ve been running yourself down,” he noted, “and I’m sure your dreams are not exactly peaceful.”

  “No, that’s not the word I would use for them,” she stated. “And it’s kind of pissing me off because there’s so much to get done right now.”

  “You’re only one person,” he reminded her.

  “I know.”

  She got up and yawned. “Well, as long as you’re okay … Man, I don’t know what the hell that was, but I just woke up, and my immediate thought was that something was wrong with you.”

  “Well, something was wrong a little while ago,” he admitted. “Maybe you’re getting a delayed reaction.”

  “What?” she snapped. “Are you serious? What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” he said gently. “And I’m really glad to hear you care.”

  “Of course I care,” she snapped, then groaned. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

  “Just something weird happened,” he began, “but it’s really not a problem, and we don’t have to talk about it now.”

  “I think we do,” she argued. “If it had anything to do with that feeling waking me up, we definitely do.”

  “Well, that would mean,” he suggested, “that you are getting psychic vibes all on your own.”

  Such a note of laughter filled his voice that she glared at her phone. “That’s not funny.”

  He chuckled out loud at that. “Maybe not, but I do know that you guys swear by your instincts.”

  “And gut feelings,” she added.

  “Absolutely. In this case, it’s all good. I just had some weird things happen overnight.”

  “Like what?”

  There was silence for a moment. “It seemed like I was sleepwalking.”

  “Sleepwalking?” she asked in confusion, “You?”

  “Well, that’s what I thought the first time, only to realize that it really wasn’t me. It was somebody else. I was just caught inside their vision.”

  Then he quietly explained, as she stared at her phone in shock. “Why would you connect with this person who got back into bed and kissed her partner?”

  “Do I sound like I have any answers?” he asked in that flat note of finality.

  “Look. I’m sorry. It just threw me. I was expecting all kinds of horrible things, and that’s not horrible at all.”

  “No,” he replied slowly, “until you consider that maybe she was heading out running and may have been another victim, except that she changed her mind.”

  At that, she stopped in midair, one pant leg on, one pant leg off, and sat down hard on her bed. “Jesus,” Kate said, “you mean you’re connecting with somebody else before they die?”

  “I often do. Remember Robin, most recently.”

  “No, I know, and I guess the kids. They weren’t dead yet, but neither were they well.”

  “Some were, not all of them.”

  “Jesus,” she repeated. “I really don’t want to think that this is somebody else who’ll die. Did you see their faces?”

  “No such luck. First the room was dark. Second, I saw only her legs. Third I didn’t want to see the kiss and the rest. Besides, she kissed his forehead, and I saw above that.”

  “Too bad. As much as I keep telling people we can’t assume it’s the husband, I really don’t want it to be another serial-killing scenario.”

  “Well, what you want isn’t necessarily what you’ll get,” he stated, “and I certainly can’t say this latest vision was related to your current murders. All I’m saying is that, this woman got up and then went back to the bed with her partner.”

  “Well, good for her,” Kate said. “Let’s hope it means nothing. Look. I have to go. I’m really late for work.”

  “Bye then,” he immediately replied, then hung up.

  She stared down at the phone again because she’s the one who had called him. It’s not as if he had been interrupting her. She immediately sent him a text. Sorry. I just realized how late it is.

  And it was late. It was damn late, and she would get shit for it. Then she stopped and shook her head. Of course she wouldn’t get shit for it. This is the job. Some days she could make it at a certain time; some days she couldn’t. She did her best to always make it there consistently, but it’s not like she hadn’t been working around the clock on this case, starting this past weekend.

  When she did finally get to the office, she grabbed a coffee before heading to her desk. She looked around to see who else on her team was here, frowning at Andy’s empty desk. Right, he took off this week. Lucky guy. She sat down with a heavy thud that resounded around the room.

  “Wow,” Owen said from behind her, “you okay?”

  “Fine.” She yawned. “I need to catch some sleep though.”

  “Yeah, that gets to be a never-ending problem for us,” he noted, with a knowing glance.

  “We do the best we can”—she yawned again—“and sometimes, when you think that you’re all good and that sleep should be right there, it’s just not, and that’s damn irritating.”

  “Yeah? Wait until you have kids,” Owen added.

  Sergeant Colby entered the bullpen and added, “If you’re having trouble sleeping, you can always make an appointment with the department’s shrink.”

  She looked up at him, shook her head. “It’ll be one hell of a long time before I ever do that willingly. You know that, right?”

  He glared at her. “They’re not all the same.”

  “Maybe not,” she agreed, “but just the thought of that one we had previously, talking to her pedophile brothers, while talking to us, is enough to make my insides creep out completely.”

  He nodded. “I have to admit that I’ve had a similar thought or two. Try taking a sleeping pill then.”

  “Nope, not going to,” she stated. “I can’t stand what drugs do to me.”

  “You’re just being stubborn,” Owen remarked, with a chuckle.

  She shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll deal with my sleep problems in my own way.”

  “As long as it doesn’t affect your job,” the sergeant noted.

  “It hasn’t yet.” She glared at Colby, as if challenging him to argue with her. But, of course, she also knew he wouldn’t. She had done a huge amount of quality work for the department, and their case closing rate had skyrocketed since she had arrived. She knew he was pleased with her and with the team. And if she had trouble sleeping? Well, she’d deal with it in her own time, in her own way, like everybody else.

  “We got two other cases that came in overnight—unrelated,” the sergeant relayed.

  “I want to keep working on the runner case,” she stated instantly.

  He looked over at her. “Is it complex?”

  “I hope not.”

  “Hope not? I thought we were looking at the ex-husband being the guilty party in this one,” Owen said.

  “You may. I’m not,” Kate stated.

  “And why is that?” Owen asked.

  “It’s too cliché,” she replied. “He makes an easy scapegoat, and I haven’t even talked to him yet. So, until I can lock down any evidence that says that he’s the killer, I’m not going there.”

  “But it looks like he’s good for it?” the sergeant asked her.

  “In a way, sure,” she admitted quietly, “in that he is somebody who would know both women’s habits and schedules, had a grievance against his ex-wife, and had threatened her in the past.”

  “Yet you don’t like him for it, why again?” Colby repeated.

  “Well, like I mentioned, I haven’t talked to him. We don’t know whether or not he has an alibi for that time. We don’t know that he doesn’t have a completely different story about the marriage and the divorce than everybody we’ve talked to—who has been on the wife’s side, by the way. And the killer took out not just the ex-wife but her best friend.”

  “But,” Rodney reminded her, “they were best friends, so the ex-husband could potentially have a grudge against her as well.”

  “And that’s true. He may have,” she agreed. “I spoke with Agnew, the other victim’s husband yesterday, after Rodney had done the initial interview.” She looked over at Rodney. “Agnew did confirm the theory that the two women were best friends and that Robin had been cheering on our other victim, Jenna, to leave her husband.”

  “So that would give motivation for killing both of them,” the sergeant noted.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “But?”

  She shrugged. “Methodology. I mean, why go to such an elaborate method, not to mention one with such a high chance of being seen? Seems like there’s a million other things he could have done. I don’t know, but,” she added, “it just, it feels wrong.”

  Colby frowned, as he studied her.

  She shrugged. “I know. I know. We don’t have much time. We need to close it as fast as possible. I’m doing my best. I just have to make sure I’m comfortable with everything, and, right now, let’s not forget we don’t have anything other than motive. And that means I need to find out where he was and if we can put him anywhere near the place of the murders. We can’t just assume it’s him. We have to prove it.”

  “Well, get after it then,” the sergeant ordered in a sharp voice.

  “I will. I will.” She raised both hands. “Lots of people are here. Assign the other murderers to somebody else.”

  “I’m happy to take something different,” Owen offered. “Running exhausts me, and that’s just thinking about it.”

  The laughter dissolved any tension in the room, and the discussion quickly moved away from Kate. She was grateful and suspected Owen had done it intentionally and for that purpose. Maybe he uses that trick in his marriage and with his kiddos too, which maybe made his familial unit such the touted success—most unusual in their line of work. She gave him a slight tilt of her head in recognition. Maybe this team thing wasn’t so bad.

  Sighing, she returned to her murder cases. She couldn’t explain why, but she was still so puzzled and upset about this one.

  Although the ex-husband looked good for it, that didn’t actually make him good for it. And, of course, nobody here was trying to railroad anybody, but, when you had something so clear-cut—or what looked to be so clear-cut—she always got suspicious. How hard would it be to make it look like the ex-husband did it, so somebody else got the heat of killing Jenna? Kate also didn’t know if that woman was even the target of the two. It could have been Robin, the other one.

  Maybe someone at the dental office hated her. Maybe a patient held a grudge against her, or someone in the office and made her the target. Or maybe Robin had an argument with a teacher at one of her kids’ schools. Kate didn’t know until she managed to get to the end of her questions, and she still wouldn’t know for sure, even after all that. The trouble was, the department always had more cases than they had time and effort to deal with. By the time the next murder arrived on their doorstep, they were deemed through with the previous murder investigation. She shook her head.