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Luckily, Ryan hadagreed to set the issue aside until Jessie was ready to entertain it again,which meant that the last two weeks had been blissfully free of any baby talk.Of course, that didn’t mean the time had been entirely blissful. After all, itwas almost exactly two weeks ago that Kat’s fiancé, Mitch Connor, had beengunned down.
Even now, Jessiestill had trouble processing what had happened to her friend. Kat and Mitch hadbeen leaving a movie theater when a young man named Jimmy Platt, who washolding a gun and shouting “I am the new chosen one! I will complete the missionbegun by my predecessor. I am the assassin now!” fired at Kat.
Mitch, a formerSheriff’s deputy who’d just gotten a position with the LAPD, leapt in front ofher, taking the bullet intended for her. A nearby cop gunned down Platt andcalled for an ambulance. But soon after arriving at the hospital, Mitch died.
Kat, in a frenzyof fury, assumed the shooting was at the behest of Ash Pierce. The assassin hadrecently emerged from a coma and was claiming to suffer from amnesia, recallingnone of her prior murderous acts. Kat didn't buy it. Luckily, Jessie was ableto talk Kat down before she entered Pierce's hospital room and shot her in coldblood.
As it turned outfrom the subsequent investigation, Jimmy Platt had actually been acting on theinstructions of Mark Haddonfield, who had released a manifesto despite hisimprisonment. His online screed had implored others to pick up his mantle ofmurder and kill both Jessie and those she loved. Platt was trying to do justthat to Kat when Mitch stepped in front of her that night.
The fact that Kathad been prevented from accidentally killing the wrong psychopath didn’t giveher much comfort. She rarely left her apartment these days, and visits fromJessie and Ryan, among others, had meet met with ambivalence at best.
“Ready for thechicken?” Ryan asked, snapping her out of her thoughts momentarily.
“Yup,” she toldhim, looking at the browning sprouts and the slightly charred mushrooms,“perfect timing.”
“I’d say thatwe’re doing halfway decent,” he said as he dropped the cubes into the pan,“considering we don’t have the chef to guide us.”
They both took amoment to silently appreciate the sound of everything sizzling. Jessie added adash more soy sauce to the mix before responding.
“I think Hannahwould say we’re doing a more than reputable job,” Jessie agreed, “although wehaven’t actually tasted anything yet.”
“Did you talk toher today?” Ryan asked. “Did she say how Kat’s doing?”
Ryan was referringto the fact that after the school quarter had ended last week, Hannah hadinsisted on staying with Kat at her place. She’d been sleeping on the couch forfour nights now and spending most waking hours with her too.
Her demand towatch over Kat wasn’t a total shock to Jessie, considering how close the two ofthem had gotten. Just last summer, Hannah had informally interned at Kat’sone-woman, downtown detective agency, working with her on cases, often spendinglong hours stuck in a car, watching subjects do little or nothing of interest.The time together had forged a bond and Hannah, who didn’t have to worry aboutschool until the new year, wasn’t about to let Kat suffer alone.
“We did talkearlier,” Jessie said. “There wasn’t much in the way of good news. She saidthat she had to coax Kat out of her pajamas long enough to take a shower, herfirst in three days.”
“How did shemanage that?”
“She reminded herthat she had an appointment with Dr. Lemmon this afternoon.”
Dr. Janice Lemmonwas the go-to person for their family’s mental health issues. Before she’dentered private practice she was, like Jessie, a criminal profiler, who hadassisted both the LAPD and FBI. Now approaching 70, the tiny woman with thickglasses and tight,little gray ringlets of hair had set aside that kind of excitement.
She had beenJessie's therapist for over a decade now, from back when she was in college.Later, she took on Hannah as a client to help her deal with what coulddiplomatically be called "anger management issues." She was alsodirecting Jessie and Ryan through their couples' therapy. And now she'd takenon Kat, too, hoping to help her through the grieving process.
“Did Kat go to theappointment?” Ryan asked.
“She did,” Jessieanswered, as she dumped the red onions in the pan, “but I don’t know how wellit went. I know she’s still fixated on Ash Pierce, even though the woman wasn’tbehind Mitch’s death. I’m hoping she’s eventually able to move past that.”
“Speaking of hisdeath,” Ryan said, taking over mixing duties from her, “I spoke to CaptainParker about that earlier. Even though Haddonfield’s manifesto was taken down,she’s worried that Jimmy Platt won’t be the only one who tries to act on it.She fears there may be other copycats out there, and frankly so do I. I’m notsure the department has the resources to keep everyone that Haddonfieldthreatened safe.”
“I had an ideaabout that,” Jessie replied, moving over to the bottle of Syrah at the far endof the counter and holding it up to get his approval.
He nodded, beforeadding, “no guarantees that we’ll get to enjoy it.”
“I know,” Jessiesaid. “It seems like the second we pop a cork, Parker calls with a new case.But let’s risk it.”
"Okay,"Ryan said. "So what's your idea?"
“I’m thinking ofmeeting with Haddonfield in person.”
“Wait, what?” heasked, incredulous. “You want to go to Twin Towers and chat up the guy whokilled multiple people to get back at you before he tried to kill you too?”
“Hear me out,”Jessie said.
Ryan sighedheavily as he moved the wooden spoon around the pan.
