Page 72 of Flock Around and Find Out
She didn’t. “Tell me about Mary and Henry.”
“Even after two months, they’re still on cloud nine about the new baby.” He frowned. “Haven’t you talked to Mary? She’s your best friend.”
“I went to see her when she had Henry. But I haven’t talked to her lately.” Actually, it had been too long. “Maybe I’ll go out and see them some weekend.”
“We can go together.”
“Dad, you don’t have to keep me company.”
“You shouldn’t be alone now.”
She thought of Will but tried not to show any emotion. Luckily, Patrick, the eldest sibling arrived with his wife and sons. He was tall and slim, and she had to go up on tiptoes to hug him. “You okay, peanut?”
Everybody had nicknames for her.
She hugged Lee Ann, a schoolteacher, who she liked a lot, then turned to the kids.
“Hey, don’t I get hugs from you two?” she said to them.
“We’re too old to hug.” This from Frankie who was ten. The littlest, Tory, was six.
“That doesn’t include me. Come on, both of you.”
They rushed over and hugged her.
The house got boisterous as they sat in the living room and chatted. It distracted her dad from her problems. For that, she was thankful.
* * *
Will knocked on Katie’s door at ten that night. She had a small apartment in a multi-home building and it wasn’t, well, a very decent place to live. She opened the door. Sweat beaded on her head and her clothes were damp. “I just got back from a run. I need a shower. Come in and wait.”
Once he got inside, he pulled her to him. “I like sweaty.” He picked her up and brought her to the living room. The furniture at least was good quality. They undressed hurriedly. Then he took her on the couch.
And the floor.
And in bed.
It was just sex.
* * *
Kate sat at her desk, once again bored. So far she’d read four reports and answered questions when people came into the precinct earlier in the night. Only in a small town would the citizens have such easy access to the police.
She was reading a menu to see what she wanted to order for her dinner, when two patrol cops brought in a pair of women—about eighteen, dressed in skimpy tops and short shorts; they were probably street workers. The other was a guy she vaguely recognized.
The two patrol officers roughly pushed the girls to the bench, about a foot apart. “Sit there,” Zeke Landry ordered. She knew him. He wasn’t a good cop which was why he was still on patrol in his mid-thirties. And she’d heard rumors that he abused his wife. “We’ll book the john.” He nodded to the pros. “We’ll deal with you two later.”
Kate asked, “What’d they do?”
“They got in a cat fight over this guy and had knives,” Landry told her. “They should be fine sitting there.”
The other cop was younger and Landry had gotten him as his partner. And sidekick. His badge read, Jeff Lawrence. “Not sure we should leave them, Zeke.”
The john squirmed and yanked at his restraints.
The women glared at each other.
Kate said, “I can handle it.” When the two of them practically dragged the guy under his arms through the door to the squad room, she faced the women. “Don’t try anything, ladies. I got a gun.”
