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In sunglasses, Kara sat slumped in a chair, clearly hungover, drinking ice water from a liter bottle. Had she even slept last night? Catherine wouldn’t be surprised if she hadn’t.
“You’re going to your sister’s memorial,” Kara said, nodding toward the suitcase.
“Yes.” Catherine sat down across from Kara. “I wasn’t fair to you at the beginning of this case.”
“No shit.”
Catherine bristled. She didn’t like Kara’s style, nor did she like her personally. She wasn’t someone she felt close to, or someone she could get close to. There were several reasons, some of which she would consider later, when she had time and distance to separate her emotions from her professional opinion.
But Catherine could acknowledge that Kara was a good cop.
“While you took some risks I felt were unwise, you did a good job last night. You handled Marcy surprisingly well.”
“Surprising to you,” she said.
Maybe, Catherine acknowledged to herself. “Don’t blame yourself for her suicide. I listened to the entire conversation. She made the choice to take her life after we rescued Hazel. Once she knew that she didn’t have the little girl anymore, when that reality sank in, she was gone, even before she pulled the trigger. That wasn’t on you.”
Kara drank water, didn’t comment. She would probably blame herself in some way, which Catherine understood. She still blamed herself for Beth’s murder. Intellectually she knew it wasn’t her fault, but in her heart, the pain lingered.
“Your insight into Marcy’s psyche helped,” Kara said. “I don’t think I would have been as effective if I didn’t have that perception of her and her motives. I’m not just saying that to make you feel good, Catherine, because I honestly don’t care, but we’re going to be working together, and you’re smart and you understand psychopaths. I respect that.”
Catherine nodded. Kara did have an acute understanding of human nature, which made her valuable. But there were some things that couldn’t be forgiven, and some things that had to be made clear to her.
“Mathias has worked hard to lead this team,” said Catherine. “He and Tony Greer put it together, and Matt likes to give Tony the credit, but he’s been talking about a mobile response task force for years. Then everything came together, and he had this opportunity.”
“He’s good at it.”
“But this is a test. Many people above Tony are watching very closely. We succeed, and Matt will be able to replicate this team. Train other teams, other leaders. We fail, Matt will take the heat.”
“We haven’t failed.”
Catherine knew Kara understood the implications of her words—she was not stupid. She wished she could see her eyes, but the younger cop hadn’t taken off the sunglasses.
Kara was going to make her say it, so she did. Blunt and to the point, which was how Kara seemed to prefer to communicate.
“If anyone finds out that you’re having sex with Matt, your boss,” Catherine said, her voice low and clear, “he will lose everything. And so will you. You’re not an FBI agent, Kara. You’re an LAPD detective who can’t go back to that job. Think about that. Whether sex is more important than your future—more important than Matt’s future.”
Kara’s jaw tightened, but she was processing.
Catherine continued. “I’ve been friends with Matt for a long time. He’s my daughter’s godfather. He deserves someone who can give him a home base, a place to find peace. Like Chris, my husband, has done for me. You’re not peaceful, Kara. You’re chaos, and you know it. And the only way this ends is with Matt losing everything he’s worked for. He’ll land someplace, he always does. You won’t. Because I know you have nothing else to fall back on.”
“Is that it?” Kara said, her voice low, almost a growl.
Catherine nodded. She got through to her. It might take her a couple of days to accept the truth, but she would.
Catherine rose, picked up her bag, and turned toward the stairs that led to the driveway.
“Catherine?”
She looked over her shoulder.
“You might be the one with the advanced degree, but I see right through you. And don’t ever forget it.”
A chill went through Catherine, but she held her posture, walked down the stairs, and opened the car door.
“You should come with me to Philadelphia,” Catherine said as Matt drove the short distance to the Friday Harbor airport.
“I’m going to get Damon Avila to confess,” he said. “And I have to wrap up a lot of things here, you know that. I’ll be back in DC on Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. Once I get a confession, I’ll be comfortable with Seattle taking over the investigation.”
