AllFreeNovel
Share Us
You lie. I will expose the truth and bring you to your knees.
You will hurt. I will get you alone one day.
“That’s right.”
“Why didn’t you confide in anyone?”
“I don’t know. Pride?” She smiled.
But other pieces now fit and made sense. “If you didn’t know about Rodney, then he’s not why you left New York?”
“Not at all. I knew May was here, and I wanted to reconnect with her. The appeal of a fresh start didn’t hurt.”
It would seem what appeared as Katherine isolating herself was just a woman working through her grief and adjusting to life without her mother. She probably turned dark at talk of the NYPD because of Julie Gilbert. “Tell us about your mom.”
Katherine smiled. “She was beautiful with a smile that lit up a room. Her dream was to become an actress, but she never got there. First, my real dad died, making her a single mother. Then she met Rick two years after. He made himself out like he was a prince.”
“They always do,” Trent mumbled. “And you were just six then?”
“That’s right. I lived in that hell with him and Mom until I turned eighteen.”
“I’m so sorry I abandoned you,” May said, tears on her cheeks.
“No, Aunt May. None of this is your fault.”
May leaned over and pressed her forehead to her niece’s.
“Mom used to call me her little badass ninja,” Katherine volunteered.
Amanda glanced at Trent. Katherine had inadvertently answered a curiosity they had from the moment they learned the password for her home security system.
A smile was gracing her lips, as Katherine continued. “She’d say I’d never let anything stand in my way because I’d karate chop it all down.” She chuckled but winced in pain. “She didn’t care that ninjas and karate had nothing to do with each other.”
“It’s those types of memories that will always keep her with us,” May said, smoothing back Katherine’s hair as if she were still a little girl.
Amanda looked at Trent, and he nodded. They’d worked out a silent code before coming up here. Amanda wanted to discuss the storage unit and the Julie Gilbert case, but not with May in the room.
“Hey, Ms.Byrd,” Trent said, stepping next to the older woman.
“It’s May. I’ve told you how many times?”
“Just one more.” He smiled at her. “How about we get a coffee from the cafeteria?”
“Uh-huh.” She drew that out and distributed her gaze to Amanda and her niece. “If you two want to talk privately, just say so.” With that, she looped her arm through Trent’s. “Lead on, young man.”
“You got it,” Trent said.
When they cleared out, Katherine said, “I can’t thank you enough. There were times I didn’t think I would survive.” Katherine’s chin quivered.
Amanda could relate, even though her ordeal wasn’t nearly as drawn out as Katherine’s had been. She’d still come close to dying. It was mere seconds before she would have lost complete consciousness that Trent had come to her rescue. He pulled Rodney from her and managed to disarm him. SWAT moved in around the same time. Rodney was lucky he got off without a hole in his head and just one in his shoulder. She and Trent expected the go-ahead to talk with him soon.
“Well, you’re safe now,” Amanda eventually said, while clutching at the collar of her turtleneck. She wasn’t used to wearing them, but it served to hide the bruising caused by Rodney’s hands. She was also struggling with why she hesitated to fire on Rodney. Not just once, but twice. Her conscience wasn’t letting her dismiss it as being down to timing. She could have pulled the trigger just as easily as he had. Why she hadn’t would eat away at her until she could figure it out.
“Yeah. You found the storage unit.” It wasn’t said as a question.
“We did.”
“Then you also found my burner phone.”
