“At thirty-seven, taking things slowly is an odd choice.”
“But it’smychoice," Kate said, a little more snappishly than she intended.She softened her tone and said, "We're moving forward.Neither of us wants to push too hard too fast and end up ruining things."
There was more to ruin than their nascent relationship, too.Marcus was Kate’s partner, and he was a damned good one.The two of them worked well together, and thanks to their professional chemistry, they’d saved many lives and kept the Commandment Killings from graduating from a national sensation to a national fear.
Of course, they hadn’t saved everyone.Elijah Cox, despite being ensconced in one of the most secure prisons in the country, still exerted his influence through a series of Disciples determined to carry out their master’s work.
But they’d done far more good working together than they would apart, so Kate wasn’t interested in rocking that boat just to rock another boat.
Her cheeks flushed at that analogy.Catherine caught the expression, and, of course, misread it.“I’m sure spending the night together every now and then wouldn’t cause either of you to collapse.”
Kate rolled her eyes.“Mom!Can you please just let it go?It’s not that simple!”
Catherine gave her a frank look.“Yes, it is.Sex is one of the simplest things in life.If it feels complicated, it’s only because you make it complicated.”
Thankfully, Kate’s phone rang before she had to respond.“It’s Marcus,” she said.“Maybe he’s calling to ask me for a quickie in the back of his car.”
Well, she almost managed not to respond.
“Insist on the bed for your first time,” Catherine said, unperturbed by her daughter’s snappishness.“You’re a high-class woman.”
Kate rolled her eyes and stepped onto the front porch lest her mother attempt to commandeer the conversation.“Hey, Marcus.What’s up?”
“Morning,” Marcus said.“Boss wants to see us.”
His tone was clipped and brusque.Kate's smile faded."She says, ' Why?"
He sighed.“Yeah.We’ve got another.”
The warmth dissipated from Kate’s body in a puff.She managed to say, “All right,” and hang up, then headed inside.When her mother saw her climbing the stairs to her bedroom instead of returning to the breakfast table, she called, “Is everything all right?”
“Fine,” Kate called back.
Catherine surely knew that wasn’t true, but this time, she wisely chose not to pry.
***
The Portland Field Office was no one’s idea of resplendent.The worn brick façade, faded stripes in the cracked asphalt parking lot, and tarnished bronze letters spelling FBI—PORTLAND FIELD OFFICE looked more like an old run-down high school in a neighborhood that gentrification had passed by a generation ago than the headquarters of federal law enforcement in upper New England.
Still, it had its own rough charm that Kate appreciated.Like the beat-up compact SUV, she slid into the first available badly-striped space, and like Kate herself, the old building with its humming ventilation, flickering fluorescent lighting, and pervading odor of stale coffee and fresh malaise was paradoxically a reminder that while life was a wheel that ground everyone and everything to powder, it still wasn’t all that bad.
Kate couldn’t articulate the reason for that any more than she could convince her mother to stay out of her relationship with Marcus.She just knew it was true.
Speaking of Marcus, the burly New Yorker met her in the lobby.He gave her a perfunctory smile and a perfunctory kiss on the cheek.Kate’s kiss was equally perfunctory, but when her lips brushed against the stubble on his cheeks, a tingling sensation shot through her from head to toe.A brief, intense memory flickered through her mind, and the fact that it was a memory of a dream and not something that had actually happened did nothing to soften its intensity.
"Looks like multiple bodies this time," Marcus said."I don't know how many, but more than one."
Yeah, that softened the intensity.“And we’re sure it’s a commandment killing?”
Marcus didn’t answer, just held the door to their boss’s office so Kate could step through.
Assistant Director Victoria Winters looked up from the paperwork on her desk.She was dressed in a tan pantsuit today, the pressed slacks doing little to hide the shape of long, elegant legs that age hadn’t yet softened.
She was a somewhat severe-looking woman, but it worked for her.The fitted clothing and expertly applied makeup finished with a generous amount of dark red lipstick made her look like a high-powered defense attorney more than the head of a major FBI office.Not that she would ever admit to that comparison.
Kate couldn’t help but feel frumpy by comparison.She wasn’t ugly, and she couldn’t honestly say she was plain either.Just awkward.She was tall, which was good, but though she was athletic, her appearance was more lanky than toned.Her auburn hair framed a smattering of freckles and a nose that wasn’t quite a button but was definitely more cute than hot.
Mostly it was the clothes.Kate dressed for comfort and looked comfortable.Winters dressed to impress and looked impressive.
