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Kit smiled over at her. “You’re too good to me.”
Akiko smirked. “I know.”
Kit finished the cleanup—there was no room in the galley for dirty dishes to pile up—and made herself a cup of tea. “Today sucked. And I can’t tell you much about it.”
“Well, I figured there was a murder,” Akiko said dryly as Kit reclaimed her place on the sofa. “Considering you’re Homicide and all.”
“Yeah,” Kit murmured, thinking of the body in Longview Park, buried in an unmarked grave, her hands restrained in sparkly pink handcuffs. Jaelyn Watts, on the cusp of starting her life. “We ID’d the vic. I hate it when they’re young.”
“How young?” Akiko asked, sympathy in her dark eyes.
Kit hesitated. The girl’s age wasn’t going to be a secret when the details were released. She could share that much. “Sixteen.”
“Oh.” There was a wealth of understanding in that single syllable.
Akiko had never known Wren, having come to live with the McKittricks shortly after the murder, but she knew all about it. She knew how much it had ripped Kit apart. She, along with Harlan and Betsy, had been responsible for stitching Kit back together.
In the years that followed, Akiko had become Kit’s very best friend.
“Yeah, oh.”
“You’ll find who did it,” Akiko said with unshakable confidence. “And if you don’t, no one else could’ve, either.”
Akiko always knew the right thing to say. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I just walked Snick before you got home, so she’s good for the night. Get to bed. If I know you, you’ll be back at the station first thing in the morning.”
That was the truth. “Stay tonight. I don’t like you driving home alone so late.”
Akiko laughed. “It’s only midnight, Kit, and I don’t turn into a pumpkin. I can take care of myself, you know. But I’ll stay, if for no other reason than to make you a decent breakfast before you head back.” She pointed an accusing finger. “I saw those Pop-Tarts in your cupboard.”
“Hey. They’re fortified with vitamins and minerals.”
Akiko snorted. “Right.”
“You don’t have to get up and make me breakfast. Sleep in on your day off.”
“I’ll go back to bed after you have some nutrition, then I’ll take Snick and go to Mom and Pop’s. I don’t get a day off very often, and I think I’ll spend it weeding.”
While the McKittricks never asked for help, the majority of their former fosters regularly returned to the farm to assist with the never-ending chores.
Kit hadn’t been out to the farm in too long, though. Not for a whole day. She’d been working, investigating cold cases when she’d closed the current ones.
Navarro was right. She did work nonstop this time of year. She figured that Harlan, Betsy, and the rest of the family understood, but maybe she shouldn’t expect them to.
She showered and changed into her pj’s, taking a moment to retrieve the carved figurines from her pocket before shoving the day’s clothes into a laundry bag. She held the little wooden cat-and-bird, studying the bird perched on the cat’s head.
Akiko, already on her side of the bed, took off her headphones. “Pop gave it to you.”
“Yeah. He came by today. He and Mom were picking up a new kid downtown. He said I could keep it in my pocket. For luck.”
“I saw it last Sunday at dinner. It’s different from your usual Wren carving.”
“He gave me one of those, too. And one to Baz.” She placed the other carving, the lone bird, on the shelf with the others. “I’m going to need a bigger shelf.”
Akiko didn’t say anything because there really wasn’t anything to say. Kit loved that about her. Her sister didn’t fill silences when she didn’t need to.
Kit locked up her gun and put the cat-and-bird on the table with her keys and wallet. It would go into her pocket tomorrow and every day thereafter. “Come on, Snick. Time for bed.”
