Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(5)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

Jesus, the fury centering in the waiting room was something else. But that energy came from multiple cases, involving multiple people—fathers waiting for sons, mothers waiting for husbands, girlfriends bailing out boyfriends. He shook his head at the remnants of society all here for him to see and to read as he wanted to. Except he didn’t want to. Some things should be left private. Yet everybody’s emotions were wide open here.

 

For some, it was a natural state, but, for him, it was the opposite.

 

“Simon?”

 

He turned to see Kate staring at him. He smiled at her, caught her genuine smile in return, and settled back somewhat. He walked toward her as she held open the door.

 

“Come on this way.”

 

He clocked the direction as—instead of heading to her desk that he had seen a couple times—going to an interview room. He stood at the entranceway and stared.

 

“Please come in.” Her tone was casual, but her anguish underneath was hard to mistake.

 

Frowning, he stepped inside and sat down, sensing again an energy disturbance that he didn’t want to deal with and quickly built up a few more walls to shoo it all away. “What’s going on?” he asked.

 

She groaned. “I don’t know how to explain this to you, so I’ll lay it out. Then Rodney will come in, and we’ll ask you a few questions officially.”

 

He stared at her and waited. None of this made any sense. She held up a note but not so he could see it.

 

“I was called to interview a woman who came to the station this morning. She was hurt, scratched up. She had survived a kidnapping and was given a note to bring to the station. She was told, if she didn’t bring the note to me, this guy promised to come back, and this game that he had inveigled her into would continue.”

 

She explained a little bit of the game, and Simon felt the sickness in his stomach as he realized they had yet another crazy person out there. He nodded. “I’m sure you’ll get to the point as to why I’m here sooner rather than later, right?”

 

She sighed and then placed the note before him. “This is the note that she was instructed to bring to the police station.”

 

He picked it up and read it, the few short lines, his eyebrows shooting straight up when he saw both his name and hers. “What the hell?” he muttered out loud.

 

She nodded. “Yeah, the hell is why you’re here.” She carefully studied him. “I’m sorry because, if there was any way to keep you out of it, believe me. I would have. More so if … there was any way to keep me out of it,” she added, with an eye roll, “I would have. But we have both been drawn into this because of this woman, who’s already been victimized once. She’s absolutely terrified to go home and have this asshole victimize her a second time.”

 

“Has she moved?”

 

“I don’t know if she’s even capable of moving. She was released from the hospital, probably too early, but our medical system hospitals are pretty overwhelmed these days. Therefore, if she’s capable of going home, then that’s where she goes,” Kate relayed abruptly. “Under these circumstances, I don’t know. I’m not sure that staying home for her is a good idea, but, if he found her once, … there’s a good chance that he would find her again. Plus, if she deliberately tried to leave, there is another good chance that he would punish her for it.”

 

Simon nodded absentmindedly, as he studied the note. “So now you want to know who would do this, who do I know who would do this, and did I have anything to do with it?”

 

She stared at him, and her lips cracked in a parody of a smile. Then the door opened. He looked up to see Rodney move in. Simon nodded a greeting. “Fun times.”

 

“No, not really,” Kate disagreed. “I was in the interview with this woman when she came in, and she was terrified.”

 

Simon nodded. “And, having seen the note, I have to tell you …” He shook his head. “Absolutely nobody comes to mind. It’s not as if I live in the world of psychos.” And then he laughed. “Although I’m pretty sure you would say that you don’t either.”

 

“Well, it’s not where we would choose to live,” Rodney admitted, with a half smile, as he took a chair. He quickly held out the recorder and put it on the table. “We’ll make this official, so that we all have something to listen to afterward.”

 

Simon nodded and waited, and, when they did their official disclaimer bit, Simon waved his hand. “Okay, so how long was she held? Do we know where she was held, and …” He picked up the note again, closed his eyes, but absolutely nothing came through. When he opened his eyes, both watched him expectantly. He shook his head. “Nothing is left on this note,” he shared in a confused tone. “Whether he ever held it himself, … I don’t know. Whether he ever held it with his own hands or with, say, gloves, I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I’m not getting anything off it.”

 

“Of course not,” she muttered. “That would be way too easy. So, given the fact that you don’t have a clue who would have done this, do you happen to know the victim?”

 

He asked, “What was her name again?”

 

“Patricia Blinker,” she stated.

 

Simon frowned and shook his head. “I’ve never heard of her.”

 

“I do have a photo. Matter of fact, we took several photos while she was here. Unfortunately forensically there isn’t anything on her because she spent several days in the hospital, showered several times, and at no point in time saw her attacker. However, we do have these photos.” And, with that, she held up her phone and showed them to Simon.

 

He winced when he saw the abrasions on the poor woman’s hands and face. “Wow, this asshole really did try to hurt her.”

 

“And yet,” Kate added, “he could have hurt her so much worse.”

 

He nodded, a lot of truth to that. “The damage will be psychological in the long term,” he replied, his voice quiet.

 

Rodney immediately nodded. “I suspect that was his purpose, psychological damage being so much harder for a victim to get over.”

 

Simon knew all about that. He felt that slow burn inside, even after all these years, and then swore heavily and fluently for several minutes.

 

When he looked up, Kate grinned at him and said, “I hope that made you feel as good as it made me feel.”

 

His eyebrows raised, he studied the woman who both fascinated, intrigued, and warmed his heart at the same time. “Now how the hell would my swearing make you feel better?”