CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kat pretended like this was just a lazy Sunday evening.
As she sat on the couch at Jessie and Ryan’s place, she sipped the hot chocolate that Hannah had made for her and made no mention of how she’d spent two hours this afternoon casing the courthouse where Ash Pierce would be appearing for a hearing tomorrow.
They’d spent most of the time she’d been here discussing Ryan’s hope to return to work soon, though the expression on Hannah’s face suggested she thought it might take longer than he did.
“Enough about me,” Ryan finally said. “How are you doing in the seventy-two hours since I last saw you?”
“Oh, not much different,” Kat said, deflecting as she turned her attention to Hannah. “But I’m bored with myself. I want to hear how our campus sleuth is doing these days.”
She could tell that Hannah knew what she was doing but thankfully, she apparently decided to play along anyway.
“I actually haven’t been doing much sleuthing lately,” Hannah said. “There hasn’t been a lot of free time. With my return visits here the last few weekends and the school workload lately, I’ve been focused mostly on academics.”
“I thought you said the classes were too easy for you,” Kat said.
“They were in the first two quarters,” Hannah confirmed, “but this spring has been challenging. Still, I’m getting by.”
“And the social life?” Kat asked, leadingly, well-aware of Hannah’s on-again, off-again flirtation with a student named Finn Anderton.
“We’ll save that for another time,” Hannah told her cryptically.
“She keeps saying that,” Ryan said, enjoying teasing her slightly.
“And I’ll continue to,” Hannah replied, leaving it at that, “but speaking of school, I should probably head back. Traffic will be lighter at this hour, but it will still take me 45 minutes to get there. Will you be good on your own, Ryan?”
He nodded.
“Yeah. I don’t expect to do much more than move from the couch to the bed for the rest of the evening. I think I can handle that, even if Jessie doesn’t make it back tonight.”
“You don’t think she will?” Kat asked.
Ryan looked over at Hannah, who seemed to know better than him.
“He was sleeping the last time I spoke to her,” she explained, “but it sounded like it might be a late night.”
Kat wasn’t surprised to hear it. She couldn’t remember the last time Jessie had handled a case that was tied up in a nice bow within standard working hours.
“Do you want me to stick around?” she asked Ryan, “just in case you need anything?”
“No,” he said, “thanks for asking but I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, but don’t hesitate to call if you need anything overnight.”
“I will,” he said, though she doubted he would.
“Do we want to walk each other out?” Hannah asked her. It was clear from her tone that there was something that she wanted to discuss outside of Ryan’s presence.
“Sure,” Kat said.
They walked to the front door, where Hannah inputted an eight-digit code on the keypad panel on the wall.
“I’ve activated the overnight security protocol,” she called back to Ryan, “you cool with that?”
“I prefer it,” he shouted back.
They checked the four-screen monitor by the door before stepping outside. Every camera view was clear, and the heat signature map showed nothing unusual in the area. Hannah undid the security bar lock that ran horizontally across the middle of the door, along with the two separate dead bolts and the chain lock before opening the steel-reinforced door.
Kat knew from experience that once they stepped outside and closed it, all the locks, save for the chain, would automatically snap into place. It might seem like overkill, but they all knew it wasn’t. Jessie had been the target of multiple serial killers, not to mention other vengeance-seeking criminals.
And despite their precautions, the man who’d poisoned Ryan and assaulted Jessie had managed to get into their home while Jessie was tending to Ryan. These security measures were more than justified, and with Ryan still not back to full strength, it was reassuring to know the house was well-locked down.
They waited for the sounds of the locks sliding into place and the three long beeps from inside, indicating that the overnight protocol was active. Only then did they walk out to their cars, which were parked next to each other on the street.
“So what’s the deal?” Hannah asked as they walked down the path.
“What do you mean?” Kat said unconvincingly.
“Come on, Kat, don’t make me do this dance,” Hannah replied, pausing and turning to her. “You promised me that you would stop obsessing over the Ash Pierce case. How’s that going?”
“I have my ups and downs,” Kat said vaguely, “but I feel good about where I’m at.”
“What does that mean?” Hannah demanded, unconvinced. “Jury selection for her trial starts in a week. There’s another hearing tomorrow. Are you honestly telling me that you haven’t thought about that?”
“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Kat answered indignantly, “but that doesn’t mean I’m obsessing.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, relenting slightly. “Just tell me this then. When was the last time you were at the courthouse? Yesterday? Today?”
“I live downtown,” Kat protested. “I pass by it all the time.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” Hannah protested. “I’d bet a pastry from that coffee shop you hang out at across the street from the courthouse that you were there today.”
“Have you been following me?” Kat challenged.
Hannah smiled.
“I haven’t,” she said. “I’ve been cooped up in this house all day, but your answer tells me everything I need to know. So you broke your promise.”
Kat struggled to fight off a smile herself, despite getting the third degree. Hannah’s perceptive skills seemed to be improving every day. Pretty soon, the young woman would leave both her and Jessie in the dust.
“I promised to try not to obsess,” she shot back, not in the mood to verbalize the compliment in her head right now… “I didn’t say I’d be successful. And I certainly didn’t agree to just throw my hands up and leave it to the dubious security efforts of the L.A. court system to make sure a trained CIA assassin is kept under lock and key.”
“Keeping people under lock and key is what they do, Kat,” Hannah told her. “They spend all day dealing with violent offenders, often murderers, transporting them safely to legal proceedings and then back to jail. They’re the exact right people for the job.”
“First of all, they didn’t do such a great job when Pierce escaped and killed four guards, then came after you,” Kat said sharply. “You do remember that?”
“Considering that she came looking for me right after she got loose, yeah, I have some recollection,” Hannah replied. “That’s why I have confidence that they’ve made adjustments.”
“They’ve made adjustments for a run-of-the-mill killer, not for a woman who’s an expert in evasion and escape,” Kat countered.
“And you still don’t believe that she lost her memory and might have lost some of those evasion skills along the way?”
Kat shook her head vehemently.
“You know I don’t buy her amnesia story,” she admitted, “but that doesn’t really matter. Whether the memory loss is legit or not, she still has that skill set buried in her brain somewhere. On top of that, she’s well aware that her freedom is on the line. She doesn’t have to recall who she was to know what she can do.”
Hannah sighed as they reached their cars.
“So what are you going to do,” she asked, “sneak into the courtroom and take her out before she can make a move?”
Kat smiled.
“I don’t need to sneak into the courtroom,” she said. “Technically, I have every right to be there, just like you do. But to answer your question, I have a friend on the inside who’s been letting me in a side entrance for every proceeding. That way, I don’t have to deal with the press or curious onlookers. I haven’t missed a single hearing in this case. And you can bet that I’ll be there tomorrow. And once the trial starts the next week, I’ll be there every day for that too.”
Hannah seemed to take that information in stride. While she may not have known what Kat had been doing, she didn’t look surprised.
“What about your job, Kat?” she asked. “You’re a private investigator. Isn’t it going to cut into your income stream a little if you have to beg off on following a cheating husband or someone committing insurance fraud to watch every minute of the Ash Pierce trial?”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Kat said defiantly.
Hannah, looking defeated, unlocked her car door and was about to get in. But then she stopped and turned back.
“I get how you feel,” she said softly. “You know I do. Pierce tortured and nearly killed you. I was there. But she tried to kill me, too—multiple times. So I know how dangerous she is. I’m not pretending otherwise. But I came to a realization a while back that I hope you reach sometime soon.”
“What that?” Kat asked.
“You can’t live your life fixated on her or you won’t have any kind of life,” Hannah said. “Eventually, she’s going to be in a small cell for the rest of her days. But if you don’t move past this, you’re going to be in a cell too, one of your own creation.”
“I hear you,” Kat assured her.
“I know you hear me,” Hannah said. “The question is whether you believe what I’m saying is true.”
Kat didn’t want to condescend to her young friend, and she didn’t want to deceive her any longer either. So she answered as truthfully as she could.
“I believe that you believe it,” she said. “But I believe something else.”