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“So you were helping Melody—Casey, I mean—hide out from CJ all along?” Kat asked Andrew when they were sitting on her living room couch the next afternoon.
“Kind of,” Andrew said. “I knew about her situation anyway. A friend on the Seattle force told me what was going on. Casey had tried to get away from CJ before, without success. Finally she realized if she ever hoped to truly break free from him, she would need to start over somewhere else, somewhere where he couldn’t find her.”
Kat’s heart grew heavy. Even after looking into CJ’s soulless eyes, she didn’t think she fully grasped all that he was capable of. Casey, on the other hand, had been forced to endure his cruelty firsthand for far too long.
“How come Casey didn’t have him arrested?” Kat asked.
“She started to press charges against him several times. But he always scared her out of going through with it. ”
Kat stroked Matty in her lap, grateful for the feline’s soothing presence. “How did Sheila get involved?”
“As Casey’s cousin, she knew what was going on. And she got to know my friend on the Seattle force after he was sent to Casey’s house to respond to a domestic disturbance call. She asked for his help, but my friend could only do so much in a professional capacity.”
Kat stared into Andrew’s eyes, needing the reminder that there were good men in this world. “So he put her in touch with you.”
“Not right away. He called me up first. I knew about the two vacant apartments across from you, so my cop friend passed the word on to Sheila. She didn’t contact me directly until after the leases were signed.”
“Is her last name really Smith?”
Andrew chuckled. “That I can’t answer. But my guess is no.”
Kat shifted slightly, prompting Matty to dig her claws into her knee. “So, what was Sheila doing in your car on Friday?”
“She thought she spotted CJ outside the Food Mart. I hurried over there, but we couldn’t find him. So she asked if I would wait around for a few minutes. I think she was hoping he’d show up again.”
“And what were you doing later that evening? When you told me you were on patrol. Were you with Sheila?”
Andrew nodded slowly. “I was. She couldn’t shake the sense that CJ was in Cherry Hills, so we drove around looking for him. I thought she had most likely seen somebody else at the Food Mart and was just being paranoid.” He grimaced. “I know better now.”
“Why weren’t you answering your phone?”
“I was driving.”
Kat supposed that was a valid enough reason. Andrew always had been a stickler for following rules, and he had yet to install hands-free technology in his car. “And you couldn’t tell me all this yesterday because . . . ?”
He set his palm on her knee. “For one thing, it wasn’t my place to tell you. For another, the more people who knew about Casey’s situation, the greater the risk that word would get out to the wrong person. You know how gossip travels in small towns.”
Kat did know that. And as miffed as she was about being kept in the dark, she could see Andrew’s point.
Andrew brushed a piece of hair off her forehead, his touch igniting the nerve endings under her skin. “If I had known you were in danger, I would have done things differently,” he said, his voice low and husky.
Kat’s stomach flip-flopped as his eyes darkened with emotion. She wanted to assure him she was okay, but her mouth had gone dry. Besides, although she knew she would be fine in the long run, at the moment she was still shaken by yesterday’s encounter with CJ. She didn’t think she had ever been that close to someone so willing to hurt a person he claimed to love.
A light knock on Kat’s apartment door interrupted their moment. Andrew coughed and pulled away. Kat tried not to feel too bereft as she stood up, relocating Matty to her vacated seat.
Looking through the peephole, Kat was surprised to see her new neighbor standing outside.
She opened the door. “Hi, Sheila.”
Sheila smiled. “Hi.”
Kat swept her arm toward the living room. “Would you like to come in?”
Sheila backed up when her eyes landed on Tom, who had spotted their visitor and was rapidly approaching. “I’d better stay out here. I have severe cat allergies.”
Understanding dawned. After learning about the link between Casey and Sheila, Kat had been trying to figure out why the two hadn’t shared an apartment. Now she knew. Sheila’s allergies also explained why she had brushed by her and Lucy on Friday. With Matty and Tom out in the corridor, she had likely been anxious to retreat into the safety of her fur-free apartment.
Tom was gaining ground. Kat stepped into the hall and swung the door shut without a second to spare. Inside the apartment, the big cat wailed.
Sheila grinned. “Poor thing.”
“He’s fine,” Kat assured her. “In fact, I bet he’s already recovered. Andrew is probably giving him a belly rub as I speak.”
“Andrew’s here?” Sheila glanced at the door, then folded her hands in front of her. “He’s a good guy.”
Kat’s heart swelled with affection. “Yeah, he is.”
“Maybe you can thank him for me. If he hadn’t shown up when I was out shopping for furniture . . .”
“I’m just glad Larry came to in time to phone him.”
“Me, too.”
Kat leaned against her door. “You know, I think Remy saw CJ when he came back the second time.”
Sheila’s eyebrows rose. “He did?”
“He was looking out the window and meowing right before CJ showed up. He must have been trying to warn us.”
Sheila bobbed her head. “Casey and Remy always have had a special bond. They look out for each other.”
Thinking about her own connection with Matty and Tom, Kat smiled. She was happy Casey had at least one loving creature in her life.
“What are you and Casey going to do now?” she asked Sheila.
“I don’t know. Casey doesn’t feel safe here, so we’ll be moving on. Where to, I don’t know yet.”
“Is she worried CJ will get out of jail and come back for her?” Just the prospect made Kat shudder.
Sheila sighed. “After what she’s been through, I don’t think she’ll ever stop worrying about that.”
Kat’s heart ached for the young woman. She couldn’t imagine what Casey’s life must have been like for the past two years.
“But,” Sheila continued, her voice more upbeat, “she won’t be dropping the charges this time, that’s for sure. She knows the only way she’ll ever be free is to start sticking up for herself. And I’m going to help her however I can.”
“She’s lucky to have you,” Kat said.
“What are cousins for?” Sheila crossed the hallway to her own unit. “Anyway, I didn’t mean to interrupt your time with Andrew. I just came by to thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And if there’s anything I can do for you or Casey, all you have to do is ask.”
“Thanks. Take care.”
“You, too.”
Sheila disappeared into her apartment. Although Casey might not have had much luck in love, she certainly had hit the jackpot when it came to extended family.
Kat let herself back inside her own unit. Tom scrambled out of Andrew’s lap and raced over to reprimand her with a series of terse meows.
She patted his head. “Sorry, Tommy, but Sheila’s allergic to you. That’s why she was in such a rush to get away from you on Friday. But I’m sure she’d love you if she had the chance to get to know you.”
Tom seemed mollified by the explanation. He pressed his nose into her palm as though to communicate that all was forgiven. Then he turned around and wandered toward the kitchen. Evidently, all that angst over not getting to meet the new neighbor had left him famished.
“What did Sheila have to say?” Andrew asked as Kat headed back over to the couch.
“She wanted me to thank you for helping Casey.”
Kat lifted Matty up and reclaimed her seat. The tortoiseshell didn’t look happy about being manhandled, but she did deign to lie on Kat’s lap. Kat figured she was probably too lazy to find another napping spot.
“You don’t think they’ll let CJ out, do you?” she asked Andrew. The idea of Casey spending the rest of her life on the run made her ill.
Andrew rubbed her shoulder. “I hope not, but it’s not up to me.”
Kat shivered at the memory of CJ’s menacing eyes boring into Casey’s. “I can’t imagine not being safe being yourself.”
“Unfortunately, love has a dark side. Partner violence is responsible for more female homicides than anything else, which isn’t so surprising when you stop to consider that women are far more likely to be harmed by a significant other than a stranger.”
She snorted. “Gee, aren’t you a fount of knowledge. I’m surprised Cupid didn’t put you on the payroll for Valentine’s Day.”
Andrew froze. “Oh, no. It’s Valentine’s today, isn’t it?”
“You forgot,” Kat said, more amused than disappointed. Now that she knew the real reason why Andrew had been with Sheila, she didn’t think anything could dampen her spirits today.
“After dealing with the CJ situation all day yesterday, yeah, I did. But we can still go out to dinner tonight.”
Kat slugged him playfully in the shoulder. “After what you put me through these past couple days, you’d better be taking me someplace fancy.”
Andrew regarded her for a silent moment before saying, “You didn’t really think I had something going on with Sheila, did you?”
“How could I not? Lucy spies the two of you together, and then you refuse to talk about her.”
“I couldn’t talk about her.”
“I know that now, but I didn’t then. And once I got it in my head that you might be seeing her, I couldn’t shake it.”
Andrew set his hands on Kat’s shoulders and rotated her around to face him. “I would never cheat on you.”
The heat from his palms warmed her whole body. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“You don’t need to worry about other women. I love you, not them.”
Kat’s blood pressure spiked. Had he just told her he loved her? Yes, she thought, as her body seemed to float off the couch. He had. It was the first time he had made such a declaration, and as the words sank in, she couldn’t prevent the huge smile that broke out across her face.
She laughed and flung herself at him. Matty let out an anguished wail before scrambling out of Kat’s lap. The tortoiseshell jumped down to the floor and stalked off, tossing the humans a disgusted look over her shoulder.
Kat trailed kisses down Andrew’s cheek. “I love you, too.”
He hugged her close. “I take it this means I’m forgiven for forgetting about Valentine’s Day.”
She snuggled next to his chest. “You’re forgiven for Valentine’s, for not telling me about Sheila, for all of it. But you still owe me a nice dinner.”
“Deal.”
Andrew pulled his head back, his eyes locking with hers. All the air left her lungs when he bent forward to kiss her.
Kat sighed as she melted into him. Love might have a dark side, but there was no doubt in her mind it had a bright side, too. And, between Andrew, Matty, and Tom, she had so much light in her life that her future looked quite bright indeed.
