Last Girls Alive (Detective Katie Scott #4) - Jennifer Chase Page 0,54
out as she rattled on about everything. Her work, the cases, her house, her grief over losing her aunt, the confrontation with Hugh Keller, unrest with McGaven, her work conduct, getting written up for her last case, and everything in between.
Once she finished her monologue she watched for Chad’s reaction. He had listened, nodding every once in a while, sometimes he kept her gaze, other times he looked away to give her space to talk, but in the end he was still her best friend and lover.
There was a moment of silence. It wasn’t the uncomfortable kind, but it felt like something was missing and hanging precariously in the balance.
Chad moved closer to Katie and he gently kissed her. “I had no idea that you’ve been balancing all of this. I’m sorry that I can’t help to carry some of your burden. But I’m here. I’m always here.”
“I’m sorry, I had no right to dump everything out on you.”
“You didn’t. You needed to get that off your chest and I’m glad you did.”
Katie looked down. “It actually sounds worse than it is… it’s just… today I think I hit my limit.”
“You can’t go around carrying this kind of weight. I’m surprised you didn’t break sooner. You need a good night’s sleep. Stay here and rest.”
“But I don’t—”
“Let it go, Katie… Tomorrow you’ll feel rested and we can tackle all these things, one… at… a… time. Let it go tonight…”
Twenty-Nine
I stirred the chocolate cake mix until everything had been combined according to the instructions on the box. I wanted to do something nice for my mother, since she hadn’t beaten me in almost a month.
She had even begun to straighten up the house and take garbage out of the rooms. She smiled when I came home from school. It was like a miracle had happened.
I looked at the cake box and made sure I added the eggs, oil, and milk. It was going to be a wonderful cake. There was even ice cream in the freezer too. It was going to be a celebration.
I heard the front door open and my excitement grew.
The door slammed.
I jerked my arm as I was stirring the bowl.
Looking up, I saw my mother. Her face was pale, more than normal, and she looked sweaty even though it wasn’t hot outside.
“What’s wrong, Ma?”
“What do you think you’re doing?” she screamed.
“I… I’m making you a birthday cake like we talked about.”
“I don’t want any stinking birthday cake. I want my stuff. Don’t you understand?” She showed me the inside of her arms which were dotted with horrible purple needle marks.
“What stuff, Ma? I can help you find it.”
“You can’t help with nuthin’.”
She snatched the bowl out of my hands and threw it on the floor. It bounced and the batter splattered out, making a dark mess.
I started to cry.
“You were always such a baby and will always be a baby…” She grabbed her packet of cigarettes and forcefully slammed them against her fist until one came free. With a shaky hand, she raised the cigarette to her lips and slowly pressed the lighter. She couldn’t light it. Rage spilled over and she threw a plate against the wall. She finally got the cigarette lit, and that’s when she tripped on the rug and fell onto a huge pile of newspapers and magazines piled against the wall.
“Ma, you okay?” I managed to say.
“You little shit, you did this!”
I went to her to try and help her up when I noticed a small fire had ignited. I stopped dead.
“Help me up!” she screeched.
I stood completely still, frozen like a statue.
The flame flickered and grew slowly at first—then exponentially, reaching all around with fiery tentacles.
“You did this! Help! Help me you worthless piece of…”
I stood and watched the flames spread until, what felt like seconds later, the entire room was a burning inferno. The heat was overwhelming. Everything in the room was lapped up by the fire. The walls melted. The drapes blackened.
Mom stopped screaming and rolled into a ball.
I slowly left the room and went to my bedroom and closed the door…
Thirty
Saturday 0910 hours
Katie ran a hard three miles up the Battle Ridge Trail with Cisco at her side. She’d had another great night’s sleep of solid restfulness and felt better about her decision of opening up to Chad. Their relationship had improved from that moment and made her realize that she had been holding on too tight, keeping everything inside.