didn’t have to. She was murdered by a serial killer she was trying to help.”
“Let me guess. We’re talking about Gil Archer’s daughter. Lana. The one he said I look like.”
“We’re talking about Lana, yes. And as to whether you look like her?” He studied her while she held herself stiffly. “You’re both blonde. Pretty. But different,” he finished lamely.
“Yeah. I’m alive. But apparently I’m paying for her mistakes. You grew to distrust her, so now you distrust me. You distrust all psychiatrists. You probably distrust anyone with a mental health issue. Heck, anyone with anything you perceive as a weakness at all. So how do you handle your own weaknesses? Or do you simply expect yourself to be Superman?”
“Don’t,” he snapped. “Don’t psychoanalyze me. I’m a cop and you have a history—”
“A history that’s my business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s your business so long as it doesn’t affect me. That being the case, I just want to make sure we’re clear on what this next week is going to look like. That’s all.” He stood and shrugged into his jacket. “You ready to go?”
“No,” she said quietly. “You’re coming down on me because I withheld my past, or so you think. Don’t do the same thing. My sister’s suicide was a tragedy and sure, it could conceivably impair my judgment. But what do you call your girlfriend’s death? What about the fact you admitted it affects how you think about psychiatrists and I’m betting probably affects how you think about the mentally ill, as well? You want to question me about my past? You can expect the same thing in return.”
Simon’s jaw clenched. “Fine.” He sat back down again and held his arms out. “What do you want to know?”
Her eyes widened slightly before she asked, “How—how long ago did she die?”
“Six months ago. Next question.”
“Were you there when it happened?”
“No. But I saw her afterward and I know exactly what he did to her. Given how often I imagine what really happened, I might as well have been. Next question.”
She shook her head. “I—I’m sorry.”
“And like I said, I’m sorry about your sister. We’ve both had to deal with tragedy. I’m just trying to make sure we don’t have to deal with more.”
“Fine.” She stood. “Have I alleviated your concerns?”
Since she obviously wasn’t going to ask any more questions about Lana, he relaxed slightly and stood, as well. “Not by a long shot. But I’m hoping we’ll get there. I—”
“Hey, Simon.”
Simon looked up at the sound of DeMarco’s voice. Nina glanced up, too, and for a second he saw appreciation flicker over her face. Mentally, he scowled. Maybe she went for the tall, dark and Latin-lover kind of guy, and DeMarco was certainly that. He clenched his fists when Nina smiled secretively.
“What’s so funny?” he growled.
She started. Looked up at him guiltily. “Nothing. I was just thinking about something my friend Karen said.”
“Uh-huh.”
DeMarco stepped up to them. He glanced at Nina, then back at Simon with a quick yet not so subtle waggle of his brows.
“Hey, DeMarco. We were just heading out.”
“Whoa. Not so fast. Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Simon sighed. “DeMarco, this is Dr. Nina Whitaker. She’s going to be shadowing me for a few days.”
“Doctor. As in medical doctor or—?”
“Doctor as in a shrink. I mean, psychiatrist,” he said when Nina glared at him. “She’s advocating some further training for the department.”
DeMarco turned a curious gaze on Nina. “Training in what?”
“Expanded training on mental health consumers and de-escalation techniques,” she replied. “But more than just that. Part of the program consists of establishing a Mental Health Intervention Team. Training dispatch to route certain calls to that team rather than patrol.”
“That right? Sounds fascinating. Tell me more.”
“I’m not sure we have time...” She glanced at Simon, and he jerked his chin, indicating she should go ahead. If he was going to give her a fair shot at changing his mind about the merits of the MHIT program, he needed to know more about it. For the first time, he found his curiosity outrunning his skepticism.
“The pilot program I helped launch in Charleston was actually modeled after one formed in Australia. The program has four key aims—reducing the risk of injury to police and mental health consumers during mental health crisis events, improving awareness by frontline police of both the risks involved in dealing with mental health consumers and the strategies to reduce potential injuries, improving collaboration with other government and nongovernment agencies in the response to