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“Yes, shortly before he died. Thank you for coming and helping, Sheila. I owe you.”

“Not this time you don’t. Would you look at Keely. I swear she’s grown and I saw her just a week ago.”

Dr. Raines didn’t stay for tea, saying it was well after midnight and she would be jumping off her ceiling if she got any caffeine into her at this hour.

Savich said as he set the tray down on the sofa side table, “I just spoke to Wade, Katie. He got Clancy to the medical examiner. He sounded really impressed this time with how you got Clancy. Since I didn’t know any details, I couldn’t tell him much about it. Would you like to tell me exactly what happened so I’ll know how close I was?”

Katie looked closely at the children to make sure they were asleep before she closed her eyes a moment, and leaned her head back against the chair. “Clancy jumped off the porch, I ran after him. He didn’t get far. He was wheezing when I caught up to him. I told him to freeze and, you won’t believe this, he started laughing at me, said I wouldn’t shoot him like I did Beau because if I did, I’d be a real sorry bitch, said I’d be taken down if I shot him, he promised me that.

“When he caught his breath, he ducked behind a maple tree. I think he knew I didn’t want to shoot him, that I wanted to know who he was working for. Unfortunately, I got too close and he charged me. I heard Miles coming behind me, but I knew he wasn’t in time. I tried to aim for Clancy’s knee, but when he hit me, my SIG jerked up and I got him squarely in the chest. He just stood there, staring blankly at me, as if he couldn’t believe that I’d actually shot him. He tried to reach out for my gun, but I took a step back and he just collapsed. He was dead, Miles checked him, too, to make sure. It was an accident, really. I’m sorry, guys, I wanted him alive.”

Sherlock said, “As I said before, I for one am vastly relieved that Clancy is dead. I don’t think he would ever have stopped. Now we need to find out who’s behind it.”

Savich handed each of them a cup of tea. “This is excellent tea, Katie. I was prepared to make do with a tea bag.”

“I’ve always loved Darjeeling,” she said. “My mom gave me my first cup when I was about ten years old. I’ve never looked back. Bless my mom, she replenished my stock just last week.”

Mundane things, Sherlock thought, looking from Miles to Katie, to help them put some of this fear behind them. She thought of Sean, her own beautiful little boy, and shivered. Sometimes, the littlest things, silly things really, were just what you needed to remind you that life was coming back to normal, that life was usually just fine, thank you.

Savich carefully rose and straightened his back as best he could. “Sherlock and I will be heading back to Mother’s Very Best now. If you guys need anything, call us. Otherwise we’ll see you here in the morning.”

For the second time, Katie and Miles went to bed, Miles with Sam sprawled over his shoulder, Katie holding a sleepy Keely, who whispered, “I wanna sleep with you, Mama.”

“I was just thinking the same thing, sweetie. You won’t hog the bed, will you?”

Keely gave her a big grin. “I like to sleep sideways, Mama.”

Katie was smiling until it hit her again. She’d shot two men in two days, shot them both dead. Odd how it all felt rather distant now. She no longer felt that debilitating shock that had slammed through her earlier. Now she felt strangely detached. Was it because she’d done something that made her not quite human? No, that was the wrong way to look at it. She set her jaw. She would face this, she would settle it in her mind, once and for all.

21

When Katie woke up early the following morning, Keely wasn’t in bed with her. She jumped out of bed and came to an abrupt halt just inside the living room. There, lying on their stomachs on a blanket, were Sam and Keely, watching cartoons, the sound turned down low.

Katie looked down at her feet. For that panicked moment, she’d forgotten her sore feet. Then she thought