Page 79 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
Overcome with regret, with anguish, with old fears that drove her to foolishness, Kateri dropped to her knees and hugged her.
Then the radio on her shoulder crackled to life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
In all her life, Kateri had never been so glad to be interrupted.
“Weston here.” The cocky, overconfident law enforcement officer sounded as if he were a kid talking to the principal. “Sheriff…”
In the background she heard Bergen say, “You have to tell her. I’m not gonna.”
Weston’s voice quavered. “Sheriff, Rainbow’s house was broken into and, um, searched.”
Kateri wanted to shout, to rage about his incompetence and his inability to follow orders.
But all he’d done was fail to protect Rainbow’s property.
Kateri had killed her.
So in a reasonable tone of voice, she asked, “Is it trashed?”
“Nothing’s hurt, but it’s not neat anymore. Like… like your place when someone searched. Everything shoved around, but nothing’s broken, nothing’s missing that I can see.”
Kateri rubbed her forehead. “You don’t know who did this?”
“No.”
“Or when?”
“Sometime in the last twenty-four hours?”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“Maybe thirty hours.”
“Weston.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“When you decided to not follow my orders to protect Rainbow’s property, did it not occur to you to install some kind of security in her home?”
“No, ma’am. I thought that…”
“I was overreacting?” God save her from superior young men. “Rather than be fired for this blatant incompetence, I suggest that you spend your off-duty hours cleaning up the mess in Rainbow’s house.”
“Even in her bedroom?”
Kateri could hear him squirming. “Even in her bedroom.”
“She’s got… in there, she’s got… it’s red satin and there are these… toys…”
“I don’t expect you to enjoy it. I expect you to do it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” For once, Sean Weston sounded subdued.
She cut the connection and softly, with Lacey on her heels, made her way into Rainbow’s room.
Dr. Frownfelter and the nurses were turning away from the bed.
