Page 82 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
“Lovesme?”
Luis handed her another wad of tissue. “I used to think you were smart. Then you turned me away and that was the first nail in that coffin.”
She laughed explosively. And cried some more. “Last week I had won a brutal election for sheriff and I was on top of the world. Now I’m wounded, women are being slashed, I can’t catch the fugitive who shot up the Oceanview Café, I tried to kill Rainbow—”
“You… what?”
“Tried to help her. I did it wrong. Then I screwed up with the one man who…” She couldn’t continue. She didn’t have the breath. Leaning forward, she wept into Lacey’s fur.
Luis waited until her crying had calmed a little, then handed her a bottle of water. “What are you going to do about getting him back?”
She remembered Stag’s expression when he kissed her on the forehead. That wasfarewell. “He doesn’t want me back.”
Luis snorted. “Yes, he does. You might have to crawl… But you can fix it.”
Easy for him to say, and considering his track record… She wiped her eyes and her nose. She took a sip of the water. “Speaking of a screwed-up situation, how’s Sienna?” His girlfriend, the woman who had gone out of her way to show Kateri that Luis was hers, even going so far as to fake a pregnancy.
Luis stood up and sat on his desk. “I really did break up with her. I’m a Coastie through and through. Sooner or later I’ll get transferred. Sienna put down roots here and now she’ll never leave. You be careful, Kateri. She’s a smart girl, and ruthless. Before she’s done, she’ll own Virtue Falls and be mayor, and she’s got it in for you.”
“Goodie. Another challenge.” Kateri leaned back in the chair and pressed her hand over her swollen eyes. “Let me try to sort this all out. John Terrance managed to find someone to remove the shot from his butt, stole a boat—another one—and landed somewhere along the coast?”
“When we were transporting Mrs. Blethyn back to her home on the mainland, we found the boat adrift. No John Terrance.”
“Right. So we can assume he’s still alive and holed up somewhere waiting for his next chance to get his revenge on Virtue Falls for a thousand real and imagined slights. Plus—you have once more become Virtue Falls’s most eligible bachelor. Plus—I’m an idiot.”
“Nice summation. That covers it.”
She put Lacey on the floor, hauled herself to her feet and tossed the wad of tissue into his trash. “Thanks for the news, the talking-to and the bottle of water. Now I have to go speak sternly to my sister about breaking and entering.”
That made Luis stand up straight. “I didn’t even know you had a sister, much less a larcenous sister.”
“Not larcenous in the usual sense. But determined to get what she wants.” Kateri’s voice wavered. “Luis, I’ve missed having you as a friend.”
“I’ve missed you, too.”
Spontaneously, they hugged.
Unexpectedly, Kovavitc opened the door. He stared, coughed and said, “I thought you two were broken up!”
“We are.” Kateri stepped out of Luis’s arms. “He was telling me I’m an idiot. In a loving way. Like a brother.”
“Geeze, Sheriff Kwinault, why don’t you just cut off his balls?” Kovavitc had a way with words.
Kateri saw Luis’s pained expression and backpedaled. “What I meant to say was I could no longer refrain from flinging myself into Commander Sanchez’s arms, but he nobly fought me off and gently told me we could never be one.”
“Yeah… that didn’t help. He’s still a nutless wonder.” Kovavitc turned to Luis. “Commander, Mrs. Blethyn called to report her car as stolen.”
The radio on Kateri’s sleeve vibrated.
Bergen said, “Sheriff, we’ve got a call from Garik Jacobsen at the FBI. He has the report you’ve been waiting for.”
Luis and Kateri faced off with each other, then each gave a nod and she walked toward the exit, Lacey on her heels.
When she was out the door, Luis turned to Kovavitc. “I deserve a fucking medal for what I just did. I convinced her that she needed to convince Stag Denali they were the ideal couple.”
“You still want to bang her?”
“Yeah.”
