Page 37 of If She Sensed

In the same moment, moving faster than she had in months and with her heart slamming wildly in her chest, Kate was very aware of how she could no longer see the knife.Kate's eyes went straight to where the knife had been in Ruth's hand and it was not there now.It was somewhere in the tangle of bodies and the overturned furniture it.Her breath stopped.Sloane was down in the wreckage of the table with Ruth Calder underneath her.Kate could see Sloane's hands working but not the blade.She couldn't account for where it had gone and that was perhaps the worst part of the entire ordeal for a second.

The cold that moved through her in that moment was absolute and immediate.She could not see the blade, could not see whether Sloane had been cut, and she was already calculating what to do next… how to respond if Sloane had indeed been injured or worse.And for a heart-stopping moment, she was somehow sure the knife had plunged into Sloane’s chest or abdomen before she had any evidence of it.But then, thank God, she heard it.

A clatter, hard and clean.Metal on tile.

The knife skidded out from under the overturned chair and traveled several inches across the kitchen floor before it came to a stop against the baseboard.Kate stood very still for the span of a single breath and let the relief move through her.

Sloane was uninjured.Kate could see it now: Sloane had Ruth pinned face-down on the tile, one knee pressed firmly into Ruth's back, and she was already reaching for the cuffs at her belt.She did so with an almost eerie ease, despite the situation.Ruth was making a low, pressurized sound but was no longer fighting.She was moving and squirming, but it was hardly moving Sloane at all.Whatever had caused her to lunge recklessly at Diane Marsh had burned itself out in the fall, and what was left of her was something smaller and quieter.

Kate kept hold of Diane's arm.The woman was gripping her back just as hard, her fingers locked in tight around Kate's forearm.Kate could feel that the shaking in Diane’s hands had not yet stopped.She turned so that she was facing Diane directly and blocked her view of the floor, standing in the way of what was taking place in her kitchen..

"Diane, I need you to look at me," Kate said."You're all right.Look right at me, okay?"

Diane looked at her.Her eyes were wet and her breathing was still ragged, coming in short pulls.But she was present and she was listening and that was enough.

"You're safe," Kate said."It's over."

Behind her, she heard Sloane click the second cuff into place with a satisfying click.Then Sloane's voice, steady and clear, was reading Ruth Calder her rights.Her voice was firm and solid, masking any emotion.She was simply a woman doing her job, and doing it well.Kate had heard Sloane make arrests before, but there was something in the steadiness of her voice just now, after what had happened in the last thirty seconds, that Kate found herself holding onto.The woman was really coming into her own and was already a force to be reckoned with.

Kate wanted to say something to her—something brief and direct and true.But now was not the time.There would be time for it later, she told herself, though she suspected she might not find exactly the right words even then.For now she turned back to Diane and focused on getting her moving.

"Can you walk?"Kate asked.

Diane nodded.Her breath had evened out slightly, still unsteady but no longer in danger of giving out on her.

Kate kept her hand on Diane's back and steered her out of the kitchen, back through the short hallway.They made their way through the living area, out onto the porch, and into the night.Diane looked around wildly, tears running down her face.Kate wondered if the woman had been sure she was going to die as Ruth had stood before her with that knife.Was she, Kate wondered, learning to appreciate the little things like the porch, the crisp night air, and the smell of flowers from a neighbor’s yard?

They were barely down the porch steps when the backup unit came around the corner and pulled up hard against the curb.A pair of officers were out of the car right away with their hands moving to their belts, scanning the front of the house.

Kate held up her badge and stepped forward to meet them at the walk.Diane remained on the porch, watching it all unfold like a woman in a very surreal dream.

"The suspect is in custody, inside," she said."Kitchen.Agent Sloane has her.”

The officers nodded and hurried inside.When they were gone, Diane came down the stairs to meet her.The woman took Kate’s hand and said, “Thank you,” in little more than a whisper.

Those two simple words made it all better as far as Kate was concerned, Sure, she was no longer carrying a gun and she was effectively watching the cases unfold as Sloane worked her way through them.But she would never tire of this… of knowing she had helped to save a life, even if it was in a small way in the background.

“Of course,” she said.And when the woman moved in for a hug, Kate allowed it.

And it was there hugging a stranger in a dark yard just after midnight, that Kate simply didn’t know how she would ever leave this job completely behind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Kate got home at just after two in the morning and was back on her feet by 6:15.Four hours of sleep, more or less, but she had slept hard and without dreaming, and she felt cleaner for it than she had any right to expect.She came downstairs to find Allen already in the kitchen, which surprised her.He was in his robe with the coffee maker running, and he looked at her the way he always did when she came home late and left early, which was without complaint.

"You don't have to be up," she said.

"I know."He handed her the travel mug he had already filled."Go."

“How did you know I had somewhere to be?”

He smirked and said, “Because coming in at two in the morning usually doesn’t mean a case has all of a sudden closed.”

“Well, smarty pants, itisclosed.We managed to stop the killer.”

“What?”he asked, his eyes bright.“That’s awesome.Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were dead asleep and I wasn’t going to wake you.”