Неизвестный - 6. Justice For All

Except her weapon. They hadn’t given her Rebecca’s shoulder harness and gun. She imagined those were somewhere at police headquarters and, seeing Watts at the door, she was sure Rebecca would be wearing them before the day was out.

“Right. I would’ve used a landline, but I thought maybe you’d be sleeping.”

Catherine laughed wryly. “Usually I’m gone by now.” She held the door wide, glad that she was wearing a loose long-sleeved pullover and cotton pants rather than her normal sleepwear. “Come in, William.

Have some coffee. I’ll tell Rebecca you’re here.”

“I can wait in the car.” Watts halted just inside the door. “Uh…

maybe I’ll just come back—” He broke off, his attention riveted across the room.

Rebecca came downstairs into the living room, wearing faded

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chinos and an open-collared shirt, toweling her hair as she walked. She slowed when she saw Watts. “Problem?”

“Sorry, Loo. I got my signals crossed. The captain wants us in his office, and I thought…” He glanced at Catherine and started to back out onto the porch. “I’ll fill you in later.”

Catherine turned to Rebecca. “Are you going in?”

“I thought this afternoon.” Rebecca glanced at Watts. “Is it urgent?”

He held up his hands and shrugged. “Henry called me. Said he wanted us in his office first thing. I’m just the messenger, Loo. I’ll tell him I couldn’t reach you.”

“William,” Catherine said, “go get that coffee. Rebecca and I just need a few minutes.”

Watts glanced at Rebecca, who nodded, and he hurried toward the kitchen.

“It didn’t occur to me you were planning on going back to work today,” Catherine said as she walked to the far side of the living room.

She stopped in front of the French doors that opened onto the small, stone-walled backyard. Rebecca came up beside her. Catherine could smell the woodsy tang of her cologne and thought of all the nights she had gone to sleep alone with only a hint of Rebecca’s fragrance for company. She pushed the thought away. She needed to deal with now.

“I meant to talk to you about it last night,” Rebecca said, “but I fell asleep. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault. You needed to sleep.” Catherine watched the fallen leaves, only shriveled brown ghosts of their former gloriously colored selves, swirl across the gray flagstones on the small patio.

Winter was right around the corner.

“I didn’t realize you’d taken the morning off.” Rebecca brushed her fingertips across Catherine’s shoulder.

“I forgot to tell you.” Catherine shook her head. “It seems we’re both guilty of assumptions.”

Rebecca shoved a hand through her hair and made an exasperated sound. “Could we be any more civil?” She grasped Catherine’s shoulders and gently pulled her around until they were face-to-face. “I should have come straight home yesterday. Or at least I should’ve told you where I was going. It was thoughtless of me. I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you?” Catherine waved a hand. “Not the call me part,

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but why didn’t you come home? What was so important that you had to go straight from the hospital to work?”

“I’d been out of the loop for a couple of days and I had no idea what was going on with the operation,” Rebecca said, searching for the right words. “It felt like part of my life had dropped into a black hole. I just wanted to get reconnected.”

“Reconnected.” Catherine tried not to be hurt at Rebecca choosing her work over their relationship. She tried to imagine how she would feel if she were suddenly unable to go to the hospital and keep her patient appointments. She’d be concerned over not taking care of her responsibilities, and she’d be anxious until she had arranged for someone else to cover for her. But she wouldn’t feel as if a piece of her life were missing. But then, she was not Rebecca.

“You’re wrong about that,” Rebecca whispered.

“What?” Catherine asked, startled from her internal analysis.

“The job isn’t more important to me than being with you.”

And there it was—what she feared most, even though she was embarrassed to admit it. That she would never be first in anyone’s life.

That just as the child she’d been—of two people who loved her, but had loved each other more—she would always be waiting to be seen.

Catherine sighed. Rebecca’s words reminded her of why she had fallen in love with her, despite how hard some parts of being with her could be—moments just like this, when Rebecca saw her so clearly, even more clearly than she could see herself, and gave her the very thing she needed most. The certainty that she was loved. She believed in Rebecca’s love even when Rebecca’s life, Rebecca’s needs, hurt and frightened her.

“I’m terribly in love with you,” Catherine whispered. “And I need you so much.”

Shifting her hands from Catherine’s shoulders into her hair, Rebecca cradled Catherine’s head tenderly as she kissed her. “I’m an idiot. When I hurt you like this I want to shoot myself.”

Catherine pressed her fingers to Rebecca’s mouth. “Don’t even joke.”

“I’m not joking. You’re the best thing in my life. The best thing that’s ever happened to me, or ever will. I don’t mean to make you unhappy. I don’t mean to frighten you.”

“I know that. In my heart, I know that. And that truly is what’s

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most important to me.” Catherine wrapped her arms around Rebecca’s waist and kissed the side of her neck. “But you must promise me that you’ll stop and think. And remember that you’re not indestructible.”

“When I went in yesterday, I was only planning to sit at a desk,”

Rebecca said. “That’s what I’m still planning on doing.”

Catherine fixed her with an intense stare. “Are you going to tell me the only thing you did yesterday was sit with your feet propped up somewhere?”

Rebecca looked away. “I went for a very short walk with Sandy.”

“Sandy?” Catherine shook her head. “Sandy is a remarkable young woman, but I would rather have William or Sloan or Dellon protecting you.”

“I don’t need them protecting me. I’m their boss.”

“Yes, darling, you are. And when you’re a hundred percent, there’s no one better qualified. But you’re not a hundred percent. Not quite.”

Begrudgingly, Rebecca nodded. “And that’s why I’m going to sit my ass at a desk. All right?”

“Can I ask William to be sure that you do?”

Rebecca’s eyes shifted from their ordinary icy cool to blue flame.

“Hell, no.”

Catherine laughed softly. “I had to try.”

“Are you also trying to make my blood pressure go up?” Rebecca teased, tightening her grip and skating her lips along the edge of Catherine’s jaw. “Because if that’s your goal, I can think of more pleasurable ways to achieve it.”

“Don’t play with me, darling,” Catherine whispered. “Because we don’t have time and we have instructions not to make love, remember?”

Rebecca growled. “Like that’s happening.”

“No.” Catherine eased away. “We’re not. Not until Ali says we can.”“You can’t be serious. I feel fine.” Rebecca had the sudden urge to drag Catherine upstairs and show her just how fine she really felt.

She was willing to take a backseat at work for a while, but she’d be damned if she’d keep from touching Catherine. Not when she needed to be sure Catherine understood just how essential she was. Maybe, Rebecca thought, she didn’t always have the right words, and maybe she was selfish most of the time, but when they made love, she came as