[Aquila Court Apartments, 3:35PM]

>"I see," Kate said skeptically. Things weren’t adding up here
>the way she’d hoped. "And what about your son? Is he.."
>
>"Dead. Died ten years ago," Sandra said without emotion.

Kate raised an eyebrow at the woman’s lack of feeling. Product of rape or not, she was talking about her own son. Mrs. Lewandowski noticed her reaction.

"Don’t be overly critical ‘til you’ve walked in my shoes," Sandra said. "I did the best I could with that boy. He wasn’t quite right, you see. You can’t tell from the picture. Sometimes you can see it, you know? Well, at the age of twenty he tested out to the third grade level. So they said anyway. Never did really talk. At least, not around me, anyway. Spent my whole life taking care of him, mostly on my own. He finally managed to get a job. It wasn’t much, but it gave him something to do. After that, he changed.." She let the thought trail off and shrugged. "You don’t want to hear all of that."

"On the contrary," Flynn said. "What do you mean, he changed? In what way?"

"Maybe that’s not the best way to put it. Most of the time, he was the same as always. Quiet, helpless. He couldn’t even dress himself properly. But he had moments when he seemed as normal as you or me. I don’t mean subtle things, like suddenly putting on a shirt that matched his pants, or fixing himself a peanut butter sandwich without destroying half the kitchen. He’d suddenly start talking and he’d be trying to explain things to me that I couldn’t begin to understand. When I asked him about those things later, he had no idea what I was talking about."

*****

[in the car, 3:55PM]

"What do you think," Kate asked, handing Flynn the car keys. It was going on thirty-six hours since she’d had any sleep, and she didn’t trust herself to drive. Or her impressions of Sandra Lewandowski, for that matter.

"Good question," Flynn answered. "You saw the picture. He did fit the description in the files."

"Some description. Dark hair, medium build, indeterminate race. That fits probably half the male population of Miami. Besides, according to her, he’s dead."

"A mother might lie to protect her child," Flynn argued.

Kate nodded. "Of course," she said. "Depending on the circumstances, I can imagine that I would. We’ll check out her story."

"I’m intrigued by the change in him that she described, too. Although what if anything it has to do with our case, I don’t know."

"Exactly," Kate sighed. She rubbed the bridge of her nose in an attempt to ward off an approaching headache. "Bad karma," she muttered.

"Excuse me," Flynn asked.

"Sorry, I was just thinking aloud. I must have really pissed someone off in a previous life."

Flynn pulled the car to a stop at a red light and gave her an inquisitive look. "Where to," he asked.

"The field office. I want to get everyone coordinated, see if the others found out anything from Dr. Quinones, and then I’d like to start talking to some of the current victims. Maybe we can identify some kind of pattern, a link among them. I’m particularly anxious to meet the first victim, the one with the little boy."

"So you do think there’s a connection."

"Call it gut instinct," Kate said, although she wasn’t quite sure if it was that, or that she just wanted to prove Paul wrong.

*****

[Miami Field Office, 4:30PM]

"How was the wild goose chase," Paul asked as Kate and Flynn walked into the office that had been set aside for the team’s use.

Kate didn’t know why they needed an office. They’d gotten along just fine without one on previous cases. But then, she wasn’t technically in charge this time around. She ignored Paul’s comment, and while Flynn went to the computer terminal in the corner to see what he could find on Kaleb Lewandowski, Kate claimed a desk by a window and unloaded the files from her briefcase.

"Didn’t go so well, did it," Paul asked with a note of triumph in his voice. He had crossed the room and was standing behind her. He put one hand on the desk, the other on her shoulder and leaned over her like a teacher correcting a math problem. "What’s wrong, Katie? You look tired," he said in a low voice.

Kate froze, snippets of things he’d said long ago coming back to her. ‘..just like your mama .. never will amount to anything .. give up this silliness and count your blessings..’

"Take your hand off me," Kate commanded, and pushed her chair violently backward, knocking Paul back a few steps. Flynn glanced up from the computer, but quickly returned his eyes to the screen. Kate stood up and turned to face Paul. "If you ever touch me again," she whispered, "you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of a lawsuit so fast you’ll never know what hit you." She took a deep breath and went on. "It went fine. We got some interesting information that might prove extremely valuable to this investigation."

Paul nodded and grinned. "Sure you did," he said, amused by the whole situation. "Give it a few days," he added in a whisper, "you’ll be begging." He turned and walked back to his desk.

Maybe, Kate thought, but not with you. She thought about Josh again, that she hadn’t had a chance to apologize to him before they left, and she was about to reach for the phone when she heard voices outside the door. Newt, Sharlyn and September came in a moment later.


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