Derrick was still, enthralled by her story just as much as he was surprised by it. This woman sitting before him was the strongest woman that he had ever met in his entire life. She was beautiful and fierce, but delicate and broken. She loved to fight and fought to love. She took on the demons of the world as if it was nothing, handling herself with dignity at every step. She was everything in this world that he had ever dreamed of or wanted, all wrapped up in one gorgeous, supple body.
“Marry me, Kate.” It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a command. It just was. It had to be. He hadn’t even thought about it until it was already sliding off his tongue but nothing had ever felt so right before. This was his everything, Kate was his everything.
CHAPTER NINE
The next day, Kate was standing out on the sidewalk in front of her house waiting for Detective Liz Snow to come pick her up after Kate called out of work for the rest of the day. Detective Snow had called her last night and asked her if she wanted to go on a short day trip that involved the case.
Kate didn’t want to go to work anyways so she had happily called out for the day. She was eager to be involved in the investigation and feel like she was doing something to take back her life. The closer they were to catching her attacker, the closer Kate felt like she was to moving on and healing. There was a part of her that whispered fear into her at the idea that he was still out there, lurking and watching. Derrick had asked Kate if she wanted him to accompany the two of them, but she had said no.
The truth was that she was eager to spend some time with Liz. She had never really had girlfriends before and she felt a connection with Liz that made her wonder if they could be friends one day. Kate was realizing that she was craving more human connections. She had spent so many years isolating herself but now as she was changing and growing, she realized that she needed people in her life. She needed to allow herself to be loved and to let people in.
“So where are we going?” Kate asked Detective Snow as she opened the passenger door to the detective’s car and hopped in.
“Eldersburg, Maryland. It’s about an hour north of here.” Liz answered as she climbed into the drivers seat and buckled up.
“Does the mother know that we are coming?” She continued her questions, feeling nervous about the small journey in front of them. She had never been involved in any type of investigation like this or doing any sort of police field work. But here she was following up a lead on The Photographer with a detective.
“Mrs. Connelly knows that we are coming but she doesn’t know the details. She just knows that we have some questions for her about her daughter’s passing.” Liz told her as she started up the car and headed out of the parking lot.
“So Clara was one of the victims of The Photographer?” Kate asked her, pulling on her seat-belt a bit nervously, wondering what was she was in for.
“It hasn’t been confirmed since he has never been caught but it certainly looks that way. She was found in her bedroom of her studio apartment, raped and murdered. There was a photograph left with her as well...uhm, near the body, similar to yours.” Detective Snow said rather awkwardly as she wondered if Kate could handle this information. Kate was silent, just watching the scenery pass by the car window and absorbing the conversation.
Liz let the conversation drift into silence for a little while but took note of Kate. She couldn’t help but feel a kinship to Kate over the last few days of their interactions. Liz had always prided herself to be a strong woman and she hadn’t seen that in Kate when she first met her, although to be fair, they first met while Kate was beaten and bruised in a hospital bed. The woman sitting beside her now wasn’t that same girl though, Kate had become an almost formidable force in her world. She was growing stronger by the day and Liz respected her deeply for that.
“You know, Kate, I have to tell you that I admire you. The fact that you want to come with me to meet the mother of this other victim, well it just shows a lot of strength. You’re not taking this lying down. You are fighting back and taking control of your life, instead of letting him keep that hold over you. Not a lot of victims gain that kind of insight and strength. It’s so easy to lapse into pity and sorrow and before you know it, you’ve lost years of your life to the perpetrator.” Liz spoke gently but sincerely. Kate didn’t say anything, but blushed when she looked over at Liz. The compliment touched her deeply and she didn’t know how to respond.
“It’s not an accident that I work these types of cases, Kate.” Liz said after a few moments of silence. This caught Kate’s attention and she turned to look at Liz, curiosity clearly on her face.
“What do you mean?” She asked Liz, intrigued to learn more about this woman she had begun to like.