Kayli Unknown

Chapter 14 - Recovery

Lisa was still in bed, but she was awake and had heard most of the interview. Kat sat on the edge of the bed, stroked her cheek, and then played with her hair.

"You have very soft hair."

Lisa looked up at her. Her face seemed expressionless. Blank. But Kat thought she saw just a hint of determination in her eyes.

"What is it you really want to say to me?" There was a bit of fire in Lisa's eyes.

"I am less interested in talking to you, and more interested in just being with you." Kat continued to stroke her hair.

"Being with the crazy lady?" Kat noticed that Lisa's hands were still buried under the duvet. She wasn't reaching out. Kat wondered if the hands she couldn't see were bunched into fists.

"I don't think you are crazy."

"I am." Lisa's mouth tightened and her eyes narrowed. "And angry."

"He..." Lisa didn't let Kat finish.

"That wasn't self-defense last night. That was anger. At him. At them. At men. At guns for only having six bullets. If guns held twenty bullets, I would have shot him twenty times."

Kat made no effort to respond. She sat, and slowly stroked Lisa's hair. She found a spot where she could slide her hand through Lisa's hair and along her cheek. She moved her hand along that spot slowly – and repeatedly.

"He's not the one I bought the gun for."

Kat continued to stroke Lisa's hair.

"I know about sizes. You live up here, you know guns. I know the numbers. 22, 32, 38, 44. Mine is just a 22. All I could afford. But it is a real gun, and I liked having it with me."

Kat kept her palm on Lisa's cheek.

"You were outside with the cops. I didn't hear what you said. Are they going to take me?"

"No."

"I killed him."

"He was in our house with a weapon. He used it. We have a right to defend ourselves."

"I wasn't defending myself. I was killing him."

"Legally, this time, it amounts to the same thing."

"And you?" Lisa moved a hand from under the duvet and held it against the hand on her cheek.

"Whenever you want to talk about why you bought your gun, I will be here to listen. As for last night, I am fine with what you did."

Kat leaned down and kissed Lisa's forehead. She hoped that hid her face. And hid her lie. She had seen Lisa while she had been killing Klein. She had seen her face. That was not a face to be "fine" with. That was a face to terrify. Klein had been backing away, his gun largely under Kat's control, his ribs broken. He must have seen Lisa. The gun. And the face. Surely he knew he was going to die even before she pulled the trigger. Six times. Tight against his chest. While she stared up at him, her face a mask of rage.

"Did they bring my gun back?"

"They need it for the investigation. They will bring it back when they are done."

"They know me. They will keep it."

Kat stretched out on the bed and pulled Lisa to her. She stroked her hair, and kissed her repeatedly. And she wondered if Lisa could feel the level of unease Kat felt.

"After action," Kat paused for a second, recalling what "action" really meant. "After action, some of my troops would just sleep. Some would stay busy. A few would find something to drink, even though it was banned. Drinking just made things worse, by the way."