Page 57 of Deathtoll

Harper responded, walking up to them. “He’s resting comfortably.”

“Harper Finnegan,” Kate introduced him. “Harper, this is my sister, Emma.”

Emma turned to her and mouthed,Hot.

Kate mouthed back,Taken.

“Nice to meet you.” Harper, none the wiser, walked up and shook Emma’s hand. “You two lock up tight.” He looked at Kate. “Murph says you’ve got a gun?”

“And I’m not afraid to use it.”

“If you decide you want me to hang out with you guys, just call me, and I’ll pop right over. Allie is out of town for work. They asked her back to Suntown Elementary over in Maryland to do Annie Oakley this time. I was just going to listen to a new spy thriller after work. I can do that sitting in my car in front of your house. I have nothing else planned for the rest of the day. All right?”

If she were on her own, Kate would have said no. But Emma was there. “Okay. Thank you, Harper.”

“Who’s Allie?” Emma watched Harper through the window as he strode back to his car, her gaze hesitating on his rangy build.

“The love of Harper’s life.”

“Bummer.”

“Don’t even think about it. She’s got a fancy Old West rifle, and she’s not afraid to use it.”

“Why is it that all the good ones are always taken?”

“They’re not all taken. Patience.”

“Easy for you to say. You have Murph.”

Did she? Not a topic Kate wanted to discuss right then. She wanted to talk to her sister about the decision she’d made.

She took Emma’s hand and drew her into the living room, onto the couch, until they sat side by side, facing each other. “You know how much I love you. I love you more than I love anyone in the world.”

“You need a kidney,” Emma deadpanned.

“You know how much I love having you here.”

“But you want me to move out so Murph can move in and you two can have hot countertop sex?”

That caught Kate off guard enough to make her laugh. She hated to ruin the mood. She forged ahead anyway. “No countertop sex. But would you please consider going home?”

Emma shoved to her feet and stepped back, betrayal glinting in her eyes, a hard, hard look. “No.”

“I want you to be safe.”

“Well, I wantyouto be safe! I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I won’t be alone. Bing assigned me a detail. That’s why Harper is here. They’ll all be keeping an eye on me.”

“You don’t have to protect me. Could you catch up to that now, please?” Emma’s tone thickened with hurt. “I’m not a child.”

“I know. But if you stay, if it is a disgruntled patient, and if he does want to hurt me by hurting people near me…”

“Why would a patient be this obsessed with you?”

“Could be transference.” She’d thought about that on her way home too. “Take someone like Ian. In his mind, I might stand in as a surrogate for someone else in the past he’d gone to help for, someone who then ended up hurting him. It’s extremely unlikely. But extremely unlikely things happen every day.”

Kate would ask Maria what she thought the next time she saw the psychologist, but she’d spent enough time around therapists, discussing patients in staff meetings, to have picked up this and that.