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S he was up and out the door, bolting down the hallway after the shooter in her PJs.

She lifted her handgun, steadied herself for a moment, then put a bullet in the guy’s leg. When he dropped to the ground, she raced to him. Sure enough, it was Ken Reeves, her stepfather. “How the hell did you get out of jail?”

“They let me out on bail,” he snapped. “I am not without resources.”

“Not anymore,” she declared, as she pulled out her phone and called for backup. Within minutes the place was swarming with cops, preparing to haul him away again.

She looked down at him. “That’ll be the last time you ever get that chance.”

He swore at her. “Don’t be so sure,” he snapped. “I’ll be out and free in no time. Just wait and see.”

“No, you won’t,” she argued, “and, if you do, you can bet on one thing.”

“What’s that?” he snapped, as they wheeled him away, handcuffed to a gurney.

“I’ll be here waiting.” When she finally walked back inside her apartment, she sagged against the wall and slipped down to the floor, where Simon immediately joined her.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m not sure I would call it okay. It just feels…” Then she smiled. “It feels like maybe it’s over.”

“Good,” he said.

Her phone rang, and it was Lilliana.

“Are you okay?”

Kate snorted. “Not exactly sure. What time is it?”

“It’s about six,” Lilliana said. “I got the alert of what was happening and just came into work.” Then she hesitated and asked, “Is Simon there with you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because something happened last night.”

“What?”

Lilliana sighed. “I couldn’t let it go, so I stopped off at Peter’s family’s house and asked where Peter might have gotten the idea that the puppy might still be around to play with, and they pointed out the neighbor who was the one they’d gotten it from. So, I called for backup, and we went to the neighbor’s house. Unfortunately Peter was buried in the basement. Forensics is still there. But the old man, when I knocked on the door, he took one look at me, and he started to bawl.

“He swears it was an accident. The old bastard broke and kept repeating that it was an accident and that he didn’t mean to do it, but he got angry when Peter was there, wanting to play with the puppy, wanting to take the puppy home. Anyway, he yelled at him, and Peter ran away, but he fell down the stairs and supposedly broke his neck. Not knowing what else to do, he buried him right there in his basement.” The fatigue was evident in her tone. “So, I’m at the office now, but I’ll go home soon and try to think of something good about today.”

“Hey, at least the family will have closure, and considering that’s something I don’t have right now, I see it as a positive,” Kate noted. “I mean, obviously it’s not the outcome they wanted, but it is an outcome, and, speaking as family of a missing person, it’s something I would dearly love to have.”

“We’ll get on that one when we get back to the office,” Lilliana stated, “but, right now, I think we both need a few days off. These cases with kids are rough.”

When Kate hung up, she turned to look at Simon. “So, it really was about the puppy.” She smiled at him.

“But not the answer we hoped for.”

“No, not the answer we hoped for, but as I told Lilliana, it is an answer, and answers are better than no answers, even if they aren’t the answers we’re hoping for.”

He smiled and nodded. “I know it’s winter, and it’s cold, but—”

“The boat?” she asked, looking at him hopefully. “Could we even just move in for a few days, just pretend we’re off sailing in crazy weather?”

“We can still probably take her out and do something,” he suggested, with a smile. “It just might not be quite the same experience.”

“It’s fine,” she replied. “I very much want to get out of here for a while.”

“You’ll have to deal with your door first. Are you insured?”

“Insured against someone shooting holes in my door? I can’t imagine that’ll go well with the insurance company.” She groaned. “That door is not even safe anymore.”

“No, it isn’t, and I’m sure the neighbors are wondering when you’ll move out.”

“I would be happy to move into your boat, but I guess that’s not an option.”

He chuckled. “No, but I do know another option.”

“Yeah, what’s that?” she asked, as she glared around at her kitchen. Forensic technicians were still all over it, and everything was a disaster. “Jesus, what a mess.” She turned to look at him, a question in her eyes. “What were you saying?”

“This should be obvious, but my place is an option.”

She blinked. “Temporarily it is,” she conceded. “And I would appreciate that.”

He frowned and added, “I was thinking maybe more than temporarily.”

She looked at him in surprise, then walked closer and wrapped her arms around him. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

He cocked his head and asked her, “If I were to ask that, what kind of answer would I get?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know because I haven’t heard the question.”

He rolled his eyes, cupped her face close to his, and whispered, “Would you be interested in moving in with me? We could always give it a trial and see how it works.”

“I’m not the easiest person to live with,” she pointed out.

He smiled. “I know.”

“I get cranky, plus I’m messy, and I’m on the go all the time.”

He smirked and nodded. “I know that too.”

She frowned. “So, knowing all that, why would you want anything to do with me?”

He chuckled. “This isn’t about our relationship. This is entirely about whether you would be interested in moving in with me.”

She sighed and said, “I would love to move in with you, but…”

He frowned and stated, “I don’t like the buts.”

“I know you don’t like the buts. Yet I’m just not sure it’s a good place for me.”

“And why is that? You’re quite happy to be there on a regular basis.” He stared at her, mischief in his eyes.

“Yes, I am,” she agreed, “and I love everything about it. But it’s kind of,… you know, posh.”

He snorted. “You do realize that most of my girlfriends wanted to move in precisely because it’s posh.”

“Yeah, well,” she pointed out, “I’m not one of your girlfriends.”

“No,” he replied, as he pulled her up close. “I understand that you don’t like this mushy stuff, but I’ll tell you anyway. That’s one of the reasons I really love you.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” she asked, her eyes lighting with amusement. “Because I’m not posh and because I don’t care about your money?”

“Partly,” he agreed, “but also because you’re you, and nothing ever changes with that.” He leaned down, kissed her, and asked, “Now, do you think we can go someplace and get some sleep?”

“God, yes, please,” she muttered, as she grabbed a bag and started packing a few items she would need for a longer stay elsewhere. “Your place?”

He burst out laughing and nodded. “My place it is, especially considering you are off for the next few days and considering it’s now”—he looked at his watch and shook his head—“Christmas Eve. Not that you’ve mentioned it…”

“I haven’t mentioned it because I haven’t had two seconds,” she stated, frowning at him, before taking one last look around her apartment. “We also more or less ignore everything seasonal. So, as long as you were ignoring it, I was okay to ignore it too.”

“I just thought that maybe…” He hesitated, staring at her, then said reluctantly, “Maybe we could just spend Christmas on board the Running Mate .”

She looked at him in delight. “That sounds perfect.”

“You’ll have to confirm that you aren’t involved in another case.”

She winced. “I did book some time off, but if something comes up…”

“Right. I understand.” He nodded. “Let’s just hope that it’s all good and that we actually get Christmas off. I know we said that we weren’t doing anything about gifts…”

“Don’t,” she declared, raising her eyebrows in alarm. “I have no idea what I could possibly give somebody who can go out and buy anything he could possibly want.”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t even know what to give you either,” he admitted. “That’s out of my realm of experience too.”

“What about all your girlfriends?”

“They just wanted expensive jewelry,” he noted, with a wave of his hand. “So that was easy.”

She blinked, then smiled. “And I don’t?” she teased.

He looked at her surprise and said, “No. Hell no. If I bought you diamonds, you would just frown at them and walk away with a shrug.”

She burst out laughing. “You’re right. So how about instead of Christmas gifts for each other, we do something for somebody else?”

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like maybe work at the shelter, a soup kitchen, maybe the animal shelter or something. We have so much.… So maybe our Christmas should be about giving to others.”

He gave her a smile that started in his eyes and took over his whole face. He walked over, pulled her into his arms, and held her close, whispering, “Now that would be perfect. It’s a date,” he declared, then leaned in and kissed her.