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Kat’s car smelled like onions.

Hannah didn't say anything out loud about it. She didn't want her friend and sometime mentor to feel bad. But it was pretty clear to her that the woman had made a pit stop for a cheeseburger before picking her up. It was still only 9 am, which seemed early for that kind of thing, but Hannah wasn't in charge of this surveillance session, so she kept her mouth shut.

“So tell me about this guy we’re investigating?” she said as they sat parked on the side of South Figueroa St., waiting for their subject to show up.

“We can get to that in a minute,” Kat said, sucking loudly on the straw in her Diet Coke cup. “I want to hear about how school’s going.”

Hannah decided to throw her a bone. The woman had earned it. After all, she’d been in Hannah’s life almost as long as Jessie. Since two years ago, when Jessie learned that she and Hannah were half-sisters and assumed guardianship of her after the murder of her adoptive parents, Kat had been there too. She was Jessie’s best friend, which meant that she felt a responsibility for Hannah’s welfare too.

In addition to Kat’s friendship with Jessie, she was also a private detective. That combo made her a perfect fit when Hannah wanted to get into the world of crime investigation too. With Jessie’s blessing, she’d served as an unofficial intern for Kat last summer, helping her out on multiple cases as she learned the ins and outs of investigative technique.

That summer seemed like forever ago. It was before Hannah started at UC Irvine. It was before Jessie suffered a brain injury that required surgery. It was before a serial killer named Mark Haddonfield tried to kill Jessie while she waited in her hospital room for the procedure. And it was before one of Haddonfield's minions, while trying to kill Kat, instead shot her fiancé, Mitch Connor. The young killer was following Haddonfield's orders that all his acolytes try to take out Jessie's loved ones.

Since that moment last December—only four months ago—every day had been a struggle for Kat. She only started taking cases again a couple of months ago. And it was only weeks ago that she’d learned Jessie had agreed to occasionally meet with Haddonfield in prison to let him look at cases she was working on.

Hannah knew that her sister had a good reason. It was the only way to get Haddonfield to call off his dogs and keep those close to her safe. But Kat hadn’t seen that way. She viewed it as a betrayal of Mitch’s memory. Since the day she’d learned about the arrangement, the two women had barely talked.

All of this was incredibly awkward for Hannah, who wasn’t sure exactly what she was allowed to say around Kat without setting her off. So for now at least, she threw Kat the bone she was after and updated her on college life.

“Both the fall and winter quarters went well academically. I have a 3.9 GPA, which I think is pretty solid considering everything that’s gone on since I started school.”

“Better than pretty solid, I’d say,” Kat agreed.

She took another sip from the straw. As she did, Hannah took note of how, when Kat pursed her lips, her scars were more prominent.

Katherine Gentry, prior to this life, had served in Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. That was where she was injured in an IED explosion that left her with damage both internal and external, including multiple facial burn marks and a long scar that ran vertically down her left cheek from just below her eye.

“Thanks,” Hannah replied, trying to keep her focus on the woman’s eyes, “I worked really hard.”

“What about that guy you mentioned?” Kat asked. “Finn, right?”

Hannah was a little more reluctant to discuss that topic but knew that trying to avoid it would only pique Kat’s curiosity more.

“That’s right,” she said. “I’m not sure exactly where that situation stands. We were kind of headed in the romantic direction. But after I helped him find a missing fraternity brother last month, things soured a little. He seemed more interested in protecting the reputation of the fraternity than the safe return of the missing guy. He insists that’s not what he intended, but right now, I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, so I hit ‘pause’ on everything.”

“Okay,” Kat said, thankfully not pressing the issue, “but you found the student, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve helped out several other people with problems they didn’t want to take to campus police?”

“Two other people,” Hannah confirmed.

“So it’s almost like you’re running your own little private detective agency out of school.”

“Kind of,” Hannah agreed, “although I don’t get paid, and it complicates study time.”

Kat looked like she was about to respond when her eyes narrowed. Hannah followed her gaze and saw that she was staring at a forty-something man in a suit who was walking down the sidewalk toward them. He was about five foot ten, skinny, with slightly thinning brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He was holding a small briefcase in one hand and talking on his cell phone with the other.

“I assume that’s our guy?” Hannah asked.

“He is,” Kat confirmed. “His name is Rex Stiller. He’s a manager for a trucking company that operates out of the building to our right.”

Both women knew better than to look at Stiller as he walked by them and through the circular doors leading inside. In fact, Hannah turned to face Kat so that her face wasn’t visible to the man.

“So what are we checking on?” she asked. “Is he pilfering from the company? Authorizing transport of illegal goods?”

"I'm afraid it's nothing that cloak and dagger," Kat answered. "His wife, Moira, thinks he's cheating on her. He's been consistently coming home late for the last month. He'd dodgy about where he's been, saying that he's 'working on a special project.' But when she came by unannounced last week, he wasn't here, and his assistant didn't know anything about the project. Plus, Moira says he's in better shape than he used to be, something he never used to care about. And she says that when he gets home, his hair is sometimes wet, like he took a shower. He told her that he's been at the gym, but she's worried that he's washing the scent of another woman off him."

“That’s a lot of suspicious activity on Rex’s part,” Hannah had to concede.

“Agreed,” Kat said, “which is why we’re going to be getting up close and personal with the man today.”

“Should one of us go in now?” Hannah asked.

“No, let’s give him a little time to get settled,” Kat told her. “I want him in his routine before we implement any measures. He’s less likely to notice us once he’s immersed in his work.”

“Great,” Hannah said, “then that gives us a chance to address the elephant in the room.”

“What’s that?” Kat asked, though it was clear from her squirming that she knew what it was.

“I’m not going to sit in this car for hours on end and act like everything is hunky-dory when we both know it’s not,” Hannah replied. “When are you going to forgive my sister?”

Kat sighed deeply.

“I don’t want to get into that with you,” she finally said.

“So we’re just going to pretend like it’s no big deal that you two have barely communicated over the last month?” Hannah said, pressing ahead anyway. “Is this how you want things to stay?”

“Look, she really hurt me, Hannah,” Kat said. “She’s working with the guy responsible for Mitch’s murder.”

“I get that,” Hannah said, “and there’s no question that she should have told you about it earlier. That’s on her. But you’ve got to give her a little grace too. It’s not like she wanted to partner up with Mark Haddonfield. It was the only way to ensure that his collection of toadying psychos didn’t keep coming after the people she cares about. Remember—the guy who killed Mitch was coming after you. And there was that madman who tried to kill Dr. Lemmon. They weren’t going to stop, Kat. She had to do something.”

“She didn’t have to do that.”

"Really?" Hannah said, trying to keep her own frustration in check. "What alternative idea would you have suggested? Because I don't recall you offering one. And forgive my bluntness, but I think that's mostly because you were in a depression about losing Mitch, one you haven't yet emerged from. So you weren't pitching options."

“That’s harsh,” Kat said.

“You’re right ,” Hannah conceded, “and I’m sorry. But she had to make a choice. It was admittedly an imperfect one. But since she made it four months ago, none of us have been attacked by one of Haddonfield’s people. And from what I understand, because he’s about to go on trial, she’s only had to work with him on one case, which he apparently helped with by the way.”

“I really don’t want to talk about this, Hannah,” Kat insisted.

“Fine, then what do you want to talk about—perhaps your obsession with Ash Pierce? I know you haven’t let that go either.”

Hannah didn’t have to be a private detective to figure that one out. Clipped articles about the upcoming trial of the hit woman who had almost killed both Hannah and Kat littered the backseat of the car. Hannah understood why Kat might be fixated on Pierce. After all, the woman had tortured her within an inch of her life last summer before trying to murder her. But she'd also tried to kill Hannah, and she'd made a conscious decision to move on.

“I’m just keeping tabs on her case,” Kat said.

"Why?" Hannah demanded. "She killed over a half dozen people, and some of those were caught on video. She's in custody facing murder charges for that, along with what she did to us. She's never getting out. Why fixate on her instead of moving forward with your life?"

Kat smiled at her wearily.

“I’m actually trying to do that,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted you to help me out today. I have a meditation appointment this afternoon. I scheduled it before I got this case, and I didn’t want to cancel. I was hoping you could go solo watching Stiller for a little while until I finished.”

“Of course,” Hannah said, feeling slightly guilty for how hard she’d pushed. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

“All told, I can’t imagine that it will be more than an hour and a half.”

“Not a problem,” Hannah promised.

“Thanks,” Kat said. “Now can we stop talking about all these personal issues and discuss how we’re going to find out if Rex is stepping out on the missus?”

“I’m all ears,” Hannah said. “Let’s catch a cheater.”

“Hey,” Kat reminded her. “Don’t jump the gun. His wife might be paranoid. The guy could have a totally legitimate reason for his behavior.”

“Sure,” Hannah said sarcastically. “I’ll bet he joined a book club.”