Page 26 of Heat of Justice

“Her name was Emma,” she offered. “She was a cop too.”

One probably would not need to be a sensitive in order to catch the heavy note of sadness in her tone. Kim went still.

“Oh, Cody,” she murmured. Anticipating the worst, which, again, would not be too hard to guess. “What happened?”

“I had just passed my detective exam. Emma liked working the streets, and she wanted to stay in uniform. That night, we went out to celebrate my promotion. The next day, on patrol, she was shot by a guy who’d just knifed someone in the subway and was running from another cop. She died before the medics could get there and help her.” Cody nodded sharply as she remembered getting the call and her own desperate race to reach the location. “I was too late as well.”

“I am so sorry.”

Kim reached across to touch her forearm, a sweet gesture loaded full of compassion. Cody had time to feel that her fingers were very hot when they landed on her skin, almost unusually so, as if she were running a fever. But it was all she had a chance to reflect before the woman gasped, her eyes emptied, and her face turned white as a sheet.

“Kim?” Cody frowned. “Hey, are you okay?”

As she covered her fingers with her own, Cody was struck by the fierceness of her grip. She also felt a hard tremor coursing through her.

“Kim,” she repeated, a little more intently this time.

The lawyer did not reply. Her eyes remained just as fixed and unseeing, wide open in something that looked disturbingly like fear. Cody quickly slid to the other side and onto her seat. She passed an arm around her shoulder and called to her again.

“Look at me,” she urged. “Kim!”

It was like flicking a switch. The very second Kim stopped holding on to her, she blinked a few times wildly, and her focus returned.

“Oh, God,” she moaned. “Cody!”

“Yes, I’m here.” Cody kept her arm around her as Kim stared back with wounded eyes slowly filling with tears. “Kim, what’s going on?” she demanded. “You’ve gone so pale I can see right through you.”

“I’m okay. I just—” Again, she shivered hard.

“Did you have another vision?”

“No.”

“Did you see Cassie?”

“No, it was—Oh, hell, I’m going to be sick!”

On that warning, Kim pushed past her and flew toward the restrooms, almost knocking a waitress down in her haste. The waitress shot Cody a commiserating look as she watched her follow, probably assuming an emotional argument of some kind had happened between them. Cody flashed her a quick, reassuring nod and kept going. She found the elegantly-dressed lawyer on her knees in one of the thankfully spotlessly clean stalls. With one arm braced against the wall and her head above the toilet, throwing up everything she had. Cody gave a sympathetic wince. She squatted next to her and laid a soothing hand on her back.

“You don’t have to be here,” Kim panted.

“It’s okay. I want to be here,” Cody assured her.

This earned her a reluctant grunt just before another wave of sickness overtook the woman. Once over the worst of it, Kim scrambled to her feet, still refusing any help, and she staggered to the sink. Obviously must be the stubborn kind. Cody did not catch everything she muttered under her breath, but the word‘Disgusting’was part of it, and a few heartfelt swear words. She kept a close eye on her as Kim rinsed her mouth and splashed cold water over her face, and dared to take a step closer when she rested, holding onto the sink with her head down.

“Talk to me. Are you alright?”

She was spared a single glance and a terse word in reply. “Yes.”

“What just happened here, Kim?”

Cody could feel her impulse to withdraw into her own self, so she intentionally tagged her name at the end of the question in order to keep them connected. She was a skilled interrogator. Both in the job and personally, she could play stubborn with the best of them. Something deep in her also did not want to let go of this particular connection. Why it should feel so personal, she had no idea… But she would worry about that later, if and when she needed to.

“Kim—”

“No.” Kim raised her hand in a stopping gesture. She also took a step back. “Don’t.”

Cody stilled instantly when she recognized the look in her eyes. It was the kind she so often saw in victims of all kinds of serious crimes. Suspicious, weary, even fearful...

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