Free Angel City by Jon Steele Page A

not against you going out, Kat. But we have to be with you.”
    â€œEvery minute of the day?”
    â€œYes.”
    Molly herself came over wearing a tie-dyed dress and a necklace of amber stones and peace symbols. Her hair looked like it had been born free and stayed that way all her life.
    â€œHowdy, ladies. New to town or just passing through?”
    Officer Jannsen delivered the cover story. She was from Quebec, Katherine was from North Carolina. They met at Mount Holyoke in an art history class and had been together ever since. Katherine was expecting a baby, and they moved to Washington to take advantage of the state’s domestic partnership laws; that and to get as far away as possible from Katherine’s right-wing nutter family who didn’t approve of her lifestyle choices.
    Molly thought that was just fine, because she was all for women doing whatever the hell they wanted in this man’s world, and she said they’d have plenty of quiet in Grover’s Mill since the town was full of old hippies growing medical marijuana and other related artsy folk who just wanted to keep to themselves and live quietlike.
    â€œSo what can I getcha, girls?”
    Officer Jannsen ordered a coffee. Katherine wasn’t sure what she wanted till Molly said her homemade flapjacks with natural maple syrup were just the thing for a woman with child. Katherine said that sounded perfect and asked for a glass of water to wash it down.
    â€œNo problem, honey,” Molly said, heading for the kitchen.
    Officer Jannsen pulled a bottle of water from the backpack.
    â€œHere, I brought water from the house.”
    Katherine watched her set a bottle on the table, push it across. One liter, no label. Katherine unscrewed the cap, took a sip.
    â€œWe use well water at the house, don’t we?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhere’s it come from?”
    â€œWhere does what come from?”
    â€œThe water. Does it come from a spring, a lake?”
    â€œIt’s water.”
    â€œDon’t bullshit me. Not today.”
    Officer Jannsen spoke softly.
    â€œLausanne.”
    Katherine belted out her surprise. “Lausanne, as in fucking Switzerland?”
    â€œThat’s right. And how about keeping your voice down?”
    Katherine dropped the decibels.
    â€œAre you telling me tap water from Lausanne gets shipped halfway around the world and we fill our well with it? That’s fucking crazy. I mean, what’s the matter with the water that was in the well in the first place?”
    â€œThe chromium levels were too high.”
    â€œFor a woman who’s knocked up, you mean.”
    â€œKnocked up?”
    â€œPregnant. Bun in the oven. In the female way.”
    Officer Jannsen scanned the diner, then leaned across the table.
    â€œLausanne’s water has certain minerals you can’t get anywhere else. The doctors say they’re necessary for the baby’s development.”
    â€œI bet they do.”
    Officer Jannsen stared at Katherine.
    â€œWhat’s on your mind, Katherine?”
    â€œYou knew I was pregnant from the beginning. You never told me.”
    â€œThose were my orders.”
    â€œDo you know who the father is?”
    â€œIt’s not my concern who the father is.”
    Molly delivered the espresso and flapjacks, talked about the weather a minute, and left. Officer Jannsen looked around the diner again.
    â€œOnce more, what’s on your mind, Katherine?”
    â€œHow long do I have to stay in Grover’s Mill?”
    â€œUntil Inspector Gobet says otherwise.”
    â€œWhy? You told me the bad guys were dead.”
    â€œThey were part of a much bigger organization, a very deadly organization. Our intel says you’re still in the gravest of danger if you try to live in the open.”
    â€œBullshit.”
    â€œIt isn’t bullshit, it’s real. You know how real it is. And you know it’s as deadly as it is