Free Psychobyte by Cat Connor

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Gerrard is capable of taking care of himself.”
    And everyone else in his immediate vicinity.
    Late afternoon had run into early evening. My eyes drifted to my watch before I climbed out of the car.
    “Somewhere you’d rather be?” He shut his door and joined me on the pavement outside another house flying crime scene tape.
    I nodded. Police cars parked on both sides of the street, officers milling around the front of one house. Too many people on scene. Time to weed out the unnecessary people.
    “What’s wrong with this picture?” I said to Kurt as we walked side-by-side up the path to the house.
    “I’m on it,” he replied and changed trajectory. I carried on and spoke to a group of police officers about twenty feet from the door.
    “I’m Agent Conway. Who is controlling this scene?”
    They looked at each other. One pointed to a uniformed police officer near Kurt, who was writing in a notebook. “Officer Mendez.”
    “And you four are here why?”
    “We were told to wait, ma’am,” the youngest of the quartet said.
    “Wait’s over, officers. Let Mendez know you’re leaving the scene. How many cops are inside?”
    “One. She’s just inside the door.” He pointed at the house. “It’s Mendez’s partner, Christy Reid.”
    “Medical personnel?”
    He shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
    “Anything you need to tell me? Y’all traipse through the crime scene?” I passed my notebook and pen to the cop nearest me. “Write your details and pass it on.”
    The young cop answered my question, “No, ma’am. We’ve been out here the whole time.”
    Kurt appeared on my right. “We’re good. Mendez and his partner will stay.”
    “This group is on their way,” I replied, shooing the police officers toward Mendez.
    “Back to our previous topic,” Kurt said, guiding me up the path with a hand in the small of my back. “You need to be at that dinner tonight.”
    “I should be but it’s not a need exactly.”
    Pre-wedding. Whole family. Last minute details. Time for us all to touch base before the big event. My fingers massaged the back of my neck for a moment, working some of the tightness from my muscles.
    “Go, we’ll take this.”
    I checked the time again. We stopped walking.
    “It’s early yet. Let’s just see what this crime scene is like first?”
    “Conway …”
    “I’ve got a crime scene to investigate, a press conference to organize and bodies piling up. Now’s not a good time.”
    “It’s never going to be a good time. You can go, we’ll handle it from here.” Kurt winked at me, his voice remained good-natured, bordering on amused. “Slacken those reins a bit, Conway. As much as we love having you with us, we are capable.”
    “I can’t just go , this case is ramping up and we need to get in front of it before the Unsub kills anyone else.”
    “We can handle it, Conway.”
    “I know you can. I can’t. I can’t walk out on these women.”
    Kurt regarded me for a moment before accepting my response. Could I go eat, drink, and socialize knowing more women would die? Not without guilt. Mitch wasn’t marrying someone who had a nine-to-five and he knew I couldn’t walk away.
    Sam appeared next to me. “Chicky Babe.”
    A smile flashed in his direction. “Come on, boys,” I said with a hint of Mae West. “Let’s go see what we have.”
    We filed up the path to the house. Kurt swung open the door and was greeted by a police officer who asked for ID.
    “SSA Conway!” A female voice called from the street. I turned to see a reporter yelling for me and trying to dodge several police officers. Rosanne.
    Great, just what I need.
    Already I felt the Fourth Estate hounding me. Seeing her didn’t make me want to set up the media conference in a hurry. A voice in my head reminded me I liked Rosanne. I grumbled back at the voice, Let’s not get too giggly too quick. Like’s an awful strong word.
    Her appearance struck me as spooky. I fought the