Free Killing Katie (An Affair With Murder) (Volume 1) by B.A. Spangler

detective.
    Steve stopped what he was doing, “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “Would it kill you to be more involved?”
    “I am involved,” he answered, clapping a ladle against the rim of the pot. We’d had this argument before, and we both knew it wouldn’t go very far. “Now tell me what’s really bothering you.”
    My mouth had gone dry and I could taste regret. I wished I had something else to add. He stared at me until I couldn’t take it. “I want to go back to work,” I finally blurted. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the sink.
    “How?” he asked, sounding frustrated. “I know you want me to go back to school and I appreciate that you want to help, but how can we manage the time? Please tell me that.”
    “First you said the problem with school was about the money,” I began. “And now that I want to work for the extra money, you’re saying it is about the time. So which is it?” While the argument was valid, the intent was to distract him from asking more about where I’d been. It worked, but started an argument I wasn't up to having.
    Steve raised his hands, pyramiding his fingers. “You’re right,” he acknowledged. “Money is one thing we don’t have; and time is something we have less of.”
    “Katie and Jerry manage to do it,” was all I could think to say. I knew before I finished that I’d picked a horrible comparison. Steve knew it too and threw out a snarky laugh. I hated it when he did that.
    “Oh, well, there it is. We’ll follow Katie and Jerry’s lead,” he said. He shook his head and laughed sarcastically. “Parents of the year!”
    But I did want to make time for planning. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed a lot more time. I sensed that Steve didn’t want to fight any more than I did. I stepped up to the sink to lend a hand with the dishes. A thought came into my mind; I realized how to turn this around and maybe end it.
    “Are you laughing at me because I want to do more than just take care of the kids and . . . and you?” His snarky expression disappeared immediately.
    “Babe . . .” he began to say, turning the water off and facing me. He took my hands into his—soapy bubbles erupted between our fingers. “I just don’t know how we’d make it work with my schedule.”
    Now I did feel true resentment coming on. I felt the pang of jealousy toward Katie and her busy career.
    “I know this is my job now, but I’ve got to do something else, even if it is only part time, a couple of hours a day.” Steve leaned in and peppered my cheek with kisses. I could see in his eyes that he was trying to figure out how to make something work.
    “We could always get one of them young foreign au pairs . You know, the super-model hot ones, let them live here with us and help out with Snacks,” he offered, and raised his brow playfully.
    “Sure,” I answered. “As long as he is tall, dark, and handsome and, you know . . . very well-endowed, like I’m accustomed to!” I laughed, thumping his chest and patting his crotch.
    “Or . . .” he began. “How about I ask my mother if she’d be up for the job?”
    “Really?” I answered, excited by the prospect. Steve’s mother would be perfect.
    “Yes, really,” he answered. “Dad mentioned that Mom was looking to volunteer her free time.”
    I hugged Steve, holding him tight. I felt his heart beating against my chest as he cradled the small of my back with his hands. “I love you.”
    “Love you too.” He pulled back and looked at me. “So, what book were you reading at the library?”

TEN
    P RACTICE WENT ON for another twenty minutes as Steve asked a half dozen of the same questions—albeit with a bit of trickery so that the questions sounded different each time. When at home, he was a husband and a father. He was my lover and my best friend. But he was also a cop. He was always a cop. Being a cop was in his blood, just like being a killer was in mine.
    I watched