“No. I’m saying that you’re anticipating being a martyr. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay?” he advised.
“Ahead of myself? Maybe someone should tell that to Claire,” she snapped. She was struggling, but she was on the verge of breaking down. The guilt was all but suffocating her now. She had never cost anyone their life before and the very thought was overwhelming her.
Consumed with guilt, Krys didn’t realize that he was pulling over until Morgan had stopped the car and turned off the engine. Blinking back tears, she looked around. They weren’t anywhere near the police station. She saw that he had pulled his car into a parking lot.
“What are we doing here?” she asked. “For that matter, where is here?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“I thought maybe you needed a moment to pull yourself together before we drive to the police station,” he told her.
“I don’t need a moment,” she insisted angrily. “I’m fine. I’m fine,” she repeated. And then her voice cracked completely and she began to sob.
“Yeah,” he agreed, placating her. “You’re fine all right.” Slipping his arm around her in an effort to comfort her, he held her close to him. “You just need a couple of minutes until that ‘fine’ gets under control.”
She wanted to protest what he was saying, to tell him not to treat her like some fragile little doll that was about to shatter. But she couldn’t say a word.
The tears welling up in her throat kept intelligible words from forming. Unable to speak, she gave in to the helpless, awful feeling that lay siege to her soul. She turned her face in against his shoulder and just sobbed uncontrollably.
“That’s it,” Morgan told her soothingly, holding her and stroking her hair. “Sometimes all you can do is just cry and let it all out. There’s no shame in that. Go ahead. Cry,” he coaxed her. “There’s no one around to see you. No one to try to act tough for.”
“You’re here.” She finally managed to sob the words out.
“I don’t count,” he told her, holding her to him.
She struggled to regain control over herself, but all she could do was sob. Krys cried for at least a full five minutes and then she drew her head back, determined to stop.
Morgan dug into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. “Here.”
She accepted the handkerchief, wiping her eyes, then handing it back to him. “I’m sorry,” she apologized.
“For what? Being human?” he asked. “Hate to tell you but it happens to the best of us.” He closed his hand over hers, pushing the handkerchief back to her. “Hold on to that. Tears have a nasty habit of popping back up just when you think you’ve finished crying. I’m pretty sure I won’t be needing it right now.”
She sniffed, crumpling up his handkerchief in her hand. “You’re not supposed to be this nice.”
“I’ll work on it and see what I can do,” he promised with a wink.
A ghost of a smile emerged on her lips in response to that. And then something else happened as well.
Before she could think better of it, or stop herself, Krys found herself expressing her gratitude to him in another way.
She kissed Morgan.
Surprised, he didn’t want to seem as if he was taking advantage of her or the situation and began to pull back. But then, before he realized he was doing it, he framed her face with his hands and kissed her back.
With feeling.
Chapter 13
All sorts of emotions flashed through Krys at what felt like the speed of light. At once drawn to Morgan and stunned by what she was experiencing at this very moment, she definitely wasn’t reacting to him on any sort of a professional level.
Pulling back, Krys began to say that this wasn’t like her, but then Morgan managed to disarm her by asking her if she was all right. He sounded as if he was concerned about her emotional state.
Her heart was pounding like a drum and her pulse was racing at what felt like ninety miles an hour.
“No,” she answered truthfully, trying her best to will herself to calm down. “I’m not all right. But I’m getting there.” She took a deep breath, blowing it out again slowly. A wave of self-consciousness washed over her. “I promise I won’t embarrass you in front of your friends.”
“I wasn’t concerned about that,” he told her. “And besides, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
They had a slight difference of opinion about that, but she wasn’t about to continue protesting. She focused on moving forward. And most of all, she was determined to find whoever had killed the woman who had been brave enough to step forward and bring attention to this so-called miracle drug’s shortcomings.
“We can go to the police station now,” she told Morgan, pulling herself together. She wanted to do whatever she could, help any way possible, to get this investigation on solid ground.
“Are you sure?” he asked her, starting up his vehicle again. “We can hold off going there for a bit longer if you want more time to get yourself together.”
“What I want,” she emphasized, “is to get the bastard who’s responsible for killing Claire.” Aside from feeling that she owed this to the young woman, it was the only way for her to be able to deal with this overwhelming guilt she was feeling.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Morgan declared. “We’ll get him.” As he drove to the precinct, he told her what his plan was. “I’m going to drop you off in the squad room while I go and talk to the medical examiner about her autopsy findings.” While he could talk to any of the medical examiners who worked with Aurora’s police department, he could usually get more answers out of his cousin-in-law. As luck would have it, she was on call today. Trying to make Krys feel better, he shared this piece of information with her. “I think Toni is on tap today.”
“Tony?” Krys questioned.
“That’s ‘Toni’ with
