Katarina was as slippery as a wet seal, and Ellie trusted her about as much as she would one of the animals with a net full of fresh fish. “You said you wanted to help, but every time I look at you, you’re not even pretending to check the video feed. I realize you probably don’t give a damn about my mom, but I at least expected you to try, for Bethany’s sake.”
The chair abruptly stopped spinning when the soles of Katarina’s combat boots smacked the floor. “First, fuck off. Second, fuck off again. Third, Kingsley is too smart to be caught on camera, and on the minuscule chance he was, no one would recognize him. Fourth…”
She arched her brows at Ellie, who rolled her eyes. “Let me guess…fuck off?”
The corner of Katarina’s lips nearly reached her ears. “There, see? You really are smarter than you look.”
Ellie stifled an irritated sigh and snuck a peek at the security guard to gauge his reaction to their extremely unprofessional exchange. His eyes were trained on the monitors like his life depended on it, though his body language spoke wonders. Poor guy had scrunched himself into the half of the chair farthest away from them as if trying to avoid their negative vibes.
She pressed her palms to her eyes and released a soft moan. She couldn’t blame him. Even she didn’t want to be here. The worst part was that the sick knife twist in her gut told her that Katarina was probably right about Kingsley being too smart to show up in the footage.
“Tell me about your mother. Is she strong?”
Katarina’s quiet command triggered another low protest to slip from between Ellie’s lips. Ugh, what fresh hell was this? Was the other woman so bored that she’d decided tormenting Ellie with stupid questions was preferable to scouring the recordings? “Why?”
“Because with Kingsley, strong women last longer.”
Shock zinged down Ellie’s spine. Was this some kind of sick game, or was Katarina actually attempting to reassure her? She regarded the woman’s profile with suspicion. “How so?”
Katarina’s jaw tightened. “Weak women don’t hold his interest for long. He bores easily, and once he’s bored, they’re of no more use to him. It’s different with strong women, though. He appreciates the challenge. Enjoys breaking them first, so they last longer.” She swiveled her head to stare at Ellie, the hard glint in her eyes proving that this was no game. “So, I ask again, is Helen Kline strong?”
A lump lodged in Ellie’s throat as her mind flashed to the hundreds, maybe thousands of times over the years when she and her mom had butted heads. Nothing made Helen Kline back down from a challenge other than personal choice.
Was Helen Kline strong? That was like asking if the Charleston summers were hot.
With difficulty, Ellie swallowed around the lump. “Yeah. She’s one of the strongest women I know.”
Katarina nodded. “Then focus on that. More than anything else, it will buy us time.”
Some of the pain behind Ellie’s eyes eased. “Thank you.”
An unreadable expression flashed across the other woman’s face and vanished again when she smirked. “Don’t bother making me a BFF bracelet yet.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good.” A brief silence yawned between them. “Do you and your mom get along?”
The surprise question prompted Ellie to laugh. “Uh, define ‘get along.’”
“That good, huh?”
“Pretty much. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is a great person and is a great mom. We’ve just never really agreed on…well, much of anything. Even as a kid, I was different. A tomboy, always dirty and bringing home bugs or frogs. My mom already had two boys and was so excited for a girl. Except I turned out to be wilder and more rebellious than any of the boys in our family, and my very socially correct mother wasn’t quite sure what to do with me.”
Half of Katarina’s mouth tipped up. “Well, as someone who’s still figuring all this motherhood shit out, I can say with certainty that being a mom isn’t as easy as it looks on TV. And I’ve only been with Bethany for a few months and missed all the difficult baby and toddler stages.”
The other woman acted like missing those stages was no big deal, but the hands twisting together on the desk told a different story. Ellie studied her former nemesis. “That has to be hard on you, missing all those milestones.”
Katarina stared at her hands. “Yeah. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder about that, about how things might have been different. But I try not to get too caught up in that line of thinking. Sometimes I even wonder…if maybe it was for the best.”
Ellie’s heart went out to the woman. “How so?”
Katarina lifted a shoulder. “I was sixteen when I had her and completely unprepared for all the responsibilities that go along with caring for a kid. From the first day they’re in your care, you are one-hundred-percent responsible for keeping them alive. For meeting their needs, not hurting them, helping them grow into decent humans who have a real shot at a happy, semi-normal life. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never stop hating him for taking my daughter from me and lying about her being…gone. But at least Bethany ended up in decent homes and wasn’t damaged.”
To give her privacy, Ellie focused on the monitors while Katarina swiped at her eyes. “I think that’s a pretty impressive realization to have.”
Katarina waved a hand. “Nah. You know what’s impressive? That your mom managed to raise four kids. Sure, the money helps, but it sounds like all your siblings turned out to be reasonably well-adjusted human beings. Not quite sure what happened to you, but hey, at least you’re not in jail. Yet.”
Ellie’s laugh was genuine. “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Anytime.” Katarina smiled before shooting Ellie
