by Dale Mayer
“A thousand bucks actually,” he said, “and they were on sale.”
“Well, in that case,” she said, “maybe you should invest in some cheap runners for when this happens again.”
“That’s not even funny. Not one bit.” But the corner of his mouth kicked up.
She grinned. “It is pretty damn funny,” she said. “Hilarious, in fact.”
He opened his arms; she walked into them, and they just stood like that for a long moment. “Do you think he could have survived?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “The boats and divers are on the way, and they’ll go hunting, but, with the temperatures and the height of the bridge, I don’t think so. This bridge is pretty unforgiving.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, “but tonight the good guys won.”
And, with that, she smiled, nodded, and said, “Agreed. Can I give you a lift home?”
“You sure as hell can,” he said, and together they walked back to where Rodney stood, staring at them in disbelief.
He reached out a hand and said, “Hey. Simon, right?”
Grinning, Simon shook his hand. “Yeah.”
“Rodney. Interesting job you got there.”
“It’s not my job at all,” he said, with a quick shake of his head.
“I don’t know,” Rodney said. “Seems to me like it’s a passion.”
“God no. Not a passion I want to pursue at all, but it seems we don’t always have a choice. Sometimes we’re directed to do things, whether we like them or not.”
“I’ll feel better when the body shows up,” Kate said, with a last glance behind them. “We could really use the closure.”
Rodney looked at her and asked, “You going home now?”
“Hell yes, I’m going home.”
“Reports?”
She stopped, looked at him, and said, “Everything can wait till morning, don’t you think?”
“Hell yes,” he said. “Go home and get a good night’s sleep for once.” With that, Rodney turned with a smirk and walked back to his car.
She looked to Simon. “We can catch a ride with him, if you want.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It might be easier to grab a taxi.”
“Not with the traffic jam we’ve got going on here.” But, as she turned to look around, traffic was moving again, and a cab pulled up beside them.
“Like I said,” Simon said, pointing at the cab, “let’s take this.” He opened up the passenger side, and the two of them hopped in. He looked at the same cabbie from before and nodded.
The cabbie just shook his head and said, “I don’t know what’s going on, man.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just take me home,” he said. “There’s a big tip in it for you. I promise.”
At that, the cabbie’s face split into a big grin. “In that case, home it is.”
Honestly, Simon didn’t think he’d heard better words in a hell of a long time.
Chapter 21
Kate’s Friday Morning
When Kate walked into work the next morning, she’d already got a statement from Simon. They did that last night over coffee to get all of their impressions down on paper first.
“That was a hell of a deal last night,” Rodney said.
“Yeah, it was,” she said, yawning.
“Did you get any sleep?”
She gave him a sideways look. “Some.”
“Good job!” he said, with a ridiculous grin.
“What are you? Fifteen?” she said, rolling her eyes. They both filled their cups with coffee and walked back into the squad room, where they were met with cheers.
She laughed. “That was a hell of a night.”
“More great news,” Lilliana said. “Our drive-by shooter confessed. That is worth a lot too.”
Kate sat back, relaxed and happy, and said, “As for the bad news, we’ve got a ton of paperwork to do to clean all this up. But I’d much rather do the paperwork to put them away, than the guesswork to figure them out,” she said, then yawned.
Just then, Colby walked in, nodded at her, and said, “Good job.”
“Thanks,” she said, and once again yawned.
He looked at her and said, “You could go home and get some rest, you know.”
“I could,” she said, “but I figured the details on these reports needed to get recorded, while they were still fresh, and we could get as much down as possible.”
“Good thought,” he said, “but, when you’re done, go ahead and take a few days.”
“I won’t say no to that,” she said. “I’m too damn tired.”
He grinned and said, “Well, no reason to say no. Just get the reports done up and then get the hell out of here.”
She smiled, nodded, and said, “Those are orders I can accept.” And, with that, she finished up her paperwork, and by noon she had handed off as much as she could to the others and said, “I’m out of here for a couple days.”
Outside she stood in front of the station, stared up at the blue sky and the sunshine, and rotated her neck and shoulders, trying to let out some of the stress of the last few days. As she stood here, she heard a whistle. She turned to see Simon, walking toward her, two cups of coffee in his hands.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked.
“I texted Rodney a few minutes ago, asking where you were, and he said you were out here. Or should be soon. So I grabbed two coffees from a vendor over a block away.”
“Got any plans for the day?” he asked, with a bright grin.
“Yeah,” she said, “something that has nothing to do with work.”
“Sounds perfect,” he said. “My place or yours?”
She laughed. “I don’t know,” she said. “Whichever will be the most comfortable.”
“My place definitely,” he said instantly.
She rolled her eyes. “My place isn’t bad.”
“Maybe not,” he said, “but it’s nothing like mine.”
She had to agree with that. “But first,” she said, “I want to walk around some and remember all the good things about Vancouver.”
“There are a lot of good things here,” he said, his voice warm, and she nodded.
“I know,” she said. “I just need to be reminded of some of them.”
And, with arms linked, they headed off to tour the city.
This concludes Book 2 of Kate Morgan: Simon Says… Jump.
Read about Kate Morgan: Simon Says… Ride, Book 3
Simon Says… Ride: Kate Morgan (Book #3)
Introducing a new thriller series that keeps you guessing and on your toes through every twist and unexpected turn….
USA Today Best-Selling Author Dale Mayer does it again in this mind-blowing thriller series.
The unlikely team of Detective Kate Morgan and Simon St. Laurant, an unwilling psychic, marries all the unpredictable and passionate elements of Mayer’s work that readers have come to love and crave.
Detective Kate Morgan is hot on a new confusing case. A cyclist is killed at the main intersection to the University of British Columbia. At first glance it looks like a hit-and-run, but, as details emerge, it gets much more complicated.
From one day to the next, Simon is blinded by an overload of senses and noises. It’s impacting his regular business day, and he seems unable to control when and how these moments occur. Angry and frustrated, he tells Kate but knows she’s unable to help. How can she, when he can’t help himself?
As Kate struggles to work her way through a gang of arrogant university students, reluctant parents, a defensive dean, and way too many unobservant witnesses, she finds a disturbing pattern of more “accidents” and more victims …
Then finally Simon understands why his senses are on overload … and flips the investigation around.
Third Monday in August
It had been a good two weeks since she’d had a couple days off, and those two days she’d spent with Simon now seemed like a hell of a long time ago. She
groaned.
Rodney looked up at her. “What’s the matter now?”
“This stupid case,” she said. “I’m still tracking down more of the suicides.”
“I know,” he said, “but all we really can do is give the families closure at this point in time.”
“Well, at least that asshole is dead and gone. I’m glad his body was recovered.”
“Exactly. And nobody will mourn murderer Ken’s death either.”
“Good,” she said. “Somebody like that, it’s hard to not to just toss his file and carry on.”
Just then, Dispatch called. “We’ve got a female DB on the entrance to UBC.”
“On the walkway?” Kate asked.
“It’s just outside of the university grounds on one of the bike paths,” the dispatcher said. “I’m sending you the exact location.”
“Crap,” she said, as she hopped to her feet. “Hey, Rodney, we’ve got a woman down on the bike path.”
“Out by UBC? Shouldn’t the university police have that?”
“This one is a homicide from the looks of it, and it’s not on the university campus, It’s in the intersection leading up to it.”
He looked at her in surprise.
“Vehicular homicide. She’s been hit by a car,” Kate said. “Time to rock and roll.”
“Another woman was struck by a vehicle up in that area about a year ago,” he said, as he stood and grabbed his jacket.
She stopped, looked at him, and said, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” he shrugged, “it’s not like it’s unusual, since that’s a high traffic spot.”
“Isn’t that also where they do bike racing training?”
“Well, they do some of it there. I mean, the UBC campus is full of trails and tracks, so it’s perfect for a lot of this stuff. Plus, with all the jogging routes up there, it’s great for fitness training.”
“Hmm,” she said, “so you’re thinking it was a full year since the last one?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Why?”
“I just want to make sure we don’t have three in a row,” she said on a smile. “Nothing like a serial killer coming back to mark time.”
He looked at her in surprise. “I’ll look it up.”
“Do that,” she said. “The last thing we need is another ugly story to mar the beauty of this place.”
“You know that there will always be another ugly story,” he said. They walked to her car, heading to the location in minutes, as he dug into his coffee while she drove.
“I know that crime lives on,” she said, “but, one of these days, I keep thinking we’ll have paradise here.”
“Paradise is what you make it,” he said, with a laugh.
By the time they drove up to the outskirts of the university campus, she parked near all the cruisers. It looked like the coroner was already on site. “It looks like we’re last to arrive,” she said in surprise.
Rodney looked up from his phone, frowned, and said, “We did hit a spot of traffic on the way over.”
“I guess,” she said, with a nod at his phone and the records he was pulling. “Did you find anything?”
“Hmm.” He bent his head again, while she hopped out.
She came around, leaned in through his window, and said, “What did you find, Rodney?”
“Nothing good,” he said, his tone grim.
She looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“You were asking about a third?”
“Yeah,” she said, her heart sinking.
“How about a fourth and a fifth?”
“What the hell? Where?” she asked.
He replied, “All within a couple blocks of here. And,” he added, “all of them on this same weekend. One a year for the last five years.”
She stared at him and went, “Shit.” Just then her phone rang. She looked down at a text from Simon for her to call him, her stomach dive-bombing at the timing. “Hey, what’s up?” she asked. “I’ve just arrived at a crime scene.”
“I know,” he said, “and all I’m seeing are bikes, bikes, bikes, and more bikes.”
“Yeah, how many of them?”
“Right now, I’d say five.”
She swore. “Great,” she said. “Apparently I’m at a crime scene in a small localized area, where there’s been a crime of the same kind every year for the last five years, all on this very weekend.”
There was dead silence on the other end, and then his weary voice said, “You’ll track this one down, I presume?”
“I won’t have a choice,” she said.
He whispered, “Neither will I.”
“Any more help you can give me?” she asked.
“No,” he murmured, “not yet. But it’ll come. Don’t worry. It’ll come.”
At that, she hung up, nodding, a grim expression on her face.
Find Book 3 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Simon Says… Jump: Kate Morgan, Book 2! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
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Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).
Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields, with books available on résumé writing, companion gardening, and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
Connect with Dale Mayer Online
Dale’s Website – www.dalemayer.com
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SIMON SAYS… JUMP (KATE MORGAN, BOOK 2)
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing
Copyright © 2021
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773364-76-6
Kindle Edition
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