She fled down to the river. Her and Jo used to hang out there all the time. Just after she got posted to Mount Thomas, they had both found this really nice place. All you had to do to get to it was wade through a shallow part in the river and walk up the bank, climb over a few rocks, then go back down to the river. They used to sit there and talk. They would ponder all things, from why so many TV shows were so dramatic, to the meaning of life, and some of Katie's most intelligent conversations had occurred there.
It as the last place that Katie had seen Jo alive. She sat there on the rock, they used to be together there, but now she was alone.
She sat there all day and well into the night, watching the tide go in and out, watching all the animals go about their business. She tried to remember every single conversation they had had there, but all the memories she had were getting so hazy already.

No one came, no one knew where she was. She wondered for an idle moment if they cared, but she didn't really care if they cared herself. All she wanted was Jo to be back. She could even identify the part of her that Jo had taken with her when she disappeared. It was the part somewhere around the belly button region, right in the gut, but it slowly travelled up through her body, right to her heart, and spread out all over her body. She didn't know what was there and what wasn't anymore.

She walked around Mount Thomas for a while, until she heard someone call her name from behind, then she ran.
She went to the new police station, she wouldn't normally have gone there, but she had to see it for herself. After a few minutes looking at it she managed to break in, and once she had confirmed, mainly for her own benefit that there wasn't anyone there, she went and had a look around. She looked all over, in the desk drawers, in all the folders, even in the cell, but she couldn't find anything remotely interesting. She looked on PJ's desk, and when she rummaged through his drawers, he found a picture of Maggie floating around in the bottom drawer, but there wasn't one of Jo. Then she noticed how hungry she was, and went to the newly discovered mess room, made a tea, ate some of the food out of the fridge then went to sleep on the rug on the floor.

Katie awoke to her shoulders being shaken.

"Katie, what are you doing here?" whispered one of the new ones.

She seemed to be, in the larger scheme of things, largely unaffected by Jo's death, but she didn't know her, didn't know what a great person was. Katie assumed that it was Amy, because she new that there was a new female detective, and her name was Amy. "Everyone thinks that there was a break in"

She tried to remember what she was doing last night, but couldn't remember. All she could remember was PJ's desk, Jo wasn't there, like PJ had just forgotten all about her. "I don't care, all I want to do is sleep, sleep the pain away" Katie replied groggily.

Amy looked like she really pitied Katie, but had to encourage her to continue functioning. "Honey, you can't do that, it wouldn't be good, how about I get you some breakfast?" she offered.

"I'm not hungry" Katie said, just as her stomach grumbled. Amy looked doubtful and went off and got some anyway.
Katie got up, a bit disorientated, then eventually found the exit, but just as she reached out for the handle, it turned and there stood Tom. She hadn't seen Tom yet, and he looked horrible. She knew he was injured in the blast, but she didn't expect it to be that bad. She thought that she might be able to at least get some sympathy from Tom, he used to dish it out, but he had changed since Katie last remembered him, and didn't hand it out on a silver platter.
He dragged her into his office, closed the door and let it rip.

"What do you think you are doing? Running away, staying out all night, worrying Susie half to death, then breaking into a police station of all things?" He demanded.

"Susie was worried sick, she was up all night looking for you. She thought you might have crawled under a bush in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention your parents" "Where are they?" she mused. She hadn't seen them for ages, since she got to Mount Thomas.

"On their way here. Come on, eat the breakfast Amy got you, it's in the mess room, then I will take you out to the pub so you can get your stuff from Susie's room, then your parents will be there." But Katie wanted to stay with Susie, and she was going to get her way.

"Do you mind Suse?"

Susie looked thoughtful.

"Jo was my best friend, which means that you are kinda my best friend now. Jo would have let you stay with her, so you can stay with me, if your parents are cool with it" "Yeah, they are fine with it" she replied, obviously relieved.

"OK, I'll meet you back here at 5:30 and we'll go back together?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Katie answered.

Just as she turned her back and started to leave the mess room, Katie asked Susie "Do you miss her?"

Susie looked up, and went over and hugged Katie.

"Of course I do, we all do. I had a good cry when you were gone, because I thought you might have gone to the same place Jo did, but I couldn't have cried in front of you or PJ, I would have felt too quilty"

"Oh, Suse, why would you have felt quilty?" Kate said, as she looked up at Susie.

Susie's eyes were so close to Kate's, so you could tell if they were being insincere, and took a deep breath, looked straight into Katie's eyes and said

"Because you have lost so much more than me. Sure, I lost a friend, but you lost your own flesh and blood. I have no idea what that feels like."

Katie looked straight into her eyes and replied, "Yes, but we all lost part of ourselves when we lost Jo. She spoke of you so much, she thought you were great, you shouldn't feel quilty. We all lost someone special" she whispered.

Susie hugged Katie and conveyed what she thought without having to say anything. Suse was saying thankyou, and she had tears in her eyes.