Rick stands at her front door waiting for an answer to his knock. After about three minutes of waiting, he thinks about leaving. He thinks he hears someone moving towards the door so he waits.
Kate looks through the door scope that has a great field of view and sees him. She steps back from the door not knowing if she should answer it or not. Many thoughts raced through her mind like what does he need, why is he here, and the big question is how did he find out she was home. She has been working late on their latest case but decided to give the boys and herself a break. She normally wouldn't be home now. But she did enjoy his company at dinner the other night.
Reluctantly she opens the door as far as the security chain will allow and asks,
"Rick, what's wrong?"
He was just about to turn and walk away. But as he turns and looks over at her door he sees her dressed in a robe, knowing that he must have interrupted something she was about to do.
"It's nothing, Kate. I going to leave because I can tell that I obviously interrupted something you wanted to do. I'm so sorry. But if you have a couple of minutes I would like to talk to you. Can you call me? If not it can wait until you have solved the case with the little boy."
"About what?" She asks hoping that he'll talk to her.
"It's personal in nature. And I would understand if you don't want to let me in. But I promise you that I am not a psychotic ax murderer."
Kate looked him over from top to bottom and all her police training told her to slam the door in his face and run just by what he said. But her heart told her to take a chance and let him in.
Rick knew that he had scared her off when she closed the door. He was disappointed, to say the least. But as he was thinking about how to counter his last statement through a closed door, the door opened fully.
"Come in," Kate told him.
Rick nodded his head in acknowledgment and quickly stepped into her apartment.
Xx
"You can have a seat while I put on something more comfortable," Kate said as she walked towards her bedroom.
"Sure."
As Kate started to walk away she slowed down for a second. She turns back towards him and said,
"Rick, I meant what I said. Please sit there and do not snoop around."
"Okay," Rick replied.
Rick had agreed to no snooping around, but she never told him he couldn't take in the items around him. And just how did she know he would snoop? When Kate came back Rick was right where she left him. But he had a smirk on his face that resembled something like the cat that ate the canary. She sat down on the opposite side of the couch and waited for him to talk.
"So tell me, Kate, how did you know that I would not snoop?"
"I'm a detective Rick. It's in everybody's nature to snoop. So I did some detecting after I saw you in the cemetery all those months ago when you stood and looked at me at my parent's graves."
"I see. Wait a second, you looked into me? I'll admit that I have friends in high places. Ones that would do anything to help me out if someone's life was in danger."
Kate raised an eyebrow at his last statement. She looked at him, not sure to ask the next question she wanted to ask.
"Yes Kate, your life is in danger… or I should say it will be."
Xx
Rick took a long breath and held it waiting for her to tell him that he was off his rocker. When she said nothing he knew he had her attention for now and he hoped he could keep it by explaining what he could do. He turned to face her and she looked apprehensive. Maybe he still had a chance to convince her.
"Kate, in about two minutes and fourteen seconds there will be someone knocking on your front door."
"Come on Rick! No one has the ability to tell the future. I'm sure that there are people who'd like to be able to do that, but no, there are no people like that."
"Wanna bet?" Rick said as he gave her a smug look.
"What are the stakes?"
He sat there and thought about it and came up with what he thought was acceptable.
"Okay if I'm right and I usually always am, you have to come with me to the library on Saturday. And you have to read with me to the children making funny voices for the characters other than mine. Deal?"
"You're on!"
"Okay. Now that the terms of the wager are set when I say now you have a minute and thirty seconds before the knock gets here. Keep an eye on your watch."
Kate looks down at her watch and notices that it's five-ten and twenty-six seconds. She waits for the full minute and a half before she says anything. Just as she is about to tell him that he was wrong, there is a knock on her door at the precise time he said there would be.
She just looked at him in disbelief. She gets off the couch and goes to the door repeating the same thing she did when her current house guest arrived.
Rick watches as she takes a look through the spy scope. When she stands back she gives him a look that could kill.
The knock happens again but this time there is an accompanying announcement with it.
"Sonny and Tony's pizza. I have a delivery for apartment 6A."
Kate forgot entirely about the pizza she had ordered. If it wasn't for Rick showing up when he did, she was going to take her bath and be done before the delivery guy arrived. She opens the door and the delivery kid tells her that it's thirteen dollars even. She leaves him at the door to get some cash from her purse but when she reaches the couch Rick already has a fifty-dollar bill between his fingers waving it at her. Smugly.
She takes it from him and he says one thing.
"Give him the entire fifty."
Kate did what he said and the kid's eyes lit up.
"Thank you!" The kid said profusely many times.
"Why such a large tip Rick?" Kate asks as she shuts her door cradling the pizza carefully.
"Because Kate, he looked like a starving college kid. And what's an extra thirty-seven dollars? I can afford it."
"I'm glad. He can probably use it."
"So, Detective I hope you will keep up your end of the deal. I know I did."
"Speaking of that how did you know someone was going to knock on my door?"
"Kate if I told you you probably wouldn't believe me but let's just say that I have inside information on what could possibly be your future. I'll tell you what, you don't have to believe what I'm telling you but I know things that can probably save your life. If you go on believing that I can't see anything past the present, I will do whatever I can in my power to make sure that nothing or no one harms you in your future."
She looked at him with reserve not knowing if he was serious but she could see that the way he looked at her she knew he said was truthful.
"Alright, Rick. So when I get to the library with the kids on Saturday you'll be there?"
"I will be there. Just come and find me when you and the staff get there. I'll go easy on you for your first time and pick a book that won't have too many hard words."
Kate just smiled knowing that he was kidding around. But she thought about what he had told her. In the back of her mind, she wondered what he really did know and how he knew it.
Kate asked if Rick would like to stay for a slice or two. He agreed and told her that he hadn't had anything to eat all day.
She went to the refrigerator to grab two beers, paper plates, and napkins. She picked up the pizza box and brought it out to the coffee table with the plates and napkins. She handed him his beer and then opened hers. They clinked bottles together and took a sip. Kate divided up the pizza and put two slices on Rick's plate then she took a single slice. After about an hour Rick said he needed to be going and didn't want to hold her up any longer than he already had. When he left she felt the loss immediately. It's like they were somehow connected. And knowing that they just met again it was a weird feeling that she was having. Maybe there was some truth to him knowing something about the future. Or maybe she was just blowing everything out of proportion. Knowing that her bath had been interrupted she decided to take a quick shower. When she was finished she went through her nightly routine and got ready for bed. By the time her head hit the pillow, she didn't wake up until the following morning when the alarm sounded at five-thirty am.