Chapter 5
Carlee was jogging around the polo field in front of the estate. K.I.T.T. was keeping careful watch nearby, his scanners tracking even the slightest movement up to a quarter mile around the estate.
It was a warm day and Carlee was breathing more heavily than usual. Her injured lung was still healing from the bullet that had nearly cost Carlee her life. Sweat dripped from her hair to her neck, then down her back, sending pleasant coolness down her back.
As she jogged, she thought. She was trying to come up with a new angle on the Mutilator, but her thoughts kept straying to Michael. She'd never felt this way about a man before. Over the years, she'd had her share of intimate relationships, but none of those men had ever made her feel like this.
She didn't know what scared her more, knowing he obviously felt attracted to her, or the longing she felt to let something come of it and be damned with the consequences.
Carlee was afraid that once the Mutilator was caught, and she and Michael could go their separate ways, Michael would be ready to move on. She didn't know if she could take that.
Carlee had reached the front of the mansion, where K.I.T.T. was parked beneath one of the many shade trees. Carlee stretched out on the cool grass in the shade of the same tree. As she relaxed, her heart slowed to its resting pace. She watched the red scanner above K.I.T.T.'s grill sweep back and forth hypnotically.
"He loves you, you know," K.I.T.T. said, quietly into the peacefulness.
"What are you talking about?" Carlee asked warily.
"Michael loves you, and you love him. If you'd just admit it, life would be easier for both of you," K.I.T.T. replied.
"It's not that simple, K.I.T.T."
"I'll be the first to admit, I don't know everything there is to know about human behavior or emotions, but I fail to see how something like two people loving each other could be other than simple," K.I.T.T. replied.
Carlee sat up, running her fingers through the green blades of grass. "Well, for one thing, there's a difference between attraction and love."
"Yes, I know. Attraction is a feeling that can pass. Love is something that can seem to happen anew many times between two people. It doesn't fade. Michael's heart beat becomes erratic whenever you are in the same room together. I catch you glancing at him from the corner of your eye. Your heart rate quickens at odd times."
"Okay, I get the picture, K.I.T.T.," Carlee interrupted. "There's also the question of the future. Michael and I lead separate lives, and after the Mutilator is captured, we'll be going back to them."
"But you have said you are retired. Doesn't that mean you could do whatever you please? Even stay here?" K.I.T.T. asked, clearly puzzled by Carlee's resistance to something she clearly wanted.
Carlee sighed, not sure how to respond to that.
"Shouldn't you at least let Michael have some say in this? His feelings are in this as much as yours are," K.I.T.T. continued.
Michael came walking up to K.I.T.T. and Carlee just then, a towel in his hand.
Carlee reddened slightly, wondering if he'd overheard any of the conversation she'd just had with K.I.T.T.
If he had, he didn't let on as he said, "Devin suggested we go check out the crime scenes of the six murders and your attack, see if K.I.T.T. can come up with anything the C.S.I.s missed.
Carlee accepted the towel Michael handed her. Dabbing at her face and neck as if they were still damp from her jog, Carlee hoped Michael would attribute her blush to the exertion of jogging.
"I doubt we'll find anything new, but at this point, I'm up for anything. Just let me go take a quick shower," Carlee replied, getting to her feet.
Michael sat down on the grass, picking a blade and sucking on the end of it. He watched Carlee, thoughtfully, as she sprinted to the front door of the mansion.
"So, what were you too talking about out here?" he asked, when Carlee had disappeared inside.
"I'm sorry, Michael, but it was a private conversation. You would have to ask Carlee about it," K.I.T.T. replied.
"Oh," Michael said, hurt that K.I.T.T. would keep anything from him. K.I.T.T. had never kept anything from him before. Yet at the same time, he was happy that K.I.T.T. was keeping Carlee's confidence.