Victor had locked me in a room alone. It was completely empty windowless, dim, and was painted a horrendous 1950's hospital green. I slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor, elbows on my knees, hands on my forehead. Think.

I had been in there about ten minutes or so when I heard someone at the door. I stood, not knowing what to expect.

The door flew open. Serena came in, gun drawn and fired two rounds into the wall just to my left.

"Geez!" I jumped. "What the hell!"

She advanced quickly across the room, grabbed my left hand and surprised the hell out of me by yanking my ring off.

"I've decided this is going to be a murder-suicide. I just haven't decided which way it's going to go. Maybe this," she held up the ring, "will just make it suicide-suicide."

Ah, don't believe it, Kate.

When she'd thrown his wedding band on the table, I felt all the life go out of me.

It couldn't be.

He'd never have handed that over willingly.

I picked it up.

…to be sure.

Names and dates engraved on the inside. It was his.

I slid it onto my thumb. She didn't get to have it.

"I told you you'd pay," she said.

"Nobody's going to pay more than you." And I smiled serenely at her, because I really believed it was true. Maybe exhaustion was making me insane, or maybe it was the baby. But she stepped back, a little disconcerted by my behavior.

"Yeah," I said, advancing to the table, and placing my hands on it, hard, "I was taught that you can do whatever you want in life as long as you are prepared to accept the consequences." I paused. "Are you prepared to accept the consequences of your actions, Serena?"

She just glared at me, placed her hands on the table and leaned toward me.

And we both heard the single gunshot upstairs.

It was like a movie:

We both looked up at the ceiling, then back at each other.

I could see the doubt in her eyes and I knew she was a liar.

I started to grin. "If you wanted me to believe it, you should have brought his whole hand."

Neither one of us really knew which man was coming down those stairs.

She lunged at me over the table, and I grabbed her by the throat with my right hand. And squeezed. My arms were longer than hers, so I was able to lock my elbow and hold her off. She was crouched on the table, leaning into me.

Her right hand went for her weapon, and I covered it with my left, holding her hand in place.

"Let's see," I said, squeezing as hard as I could. "Will I choke you unconscious, or will you be able to get your gun free and shoot me?"

Her left hand clawed at the one I had at her throat. That being unsuccessful, she reached forward and scratched at my face, causing me to flinch. I leaned back, and in the process lost my grip on her right hand. She fumbled with it a little, but drew her weapon and fired. The sound it made in that small room was deafening. I'd heard that if you're stabbed the right way you hardly feel it, but with a bullet, I fully expected to feel something. I didn't feel anything.

Serena's face had a surprised look and there was a little hole right in the middle of her forehead and she was falling toward me and all I could do was step back a little and watch her fall to the floor and watch for her to move, to get up, which I fully expected, but she didn't and it took a few seconds for me to process what had just happened.

Maurice looked down at her over my shoulder and said, "I warned her."

I put my arms around Kate and she leaned back with a deep sigh. I had trouble believing it was all over. I buried my face in her hair, which I just now realized wasn't in its usual ponytail.

"You smell like moldy basement." I told her.

"You always did know just what to say."

"You know me. Hearts and flowers."

Kate was silent for a moment.

"I've never seen dead people before."

"Really? Your parents-"

"Cremated. You know that blue and white vase on the bookshelf next to the fireplace-"

"What?!" God, I'd almost knocked that thing over last week.

"Kidding. They're interred in Chicago with family." She shuddered a little. "Can we get out of here?"

"Absolutely." I looked down at her bare feet. "Want me to carry you?"

"No way. For a little while there I really didn't think I'd be walking out of here."

On the way up the stairs she snagged my hand. I needed reassurance that she was still there, too.

"Who do you call for something like this?"

" I need to figure out where we are first."

"No need for an ambulance?"

I shook my head.

"Wow." She whispered. "Nice job, Sipowicz."

"You've been saving that one, haven't you?"
She just smiled. "Wish I could help you with the paperwork."

"I'll be home for Christmas."

I found the door I'd come in through and pushed it open for her. We stepped outside into brilliant sunshine, the very end of a spectacular sunrise. Kate looked up at the clear sky.

"Haven't you ever wanted to learn to fly?"

Aviation.

Perfect.

I put my arm around her as we walked to the car where the GPS would be able to pinpoint our location, but she stopped and turned to me.

"Wait," she said, grabbing my other arm and squinting in the sunlight, tossing her head to keep her windswept hair out of her face.

"I have something to tell you."

THE END.