Untainted: (Crime Romance: The Photographer Trilogy #3) (15 page)

“So, what do you do to celebrate putting a psychopath in jail?” Derrick grinned at her as they walked down the sidewalk hand in hand, heading home.

“I don’t know, I bet there is a greeting card for it. They have greeting cards for everything nowadays.” Kate laughed.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” He pulled her against him and kissed her cheek while she continued laughing.

“Well, you’re going to marry me, so that makes you just as ridiculous. Maybe even more.” She stated matter-of-factly.

“I’ll give you that one.” Derrick chuckled.

“I’m starving.” She told him as they turned the corner to their apartment.

“I will cook us dinner. Would rather you not burn our apartment down today. It would really put a damper on this high.” He teased her.

“Excuse me, I am a fabulous cook.” Kate scoffed.

“You’ve certainly got the charred recipes down pat.” Derrick continued messing with her and she pretended to pout as he opened their front door and let them into the building.

“I’ll let you cook tonight. Only because I wouldn’t mind a little pampering.” She told him as they took the stairs and reached the apartment door.

“Well, my soon-to-be bride, what would you like me to make? It has to be momentous.” He told her.

“Momentous? Why?” She furrowed her brow as she dropped her purse onto a side table.

“Because this is the first meal of the rest of your life, Kate.” Derrick came up behind and wrapped his arms around her.

“There’s only one thing I want for the rest of my life,” Kate smiled, turning around in his arms and slipping hers around his neck.

“Do tell.”

“You can’t guess?” She whispered.

His lips came down on hers quickly, crushing the space between them as she moaned into his mouth. His hands slid down and cupped under her bottom, lifting her up, letting her legs wrap around his waist as he walked them toward the bedroom.

“How about we hold off on dinner for a bit while I guess?” He smiled mischievously at her.

“Only if you guess many, many times.” She giggled in response.

His eyes quickly darkened as he leaned forward and devoured her lips again, falling onto the bed as he readily accepted the challenge.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Didn’t you take today off work?” Kate groaned and rolled onto her side, pulling the pillow over her head.

“Yeah, I don’t know who would be calling me.” He yawned and reached toward his nightstand, seeing that it was almost ten in the morning.

“Tell them to go away so we can sleep in. Somebody kept me awake all night.” She giggled and gave him a soft swat on his chest.

“Are you complaining?” He grinned.

“Never,” she said in a mock tone before pulling the blankets up around her shoulders and curling back into a comfortable sleeping position.

“Hello?” Derrick answered the phone, wondering who it was since he didn’t recognize the number that had popped up.

“Derrick? It’s Liz. Kate wasn’t answering her phone and I couldn’t wait to tell you guys the news.”

“Sorry, we decided to sleep in today. What’s the news?” Derrick asked and Kate perked up, wondering what was going on.

Derrick’s face lit up as he listened to Liz, which made Kate even more curious. She sat up in bed and pulled the sheet up around her chest since she wasn’t clothed.

“That’s amazing news, Liz. I’ll tell her right now.” Derrick hung up the phone and Kate eagerly stared at him.

“Well?” He was taking way too long to tell her whatever he had just learned.

“Five life sentences, Kate.” He sat up next to her.

“What?” Her voice was incredulous.

“Apparently, the judge wasted no time with sentencing and ruled first thing this morning. She gave him a life sentence for each count.” He told her.

“He could die four times and still be in jail for life.” Kate smiled, wondering if it was okay to feel this good about someone else’s suffering.

“And he would deserve every moment of it, Kate.”

“Remember last night when you said you would make me the first meal of the rest of my life?” She asked.

“Before we got distracted and forgot to have dinner altogether?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

“Exactly. Well, now I think we really can start the rest of our lives. And I want pancakes oozing with syrup, and a side of extra crispy bacon.”

“Can’t start life without bacon.” He winked and got out of bed to go make breakfast.

Kate leaned against the headboard and brought her knees up to her chest, hugging herself. She kept playing every moment of the jury’s verdict yesterday over and over again in her mind. Smiling to herself, alone in their bedroom, she felt like their life really was starting.

“Five life sentences.” She whispered, hoping that Annie was listening.

~~~~~~

“It’s funny how small it is.” Kate said, stoically.

“The plot?” Derrick asked, his arm around her shoulders as they stood together.

“Yeah, but the tombstones mostly. I mean we walk around this planet for years and years, whole lives lived, only to fit in a tiny box under a few feet of dirt. Just a little sign to remind people that we were once there.” She spoke softly.

Dropping to her knees, she touched the flat plaque that lay on Annie’s grave, feeling the raised letters of her name. She then did the same to Lenny’s, only two feet away to the left. Derrick kneeled down next to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“That’s not true, Kate. These little pieces of stone aren’t the only sign to remind people that they were here. You’re a reminder. I’m a reminder. Our kids will be reminders. Memories don’t live in boxes and graves, Kate. They live in our hearts and souls, that’s what makes them live forever.” He told her.

“I like that, Derrick.” She smiled sadly, allowing him to help her stand up.

She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a feather that she had found at the pond outside the courthouse during the trial. It was soft and long, a deep brown color with speckles of white and gray.

Very gently, she laid it down on the corner of Annie’s tombstone, then placed a small rock that was off to the side, on its tip to weigh it down. Taking one last minute to look at her sister, she slid her fingers down the feather’s edge.

“Fly away, baby girl. Be happy. I’ll see you again one day.” She whispered.

Standing up, she joined Derrick who had taken a few steps away to give her a private moment. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Smiling at him, she leaned up on her toes and found his lips.

“Thanks for bringing me here, Derrick.”

“Anything you want, babe.” He kissed her cheek as they walked away.

“All I want is you, Derrick.” She leaned her head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand.

“I can’t wait to marry you, Kate.” Derrick smiled down at her.

“There’s only one more thing I need to do first.” She told him.

“Like I said, anything you want, babe.”

~~~~~~

“Are you sure, Kate?” Liz sounded concerned as she stared at her.

“Positive. I have to do this, Liz. Please.” Kate begged.

“Alright, but I’m coming down there with you. Don’t tell anyone about this, I could definitely get in trouble for allowing this.” She sighed and motioned for Kate to follow her as they walked out of the front area of the precinct and through a side door that connected to the detention center.

“I promise.” Kate told her.

“Since you’re here, I wanted to talk to you about a victim’s group that one of the counselors on staff runs here twice a week. The group is always changing as people come and go, but it’s a great place to connect with women with similar pains.” Liz told her as they continued walking.

“I don’t really think that there is anyone out there who knows what this has been like.” Kate responded, almost a whisper.

“Maybe not, but there are women who could learn from you. You’ve handled this with an extraordinary strength, Kate. My whole career, I’ve never seen someone like you. McCraig hasn’t either, and he is an old geezer.” Liz chuckled.

“He’s not that old, Liz.” Kate smiled, hinting at her friend.

“I hear what you’re thinking, but I’m not going there.” She grinned, opening a door for Kate.

“Whatever you say, Liz. You didn’t see his face when he thought you were gone. Poor guy looked like his heart had been torn into pieces!” Kate exclaimed, tossing her hands up in a defensive gesture.

Liz just rolled her eyes and grinned, blushing all the while.

“Seriously though, Kate. I really do want you to think about possible speaking at one of those meetings, or even speaking to law enforcement. This case is going to be studied every which way in every police academy for the next fifty years, so your perspective on it would be monumental to training future officers.”

“You really think so?” Kate pondered the idea, wondering if it was possible for something good to come out of all that had happened.

“Without a doubt. Weren’t you planning on going back to school for social work eventually, anyway? It’s a perfect fit.” Liz nodded to her.

“Maybe, I haven’t thought about it since before all this happened, you know?” Kate told her and Liz glanced at her.

“I get that. Just think about it.” Kate nodded in agreement.

They went through several barriers of secured doors and down multiple concrete hallways, until they finally reached a holding area. Before they entered, Liz stopped and looked at her again.

“Just have to check again, are you sure you want to see Frank?”

“Liz, I’m sure. I need to do this, for closure.”

“He’s going to be moved tomorrow to prison, that’s a few hours away, so I doubt you will want to make that trip often.” Liz told her.

“Don’t worry, this will be the last time I ever lay eyes on him.” Kate told her.      

“Okay, but be careful. He knows how to get under people’s skin. Don’t let him do that to you ever again.” Liz warned and Kate nodded.

Liz opened the door for her and Kate walked into the holding area. There was a wall of metal bars, mostly vertical, but several horizontal as well, in the center of the room dividing it.

One side had a few chairs and a desk, the side she entered on. The other side had a bench against the wall and a metal toilet in the corner, nothing else. However, the first thing she saw when she walked in was Frank sitting on the bench, looking bored.

“Katie?” He seemed surprised, but immediately a smile found it’s way across his face.

She didn’t say anything as she walked to the center of the room and stared at him. She didn’t bother to sit down because she wasn’t going to stay long. He stood up and walked toward her, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Didn’t think I would have any visitors.” He winked at her, but she felt nothing. Not even the disgust and nausea she had felt before. He didn’t have any affect on her anymore, she had taken back her power.

“Remember how you used to take pictures of the women you hurt and killed? As some sort of trophy? As if you won and they lost, and you never wanted to forget?” She said suddenly, catching him off guard.

“Yeah, you still have yours?” He quickly composed himself and smiled at her again.

“No, the police have it locked away in evidence I’m sure. I just wanted to come by to take my own trophy.” She told him, then opened up her purse and reached inside.

He watched her hand, a nervous look on his face as he took a step backward.

“What are you talking about?” He said, the smile gone.

She pulled an old camera out of her purse, the kind that took instant photographs just like Frank had used. Lifting it up to her face, she peered through the lens and watched his expression turn from fear to fury as she pushed down on the button.

“Smile, Frank. I won.” Kate grinned, staring through the lens at him.

The flash popped up between them and a mechanical whirring sound pushed the photograph out of the front of the camera. Smiling, she slipped them both back in her purse and walked back out the door, leaving a defeated Frank and his string of cursing behind her.

EPILOGUE
Four years later

“In conclusion, I would like to thank you all for inviting me to speak today. Every officer in this room, every social worker, every victim- whoever you may be. Know that to learn, we need to listen to one another and to heal, we need to talk to one another. So, thank you for listening to my story, for letting me heal little by little right on this stage.” Kate spoke softly into the microphone.

“Every speech I give, I specifically want to dedicate it to every man and woman who has survived a sexual assault like I have. To every man and woman who has looked evil in the face and can still hold their head high, still love, and still remember that there is good in this world if you are willing to look for it.”

“Lastly, and most importantly, to everyone who has learned that the evil we’ve seen and the evil we’ve been, will never define who we are inside. The world might be tainted, but we don’t have to be.” Kate nodded her head, smiling slightly as she turned from the podium  and walked off stage.

She was shaking slightly, like she did after every speech. A mixture of nerves, memories, and emotions as she finished reliving it all in front of an audience.

“Kate, that was perfect! You’re a natural at this!” Liz grinned and grasped Kate’s hand as she stepped into the back area behind the stage.

“You think? I was so nervous! I’m not a public speaker.” Kate exhaled loudly, feeling as if she was releasing the air she had been holding in since she first got on stage.

“If that’s true, I couldn’t tell. I doubt anyone in the audience could.” Liz shrugged.