Her lips trembled and Emily fell on her knees. As she clawed at her face she let out a blood curdling wail. Kate took a step towards the other woman. It was like moving through jelly.

“No! No! No!” Emily kept repeating it, her arms tight around herself, rocking back and forth. All colour drained from her face, and to Kate she looked like a shivering ghost.

“It’s okay, Emily”, she said, as her hands hovered over the other woman’s shoulders. She couldn’t quite bring herself to touch Emily.

The sudden creak on the porch steps made Kate turn around, and she found herself looking at Julian.

“What are doing he-?, she said.

“I heard-”, he said at the same time.

Emily lifted her face and made a whimpering sound. She tried to scoot backwards, but Kate was now in her way.

Julian took a step towards the women kneeling on the floor. “I just wanted to-”, he said, but he was interrupted by another howl that escaped Emily’s mouth. Kate jumped to her feet.

“Stay where you are!”, she said in a flat tone, her eyes never leaving Julian. “Let me see your hands!”

“Kate, what the hell?”, he said as he took another step towards them. His eyes shifted to Emily, then back to Kate.

Kate’s fingers curled around her gun, and she slowly raised it, pointing it at Julian’s chest.

“I said stay where you are”. She stood her ground, but her voice was shaky. She couldn’t tear her gaze away his right hand, hidden behind his back. “Another step and I’ll shoot you.”

*

Not even ten minutes after dropping Kate at the Havers house, Ben was greeted by a grim looking Sergeant Ellers at the station.

“Paul Havers came in this morning”, he said, nodding towards the slumping form in his office. “Says his wife was behaving mighty strange the past couple of days. You know, all jumpy, and not really herself. He thinks she knows something about our case.”

Ben knitted his brows together and nodded before entering the sergeant’s office.

“Mr. Havers,” he said, “the sergeant tells me you have some information to share with us.”

With his grey, unshaven face, his hands tugging at his hair, the man looked like pure misery.

“I think my wife knows who… you know, who killed June”, he said, as he raised his eyes – suddenly too big and too dark in his face – to Ben. “She won’t tell me anything! Please, you need to talk to her, because it’s like she’s going crazy. She’s been wandering around the house, humming to herself like a loony all day.”

Ben was about to ask the obvious question, but it seemed Paul Havers could read it from his face.

“Look, I know I said I went home with my wife that night, but that was not exactly how it happened. We left together, but I was so pissed… we argued, and she said she needs some fresh air. I crawled home somehow, and she wandered off. I have no idea when she came back, I was already passed out. The next morning, when you came around she was already strange, but it’s not the first time she was like this since she got pregnant. When you were accusing me and she said we were together I thought it’s best to stick to that… I think she saw what happened, and now she’s scared that they will come after her.”

Ben only took a few seconds to consider this. Within a few minutes he was on his way to the Havers house with Sergeant Ellers riding shotgun and Paul Havers on the back seat.

*

Kate never had to use her gun, and for that she was eternally grateful. She wasn’t sure she would be able to cope with killing another human being, and then there was also the paperwork and the investigation by internal affairs. Her heart was beating in her throat, but she kept her arms steady, hoping the presence of the weapon will be enough. From the corner of her eye she could see Emily, her head buried in her hands. Thankfully the howling quieted down, but she was still muttering to herself, shaking her head every now and then.

Julian finally stood still, his face now sweaty, eyes darting around the room.

“Now show your hands! Both of them”, Kate said.

“I just…”, he shifted his weight from one leg to another, making Kate tense. He raised his left hand, and slowly took out the right from behind his back.

*

As soon as Ben entered the house he heard the voices from the back of the house. Not waiting for the sergeant and Paul to catch up, he hurried towards the source of the noise. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Kate pointing her gun at the journalist who slowly raised his trembling right hand, and in it a dictaphone. Even with her back turned to him, Ben could see the confusion on Kate. The way her arms fell and her shoulders sagged, he was sure he can speak now without the risk of making his partner jump and shoot someone by accident.

“Kate”. His voice was soft. “Put your gun away. I’m here with Sergeant Ellers.”

Kate turned, but she looked through him at something right behind him. He was about to look, when Paul whizzed past him and gathered his wife into a hug.

“Baby, what is going on?”, he said, his voice desperate as he wiped Emily’s hair from her face and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“I didn’t know she was pregnant”, she said and buried her face in his husband’s shoulder.

*

Kate felt an arm around her and she was glad to have someone to lean on for a moment.

“I’m fine”, she said and freed herself from Ben’s grip.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his face full of concern.

She nodded and turned back to Emily.

“What do you mean you didn’t know? Why does it matter?”, Paul asked in utter bewilderment, staring at his wife. But Kate knew. So did the others. Julian collapsed on to a chair like a sack of potatoes and mumbled something into his dictaphone. The fact that not even two minutes ago a gun was pointed at him seemed to had been forgotten.

“I think that’s not necessary”, Kate said and pointed at the handcuffs the sergeant pulled from his belt. Ben nodded his agreement.

They all sat down, and slowly Emily started to talk.

*

Kate carefully put down the stack of papers, and took a sip of coffee to give herself time to compose her thoughts before she spoke.

“I think it’s brilliant”, she said. “I mean it.”

Julian beamed at her. “So, I have your approval?”

When Julian asked her to read his article about the case, she was reluctant. However after she nearly shot him dead the previous morning, Kate had to admit he had a point when he claimed she owed him one. Now she was glad she agreed because the first draft was really well put together and she didn’t mind giving her name for the quotes.

“Yes, I like it”, she said and smiled at him. “You are very talented with words, I have to say. Do you think they will give you that job you were telling me about the other night?”

Julian shrugged. “Talent is not enough. But I have a good feeling. It’s just sad that I needed something like this to get my career back on track.”

Kate shook her head slowly. “It’s horrible. I can’t imagine what Paul must feel. Emily’s been transported to the county jail this morning. You do know that you gave me the idea that lead to this, right?”

“Now this is new”. He sounded amused.

“You made a comment in the pub, something like everyone around here seems to wear the same boots. It kept scraping at the back of my mind, but I didn’t really know what I’m going for. I still thought it had something to do with Paul, and if I just pressed Emily enough, she will tell me. I did not plan telling her about June’s pregnancy, but then I realised it might help her feeling some sort of connection, you know…”

Julian passed a hand over his brow and sighed.

“Listen”, Kate said before Julian could utter a word, “I made a mistake, and I put you and everyone else in danger. I feel like an idiot, and apologizing won’t help. When you appeared there, out of nowhere and Emily went nuts, I thought you had something to do with this as well. Suddenly what you said came back to me. ‘Everyone wears the same boots around here, even the girls’, that’s what you were joking about. For a moment I thought you were both in it together and she freaked out.”

“I know, I keep thinking about it”, Julian said and rubbed at his eyes. “She said she thought she saw someone after she got rid of the weapon, and later she thought it might have been me, because I kept snooping around. I doubt I was actually around there at the time, but even if I was, I have not seen anyone.”

“Don’t let it get to you”, she said, resisting the urge to put a hand on his shoulder.

“I think this story will stay with me for a while”, he said, and got up to pour another cup of coffee to himself.

Kate could not see his face, but suddenly he sounded shaken.

“She must have been going crazy. Thinking your husband is cheating on you, then seeing him that night with the “other woman”.”

She shuddered as she recalled the testimony of Emily Havers: “I begged her not to take my husband…my baby needs a father, and I need him… and she started laughing. She said I know nothing about men, and if my husband is cheating on me, I probably deserved it. She didn’t even try to deny it! It was like I was watching myself from above. I just grabbed that axe and hit her… and again… and again… I burned my clothes the next day. I thought everything will be okay now… with Paul… but I kept hearing her voice in my head. She is still laughing…’”

“I better go”, Kate said as she rose from the couch. “Ben is probably waiting outside.”

Julian walked her to the door. “Take care, Kate.”

“Bye, Julian”, she said, and he flashed his lopsided grin at her just before she closed the door.

Ben was on the phone when Kate got in the car. He was just saying his goodbyes too.

“I just told Maggie”, he said.

“How is she?”

“She’ll be fine. But it’s time we go home”, Ben said, as he pulled onto the road.