CHAPTER SIX

Kat Gentry felt guilty.

Then again, she always felt guilty these days.

Right now, it was because she'd convinced Dr. Janice Lemmon to meet with her well before normal practice hours so she could have her therapy session prior to anyone else arriving. So Lemmon, 70 years old and recovering from injuries, had traipsed to her downtown office at 7:30 instead of at nine, when she usually had her first session.

Kat decided not to address that source of guilt this morning. She already had enough on her plate, what with feeling responsible for the death of her murdered fiancé, Mitch Connor. In addition, she felt the ongoing shame of leaning too heavily on Jessie, Ryan, and Hannah, among others, for emotional support, as well as largely ignoring the clients of her private detective agency.

But none of those things was what had her in here this morning. Instead it was the topic that she'd refused to address with Lemmon in any of their prior sessions, the one that consumed more of her mental and emotional energy than anything else these days. She was finally going to talk to Lemmon about Ash Pierce.

As she settled into the cushy leather couch in Lemmon's office, she looked across at the older woman in the worn, floral high-backed chair, trying to decide how best to broach the subject. The psychiatrist might find it odd that Kat had been coming to see her for weeks and never brought this up.

Then again, Kat knew that Janice Lemmon wasn't surprised by much. Though she looked meek, with her tiny body, thick glasses and tight, little gray ringlets of hair, Lemmon was no pushover. Prior to her work as a psychiatrist in private practice, she was also a highly decorated LAPD and FBI criminal profiler. Despite being out of that game for over a decade, the woman was still sharp as a tack. It was hard to get anything past her.

That's why Jessie had suggested that Kat see her in the first place. Lemmon had been the go-to therapist for Jessie for over a decade, since she was in college. She was also helping Jessie and Ryan work through their relationship issues. And to keep it all in the family, she also periodically saw Hannah to help her with what everyone euphemistically called her "anger management issues."

But until today, Kat had been hesitant to broach the subject of Ash Pierce. Even if it was a no-brainer topic to address, she had good reason to avoid it. After all, Pierce was the hitwoman who had kidnapped and tortured Kat in the desert, very nearly killing her before she was rescued by Hannah. That was after Pierce tricked Kat into thinking she was an abused wife who needed help getting free of her husband, who it turned out, didn't exist.

Later, Pierce had escaped from a prison transport truck and tried to hunt down Hannah as payback for besting her that night in the desert. Luckily, before Pierce could take her down, Hannah, Kat and an Israeli bodyguard named Gila Jabarin had combined to defeat the assassin in a hospital boiler room.

In the process, Hannah had stabbed Pierce in the neck. Kat, for reasons she still couldn't totally explain, gave Pierce CPR until help arrived. The woman survived but ended up in a coma for a month. When she finally awoke just over seven weeks ago, she claimed to have no memory of her time as a hitwoman. That was why Kat was here this morning.

"I sense that something's different today," Lemmon said, pulling Kat out of her memories and back into the moment. "Are we finally going to get to the issue that you've been dancing around since our very first session?"

Kat, as usual, was amazed by the woman's perception.

"How did you know?" she asked.

Lemmon smiled with a mix of maternal warmth and mischievousness.

"You forget who you're dealing with, Katherine," she teased. "Why don't you just dive in? It'll be easier that way."

Kat glanced down at the glass coffee table between them and caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror. She took note of the multiple facial burn marks and the long scar that ran vertically down her left cheek from just below her eye, remnants of her time as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan. She still remembered how Mitch used to lovingly trace the scar with his finger, like it was a sculpture he was admiring.

"Okay," Kat said, pushing that memory out of her mind and closing her eyes. She felt like she was about to do a trust fall. "I can't stop thinking about Ash Pierce. She should be paying rent for all the space she takes up in my brain these days."

"How so?" Lemmon asked.

"I know she wasn't responsible for Mitch's death, even though I thought so at first," Kat explained. "That was the work of Mark Haddonfield's minion. But she's responsible for so much of the bad in my life. And now, when she's finally supposed to pay for what she did, she's on the verge of evading justice."

"How is she doing that?"

"I feel like she's snowing everyone with this amnesia claim."

"What are you worried will happen if people believe her?" Lemmon asked.

"Take your pick of bad outcomes," Kat replied. "She could lull the contingent of officers guarding her into complacency and escape. Alternately, she could be playing the long game, hoping to get sympathy from a jury at her trial for—you know—murdering at least a half dozen people that we know of."

Kat noticed, as Lemmon clearly had too, that her voice got high and angry at that last line. Lemmon smiled gently.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Kat told her.

"What if she's telling the truth?" Lemmon wondered. "What if she really did lose her memory?"

Now it was Kat's turn to smile.

"That's the real reason I'm coming clean," she admitted. "I'm not just trying to get this off my chest. I need your help."

"What do you mean?" Lemmon asked.

"I think you know what I mean, Dr. Lemmon," Kat said. "Other than Jessie Hunt, you are the most celebrated criminal profiler in Southern California history."

"Garland Moses might take issue with that," Lemmon noted, referring to Jessie's mentor, the crusty profiler who was murdered by her psychotic ex-husband a year and a half ago.

"I mean, who's still alive," Kat said, correcting herself. "You were Jessie before Jessie. Before you retired and started your psychiatry practice, you worked with the LAPD and FBI. And I've heard that you also worked with other more secretive organizations that you're not allowed to talk about."

"What's your point, Kat?" Lemmon asked, neither confirming nor denying anything .

"I want you to meet with Ash Pierce and see if you find her amnesia claim credible. I'd ask Jessie, but she's too close to the situation. After all, Pierce tried to kill her sister and her best friend. You don't have that baggage."

"While I'm flattered," Lemmon said, "even if I thought it was a good idea. It's a non-starter. Neither the LAPD nor Pierce and her lawyers would agree to it."

"I doubt that's true," Kat countered. "I suspect the department and the D.A. would welcome your input. Even if there was resistance, you have enough contacts to circumvent opposition. And I don't think Pierce would be a problem either."

"Why not?"

Kat smiled broadly.

"Because she's trapped," she said. "Her lawyers might protest, and I suppose she could hide behind that. But she knows who you are and what kind of credibility you have. If she really has amnesia, then she has nothing to lose by talking to you. You'd actually bolster her claim. And if she's faking, she knows how suspicious it would look, like she has something to hide."

Lemmon sat quietly for a moment, pondering.

"What about my infirmities?" she finally asked. "Going into a hospital room with a serial killer in my condition could make me very vulnerable."

She pointed to her cane by the couch and bandage on her head. The first was to help her navigate the weakness caused by a herniated disc some months ago. The latter was the result of the attack she suffered at the hands of Mark Haddonfield's murderous lackey. Luckily, Lemmon had her taser handy to deal with that guy or her injuries could have been worse.

"Don't give me that," Kat said, having none of it. "You took out that guy who came after you like it was nothing. And I bet that cane is a pretty handy weapon when you want it to be. Besides, Pierce will be guarded and handcuffed. You're just making excuses."

Lemmon smiled, as if amused by Kat's evaluation of her combat skills.

"Even if I agreed to do it and there were no objections," she mused, "there's a bigger concern, at least for you."

"What's that?"

"What if I couldn't determine if she was telling the truth, or worse, what if I found that she was. "

Now, it was Kat's turn to sit quietly. When she responded, she voiced a certainty she wasn't sure she truly felt.

"You're Dr. Janice Lemmon," she said, "legendary profiler and respected psychiatrist. Whatever you determine to be true, I'll accept."

Lemmon shook her head slightly.

"You say that now, when you're sure that my conclusions will validate your suspicions," she said softly. "But I'm not sure you'd be as sanguine if your assumptions were upended."

Kat shook her head forcefully.

"Your word is gospel, as far as I'm concerned," she said.

"I'll think about it," Lemmon said before pulling out her legal pad and pen, as if to officially indicate a change in topics. "Now let's get back to you. I hear you've been putting clients off for weeks now. When do you plan to start taking cases again at your detective agency?"

Kat took a sip of water as she tried to focus on the question. But in reality, all she could think about was Lemmon. The woman presented herself as an older lady muddling through her twilight years. But Kat knew better.

Janice Lemmon was as competitive as anyone. That was how she'd stayed at the top of both of her professions for so long. And there was no way she'd allow herself to be bested by Ash Pierce in a one-on-one battle of mental gamesmanship.

Kat was certain that she'd accept the challenge. Lemmon was going to meet with Pierce. And then the truth would finally come out.