He pulls away from her, his face red and puffy. “What is it?”

She points to the screen, which is showing aerial footage of a boat – by the looks of it, an expensive and well-equipped boat – skimming across the surface of a body of water. She can’t hear the voiceover, but she doesn’t have to. The caption at the bottom of the screen says it all.

Breaking: Woman from Viral “Conqueror of Kakabeka” Video Steals Boat Belonging to Well-Known Marine Researcher Adam Pelley.

“What the hell.” Shawn reaches for the remote and turns up the volume, a familiar voice gradually becoming discernible.

“…for the last twenty minutes, according to local officials here in Duluth,” says the unmistakable voice of Cassandra Coelho. “All attempts to hail the boat by radio have been unsuccessful.”

“What’s going on?”

Katriina and Shawn both turn to find Walter standing in the doorway to the living room, a glass of orange juice in his hand. His expression is so quizzical and innocent that she has the urge to throw her body between him and the television, shielding him from what he is about to see. “Are you two okay?”

The television cuts to a shot of Cassandra Coelho standing in front of what appears to be a marina. “Katherine Parker, also known as the Conqueror of Kakabeka, was in a coma up until yesterday afternoon, when this reporter saw her leaving the Thunder Bay General Hospital along with a teenaged girl, and followed her here to Duluth. Reports from local officials have not confirmed whether this unnamed young woman is with Parker on the stolen boat, although the boat’s owner, noted marine biologist and TV host Adam Pelley, asserts that it is unlikely Parker would be able to operate the boat on her own.”

The channel cuts to commercial, and the three of them stare dumbly at the television as an attractive young woman tells them about the importance of life insurance. Katriina can feel her heartbeat in every wound she has made on her body, a low hum of pain spreading across her skin. Someone say something, she thinks. Someone say something before I explode.

“Well,” says Shawn after a minute. “It looks like they found Kate.”

Walter continues to watch the insurance ad. “She’s okay.”

“Okay?” Shawn stares at him incredulously. “Walter, she stole a boat!”

“Yes, she did,” says Walter. He puts down his glass of orange juice and heads out the back door.

Shawn and Katriina turn to each other, and she gets a little jolt, remembering that she has been crying. Her hands fly up to her face and she rubs at her eyes, hoping that it’s not obvious, that Walter couldn’t tell. Then she realizes how ridiculous that is – worrying about how she looks when there is so much else going on. Still, she starts to rub harder. Shawn grabs her gently by the wrists, pulling her hands away.

“You’ll hurt yourself.”