Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [100]
“Could he have stopped somewhere on the way?” Maggie asked.
“I don’t know. Other than the church, there’s only houses between Cutty’s Hill and here. I tried calling the rectory, but never got an answer.” She saw them exchange a glance. “What? What is it?”
“Nothing,” Nick said, but she knew it was something. “Maggie and I were at the rectory earlier. I’m going to check what Dad has my men doing. I’ll be right back.”
Maggie took off her jacket and sat next to her. The impeccable Agent O’Dell wore a faded, stretched-out football jersey and blue jeans. Her hair was tousled and her skin flushed.
“Did I get you out of bed?” Christine asked. She was surprised to see her question embarrassed Maggie.
“No, not at all.” She ran her fingers through her tangled hair. Then she looked down, as if only now noticing her inappropriate attire. “Actually, I was on my way home…home to Virginia. My flight was delayed. I checked all my luggage.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s probably somewhere over Chicago about now.”
“You can borrow something of mine, if you like.”
Maggie hesitated. Christine was sure she would decline, when Maggie said, “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. Come on.”
Christine led Maggie to her bedroom, surprised that her body had any energy left and suddenly relieved to have something to do. She closed the bedroom door behind them, though the sounds of voices and trampling couldn’t be stifled. She opened her closet and several drawers. She was taller than Maggie, but otherwise about the same size, except for her flat chest next to Maggie’s full breasts.
“Please, help yourself.” Christine sat on the edge of the bed while Maggie very apprehensively pulled a red turtleneck sweater from one of the drawers.
“I don’t suppose you have a bra I could borrow?”
“Top, left dresser drawer, though mine may be too small. You might try one of the sports bras. They, at least, have some extra stretch.”
She sensed Maggie’s discomfort. It had been a long time since Christine had had any girlfriends close enough to share a dressing room. She thought about leaving the room, but before she stood up, Maggie peeled off the football jersey and struggled into a gray sports bra. It stretched tightly across her full breasts, and she tugged at it as though it were a straitjacket. Before Christine looked away, she noticed a scar across Maggie’s abdomen. In the mirror, Maggie caught her.
“I’m sorry,” Christine said, but didn’t look away. “Excuse me for asking, but that doesn’t look like a surgical scar.”
“No, it’s not.” It wasn’t embarrassment in her voice. Christine detected something a bit more haunting. Maggie ran her fingertips carefully over the red puckered skin. There was a red gash on her shoulder blade, too. “This was a gift,” she said quietly, almost reverently. “A reminder from a murderer I helped track down.”
“I can’t even imagine some of the horrible situations you must have experienced.”
“It comes with the job. Do you have a camisole or tank top I could use instead?”
“Bottom left. How do you keep it from affecting you?”
“I never said it didn’t affect me.” Maggie squirmed out of the sports bra and pulled on a cream-colored camisole. Satisfied with the fit, she tucked it into the waistband of her jeans. “I try not to think about it.”
The red turtleneck sweater was also tight, but the camisole helped smooth out the results. She left it untucked.
“Thanks,” she said, turning back to Christine.
“Danny’s and Matthew’s bodies were cut badly, weren’t they?”
Before, Christine had probed for all the grisly details to enhance her articles. Now she needed to know for herself.
The straightforward Maggie O’Dell looked uncomfortable, even a bit flustered. “We’ll find Timmy. In fact, Nick has already called Judge Murphy. We’re getting a search warrant, and we have a suspect.”
The reporter in her should have been asking questions. Who was the suspect? What was the warrant for? But the mother in her couldn’t shake the image of her small, fragile little boy cringing in a dark corner somewhere all alone. Could they really