Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [232]
She had guessed as much, yet it felt like a slap in the face to hear it out loud. She avoided looking at him. She pushed strands of damp hair out of her eyes, tucking them behind her ears. She probably looked the part of the crazed FBI agent, with her tangled hair and baggy clothes.
“Is that what you think?” she asked, not certain she wanted to hear his answer.
They stood side by side, leaning against the railing, shoulders brushing while their eyes stayed safely ahead and away from each other. His silence lasted too long.
“I told John that the Maggie O’Dell I know is tough as nails. I saw you take a knife to the gut and still not give up.”
Another of her scars. The mad child killer she and Nick had chased in Nebraska had stabbed her and left her for dead in a graveyard tunnel.
“Getting stabbed seems so much easier than what Stucky’s doing to me.”
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, Maggie, but I think Cunningham may be smart in keeping you out of this.”
This time she turned to stare at him.
“How can you say that? It’s obvious Stucky is playing with me again.”
“Exactly. He wants to drag you into his little games. Why give him exactly what he wants?”
“But you don’t understand, Nick.” The anger bubbled too close to the surface. She tried to keep her voice calm and level. Talking about Stucky could bring her to the edge of sounding hysterical. “Stucky will continue to goad me whether I’m on the case or not. Cunningham can’t protect me. Instead, he’s keeping me from the one way I have to fight back.”
“I’m guessing he must have told you he wants you on that flight back to D.C. tonight?”
“Agent Turner is escorting me.” Why bother hiding her anger. “It’s ridiculous, Nick. Albert Stucky is right here in Kansas City. I should stay here.”
More silence. They were back to searching the crowd below, standing side by side, again leaning their elbows on the railing and again keeping their hands and eyes carefully away from each other. Nick moved closer as though purposely bringing their bodies in to contact. His shoulder no longer accidentally brushed hers. Now it stayed against her. She found a weird sense of comfort in this subtle touch, this slight contact, feeling perhaps that she wasn’t in this alone.
“I still care about you, Maggie,” he said quietly, without moving and still not looking at her. “I thought I didn’t care anymore. I tried to stop. But when I saw you this morning, I realized I hadn’t stopped caring at all.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation, Nick. I really can’t. Not now.” Her stomach churned with anticipation, with panic, with fear. She didn’t need to feel anything more.
“I called you when I first moved to Boston,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard her.
She glanced at him. Was this some line? That boyish charm, that flirtatious reputation of his surely couldn’t have disappeared so easily.
“I didn’t get any message,” she said, now curious and anxious to call him on his bluff if, in fact, that was what it turned out to be.
“Quantico wouldn’t give me any information as to where you were, or when you’d be back. I even told them I was with the Suffolk County D.A.’s office.” He glanced at her and smiled. “They weren’t impressed.”
It was a safe story. She wouldn’t be able to confirm it or deny it. She concentrated on the lobby. Below, three men toted luggage behind a well-dressed woman with silver hair and a London Fog raincoat that didn’t have a raindrop on it.
“I ended up calling Greg’s law firm.”
“You did what?”
She pushed herself away from the railing and waited until he did the same, giving her his attention and his eyes.
“Neither of you are listed in the Virginia telephone directory,” he defended himself. “I figured the law office of Brackman, Harvey and Lowe might be more understanding. They might actually care about someone from a D.A.’s office getting in touch with one of their attorneys. Even if it was after hours.”
“You talked to Greg?”
“I didn’t mean to. I was hoping to catch you at home. I thought if Greg answered, I could tell him I needed to talk to you about