“And it scares you because you might lose control.” He looked into her eyes.
“God, you know me well, Morrelli.”
“Tell you what. When you’re ready, and I’m emphasizing when. No ifs,” he said, his eyes not letting her go, his fingers still touching her. “I’ll let you have all the control you want. But tonight, Maggie, I just want to make you feel good.”
The flutter reawakened, immediately kicking into overdrive.
“Nick—”
“Actually, I was thinking maybe I could fix you dinner.”
Her shoulders relaxed immediately, and she sighed with a smile. “I didn’t realize you knew how to cook.”
“There are a lot of things I know how to do that I haven’t shown you…yet.” And this time, he smiled.
CHAPTER 53
Maggie couldn’t believe such delicious aromas were coming from her kitchen. Even Harvey had come down for a look and a closer sniff.
“Where did you learn to cook like this?”
“Hey, I’m Italian.” Nick faked an accent that sounded nothing like Italian as he stirred the tomato sauce. “Don’t tell Christine, okay?”
“Afraid you might ruin your reputation?”
“No, I don’t want her free dinner invitations to stop.”
“Is this enough garlic?” She stopped chopping and mincing long enough for him to examine her progress.
“One more clove.”
“How are Christine and Timmy?” Maggie had grown attached to Nick’s sister and his nephew in the short time she had spent in Nebraska.
“They’re good. Really good. Bruce has taken an apartment in Platte City. Christine’s making him earn his way back into their lives. I think she wants to make sure his philandering days are completely over. Here, taste this.” He held the wooden spoon out to her, keeping an open palm underneath to catch any drips.
She took a careful lick. “A little more salt and definitely more garlic.”
“So can you tell me anything about this Tess who Will is so crazy about? Any idea what happened to her?”
Maggie wasn’t sure where to begin, or how much she wanted to share. All of it was still speculation. She watched him take salt in the palm of his hand, make a fist and sprinkle it into the simmering pot. She liked the way he moved around her kitchen, as though he had been fixing her dinners for years. Already Harvey followed him, anointing Nick the new master of the house.
“Tess was my real estate agent. She sold me this house, then less than a week later, she disappeared.”
She waited, wondering if it would sink in, if he would make the connection on his own. Or was she the only one who could see that connection so clearly? He came over to the island where she sat on a bar stool and minced garlic. He poured more wine into both their glasses and took a sip. Finally, he looked at her.
“You think Stucky’s murdered her?” He said it calmly and frankly.
“Yes. Or if he hasn’t murdered her, she may be wishing he had.”
She avoided his eyes and pretended to concentrate on the pieces of garlic. She didn’t want to think about Stucky carving up Tess McGowan or playing his little torture games with her mind and body. Now Maggie’s mincing had turned into vicious chops and hacks. She stopped herself and waited for the beginning fury to settle back down. She handed the cutting board to Nick.
Thankfully, he took it without commenting on the slight tremor in her hands. He scraped the garlic bits into the steaming sauce and immediately the new aroma filled the kitchen.
“Will told me there was a car parked outside Tess’s house that morning he left.”
“Manx ran the license-plate number through the DMV.” It was one of the few things Manx had grudgingly shared with her. “The number belongs to Daniel Kassenbaum, Tess’s boyfriend.”
Nick glanced over his shoulder. “The boyfriend? Did anyone question him?”
“My partner did, briefly. Manx promised he would question him in more detail.”
“If he saw Will leaving her house, then he should be pissed. Maybe Stucky doesn’t have anything to do with her disappearing.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Nick. Apparently, the boyfriend doesn’t much care that Tess is missing or that she may have been cheating on him. My gut tells me Stucky has everything to do with this.”
Maggie’s cellular phone rang, startling both of them. She grabbed her jacket and searched until she found it in the breast pocket.
“Maggie O’Dell.”
“Agent O’Dell, it’s Tully.”
Damn it! She had forgotten all about Tully. She hadn’t called him, hadn’t even left him a message.
“Agent Tully.” She probably owed him an apology or at least an explanation.
Before she had a chance to say anything he said, “We’ve got another body.”
CHAPTER 54
At first, Tully had been relieved when he heard the body wasn’t in Newburgh Heights. The call came from the Virginia State Patrol. The state patrolman told Tully that a trucker had grabbed a take-out container from the counter of a small cafe. On the phone, he explained with a quaking voice how the truck driver hadn’t made it back to his truck before he discovered the container was leaking. What he thought was his leftover chicken-fried steak was suddenly dripping blood.
Tully remembered the truck stop, just north of Stafford, off Interstate 95 but it wasn’t until he pulled into the cafe’s parking lot that he realized this was probably Agent O’Dell’s route home from Quantico. His relief quickly dissipated. If this wasn’t Tess McGowan, chances were, O’Dell would still recognize the body.
Tully cursed when he saw the media vans and strobe lights already set up for the TV cameras. They had been lucky up to this point. Only local media had taken the time to be interested. Now he could see the national players were here. A group was crowded around a large, bearded man who Tully guessed was the truck driver.
Thank God, the State Patrol had had enough sense to confiscate the take-out container, and restrict the area behind the cafe. That’s where a battered gray, metal trash bin rested against a chain-link fence. The trash bin was one of the extra-large commercial ones. Tully estimated it to be at least six feet tall. How the hell did Stucky dump the body? Never mind that, how had he gone undetected, with the gas pumps and the cafe open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?
He flashed his badge at a couple of uniforms keeping the media behind the sawhorses and yellow crime scene tape. His long legs allowed him to step over the ribbon without much effort. The Stafford County detective Tully had previously met behind the pizza place was already on the scene, directing the commotion. Tully couldn’t remember his name, but as soon as the detective saw him, he waved him over.
“She’s still in the Dumpster,” he said, wasting no time. “Doc Holmes is on his way. We’re trying to figure out how the hell to get her out of there.”
“How did you find her?”
The detective took out a pack of gum. He unwrapped a piece and popped it into his mouth. The pack was in his pocket before he thought to offer Tully a piece. He started grabbing for it again, but Tully shook his head. He couldn’t imagine having an appetite for anything, even gum.
“Probably wouldn’t have found her,” the detective finally said, “if not for that snack pack he left behind.”
