through the slit. It was useless. He wasn’t strong enough and, again, he hated how small and helpless he was.
He heard footsteps outside the door. He scrambled up into the bed, crawling beneath the covers as the locks whined and the door screeched open.
The man came in slowly. He was bundled in a thick ski jacket, the black rubber boots and a stocking cap over the rubber mask that covered his entire head.
“Good morning,” he mumbled. He set down a brown paper sack, but this time didn’t remove his coat or boots to stay. “I brought you some things.” His voice was soft and friendly.
Timmy came to the edge of the bed, showing his interest and pretending not to be frightened.
The man handed him several comic books, old ones, but in good condition. In fact, Timmy thought they were brand new until he saw the twelve-cent and fifteen-cent prices. He also handed him a stack of baseball cards, secured with a rubber band. Then he started unpacking some groceries and filling the crate where Timmy had found the candy bars. He watched as the man pulled out Cap’n Crunch cereal, more Snickers bars, corn chips and several cans of SpaghettiOs.
“I tried to get some of your favorite food,” he said, looking back at Timmy, obviously wanting to please him.
“Thanks,” Timmy found himself saying out of habit. The man nodded, the eyes sparkling again as though he was smiling. “How did you know I love Cap’n Crunch?”
“I just remember things,” he said softly. “I can’t stay. Is there anything else I can get you?”
Timmy watched him extinguish the kerosene lamp and felt a twinge of panic.
“Will you be back before dark? I hate being in the dark.”
“I’ll try to come back.” He started for the door then glanced back at Timmy. He sighed and then dug in his pockets, finally pulling out something shiny.
“I’ll leave my lighter, just case I don’t get back. But be careful, Timmy. You don’t want to start a fire.” He tossed the shiny metal lighter next to Timmy on the bed. Then he left.
The panic stirred again in Timmy’s stomach. Maybe it was all the junk food he had eaten. He hated being trapped, but at least if the man didn’t come back he couldn’t hurt him. He had the entire day to plan his escape. He picked up the lighter and ran his fingers over the smooth finish. Timmy noticed the logo stamped on the side of it. He recognized the dark brown crest. He had seen it many times on the jackets and uniforms his grandfather and Uncle Nick wore. It was the symbol for the sheriff’s department.
Chapter 60
The smell of coffee nauseated Maggie, though it seemed to be the only thing to combat the effects of the Scotch. She picked at the scrambled eggs and toast while she watched the door of the diner. Nick said it would take only ten to fifteen minutes. That was an hour ago. The small diner was beginning to fill with its breakfast rush, farmers in feed caps next to business men and women in suits.
Maggie had hated leaving Christine this morning, though she knew she wasn’t much of a comfort. She had never been good at offering words of reassurance or doing the hand-holding routine. After all, her only experience had been as a twelve year old, a small, gangly child struggling with and dragging a drunken mother up a flight of stairs to their run-down apartment. No words or courtesies had been necessary when dealing with someone who was half-conscious. Even as an FBI agent, etiquette skills were unnecessary. Most of the people she dealt with were corpses or psychos. Questioning the victims’ families didn’t require anything more than polite condolences, or so she had convinced herself long ago.
Last night she’d simply felt paralyzed. She hardly knew Christine. One dinner surely didn’t enforce any obligation of friendship. Yet, Timmy’s small, freckled face remained etched in her mind. In her eight years of tracking killers, no one she had known personally had ever been a victim. However, every corpse stayed with her, their ghosts a permanent part of her mental scrapbook.
She couldn’t imagine-didn’t want to imagine-adding Timmy to that portfolio of tortured images.
Finally, Nick came into the diner. He spotted her immediately and waved, making his way to the booth but stopping several times to talk to customers. He was dressed in his usual uniform of jeans and cowboy boots, only this time under his unzipped jacket he wore a red Nebraska Cornhuskers sweatshirt. The swelling was gone from around his jaw, leaving a bruise. He looked exhausted. He hadn’t bothered to comb his hair or shave after showering. He looked even more handsome than she remembered.
He slid into the booth opposite her and grabbed a menu from behind the napkin dispenser. “Judge Murphy is stalling on the search warrant for the rectory,” he said quietly as he looked at the menu. “He didn’t have a problem with the pickup, but he thinks-”
“Hi, Nick. What can I get for you?”
“Oh, hi, Angie.”
Maggie watched the exchange between Nick and the pretty blond waitress and knew immediately the woman wasn’t used to just taking his diner orders.
“How have you been?” she asked, trying to make it sound like casual conversation, though Maggie noticed she hadn’t taken her eyes off Nick.
“Things have been pretty crazy. Could I just get some coffee and toast?” He avoided her eyes. His discomfort speeded up his speech.
“Wheat toast, right? And lots of cream with the coffee?”
“Yeah, thanks.” He looked anxious for her to leave.
She smiled and left the table without even noticing Maggie, though before Nick’s arrival she had been interested enough to fill Maggie’s coffee cup three times.
“An old friend?” Maggie asked, knowing she had no right to, but enjoying his fidgeting.
“Who, Angie? Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He dug Christine’s cellular phone from his jacket pocket, set it on the table, then twisted out of the jacket. “I hate these things,” he said, referring to the phone and desperately trying to change the subject.
“She seems very nice.” Maggie wasn’t ready to let him off the hook.
This time his eyes met hers, their intense blue looking deep inside her and reminding her once more of last night.
“She is nice, but she doesn’t make my palms sweaty and my knees weak like you do,” he said quietly, seriously, and managing to set that damn flutter going again in her stomach.
She looked away and concentrated on putting butter on her cold toast as though suddenly hungry.
“Look Nick, about last night…”
“I hope you don’t think I was trying to take advantage of you. I mean, you did have a lot to drink.”
She glanced at him. He leaned forward, his entire face serious. He was genuinely concerned. Had last night meant more to him than his ordinary trysts with women? Something made her want it to mean more, but she said, “I think it’s best if we just forget last night ever happened.”
He looked wounded, a slight grimace, then that same intensity.
“What if I don’t want to forget? Maggie, I haven’t felt like that in a long time. I can’t-”
“Please, Nick, I’m not some naive waitress. You don’t have to feed me some line or pretend-”
“It’s not a line. Yesterday when I thought you were leaving and I’d never see you again, I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut. And then last night. Jesus, Maggie, you turn me inside out. I get all weak-kneed and tongue-tied. Believe me, that doesn’t usually happen with me and women.”
“We’ve been spending a lot of time together. We were both exhausted.”
“I wasn’t that exhausted. And neither were you.”
She stared at him. Had it been that obvious how much she had wanted him? Or was it simply his ego?
“What did you expect to happen, Nick? Are you disappointed you’re not able to add one more name to your list of conquests?” She glanced around them. No one seemed to notice her angry whispers.
“You know that’s not what this is.”
“Then maybe it’s simply the thrill of being forbidden. I am married, Nick. It may not be the best marriage in the world, but it still means something. Please, let’s just forget about last night.” She stared at her coffee, feeling his
