“No, you don’t need to answer any of my questions. I just thought you might want to help us find her.” Maggie gently tried to persuade him.

“I don’t see how knowing where or when or how or what we did that night is going to help.”

“Hey, kid, you banged an older woman. You should be jumping at the chance to share the details.”

Maggie stood and faced Manx, trying to maintain her calm and bridle her impatience.

“Detective Manx, do you mind if I have a word with Mr. Finley alone?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“And why is that?”

“Well…” Manx hesitated while he manufactured a reason. She could practically hear his rusty gears grinding. “Might not be safe to leave you alone with him.”

“I’m an experienced FBI agent, Detective Manx.”

“You sure don’t dress like one, Agent O’Dell,” he said as he purposely let his eyes slide slowly over her body.

“Tell you what. I’ll take my chances with Mr. Finley.” She glanced over at the officers. “You gentleman can verify that I said that.”

Manx stalled, then finally waved the two officers out of the room. He followed but not before shooting a warning look in Finley’s direction.

“I’d apologize for Detective Manx, but that would mean I was trying to excuse his behavior, and quite honestly, there is no excuse for his behavior.”

She sat back down with a sigh and an absent rub at her eyes. When she looked up at Will Finley, he was smiling.

“I just realized who you are.”

“Excuse me?” Maggie asked.

“You and I have a mutual friend.”

The door opened again, and Maggie jumped to her feet, ready to snap at Manx. It was, instead, one of the other officers. His entire face seemed to be apologetic.

“Sorry, but the kid’s lawyer just got here. He’s insisting on seeing him before any more questioning is—”

“You shouldn’t be questioning him at all,” a voice from the hall interrupted. “At least not without his attorney present.” Nick Morrelli pushed past the officer and into the room. Immediately, his eyes found Maggie’s and his anger gave in to a smile. “Jesus, Maggie. We have to stop meeting like this.”

CHAPTER 52

Harvey greeted Nick at the door with an impressive growl, teeth bared and his upper lip curled back. Maggie smiled at Nick’s surprise even though she had warned him.

“I told you I have my own private bodyguard. Down, Harvey. Actually, we’re temporary roommates.” She petted the dog’s head, and his entire hind end started wagging. “Harvey, this is Nick. He’s one of the good guys.”

Nick extended an apprehensive hand for the dog to sniff. In seconds, Harvey decided Nick deserved the royal treatment, and the dog stuck his snout in Nick’s crotch. Maggie laughed and pulled back on Harvey’s collar. Nick seemed more amused than embarrassed.

“So I see you have him checking out other things for you as well.”

His comment caught her off guard. She led Harvey into the living room, hoping Nick didn’t notice.

“I just moved in last week. I don’t have a lot of furniture yet. I barely got some of the blinds up late last night.”

“It’s an incredible house, Maggie,” he said, wandering into the sunroom and looking out at the backyard. “Pretty secluded. How safe is it?”

She looked up from the alarm system she was resetting. “About as safe as I would be anywhere. Cunningham has me under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Didn’t you notice the cable TV van down the street? He says it’s so we can catch Stucky, but I know he thinks it’ll protect me.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

She opened her jacket to show him her revolver in her shoulder harness.

“This is the only thing that I find convincing these days.”

He smiled. “Geez, I get so turned on when you show me your gun.”

She found herself blushing from his innocent flirting. Immediately, she looked away. Damn it! She hated that he could get her pulse racing by his simple presence. Had it been a mistake to invite him here? Maybe she should have sent him back home to Boston with Will.

“I’m going to check if dinner is possible. I only have the very basics.” She retreated to the kitchen, wondering what she would do if he went beyond flirting. Would she remember to act sensibly? “Would you mind taking Harvey out in the backyard?”

“No, not at all.”

“His leash is by the back door. Press the green flashing button on the security system.”

“It’s a little like living in a fort.” He motioned to the sensors and the alarm boxes. “Are you okay with all this?”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

He shrugged and met her eyes. She realized he was feeling helpless, as though there must be something he should be able to do.

“It’s part of the job, Nick. A lot of profilers live in gated communities or houses with elaborate alarm systems. After a while you get used to having an unpublished phone number and making certain your address isn’t listed in any directory. It’s all a part of my life, the part Greg didn’t want to deal with. Maybe he shouldn’t have had to deal with it. Maybe no one should.”

“Well, Greg was a fool,” he said as he snapped the leash onto Harvey’s collar. Harvey licked Nick’s hand in advanced appreciation. “But then, I sorta see Greg’s loss as my gain.” He smiled at her, then pushed the green button and let Harvey pull him into the backyard.

Maggie watched them, wondering what was it about this man and that lean body and those charming dimples that could so easily stir up feeling and emotions she hadn’t accessed in years? Was it just a physical attraction? Did he simply set off her hormones? Nothing more?

When she met Nick last fall in Platte City he was a cocky, arrogant sheriff with a playboy reputation. Immediately, she had been annoyed with herself for being attracted to his charm and classic good looks. But over the course of that terrifying, exhausting week, she had the opportunity to see a sensitive, caring man who truly wanted to do the right thing.

Before she left Nebraska, he had told her that he loved her. She wrote it off with all the other confusing emotions people think they feel after being thrown together during a crisis. In Kansas City, he said he still cared about her. Now that he knew she was divorcing Greg, she wondered what Nick’s intentions were. Did he really care about her, or was she only one more notch he wanted to carve in his bedpost?

It didn’t matter. She didn’t have the energy to entertain such thoughts. She needed to remain focused. She needed to start listening to her head and her gut, not her heart. And more importantly, she didn’t want to care about someone who Stucky could take away from her in a split second.

What Gwen had said last night about Stucky coming after her stayed with Maggie, gnawing at her. Although she honestly didn’t believe Gwen needed to worry. They all believed Stucky had chosen women who were mere acquaintances of hers, in order to make it impossible to predict who his next target might be. But the fact of the matter was, Maggie had few people she allowed into her life. Gwen claimed it was because she wasn’t over the loss of her father. What a bunch of psychobabble that was. Gwen believed that Maggie purposely made herself off-limits, emotionally, to her friends and co-workers. What Maggie called professional distancing, Gwen called fear of intimacy.

“If you don’t let people in, they can’t hurt you,” Gwen had lectured in her motherly tone. “But if you don’t let people in, they can’t love you either.”

Nick and Harvey were coming back, Harvey carrying the bone Maggie had bought him. She thought he had taken it out and buried it because he didn’t want it. Instead, the fresh hole under the dogwood was merely for safe storage. She certainly had a lot to learn about her new roommate.