“No, no, like I said, it’ll just make me feel better. Here, turn around and let me put it on.” He quickly put it on and then changed the subject. “What do you have planned for today?”
***
“What do you mean, you can’t find them?” Manuel ground out. He was already irritated at having to switch hideouts. This new place was even dumpier than the last, and he hadn’t slept well on the blow-up air mattress that was serving as his temporary bed. He was in no mood for bad news.
“We trashed the lady’s house, like you said. Then we was gonna wait for her to come back to start following her, but after she came back, we never saw her leave again. We been watchin’ the store, too, and she ain’t gone there, either.”
“Dammit. What about him?”
“He dropped off the grid, too. We think they’re together,” Carlos stated with authority.
“Why the fuck do you think they’d be together?”
“Just a thought, boss.”
“So, what’s your plan to find them?” Manuel asked impatiently.
“We haven’t been able to find his family yet. I’ve got a couple of guys staking out the houses of her family, but she’s got a lot of relatives, so we have to rotate around. We haven’t approached anyone yet, but if you want, we can start interrogating them.” What he meant by “interrogating” was implied. Carlos was good at roughing people up. He liked his job and took pride in his work. All he needed was the go-ahead, and he’d be putting the thumbscrews to anyone and everyone who knew Margaret Tucker or the cop.
“Not yet. For now, just find them. It hasn’t been that long. They’ll turn up soon.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” Carlos seemed disappointed, but his time would come soon enough.
As soon as Carlos had cleared the door, Manuel picked up the phone and dialed an out of country number. He needed help. Professional help. The bumbling idiots he had working for him were not going to cut it this time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
If Maggie thought having sex would change their relationship in any way, she was mistaken. After their morning-after talk, he excused himself to go upstairs. When he hadn’t reappeared after a couple of hours, she got some work done, said goodbye to the caretakers, who were leaving town for a few days, and then headed out to the pool.
“I thought I told you not to go outside,” Mitch grumbled as he scanned the area, looking for who knows what. Flirty Mitch was gone, replaced with grumpy, serious Mitch.
“You told me not to go down to the beach,” she countered.
“Tomato, tom-ah-toe,” he said. “I’m here to keep you safe, and that’s tough if you’re out here in the open.”
“Unless someone has a helicopter, I think we’ll be okay.” She replaced her sunglasses and laid back down. If he was going back to grumpy, she’d go back to sassy. “I know you don’t want to be on babysitter duty. You’re only doing this because Jenny and Adam forced you to. You don’t even like me.” Was she fishing? Maybe.
“What gave you that impression?” He sat on the chaise lounge next to her and chuckled at her raised eyebrow.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because until last night youtreated me like a bad cold you were afraid of catching.”
“I like you well enough.” He smiled, and she felt her heart melt a little. “I’m just worried that if we do this,” He waved his hand between the two of them, “what happens when I break it off? We have a lot of important people in common. I don’t want things to be awkward.”
She laughed out loud. “What makes you so sureIwouldn’t be the one breaking it off?”
He mocked a thoughtful look. “Never occurred to me.”
“God, you’re conceited! Have you never been dumped?”
“Um, well, no. Then again, I haven’t had many relationships that were involved enough to end in dumping. I’ve gotten pretty good at the love ’em and leave ’em thing.”
“Wait, how many women are we talking about? You didn’t lie to me, did you? When you said you were clean?” The thought horrified her. Was she that gullible? Had she already contracted some horrible disease that was cultivating within her even as they spoke?
He looked her straight in the eye. “Until last night, I’ve never had unprotected sex. I promise you that.” He was dead serious, and she felt a little boost of confidence. She was the first and only. Huh.
“All right. I believe you.” She looked away, a little unsettled at his solemnness. “How about we just go back to the way things were and pretend last night never happened?” she asked irritably.
“Is that really what you want?” he asked, moving over to her chair, forcing her to move her legs. He put his hand on her sun-warmed thigh.
