Mariah Stewart - Acts of Mercy

“She could have hired a babysitter,” Mallory pointed out.

Trula fixed her with a glare, and Mallory smiled as if she’d been expecting the reaction.

“We all agreed that Chloe has to be protected,” Mallory told Sam. “And we all agreed there’s no safer place for her than here. She goes to all-day preschool at Our Lady of Angels so Kevin keeps an eye on her there, and Robert has beefed up security here at the house as well.”

“Which he needed to do anyway,” Trula said. “This big house and all these acres of grounds-for a while all he had was a puny little alarm system. Now, I’m not one to be paranoid, but when you’re Robert Magellan, you need to take some precautions. I’m glad he finally hired some guards and had the fencing and the alarms upgraded like I’ve been telling him to do for the past two years. I hate to think badly of my fellow man, but ever since Beth and Ian disappeared, and we didn’t know if they’d been abducted…” She shivered.

“How’s the search going?” Sam asked.

“It’s going,” Mallory replied. “No news. I’m thinking it’s going to take some creative thinking on their part to find that boy.”

“It was creative thinking on Susanna’s part that found the car in the first place,” Trula reminded her. “If Robert didn’t need her to run his life, he could hire her to work on cases. She’d make a crack detective.”

Sam watched Mallory open a cupboard and sort through a shelf of mugs until she found one that apparently pleased her. She filled it with coffee and returned to the table where she sat and added cream and sweetener. He craned his neck to read the writing on the mug. ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.

What, he wondered, was up with all the mugs?

“You met Susanna Jones last week as you were leaving. She’s been Robert’s personal assistant since before he even had his own company. Since the police put the case on the back burner, Susanna spent nearly every weekend traveling the route Robert’s wife would have taken to get back home from her sister’s in Western Pennsylvania. She took every side road, every mountain road, every hill and valley between here and Pittsburgh, until she found the place where Beth’s car had gone off the road and down the side of a mountain into a ravine where it couldn’t be seen from the road.” Mallory shook her head. “That’s determination.”

“I read about it online. I was amazed at her persistence,” Sam said.

“We all were. If anyone can find that baby, it’s going to be Susanna.” Trula nodded. “She and Robert and Emme together, they’re going to find that boy.”

“Let’s hope so.” Mallory turned back to Sam. “And speaking of finding someone…”

She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a file.

“This is all we have on the Ross Walker case.” She handed him the folder. “I spoke with Lynne Walker on Thursday. She’s expecting to hear from you today or tomorrow. I thought you’d want to start with her.”

“Thanks.” Sam put the file on the table next to him.

“Aren’t you going to look at it?”

“Sure. But right now, I’m going to eat the eggs Trula is putting onto one of those plates, and I’m going to drink my coffee. Then I’ll go to whatever place you’ve set aside for me to use as an office, and I’ll read everything you’ve given me.”

“Don’t you want to talk about it?”

“Not especially. Not right now, anyway,” he said honestly. Might as well put that out there, right up front.

“I get it.” Mallory shrugged. “I should probably be insulted, but I get it.”

“Get what?” Trula set a plate in front of them both.

“Sam likes to work alone.”

“It’s nothing personal,” he told her. “It’s the only way I’ve ever worked.”

“Haven’t you ever had a partner?”

“Not recently.”

“But when you were called in to work as a profiler, surely you had to play nicely with the others.”

“Mostly I studied whatever information there was and talked to the people in the field, but I rarely worked a case with anyone else.” He thought about that for a moment. “At least, not until I’d had time to digest the information and talk to a few people, get a feel for it. But even at that, I was really just giving my opinion and my thoughts.”

“Well, once you’ve had time to do a little digesting of Ross Walker’s case, I’d appreciate your thoughts on it.” Mallory took a piece of toast from the plate that Trula had placed between them on the table and began to butter it. “Actually, I’d more than just appreciate it. I’m going to require it.”

“So I should think of you as sort of the special agent in charge of the Mercy Street Foundation.” Sam nodded, glad to have the hierarchy spelled out. For some reason, he had assumed he’d be reporting directly to Magellan. Clearly he’d been wrong. It was good to get that straightened out on the first day.

“Something like that.” Mallory smiled and turned her attention to the scrambled eggs and bacon Trula was serving. “Nice analogy. I like it.”

Sam glanced at the sparkly round diamond on her ring finger and silently wished a lot of luck to the guy who’d placed it there. Mallory must have caught the look, because she grinned and wiggled her finger to catch the light with the stone.

“Pretty, isn’t it? My guy done good, don’t you think?”

“Very nice, yes.” Sam nodded, and Mallory laughed.

“You’ll meet Charlie soon enough,” she told him.

“He’s a detective in Conroy, and there are times when we need him to get a little info for us. Of course, now, with your contacts in the FBI, I’m thinking we might be able to let Charlie off the hook a little.”

“There are some people I can call on if we need to.” Sam nodded, already planning to check to make sure the details of Ross Walker’s murder had been entered into the Bureau’s computer system. “I’m assuming we have copies of all the reports from the investigating police department?”

“All the ones that were sent in by the widow. But I wouldn’t assume anything. I’m sure the Lincoln police have a lot more. Maybe they’ll even share it with you.”

“I’ll give them a call. I went to college in Lincoln. Haven’t been back in a while.”

“That’s right. I do recall reading that on your resume. Cornhusker, eh?”

“Absolutely. Nebraska born and raised.” He took a bite of Trula’s excellent eggs and wondered if she served breakfast to the staff when Robert was around.

He watched the older woman as she puttered, and wondered at her age-seventy-something, maybe?-and what her position here was. Robert’s housekeeper? The cook? Neither would explain why Mallory seemed to defer to her or why she appeared to have so much influence over Robert.

Interesting household .

“Well, I have some calls to make.” Mallory stood and gathered up her plate and her mug and her flatware and carried all to the sink where she rinsed all but the mug and opened the dishwasher. “By the way, Sam, you’re in the office two down from mine. Your laptop is on your desk along with everything I think you’ll need to get started. If there’s anything else you need, just let me know.”

“Thanks, Mallory.” He was pretty sure he remembered which office was hers.

“I’m in the process of unloading so leave everything on the counter,” Trula told Mallory.

“Okay.” Mallory did as she was told, filled her cup from the coffeemaker on the counter. “Thanks, Trula. Perfect, as always.” She waved to Sam as she passed out of the kitchen.

Trula turned to Sam and said, “I’m going outside to find Chloe. I’m going to have to get her to school soon. You can do as Mallory did and clear your own place whenever you finish.”