Split Second

CHAPTER 61

Tully sank into the chair and laid his head back against the cushion. He listened to O’Dell slam her car door and then gun the engine, squealing the tires—taking out her anger on his driveway. He could understand her frustration. Hell, he was frustrated, too. He wanted Stucky caught just as badly as O’Dell. But he knew this was personal for O’Dell. He couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling. Three women, all of them acquaintances of hers, all of them brutally murdered simply because they had the misfortune of meeting Maggie O’Dell.

When he looked up, Emma stood in the door to the hallway, leaning against the wall and watching him. She hadn’t changed or combed her hair. He was suddenly too tired to remind her. She continued to stare at him, and he remembered that she still wasn’t talking to him. Well, fine. He wasn’t talking to her either. He laid his head back again.

“Was that your new partner?”

He glanced at her without moving from his comfortable position, trying to keep the surprise of her sudden armistice to himself in case she had temporarily forgotten.

“Yeah, O’Dell’s my new partner.”

“She sounded really pissed at you.”

“Yeah, I think she is. I guess I really have a way with women, don’t I?”

Surprisingly, Emma smiled. He smiled back and then she laughed. In two steps she came to him and crawled into his lap the way she used to do when she was a little girl. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against him before she could change her mind. She tucked her head under his chin and settled in.

“Do you like her?”

“Who?” Tully forgot what they were talking about. It felt so good to hold his little girl again.

“O’Dell, your new partner.”

“Yeah, I guess I like her. She’s a smart, tough lady.”

“She’s really pretty.”

He hesitated, wondering if Emma was concerned he would run off with one of his co-workers just as her mother had done.

“Maggie O’Dell and I are only partners at work, Emma. There isn’t anything else going on between us.”

She sat quietly, and he wished she’d talk to him about any fears she might have.

“She did seem really pissed at you,” she finally said with a bit of a giggle.

“She’ll get over it. I’m more concerned about you.”

“Me?” She twisted around to look at him.

“Yeah. You seemed really pissed at me, too.”

“Oh, that,” she said, settling in against him again. “I’m over that.”

“Really?”

“I was thinking if we don’t spend all that money it’d cost me to go to the prom, I thought maybe I could get a really cool CD Walkman, instead?”

“Oh, really?” Tully smiled. Yes, he was quite certain he’d never understand women.

“Don’t have a cow. I have enough of my own money saved.” She wiggled out of his arms and out of his lap. Now she stood in front of him, arms crossed, waiting for his response and looking more like the teenager he remembered. “Can we go pick one out today?”

Was this any way to raise a teenage daughter, teaching her that she would receive some material thing for good behavior? Instead of analyzing it, he simply said, “Sure. Let’s go this afternoon.”

“All right!”

He watched her practically skip back to her room while he got up and wandered over to the coffee table. He found the file folder and slid it out from under one of the piles. He flipped it open and started going through the file: a police report, a copy from a DNA lab, a plastic bag with a pinch of metallic-flecked dirt stapled to an evidence document, a medical release form from Riley’s Veterinary Clinic.

Last night Detective Manx had given him the file marked Rachel Endicott, the missing neighbor O’Dell suspected Stucky had taken. Now, from the looks of the evidence and a recent DNA lab report, even the arrogant, stubborn Manx had been able to figure out that Ms. Endicott may have indeed been kidnapped. After seeing how close to the edge O’Dell was this morning, Tully wondered whether or not he should show her the file. Because according to the lab’s DNA test, Albert Stucky had not only been in Rachel Endicott’s house, but he’d helped himself to a sandwich and several candy bars. And now there was no doubt in Tully’s mind that Stucky had also helped himself to Ms. Endicott.