Split Second by Alex Kava Read Free Book Online Page B

tested the drawers, then stopped suddenly, snapping his hand back as though he had been stung.
    “Um…ma’am. Did you know you had this in here?”
    Maggie crossed the room to look inside the drawer. She reached in and pulled out a black pistol encased in some kind of holster.
    “Sorry. I forgot about this one.”
    This one? Tess wondered how many the agent had stashed. Maybe the obsession with security was a bit over the top, even for an FBI agent.
    “We should be done in a bit,” the older man told her, and he followed his partner out as though there was nothing unusual about hauling loaded guns.
    “Do you have anyone coming to help you unpack?” Tess tried to disguise her mistrust, her distaste for guns. No, why kid herself? It was more than a simple distaste, it was a genuine fear.
    “I really don’t have much.”
    Tess glanced around the room, and when she looked back, Maggie was watching her. Tess’s cheeks grew hot. She felt as though she had been caught, because that was exactly what she had been thinking—that Maggie O’Dell really didn’t have much. How could she possibly fill the huge rooms that made up this two-story Tudor?
    “It’s just that…well, I remember you mentioning that your mother lives in Richmond,” Tess tried to explain.
    “Yes, she does,” she said in a way that told Tess there would be no further conversation on the topic.
    “Well, I’ll let you get back to work.” Tess suddenly felt awkward and anxious to leave. “I need to finish up the paperwork.”
    She extended her hand, and Maggie politely shook it with a strong, firm grip that again took Tess off guard. The woman exuded strength and confidence, but unless Tess was imagining things, Maggie’s obsession with security sprung from some vulnerability, some deep-seated fear. Having dealt with her own vulnerabilities and fears for so many years, Tess could sense them in others.
    “If you need anything, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”
    “Thanks, Tess, I will.”
    But Tess knew she would not.
    As Tess backed her car down the driveway, she wondered whether Special Agent Maggie O’Dell was simply cautious or paranoid, careful or obsessive. At the corner of the intersection, she noticed a van parked along the curb, an oddity in this neighborhood where the houses were set far back from the street and the long driveways afforded plenty of parking space for several cars or utility vehicles.
    The man in dark glasses and a uniform sat behind the wheel, absorbed in a newspaper. Tess’s first thought was how odd to be reading a newspaper with sunglasses on, especially with the sun setting behind him. As she drove by, she recognized the logo on the side of the van: Northeastern Bell Telephone. Immediately, she found herself suspicious. Why was the guy so far out of his territory? Then suddenly, she shrugged and laughed out loud. Perhaps her client’s paranoia was contagious.
    She shook her head, pulled out onto the highway and left the secluded neighborhood to return to her office. As she glanced back at the stately houses tucked away between huge oaks, dogwoods and armies of pine trees, Tess hoped Maggie O’Dell would finally feel safe.

CHAPTER 2
    T ess McGowan wished she had worn different shoes. These pinched and the heels were too tall. Every nerve ending in her body concentrated on not tripping as she walked up the winding sidewalk, all the while pretending not to notice the eyes that followed her. The movers had stopped unloading the truck as soon as her black Miata pulled into the drive. Sofa ends stayed in midair. Hand-trucks remained tipped. Boxes were ignored while the men in sweaty, blue uniforms stopped to watch her.
    She hated the attention and cringed at the possibility of a wolf whistle. Especially in this well-manicured neighborhood where the sanctuary-like silence would make the whistles even more obscene.
    This was ridiculous; her silk blouse stuck to her, and her skin crawled. She