Solid as Steele Read Online Free Page B

me?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œGood.”
    â€œBut I’m going anyway. I think you’re going to need me.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œI guess we’ll find out.”
    Half of him wished he hadn’t been on duty last night, and the other half was glad that he had been there when she called, but he couldn’t tell her that or much of anything else.
    â€œPack an overnight bag,” he said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause it’s a long ride and we might not get back tonight.”
    â€œFine.” She ate a piece of bacon before asking, “What about you?”
    â€œWe’ll stop at my house. I keep a bag packed.”
    She nodded, then got up and scraped the rest of her breakfast into the trash. He ate a few more bites, then cleaned off his own plate.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said.
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œUpsetting you.”
    She made a sound like harrumph and began cleaning the pan where she’d cooked the eggs, her shoulders rigid.
    He turned away, went back to the living room and folded up the afghan.
    â€œI’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs. When she was gone, he waited a moment, then pulled his cell phone from the holster on his belt and called the office.
    Max Dakota answered. “Mack, I see from the log that you checked out last night. Where are you?”
    â€œSomething came up. I need to make a quick trip to Gaptown.”
    â€œBecause?”
    He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s personal,” he said, glad that Light Street detectives had a lot of freedom. Still, he held his breath until Max said, “Okay.”
    â€œI could be out for a couple of days,” he added, just as Jamie stepped back into the living room and stopped short when she saw he was on the phone.
    As she gave him a long look, he said, “I’ll talk to you later.”
    â€œWho was that?”
    â€œThe office.”
    She kept her gaze on him as she asked, “Did you say you’re driving a nut to Gaptown?”
    â€œOf course not,” he snapped, then changed the subject, striving for an even tone. “You packed fast.”
    â€œWe’re not going out dancing,” she muttered.
    â€œYeah. Right.
    â€œDo you want me to take out the trash?” he asked. “I mean, since you’re going out of town.”
    She hesitated for a moment. “All right. The cans are by the back door.”
    He pulled the plastic bag out of the kitchen trash can and carried it outside. When he came back she was loudlyshaking out a new bag, and he knew she was uncomfortable with him doing a job her husband had obviously taken care of when he’d been alive.
    The little kitchen drama set the tone for the trip to western Maryland. After a quick stop at his house to pick up his bag, they headed down Route 70 toward Hagerstown, then onto Route 68 toward Gaptown—the supposed scene of her nightmare.
    Â 
    J AMIE SLID HER EYES toward Mack, then away as she sat in the front seat of his SUV, wondering what she was doing there. She could have stayed home, but she’d insisted on coming along, and once she’d committed herself to the trip, she’d known that he wasn’t going to let her drive her own car.
    Now she felt trapped in the front seat with Mack Steele, wishing she were anywhere else. What if the dream was something she’d conjured up out of her own anxiety? She’d be embarrassed that Mack was driving her all this way to check out a figment of her imagination, but that would be the end of it. Despite her mixed emotions, she clung to that hope as they drove west, the terrain becoming more hilly the farther they got from Baltimore. Her refuge. She’d established a life in the city, and she was going to keep living there.
    Last week, she’d gotten a letter from her mother, asking her to come home for a visit. She’d ignored the