Stranded

trainers and handlers.
    “None of the women complain,” he said, referring to the panties that she now tossed aside.
    “That’s true,” she admitted. “Those I’ve seen, always leave here with a smile. I guess even as they’re leaving their panties behind.”
    He thought she looked more amused than angry, but then she became serious again.
    “When you drink you depreciate the business,” she said, looking him square in the eyes.
    “You don’t need to worry. I have that all under control.”
    “Right. That’s exactly what I was thinking when I walked inhere.” She said it as she waved her hand around the room like Vanna White on
Wheel of Fortune
, showing him what he had won.
    He knew he wouldn’t win this argument. She was right. He was drinking too much, but he tried to defend himself anyway.
    “I only drink on weekends.”
    “It’s Tuesday.”
    “Are you sure?” He rubbed at his eyes. That couldn’t be right. How could he lose a whole day?
    She shook her head at him.
    “I just took an assignment for you. Some bodies dug up in Iowa. Might be more buried.”
    “Maybe you can send Felix.”
    “Felix is on vacation.”
    “I thought he wasn’t going until the eighteenth.”
    “Yesterday was the eighteenth. You sure you’re okay?”
    The sarcasm was gone. Now she sounded concerned. That wasn’t good. Ryder would rather take the sarcasm.
    She continued when he didn’t respond. “This has been a bad stretch for you, Rye. I’m starting to get worried.”
    The truth was he wanted to tell her she was right. He wanted to tell her he couldn’t do another search. Not this soon. The last one had drained the life from him. The high hopes and then the crashing low that followed nearly broke him. He couldn’t stomach the smell of another rotting corpse while his adrenaline pumped and his expectations soared. Each time with each dead body he kept thinking, “Will this one be her?” Would he finally find his little sister?
    This last body had been that of a child, approximately the same age Brodie was when she disappeared. But even when the bodies were those of adult females it didn’t rule Brodie out. Just becauseshe disappeared at eleven years old didn’t mean she had died then. There was always the possibility that she had lived on for any part of the fifteen years she had been missing. So each child, each teenager, each young woman, each unidentified female corpse, held promise and misery. And each time a body was identified as someone else, Creed felt a sickening combination of relief and sadness. Relief because she might still be alive. Sadness because if she was, it could be a life of hell on earth.
    He looked up at Hannah, met those brown eyes that could lecture as good as love. “Let me take a shower and you can tell me about the assignment.”
    He stood and the room swirled. He caught himself and glanced at Hannah to see if she noticed. Of course she had.
    “Don’t worry, okay?” he told her and this time he was serious. When that didn’t seem to convince her, he added, “I promise I’ll let you know when it’s time to get worried.”

CHAPTER 10

    Maggie would rather be back in the mud instead of being stuck inside to watch from the window.
    The mobile crime lab had just arrived. She saw Tully stop them in the driveway. He directed them to the site where the garbage bag waited. She knew he would make them outline their plan of how they’d remove the body before he allowed them to start.
    He’d been on his cell phone since he’d left the farmhouse in between questioning the property’s executor, Howard Elliott, and ordering around Sheriff Uniss and his deputies. In the past, Tully always seemed pleased to hand off jurisdiction to the local authorities. A play-by-the-rules guy, he understood and accepted his role as outside consultant. So Maggie was pleased but, again, surprised to see him taking over with such relish. Perhaps he was simply happy not to be stuck in the house with a half-naked Lily.
    Maggie felt like she had gotten the short straw. For ten years she had fought to be treated no different than her male colleagues. And for the most part she was successful. One look into Tully’s eyes had reminded her that dealing with Lily was a job for a woman. No discussion. No doubt about it. Which made little sense to Maggie because, despite their shared gender, there was absolutely nothing else she had in common with this woman.
    She glanced back at Lily, who still hadn’t