Assignment: Marriage

by Jackie Merritt

  “Well, your nose has good instincts,” she said with a teasing smile. She wished he would smile back at her, but he didn’t. In fact, his expression was remote and his mood rather grumpy.

  After yesterday’s harassing events, the serenity of this place felt like heaven to Nicole. She was determined to be cheerful in spite of Tuck’s unsmiling countenance.

  “How about some breakfast?” she said, leaning into the back seat of the car for the sacks of food. Tuck continued to study the map without replying, so she took out a couple of oranges, a loaf of bread and then went into the ice chest for a package of sliced smoked turkey.

  She peeled both oranges, made sandwiches, and brought a paper plate of food and a cup of water to Tuck. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

  “You’re welcome.” Nicole found a tiny patch of grass a few feet from the car, spread out one of the blankets and sat down with her breakfast. Her gaze remained on Tuck while she ate. He was eating absently, intent on the map and seemingly deep in thought.

  “So, what’s next on the agenda?” she finally asked, feeling she had every right to know what he was concentrating so hard on. She suspected he was trying to ignore or forget what had happened between them last night, which hurt. She might be falling in love, but he certainly wasn’t. She really must be more realistic about their relationship, she thought with a painful tugging of her heart.

  He sent her a glance. “I’m going to have to find a phone and call Joe Crawford. The Mathisons must have been told about their cabin by now. If they called Joe and told him about it—which only makes sense—he’s probably frantic.”

  Thoughtfully, Nicole nodded. “Yes, he must be terribly concerned. But once the fire was out, wouldn’t the police, or whoever, be able to tell that there wasn’t anyone in the cabin when it exploded?”

  “No bodies? Yeah, they’d know that. But no charred bodies isn’t a guarantee that we got away.”

  “No, I suppose not,” Nicole murmured. “Lowicki’s people know we did, though. I mean, if it was spread around that the fire caused no fatalities, they have to know we escaped their desperate attempt to…to eliminate us.” She swallowed hard, suddenly nervous again. This place felt safe, but was it? Was any place?

  Tuck sensed her returning concern. “Don’t worry, okay? They probably know we got away by now, but they couldn’t possibly know where we went. Besides, they’ve got their own butts to worry about now. I’m betting they got the hell out of Coeur d’Alene immediately after the explosions.”

  “You really think so?”

  Tuck’s scowl surprised her. “You know what really galls me? Letting them get away with it.”

  “You didn’t let them do anything!”

  “The hell I didn’t. I had one of them…” He stopped. He could have shot the creep sneaking around the back of the cabin and hadn’t done it. Would he have pulled the trigger if last night’s events had happened before he’d killed those two men in that convenience store holdup? He’d thought a lot about that last night while he was driving and Nicole slept.

  There was a sudden uncomfortable knot in his stomach. “Let’s get going,” he said brusquely.

  Nicole frowned at him. “Are you angry with me about something?”

  “No.”

  She got up from the blanket. “Well, you sound like it.” Carrying her paper plate and cup, she walked over to take Tuck’s.

  He drew a long breath. She was too perceptive for lies. “I am angry, but not with you.”

  She was close enough to him to look into his eyes. “Since we’re the only ones out here, if you’re not angry with me, then you must be angry with yourself. For God’s sake, why? You saved both of our lives last night. What more do you think you should have done?” She remembered what he’d just said about letting them get away with it. “You’re not really thinking that you should have confronted those two killers, are you?”

  His mouth twisted cynically. “I’ve never run from danger before.”

  “You retreated, Tuck, you didn’t run. And don’t forget that you had me on your hands. You wouldn’t have retreated if I hadn’t been hanging on your shirttail.”

  He had to admit the truth of her argument. Until he got the “all clear” from Joe and they could return to Vegas, his first consideration was Nicole, in any setting or situation. That was what had been on his mind last night, getting her out of there and away from danger. He’d done the right thing.

  But it still rubbed him wrong, and he would welcome a face-to-face with any of Lowicki’s people anytime, anywhere. Once Nicole was out of the picture, that is.

  They got in the car. Tuck managed to turn it around on the narrow road and they headed back for the highway. Everything looked different in the daylight, Tuck realized, seeing a fence line he’d missed last night. They approached the back of a sizable sign, which he’d also missed seeing in the dark.

  Nicole swiveled in her seat to see what was on the sign. “Stop for a minute, Tuck,” she exclaimed.

  He put on the brakes. “What is it?”

  She read out loud. “‘House, barn and five acres for rent. Seven miles ahead. Three bedrooms, one bath. All utilities. Call 555-7787.’” She looked at Tuck. “Maybe we should check that out. It might be a good place to stay until Captain Crawford says it’s okay to go home. What do you think?”

  “Write down the number. Do you have something to write on?”

  “In my purse.” Nicole dug into her purse, then wrote down the telephone number on a scrap of paper. The car began moving again. “No one would ever find us out there,” she said.

  No one would if they didn’t make themselves obvious in the area, Tuck thought grimly. Was the house empty? He suddenly slammed on the brakes and began turning the car around again.

  Nicole’s eyes widened. “What’re you doing?”

  “We’re going to take a look at that house.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. Maybe it’s an awful place.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” But that wasn’t what was in Tuck’s mind. If the house was empty, they might just “borrow” it for a few days without contacting the owner. Then no one would know where they were for certain. He would, of course, make sure that the owner was well paid for the use of his house, once this was over.

  They passed the spot in the trees where they had made love and slept, and kept going with neither of. them remarking on it. The forest went on and on, and they were able to pick out areas that had once been logged.

  “There haven’t been any loggers in here for years,” Tuck said, noticing how the brush had grown up around old, weathered tree stumps. The farther they drove, the worse the road became, deeply rutted in places and all but washed away in others.

  “The paint on that sign was really faded, Tuck,” Nicole said. “Maybe it was put up years ago and the owner neglected to take it down. The house couldn’t possibly have been vacant all that time, could it?”

  “Anything’s possible.” This setup was looking better and better to him. If someone was living in that house, the road would show signs of usage, and he would bet anything that this car was the first vehicle over it in a very long time.

  The trees gave way without warning. One second they were surrounded by dense forest and the next they were in a sunshine-bright clearing. Weeds and wild grass were two to three feet high, all the way to the ramshackle house and barn. Rusted logging equipment resided next to the barn. The place was glaringly vacant.

  “Well, well,” Tuck murmured under his breath. Nicole sent him a curious glance, but he was cautiously avoiding potholes on the ancient road and missed seeing it.

  “It doesn’t look like much,” Nicole said. The house was sided with rough lumber, which had turned an unsightly gray-brown from time and weather. It had a sagging front porch and several broken windows. “It really is awful,” she added, recalling that she had speculated on that very idea.

  Tuck parked next to the house and turned off the motor. “I’m going to take a look at i
t. Coming?” He got out of the car.

  She hesitated, then followed him out.

  “There’s one thing in its favor,” Tuck stated emphatically. “No neighbors.” He looked at Nicole. “Come on. Let’s explore.”

  Eleven

  The front door wasn’t locked. Tuck pushed it open. “Hey, it’s got furniture,” he exclaimed.

  Nicole looked at the “furniture” and gulped. First of all, everything was covered in dust and cobwebs, the old, worn, olive green shag carpet, the ugly brown sofa and green chair, the scarred end tables and dime-store lamps. The room had one redeeming feature, a large, lava-rock fireplace. There was also, she noted, a monstrous heating stove in one corner of the room.

  “It’s terrible, Tuck,” she said with a grimace and a wrinkling of her nose. It even smelled dirty.

  “Pretty bad, all right,” he agreed. “Let’s see the rest of it.”

  They walked into the kitchen. There was a wood-burning cook stove, an ancient refrigerator, a sink and small counter, and a round table with four chairs.

  “Other than in museums, I’ve never even seen a stove like this,” Nicole said, moving closer to the thing to look at it.

  Tuck had to laugh at her shocked tone of voice. He turned a water faucet and nothing happened. “I wonder how they get water into the house,” he mumbled to himself. The faucets proved that the place had some sort of plumbing system, but it sure wasn’t what he was used to. He’d have to investigate that problem. “I want to see the bedrooms and bath,” he told Nicole.

  They traipsed through the bedrooms, each containing a bed, a dresser and a minuscule closet, and then the small bathroom, which was equipped with a stained metal shower stall, sink and toilet.

  Nicole didn’t like the glint in Hannigan’s eyes. “Tell me you’re not really considering renting this place,” she said.

  “It could be cleaned up,” he said.

  “You are considering it! Tuck, it’s horrible.”

  “But it’s off the beaten path.”

  That was true, but how could she bear staying in such a terrible place? “What about utilities? The sign said that it had all of the utilities, but it doesn’t.” She frantically worked a wall switch. “See? No lights.”

  “The only utility we’d have to have is plumbing. I suspect there’s a well and some kind of equipment to draw the water into the house.”

  “And you think it would work? Tuck, no one’s lived here for years. Any equipment would be long out of commission.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  Nicole felt like crying. “Well, I don’t like it. It’s awful and dirty and…and I can’t cook on a wood stove.”

  “I can.” He saw her forlorn expression, but couldn’t give in to the sympathy he felt. Lowicki’s people could search for them for ten years and never find them here. Even the owner of the house hadn’t been here in years. No one had. It was a perfect place to hide out for a while.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  Nicole nearly collapsed with relief. “Then you’re not going to rent it?”

  “Nope.” Tuck was on his way out, with Nicole on his heels. “We’re going to find a phone, then a store to buy food, some cleaning supplies and a few tools.”

  Nicole stopped dead in her tracks. “Why?”

  Tuck turned to face her. “Because we’re going to move in.”

  “Without telling the owner?”

  “Without telling anyone.” He started walking again. Reaching the car, he got in and started it.

  Nicole got in with an angry expression. “Obviously I have nothing to say about it.”

  “Obviously.”

  “You know, you can be a real pain in the neck when you want to be.”

  He turned the car around and sent her a look. “What happened to ‘Thanks for saving my life, Tuck’?”

  “You said you didn’t want thanks,” she retorted.

  “And you said you were going to cooperate,” he reminded her.

  Her eyes snapped. “When I said that we were living in a very pleasant cabin, not in a pigsty.”

  “It won’t be a pigsty after it’s cleaned.”

  “And who’s going to do the cleaning?”

  “Who’s the one complaining about the dirt?”

  “You expect me to clean that…that hovel?”

  “It’ll give you something to do while I’m figuring out the plumbing system.”

  Mentally she called him some vile names. What Tuck saw from her was a sullen, petulant expression and a pair of angrily folded arms.

  He frowned. “Nicole, you have to trust my judgment on this.”

  She knew it was true, and she also knew his judgment was sound. But that awful house gave her the heebie-jeebies. She wasn’t afraid of some hard work to clean it up, but it was in the middle of nowhere. And while Tuck might figure out the water system and even get it operational, they wouldn’t have electricity. Maybe it was snooty of her to feel so appalled at the idea of staying there, but there was a limit to what she should have to endure.

  And yet…Frowning while Tuck drove, Nicole thought about how alone they would be out there. Hadn’t she been hoping for more time together? Certainly very little would stand in the way of their getting to know each other. Once the place was clean and livable, all they would have to focus on would be each other.

  She sat straighter and unfolded her arms. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad,” she said slowly.

  Tuck’s head jerked around to send her a look. “What brought that on?”

  “Well, as you said, I have to trust your judgment, and I really do, Tuck. If you think staying out there is best, then it probably is.”

  “Hmm,” he said, sounding thoroughly puzzled. But thinking rationally, he hadn’t known Nicole long enough to understand her. She had to feel the same about him, of course. Odd that they had made love twice and didn’t really know each other. And he was positive Nicole wasn’t a woman who passed out her favors indiscriminately. He’d come in contact with that type of woman enough to recognize the species, and Nicole simply didn’t fit the mold.

  A nervous tweak gave him a start. What if she had fallen for him, as in, fallen in love? If it had happened, it was only because of their circumstances, he told himself uneasily. Because they’d been thrown together in a situation where she had to depend on him. Dependency could cause admiration and even affection.

  He smirked wryly. That might explain Nicole’s attitude toward him, but what explained his treatment of her? He sure hadn’t made love to her because of dependency. He’d made love to her because she was…special. The word hung in his mind like a helium-filled balloon. Special.

  “Oh, there’s a gas station,” Nicole exclaimed. “And it has a pay phone.” Tuck drove on by. “I thought you were going to call Captain Crawford?”

  “I am, but not from that phone. If we’re going to stay in that old house, we’re not going to make ourselves known to anyone in the vicinity.”

  “Oh.” Nicole fell silent for a moment. “It’s at least fifteen miles back to that house, Tuck, hardly in the vicinity.”

  “That service station is the closest business to that place. We won’t ever be stopping there.”

  She sighed. They thought so differently. She never forgot that he was a cop, but there were times, like now, that their differences seemed to be spelled out in capital letters.

  Tuck avoided the interstate and took back roads to a pleasant little community about thirty miles from the service station they had driven by. He slowly cruised the streets until he found the busiest corner in town. There was a fastfood restaurant, a gas station and a grocery store, all in one small area. There were lots of people and cars…and two pay phones in front of the grocery store. He pulled into a parking space.

  “Wait here,” he said as he got out.

  Nicole watched him stroll across the parking lot to one of the phones. With so much activity in the immediate vicinity, no one paid him any mind. It was what he had wanted, s
he realized. To blend with the environment, to appear as an ordinary citizen making an ordinary phone call. He thinks of everything, she thought with a slight frown. Were his instincts unique, or was every experienced cop as clearheaded and alert as Tuck Hannigan?

  Using his own personal credit card to pay for the call, Tuck dialed Joe’s private number. He’d been lucky so far about reaching Joe, Tuck thought through several rings. Joe wasn’t always in his office, and no one else had the authority to answer this particular number.

  He heaved a sigh of relief when the phone was picked up on the fifth ring. “Crawford.”

  “It’s Tuck, Joe.”

  “Tuck! Man, I’ve been walking the floor since last night. Where in hell have you been? Why didn’t you call in sooner? I didn’t know if you were alive or dead. Is Nicole all right?”

  “Nicole’s fine. Obviously you were notified about the explosion.”

  “Obviously,” Joe said dryly. His tone changed. “Thank God the two of you weren’t at the cabin.”

  “We were there, only we weren’t inside. It’s a long story, Joe. What’s going on in Vegas?”

  “So much that I don’t know where to begin. First of all, you two can come home now.”

  “You’re kidding! You mean it’s over?”

  “Damned near. The fat lady’ll do her singing in court, Tuck. We made a major bust around 1:00 a.m. last night. Picked up Lowicki and…” Joe recited a list of names, some of which caused Tuck to whistle in amazement. Joe went on. “Gil Spencer’s dead. He was shot the night of the Buckley murders, and was too damned scared to go to a hospital. Anyway, he’s history. I’ll go into the gory details of that episode when you get back. One thing more. The Coeur d’Alene police nailed the jokers in that cruiser, including the two people who fired the cabin. One of them was—take a guess—Jillian Marsden. Seems the cops in Coeur d’Alene were keeping an eye on the cruiser for their own reasons. Take another guess—drugs. Anyway, they got the bastards and so did we. Come on in, Tuck. Bring Ms. Currie home safe and sound. The prosecutor’s chomping at the bit to talk to her.”