Read Online What Washes Up by Dawn Lee McKenna - Free Book Online Page B

over the marina, and Maggie kept her eyes averted from it as she knocked on the door to room 212. David’s shrimp boat had been blown up just a short way down the creek, and Maggie had yet to be able to look at it without feeling like someone was scooping out her insides with a spoon.
    The female agent from earlier opened the door. She was about Maggie’s height, but only in her late twenties, with an efficiently short cut to her blond hair and no sign of makeup.
    “Lieutenant Redmond?” she asked quietly.
    “Yes.”
    “He’s sleeping, but come on in,” the agent said, stepping back.
    Maggie stepped inside, Kyle’s Star Wars backpack in one hand, two grocery bags of clothes in the other.
    The agent closed the door quietly. “I’m Gerri Winters.”
    Maggie nodded at her and looked toward the back of the room. The front of the room held a small sitting area and a kitchenette. Beyond it, separated by a curtain that had been left open, was a sleeping area with two full-sized beds. There was a very small lump in one of them.
    “I brought him some clothes and things, a few toys,” Maggie said softly. “I wasn’t sure what you’d have time to grab for him, so there’s a toothbrush and a pack of toothpaste in here, too.”
    “Thanks. One of us was going to run out later, but this is helpful.”
    “How’s he doing?”
    The agent shrugged. “We talked to him for a little bit, then just let him go to bed. He was asleep before he put his head down.”
    Maggie nodded. “Should I just put these things in there?”
    Gerri nodded. “Yeah, just put them on top of the dresser.”
    Maggie walked back to the sleeping area, gently set the grocery bags on top of a cheap oak dresser next to the bed where Virgilio was sleeping, then propped the backpack on the floor next to it.
    She stood there and watched him for a minute, though she couldn’t see anything but a shock of dark hair peeking out from under the covers. He was curled into a comma, his back to her. She could see the steady movement of his back as he breathed.
    She reached into the side pocket of the backpack, pulled out a small, stuffed Mickey Mouse, and tucked it near his head on the pillow. Then she turned around and walked away.

T he next morning, Maggie was sitting at her desk, filling out her report on the previous night, when Wyatt set a to-go cup from Cafe con Leche on her desk.
    “Gertrudis says hi,” he said.
    Maggie looked up at Wyatt with pure gratitude. He had his own cup of coffee in hand. “Oh, my gosh, thank you,” she said.
    “They miss you over there.”
    Maggie took a long swallow of her café con leche and sighed. “I miss them, too.”
    “She also said that if you need to, you can call ahead from your car and she’d run your coffee around the corner to you,” Wyatt said.
    “I’d feel stupid and melodramatic,” Maggie said. “I can look at a river. I’ll stop in there tomorrow morning.”
    Wyatt looked at his watch. “Tomlinson’s on his way over to brief us on what he’s got so far.”
    “Okay.”
    “What are you working on?”
    Maggie shrugged. “I’m doing my prelim on last night. Hopefully, Tomlinson’s got something I can do. Otherwise, I’m going to be waiting around for someone to rob the Piggly Wiggly.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t count on getting much from Tomlinson,” Wyatt said. “Nice guy, I like him. But he’s going to include us only as much as he needs to.”
    Maggie sighed. “I’m sure that’s true.”
    “Don’t worry,” Wyatt said as he headed out of her office. “Somebody’s bound to kill somebody soon.”
    “You’re always such a glass-half-full kinda guy,” Maggie said to his back.

    Half an hour later, Maggie rapped on the side of Wyatt’s door and walked in. Tomlinson was leaning on Wyatt’s desk drinking a cup of the office coffee. Wyatt was still drinking his, leaning back in his leather chair.
    “Morning, Lieutenant,” Tomlinson said.
    “Agent Tomlinson,” she answered, and sat