Nate was nodding with Brady's words. "I agree. I'll call Garrison and get him up to speed." Nate stood and walked into his bedroom, dialing on the way.

Marisa sipped her coffee, picked up the muffin, and took a bite. It was delicious. She hadn't noticed before.

"More coffee?" Sam asked.

She looked inside her cup, finished the last sip, and nodded. "Let me. I want to play with the machine."

Sam laughed, and she and Rae joined Marisa in the kitchen, where Marisa figured out the Keurig. "I really missed America."

"I know what you mean," Rae said.

Marisa turned to the tall woman. "You've lived abroad?"

"Nate didn't tell you?"

Marisa looked at the closed door of his bedroom. "We haven't had a lot of time to catch up."

"We were colleagues."

More than colleagues at one point, but Marisa didn't quibble about the details.

"I'm a reporter, too," Rae said. "I lived in Tunisia."

"What brought you home?"

Rae looked at Sam, who lifted her eyebrows.

"It's a long story. You should ask Nate about it."

"I've tried a couple of times to ask him why he left the Times, but he always changes the subject."

Sam took Marisa's hand and squeezed. "Ask again. I think you need to know."

Their expressions were too serious. Seemed these two women knew a lot more about Nate than she did, and they felt she needed to know. Why, though? Would it affect their ability to find Ana and Leslie? Or did they think there was more going on between her and Nate?

Was there?

Marisa slid her coffee across the counter, took her muffin from the coffee table, and perched on a barstool. She ate the muffin, sipped her coffee, and wondered about the man who'd come to mean so much to her.

Chapter 15

AFTER NATE FILLED GARRISON in on all they'd learned, he stepped back into the living room to find Marisa chatting with Rae and Sam. Her plate held crumbs, and her coffee was half full. She was laughing at something, and the sound was more beautiful than a symphony at Carnegie Hall.

She turned when he walked in, her smile fading. Not the effect he wanted to have on her, but it couldn't be helped.

"Garrison thought our theories were sound," he said. "In fact, he was a little annoyed he'd never put it together before."

Brady stood in front of the fire, where he'd been adding more logs and probably avoiding all the estrogen in the kitchen. "He didn't have all the information." He brushed his hands off on his jeans.

"That's what I told him, but you know how those law enforcement guys are. All ego."

"Watch it," Brady said.