MAGGIE was up to her knees in garbage. Her Nikes were stained with barbecue sauce, her gloved hands sticky. She tossed a bulging bag to the side without opening it. Stucky would never leave it hidden inside a bag. In the past, his surprises had been left in plain sight, where they were easily discovered. Maybe she was wasting her time going through Dumpsters.

Just then she saw the corner of a take-out container. Slowly, she stepped closer, lifting each leg high as if wading through water, ignoring the squish-squash beneath her feet. She felt a surge of adrenaline as she swatted at flies and brushed off wilted lettuce, cigarette butts and wadded tinfoil.

She lifted the container carefully, keeping it level. The box was about the size of a small cake. It’d provide ample room for a kidney or a lung. Neither organ required much space. She had once found a lung from one of Stucky’s victims stuffed in a sandwich container.

She steadied her fingers and sucked in her breath. The surgical mask clung to her mouth and nose. She pulled open the lid. The smell made her turn her head and hold her breath. After a few seconds, she was able to look again. Who’d ever guess spoiled fettuccine would curdle and stink like rotten eggs? At least that was what Maggie thought the contents had once been. It was difficult to tell without lifting the fuzzy green scum off the top.

“Find anything interesting?”

The deep voice startled her. She grasped the Dumpster’s edge so she wouldn’t slip and fall backward into the trash. When she turned, she found Detective Ford staring up at her.

She tugged off the surgical mask and let it dangle at her neck.

“I’m finding that we waste entirely too much food in this country,” she said, dropping the container and climbing out of the Dumpster.

“I didn’t realize the FBI was trying to police that sort of thing.”

“So are you undercover or off duty?” she asked, pointing to the baseball cap as she peeled off the latex gloves.

“I should ask you the same thing.”

“I had some free time this morning,” she said, as if that should be explanation enough for her to be knee-deep in garbage.

“Hey, Ford, where the hell did you disappear?” a familiar voice called from around the corner.

“Over here,” Detective Ford answered.

Nick Morrelli looked just as handsome as she had remembered, tall and lean with a confident stride. He was at Ford’s side before he recognized her, and when he did his smile revealed dimples in a square jaw.

“Maggie?”

“Hi, Nick.” She pretended to sound casual while wading the rest of the way out.

“I keep forgetting you two know each other.” Ford was smiling, too. “Maggie had some free time this morning,” he said to Nick.

“Jesus, it’s good to see you, Maggie.”

Immediately, she felt her face flush.

“It might not be so good to smell me,” she said, needing to stop any sentimental reunion.

“So,” Ford said, glancing back into the Dumpster, “did you find anything interesting?”

“No, I didn’t find anything.” She needed to change the subject before Ford discovered it was body parts she had been rummaging for and not simply overlooked evidence. “Is this your case now?”

“Not officially. More than likely Milhaven and I will be putting in some hours on it. Today’s supposed to be my day off. Nick and I were just about to get an early lunch.”

“And you always take the alleys? Come on, Detective Ford.” She needed to keep things light, to keep Ford from realizing she had no business snooping around in his jurisdiction. “You’re down here taking another look, too, right?”

“Okay, you caught me.” He held up both hands as if in surrender. “I was telling Nick about last night.”

Maggie cringed, and again she wondered what exactly had been discussed. Nick knew the whole story, all the gory details about her and Stucky. Truth was, she didn’t care if Ford thought she was losing it. But maybe she did care if Nick thought it. She waited and Ford continued.

“You sorta got my curiosity up last night, O’Dell. All that talk about Albert Stucky sorta spooked me.”

She glanced from Ford to Nick, looking for some indication of whether they were taking her seriously.

“You think I’m being paranoid?”

“No, that’s not at all what I meant.” Ford looked genuinely confused. “Well, that’s not exactly true. I guess I was thinking that last night.”

“Albert Stucky has the financial wherewithal and the intelligence to go anywhere he wants. Don’t think for a second Kansas City is safe, simply because he hasn’t struck in the Midwest before.”

“That was my way of thinking last night. Like, why in the world would this Stucky guy just happen to pick Kansas City instead of the East Coast? But before I met Nick this morning, I sat in on the autopsy of your friend, Rita.”

Ford glanced at Nick, and it was obvious this was what the two of them had already discussed. “Seems our victim is missing her right kidney.”