Cold Spite (Cold Justice: Most Wanted #5)

Chapter 47

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

C as drove, and Delilah took shotgun.

They’d arrived at SeaTac early but had had to wait for his bags, which included his weapons, to be offloaded. Cas refused to go anywhere without his equipment. That way if HRT did get a call out, he could still turn up prepared. Birdman and Sebastian Black would bring anything he forgot—assuming Payne Novak didn’t cut him from the team.

It was a 25-minute drive to the Alki Beach area where Nicole and Preston Zimmerman lived with Nicole’s daughter Melody. Thankfully, the time difference meant it was only two-thirty in the afternoon. Their return flight was scheduled for 5:10 p.m.

He couldn’t afford to miss it.

He forced the anxiety about what would happen if his bosses found out about his little field excursion from his mind.

He was here now. With Delilah.

“You sure you don’t want to wait in the car like the director wants you to?” he asked Delilah as he turned into the neighborhood where the Zimmermans lived.

“The director said no one was supposed to know I was still alive, not that I am under house arrest. Nicole won’t recognize me.” Delilah reached into her bag and pulled out a short, poorly cut, mouse-brown wig that presumably Alex Parker had provided her with and a pair of thick-framed reading glasses she’d picked up on the way through the airport.

She spent a moment fitting the wig and then slid the glasses up her nose. She added a wad of cotton inside each cheek. She wore the Navy blazer and a black turtleneck. Black pants and boots.

“What do you think?” Her voice sounded different.

She looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful. But she didn’t look like Lacey Reed or Delilah Quinn.

“I’d be surprised if she made the connection.”

They pulled up at a large modern-looking, gray-painted, single-family home with a double garage at the front. It was close to the Sound but too far away for a decent view of the ocean. The shrubs were all huddled neatly down for winter and rain dripped off the tree branches, which overhung the driveway.

He glanced around. It was a nice place, surrounded by lush greenery, but cold dampness clung to his skin, just like Virginia. He missed winter in Texas, but the summers were like living in a clothes dryer.

He could see a vehicle in the rearview on the next block over. Exhaust was running, so someone was in it. He adjusted his side mirror to get a closer look, but the person drove away.

He pushed open the door and led the way. There was no reason to think Nicole knew what he looked like, so they’d agreed he’d take point, as his FBI creds were legit should Nicole decide to question his identity. Of course, if she did so, then there’d be no way of hiding the fact he was standing in a Seattle neighborhood rather than in DC.

The doorbell echoed, and he could see through the clear glass at the side of the front door—attractive but a terrible security feature. Suitcases were packed in the hallway. They both held up their creds as they heard someone approaching.

The door opened to a woman he recognized from the trial. She blinked at him in confusion. She was on the phone.

“Someone is at the door, Mom. Yes, I’ll remember sunscreen. Melody will be fine. I mean, you’re the one who told me a child needs a father. I have to go. I’ll pick you up in forty-five minutes.” She hung up on her mother and planted a fist on her hip. “What does the FBI want now?”

The hostility was clear.

“We wanted to talk to you for a moment about your ex-husband. Do you mind if we come in for a few minutes?” asked Cas.

She huffed a breath, and then her eyes swept the neighbors as if someone might be watching. “Like I have a choice. Come in. Take your shoes off.” She headed back into the house, and they followed her into a brightly lit space that was open-plan kitchen, dining, and living room. The windows were huge, but the tall conifers edging the property provided plenty of privacy.

“You’re going on a trip?”

Nicole Zimmerman wore yoga pants over a distended belly and a pretty blouse. Her hair was up in a loose ponytail, and her makeup was perfect. “A quick trip to Hawaii while I’m still able to fly.”

Cas’s mood sank. “May I ask if you have had any contact with your ex since he was released?”

“Why? What are the FBI trying to pin on him this time?”

Murder, attempted murder with a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to murder. “Nothing, but we are concerned with some incidents that raise a few questions.”

“What incidents?” She pulled a crystal glass out of the mahogany cabinet and filled it with water out of the refrigerator door.

“You have a beautiful home,” Delilah admired.

A look of pleasure filled Nicole’s eyes. “Thank you.”

“When is your baby due?”

Her hand went protectively over the bump. “May 15.”

Cas glanced at Delilah, but there was nothing in her expression to give away any hurt she might feel when looking at a pregnant woman, knowing that was something she’d never experience. Maybe she was okay with that. Maybe she didn’t want kids. He frowned. Maybe he was the one with the hangups about children.

He got back to why he was here. “Are you aware that several of the people who were part of the case against your husband have recently died under suspicious circumstances?”

Nicole’s eyes crinkled. “I wasn’t, but if you had any proof Joseph was involved, you’d already have arrested him.”

“It’s early days in the investigation,” he said quietly. “We understand he met your daughter on Tuesday.”

“Yes. It went well apparently.” She sipped the water and then wiped the corners of her lips.

“That was the first time he’d met her since his conviction?”

Nicole nodded. “I moved away after he went to prison. I grew up around here, and my mom lives about five miles away. She helped me with Melody when she was little. Joseph wanted me to bring Melody to the prison to visit, but it was such a horrible place I didn’t want to expose her to that.”

“So you came here and then met your second husband?”

“Yes.” She nodded again. “We both went to the same high school, although we didn’t really know each other back then.”

“Do you mind if I ask if you were ever scared of your ex-husband, Nicole? Do you mind if I call you Nicole?” asked Delilah.

Nicole placed her glass on the counter, her fingers squeezed around it. “He could be pretty intense and had a temper if I didn’t do what he wanted, but he never physically abused me.”

As long as she behaved?

“Did he scare you?”

Nicole’s eyes flashed before she looked away. “Like I said, he was an intense guy. All those guys were.”

Cas felt the brush of the glance Delilah sent him. He’d been guilty back in the day. He liked to think he’d mellowed over the years.

“Is Melody desperate to reestablish a relationship with her daddy? ”

Nicole pulled a face. “I wouldn’t call her desperate, but it’s important she gets to know him and his family. She’s spending spring break down in Louisiana.”

Cas wondered whose idea this really was and felt for the little girl. Perhaps Preston didn’t want another man’s kid around, reminding him constantly that his wife had been married before. “I’m sure it will be a good opportunity for you and your new husband to spend quality time together before the baby is born.”

Nicole’s gaze swung to him, and her eyes started to narrow in annoyance.

“I’m sure you would do everything you can to protect your children,” Delilah inserted herself. “The FBI is genuinely concerned that Joseph Scanlon or his brother was involved in the murder of one of the FBI agents involved in the case against him?—”

“That slut down in San Diego? I heard she died in a house fire.”

Delilah flinched.

Cas clenched his fists.

“The admiral who stripped him of his trident was also murdered along with his wife yesterday morning.”

Nicole shivered and hugged herself, a worried expression crossing her features. “I spoke to Joseph yesterday on a video call. He was at work in the garage in LaCroix. Are you saying he killed this admiral?”

“No, ma’am.” Cas wished they had the evidence they needed to prove Joseph was involved when the guy was laying down all of his alibis with neatly slotted precision. “But it’s possible he’s working with someone?—”

She threw up her hands. “So you have nothing. No evidence. Just a hunch that he might be involved in something whereas it could have been anyone. The FBI has a grudge against Joseph. He did his time. Paid his debt to society. Seems to me I’m the one who should hold the biggest grudge, but I’ve found it in my heart to forgive and move on. ”

How very gracious of her.

“Did you ever suspect him of any wrongdoing when the two of you were married?” asked Delilah.

Nicole crossed her arms. “Are you trying to implicate me now?”

“No, ma’am,” Delilah assured her. “I’m suggesting that perhaps you’re not that great at reading your ex, who is an expert manipulator.”

Nicole’s eyes bugged. “Wow. You came all this way to tell me I’m a lousy judge of character? Like I don’t know that? He humiliated me in that courtroom. I stood by him, and then they played that video…I wanted to die from shame.”

“I’m saying that perhaps he’s still tricking you and maybe it would be worth waiting a little longer before Melody spends time alone with him…” Delilah was clearly searching for the right words, but Cas figured it was a hopeless cause. The woman had plans and obviously didn’t want to change them without concrete proof her kid was in danger.

“Mrs. Zimmerman, I beg you?—"

“Enough. I don’t need you to tell me how to parent. You can both leave now.” She held her arms out wide and herded them along like stray cows. “Out. We have to get to the airport. Melody,” the woman shouted up the stairs and the sound of feet pounded down toward them.

A girl wearing deep pink leggings and a white top with sequins hesitated on the first landing, staring at them, a giant pink teddy bear clutched under one arm. Her sandy hair and blue eyes were identical to her father’s.

Nicole opened a closet door and pulled out coats and boots. “Here, put this on.”

“I don’t want to go to Weisiana!”

Frustrated, Nicole shot them a glare. “You enjoyed spending time with your father on Tuesday, didn’t you?”

The kid nodded reluctantly.

“He bought you that teddy and ice cream. ”

The bottom lip stuck out. Words mumbled. “I wanna stay with you and Papa.”

“Papa and I are going away on a short break. You’re going to meet the rest of your family.”

No wonder the kid was confused.

“I wanna come with you!” The girl stamped her feet and looked furious.

When Cas had been her age, he’d have given anything to belong to a family, any family, but all too often it wasn’t as wonderful as his young mind had envisioned.

Little Melody knew she was surplus to requirements and was soon going to be replaced with a younger model. Her survival instincts were screaming, but not because she was in fear of her father. She was terrified of losing her mother.

Cas leaned down and admired the girl’s bright pink roller case with a unicorn on the front. “Is this your case? I love the horse.”

“It’s a unicorn.”

“No kidding.”

She nodded reluctantly. Then she started sniffling, but Nicole held up her hand in a silent signal that suggested her patience was at an end.

“We have to go now, or we’ll be late. We have to pick up Grandma, and she’s going to take you through to the gate. Get your coat on.” She picked up her own jacket. “Everything you need is in your case. The flight attendant will help you put it on and take it off the luggage rack. You have your phone so you can text me when you arrive, a tablet for reading and watching movies, and coloring books plus something to eat on the journey in your backpack. You like flying, remember?” Nicole coaxed.

Melody shook her head vigorously.

Sympathy rose inside Cas, a desire to calm the kid. Because whether he and Delilah liked it, short of kidnapping Melody Scanlon, there wasn’t much they could do to prevent her seeing her father. Frazer had said he didn’t think Scanlon would harm the child. They had to hold onto that .

“Would you like me to put your luggage in the trunk of your car for you, Mrs. Zimmerman?”

Delilah’s brows rose, but he could hardly watch a pregnant woman struggle with a heavy load, especially when she was already dealing with an understandably recalcitrant kid.

Nicole looked surprised. “Sure. Thanks.”

They slipped their shoes on as she opened an interior door to the garage. There sat a Lexus RX and a fully electric Prius. “Melody. In.” She popped the trunk on the Lexus, and Cas put both their suitcases and bags into the rear compartment. The kid climbed into the backseat with a mutinous expression.

“Thank you.” Nicole opened the garage door. “You can leave through this way.”

Delilah looked torn.

“I appreciate the concern, but Melody is going to be fine,” she said firmly. “Next time call before you visit.”

“Could we get your cell number?” he asked.

She gave it to them, and Delilah typed it into her phone.

“Have a nice vacation.” Cas followed Delilah back to the rental car, wishing he believed the kid would be safe with a man who’d tried to blow him up two days ago.