#0004 White Out

by Calle J. Brookes

  Someone had to know one of the rare times each week Wade was alone. Unless it had been completely random. “There’s no pattern of when it’s Wade and when it’s Angela alone in that house.”

  “There wasn’t. It could have just as easily been Angela there.”

  “So…if it was targeted at one of them, we can’t know for sure which one it was.”

  “We need to keep a detail—one of ours—on Angela. Now,” Paige said. “Nothing was taken. Nothing is showing up as illegal activities. He had no known enemies. We need to dig as deeply into both of them as possible. But what if it wasn’t Wade who was the target?”

  Chapter 13

  Deputy Carroll was going to be more of a problem than she or Al needed right now. After they ordered an FBI detail—Jaz and Saul got that fun honor—he’d turned completely obnoxious. Demanding to know why he wasn’t consulted and why his people weren’t being used.

  And he’d targeted Paige as the one he liked to lash out at whenever he could now.

  Probably because Al had a very big, very scary brown-haired, blue-eyed guard dog, who was usually close by. Mick had told Carroll exactly how he and Al were connected. Mick was silent, but he watched every move everyone was making. Especially Paige.

  It had her on edge. Deputy Disgusting was far worse.

  In the meantime, she had to hold on to her temper. She was a professional. She’d met pricks before. She would again.

  Nugent caught her when she walked by the conference room where he’d taken up residence.

  “What have you got?”

  “Nothing. These people are as typical as you can get. Only one speeding ticket between them in fifteen years. Other than a few hateful emails from Angela’s brother five years ago, there’s nothing.”

  “What was in the emails?” Nugent wouldn’t have brought them up if there wasn’t something there.

  “Demands. For cash, what else? He needed bail money. DUI and possession. Then when Angela and Wade—he emailed both—said no, there was cajoling, followed by threats. From what I can tell, there’s been no contact with him since.”

  “What do we know about the brother?” It hurt her, the divide she saw sometimes within the families they came into contact with. People didn’t always know what they had.

  She often thought about the brother she’d idolized and lost when she had been less than four. She could barely remember anything about him. He’d been the only stability she’d had until she had found Carrie on the streets when she’d been a teenager.

  She and Carrie had been each other’s only family from that day forward. Until back in June when Carrie’s biological father had arrived in time to literally save the day—and Paige and Carrie’s lives.

  Paige had a family now, even if that was just the outskirts of Carrie’s. It was hard to see all the families sometimes, and not miss what she’d never had.

  The things people did to those they were connected to by biology always shocked her. She just didn’t understand it.

  That was one reason why even though Mick annoyed her to no end, she loved watching Al with her brothers and her parents. Seeing how they loved each other. It gave Paige hope, restored her faith that real families who loved one another still existed.

  Al would die for her brothers—and they would die to protect her. Morbid, but it was the truth. They loved each other just that much.

  What had happened between Angela and her brother to warrant five years of silence?

  Paige needed to figure out if what it was had been strong enough to lead to an execution five years later.

  Somehow.

  “Get me the emails. I’ll show the rest of the team.”

  Chapter 14

  Angela’s family lived in the city limits of the small town of Dover Springs. Her mother, sister, brother, and various aunts and uncles were listed in a phone book so small Paige was floored. The school system served less than two thousand students. Most of those had at least a forty-minute bus ride each way and were from outlying parts of the county.

  After the emails she’d shown Sebastian and Deputy Disgusting, Paige and Al found themselves walking down what had to pass as the worst block in Dover Springs. The apartments were in older buildings, and in obvious need of repair.

  The scent of weed and burned beans filled the air, stinging her lungs, along with the snow. Paige needed to buy herself a thicker coat when she got a chance.

  For a moment she flirted with the idea of transferring to a field office in a much warmer climate. She used to like to wander. She and Carrie would pick up and take off whenever the urge hit them. Traveling with the bureau was almost the same.

  New situations. New challenges.

  If it didn’t mean leaving Carrie and Al, she almost would consider it. Just for the warmth alone.

  They had two sheriff’s deputies walking three feet behind them. Paige understood. Deputy Disgusting didn’t trust them to handle an interview on their own.

  He’d have to get over it.

  Still, the deputies weren’t nearly as problematic as Deputy Carroll. They were actually polite and welcoming. Friendly. One had even admitted they were out of their depth with a homicide like this. In rural parts of many states, a considerable number of deputies were actually unpaid volunteers. Most of the Dover Springs force was exactly that.

  Men and women who volunteered to help keep their neighbors safe.

  The two walking with them were part of the paid, four-man force besides Deputy Carroll and the missing sheriff.

  It was unfathomable to her. She looked at the one closest to her. “Deputy Jacobs, do you know the brother well?”

  “Watch your step. That’s ice there.” Deputy Jacobs was a forty-something black man of average height who had nice eyes and a kind smile. She’d liked him immediately. “Not well. Just what I’ve heard. He was always the troublemaker, until everyone got bigger than him. Nick hated to be one-upped at anything. Still does. He liked to party, too. Nobody understood it; his mom is a teacher at the school. English. Her older daughter runs the bank. I went to school with her. Nice lady. Nick is the family screwup. He’s always been.”

  That jibed with what they’d been told. “History?”

  “Drugs, mostly. Petty crimes. Caught him stealing from the local food pantry once. Which was stupid. All he had to do was follow proper channels, and he’d have been given the food.”

  Ego driven, probably arrogant. Cocky to hide his insecurities.

  Paige didn’t want to prejudge, but they’d all seen people like this before.

  Profiling worked because people followed particular behavioral patterns. It didn’t hurt to have an idea going in.

  It could save time that way.

  They arrived at Nick Delasi’s apartment. It was one of four, part of a duplex that was matched by the building across the street.

  It had seen better days. Even in the low glow of the streetlights, it had no charm whatsoever. Utilitarian.

  The street was deserted. If it wasn’t for those lights, it would be total darkness. Paige shivered again.

  This place was really bringing back memories she didn’t want to think about.

  Ice was forming on the door.

  Paige rapped her knuckles against it quickly, ignoring the sting of the ice.

  She hated snow and ice.

  Hawaii was starting to sound better and better. Maybe she’d just take a vacation there first chance she got.

  Chapter 15

  Al waited until Nick Delasi’s door swung open before stepping closer. “Mr. Delasi, I’m Agent Alessandra Brockman with the FBI. We’re here to ask you a few qu—”

  The door slammed in her face. Al watched through the window as the guy headed to the back door and threw it open. “He’s running out the back!”

  Al and Paige jumped into immediate action. Al darted left around the building.

  Paige went right.

  Deputies Jacobs and Allen
ski followed.

  Paige caught up to Delasi first. No surprise. Al suspected it was because Paige was all skinny legs and arms and an endless energy.

  Right before Al’s eyes, Paige launched herself at Delasi and brought him down.

  The two slid fifteen feet on a solid patch of ice. All Al could see was their outlines in the near complete darkness of the backyard.

  Al barely missed skidding into the two of them by inches in the dark. Just as Paige slammed into the curb. Al couldn’t see it, but she heard it.

  Al wrapped her hands around the man’s coat. “Cuffs!”

  Jacobs was half a step behind her. He had flex cuffs ready.

  Once Delasi was secured, Al turned toward her partner.

  Paige’s trousers were ripped. Her coat was covered in mud and snow and road filth from the salts used to treat the pavement.

  But it was the bloody nose that concerned Al.

  Jacobs hauled Delasi to his feet. “Nick Delasi, you have the right to remain silent…”

  Al let the locals deal with Angela Heathers’s brother. She reached down and wrapped her hand around Paige’s elbow. She lifted, holding Paige steady, while Paige gained her footing. “You look like you took him down in a fistfight.”

  “He has bony elbows.”

  “Wonder why he rabbited?”

  “Smells like ammonia,” Paige said through her fingers. Fingers that were red from blood.

  “Interesting.” Al pulled a tissue packet from her pocket and handed one over. “That looks like it’s going to sting for a while. Is it broken?”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve…had a few since I woke in the hospital. Every bump is going to cause it for a while. A side-effect from the drug Psycho-player used.”

  Al winced. “I’m sorry.”

  “Plus, our little rabbit has some seriously sharp elbows.” Al fell into step next to her. They were careful—the sidewalk hadn’t been shoveled or cleared or salted in a while.

  They were walking on—literally—thin ice. “Let’s get back to the station. Ask Mr. Delasi some questions. And get you cleaned up.”

  “Deputy Disgusting is going to enjoy this.” Paige looked down at her slush-stained clothes. Blood dripped past the tissue and landed on the snow in a dark stain.

  Al flinched.

  It looked just like Mick’s had the night he’d nearly died.

  Al would never love the snow again. “Come on. Let’s get going. You need to get out of those wet clothes.”

  “No kidd—” Paige’s voice trailed off as they got nearer the back door of Delasi’s apartment. They weren’t technically on the property where they stood. They were standing on Second Street.

  But they could see in the bright light of the kitchen. No warrant necessary.

  It was practically in plain view.

  Sweet.

  They looked straight into the back of the apartment.

  Where the ingredients to bake a batch of crystal methamphetamines were lined up neatly. Next to all the equipment a man could need to make enough for his own personal use. And more.

  Apparently Nick Delasi had a hobby.

  “Well. I guess that explains why he rabbited. Let’s go. Things just got interesting.”

  Chapter 16

  Mick Brockman studied the young guy as Al and one of the local deputies led him through the precinct. “Who is he?”

  “Name’s Nick Delasi,” Carroll said, disgustedly. “Angela’s brother. Wonder why he’s cuffed?”

  “I’d say it has a high likelihood of being related to the blood on Paige’s face,” Saul Hernandez, one of the Team Three agents, said. His sarcasm was hard to miss. Most of Team Three had made it clear that Carroll wasn’t exactly helpful.

  Mick was cataloging exactly how everyone handled themselves.

  The director had called and changed the scope of Mick’s assignment. He wanted several members of Team Three evaluated.

  For purposes that he didn’t share.

  Mick was trying not to wonder why. Following orders blindly hadn’t been his way for a long, long time.

  Al and Paige separated from Delasi and headed toward Sebastian. And Mick.

  That’s when Mick got his first real good look at Paige.

  She was an utter wreck. Muddy, bloody, her coat torn. And she was in pain.

  Mick stepped forward and then stopped himself.

  It wasn’t his place to care about her. “What the hell happened?”

  It was his sister who answered after motioning Paige to sit. “Nick here has been making meth to share with his friends. He decided not to be helpful by answering our questions. He and Paige had a meeting of the minds on some ice.”

  “Did she lose?” Mick asked, picturing what his sister implied all too well. Delasi might have been a shorter guy, but he still outweighed Paige, easily.

  “She is right here,” Paige said through the tissues held to her face. Mick turned more fully toward her.

  Ed Dennis wanted her watched. Mick was still trying to figure out why. Unless it was because the director was worried about how she was holding up after what had happened to her.

  He felt like a damned spy, or a rat.

  “How badly are you hurt?” Mick bit back the anger he felt when those damned eyes of hers met his. He hadn’t missed the pain.

  “I’ll live. Delasi has sharp elbows.”

  “It’s more the concrete she ran into that concerns me,” Al said quietly. “Paige, you hit hard. Are you sure you don’t need to be looked at?”

  Al handed her a tissue from the nearest desk. Paige held it up to her face. It came away red. Mick had seen enough. “That’s it. Before you take another step into the field, I want you cleared by a physician.”

  “And how am I going to get there? In case you missed it, the hospital is the next county over. Seb needs me here. And Al. It’s a bloody nose. I’ve had a bunch…since then.”

  Mick knew what she referred to, and he had to push back the anger. He wanted her to snap fire at him like she used to. Before last Thanksgiving. Instead, she was only half as fiery as she used to be. “I’m superfluous at the moment. Let’s go. I’m your damned taxi.”

  She looked at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not for a moment. Move.”

  Chapter 17

  Merrick Cody loved the snow. The clean, white perfection of it blanketing the world around her made her forget the day she’d had.

  It wasn’t easy for her to do that sometimes.

  Today she’d proven in court that a drunk nineteen-year-old, spoiled party girl had been responsible for the hit-and-run that had killed an eighty-three-year-old neighbor. The elderly lady had once babysat for the girl and her siblings.

  Cody had sat there in court and told every bit of the evidence she had collected. The girl had sat at the defendant’s table with a bored expression on her face. Almost soulless.

  They’d had forty-three photographs of the yellow headlight fragments alone.

  It had been a long and grueling day—and it was about to be an equally long night.

  Lucy was waiting for her. Cody pulled in to the Brockmans’ drive. She loved the way their home looked with the snow. It was so welcoming—and it had that feel of a grandmother’s home about it. Inside and out.

  It was the perfect place for Lucy to spend her time while Cody worked. It also helped that Meredith Brockman was one of the best child psychologists in the country, even if she had retired four years ago to write textbooks and participate in research.

  When she’d learned Cody needed a safe place for Lucy, she had volunteered her time.

  Now Lucy spent her time with the Brockmans and called them Grandma and Grandpa. And the Brockmans understood how to deal with children who had experienced extreme trauma.

  Her adopted daughter definitely qualified as that.

  Cody was still adjusting to being a single parent, and she probably would be for a
while.

  A redheaded woman was entering the Brockmans’ home just ahead. Cody smiled. Carrie was a good friend, even if she was married to Cody’s ex-husband, Sebastian. “Care!”

  Carrie turned. “Hi. I thought you were driving behind me.”

  “Slow going.” And Carrie had been extremely cautious on the potential ice.

  “Yes. I’m off tomorrow. We’re going to stay home, I think.”

  “Good idea. Lucy and I have the same plans.” Cody’s apartment wasn’t far from her ex-husband’s. She and Carrie would be driving in the same direction—Cody would follow the younger woman home, just to make sure Carrie got there ok. “Do you want to grab something to eat before heading home?”

  The door opened, and Al’s mother stood there. “Nonsense, girls. I’ve made plenty—and I don’t have anyone to help me eat it but you and Kenneth. Please stay.”

  Cody thought that sounded like a wonderful idea. She knew Carrie’s husband was off somewhere with Team Three.

  “What do you say, Care? Free food?”

  “I’d love to stay.”

  Before Cody could say another word, a tiny dark-haired whirlwind hit her full force. “Mommy!”

  Her arms wrapped around the love of her life, and Cody just held her tight.

  Chapter 18

  Al looked at Nick Delasi and wondered what exactly she was supposed to say to him. “I’m sorry about your brother-in-law, Mr. Delasi.”

  He smirked. “Me, too.”

  And then he leered. Up and down like a bank of hotel elevators. No questions about how his sister was, or his nephew. Or even a Who could have done this?

  Just an insulting once-over that told her he liked what he saw.

  But did he know anything about what had happened?

  Nugent was still digging into this man. What they’d found hadn’t been promising.