Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
I t was still dark when early the next morning Delilah paced the satellite offices of Cramer, Parker & Gray, feeling amazing on one level and useless on another. Alex Parker had called her to apologize for being up in DC, but as he’d told her from the get-go, he had his best friend’s wedding to deal with this weekend, and he’d basically given Delilah full-time access to one of his best analyst/hackers, so she couldn’t complain. Other people’s lives didn’t stop because hers had crashed to a halt—not that the past few days had felt static. In fact, the opposite was true. She’d never felt more alive than since she’d been dead.
She crossed her arms on a huff.
She didn’t appreciate the fact that feeling collided with the exact length of time Demarco had been back in her life.
He said he loved her, but he’d told her that before. And he’d still broken her heart. She felt his sincerity in the moment, especially after he’d confessed the abuse that he’d suffered as a child. But she didn’t know what it meant for the two of them. And, like she’d told him, maybe worrying about tomorrow was a fool’s game. Until she proved Scanlon was behind this string of murders, there was no tomorrow. Not for her. She’d always be looking over her shoulder or waiting for a bullet she’d never see coming .
Yael sent her a look.
“Sorry.” She stopped pacing. “I’m not good at doing nothing.”
“I can tell. It must be difficult. I kind of get it, although I can always find something to entertain myself with online.”
“I’m going crazy not being able to work on the task force or know what’s happening.” She shook her head at Yael’s silent offer because it could get her into serious trouble if she was caught or if Delilah let something slip she wasn’t supposed to know. “I need to do something.” She flung out her arms. “That sonofabitch is walking around on parole while people die. Five people in one week, and we have nothing to prove he’s behind any of it yet—which isn’t a reflection on you.” She paused to assure the other woman. “We don’t even know how he’s getting around the country. Oh…” She walked to where Yael sat working on three different monitors at the same time. “Could it be possible he’s flying himself? I mean, he doesn’t have to file a flight plan if he keeps it below a certain altitude, right?”
“I’m not sure, but I can check.” Yael nodded.
“And a lot of those military special forces type learn to fly different kinds of aircraft.”
“Shane was a Green Beret, and I know he can fly a Cessna and is considering learning to fly a helicopter.” Yael agreed. “I’ll start a search for any licenses or ownership of any aircraft in the Scanlon family.”
Delilah nodded. “Thank you.”
A pop-up on Yael’s screen pinged.
“Interesting.” The woman leaned closer. “I have an alert on the name Scanlon for anyone booking commercial flights or train or ferry tickets. One Melody Scanlon just bought a ticket for late this afternoon, traveling from SeaTac to New Orleans. Isn’t that his kid?”
“Yeah, she’s like seven.” Delilah froze. “What about the mother or stepdad. Name is Zimmerman. Nicole and Preston Zimmerman? ”
Yael typed and then shook her head. “One ticket. Booked as an unaccompanied minor.”
“She’s sending her kid to stay with a convicted felon she barely knows?” Delilah couldn’t believe it. “Is she out of her mind?”
Yael’s eyes were wide. “Do you think Scanlon would hurt the kid?”
Delilah pressed her lips together. She was scaring the other woman and that wasn’t fair. “According to Lincoln Frazer, no. But he also called him a psychopath, and I don’t think Frazer had him as the primary caregiver when he gave that profile about him not being a danger to his own child.” She began pacing again. “I get that some parents have to send their kids off alone but dammit.”
If they knew the predators that lived among them, they’d never let their kids out of their sight.
“What time does her flight leave?”
Yael checked the screen. “Four-thirty p.m. PT.”
Delilah checked her watch. “I’m going to call Trainer and see if the local agents can talk to the mother ASAP. Persuade her to change her mind.” Although that might enrage Scanlon. “Do you need me here?”
It was obvious she was doing nothing useful except make tea.
“Nope. I can call if I have any updates on the searches I’ve set up.”
Delilah picked up her jacket. “You get anywhere with that prison visitor deep dive?”
Yael popped the last piece of a blueberry muffin into her mouth. “I sent the first couple to both your and Demarco’s emails. Working on the rest now.” She checked her own watch. “I’m heading up to DC after work tonight with Shane, assuming he doesn’t get called out on an op. We were going to make a weekend out of it as the wedding is on Sunday. But if you want me to stay here and work on this?—”
The offer hit Delilah like a glancing blow to the nose and drew tears to her eyes. “No. Thank you. No.” Not that it was up to her. She wasn’t the boss. Yael was helping her out, and she was very grateful. “I assume if Joseph is planning to spend time with his kid, then he won’t be busy killing people. You take the weekend with that man of yours. Make sure he spoils you.”
Yael grinned. “You look happier today.”
Delilah rolled her eyes. “That obvious, huh?”
Yael lifted her shoulders in a self-conscious shrug. “I recognize the glow. I hope he groveled appropriately.”
Delilah thought of his words and actions from last night. “He did.” She paused as she headed toward the door. “I honestly don’t know if it’ll be enough. Not because I don’t care for him…” Her eyes went to the other woman. “Last time we broke up, it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced, and I honestly thought I was going to die from grief, from the miscarriage, from losing him, losing my womb. It’s all tangled up together inside like barbed wire, and I don’t know if I can take that again.”
Could they make it work this time when they’d failed so miserably in the past?
“I saw how he looked at you yesterday. I haven’t ever seen him look at anyone like that. I asked Shane if Cas had been involved with anyone since he knew him, and he said no. He dated occasionally, but his heart wasn’t in it.”
Delilah smoothed her thumb over the key fob to the truck Killion had lent her. “I’m scared to get involved with him again.”
“I can understand that.” Yael pressed her lips together in a sympathetic line. “But it seems to me you already are.”
Delilah went outside into the secure lot and climbed into the massive truck. She tried Nicole Zimmerman’s home number first, but the phone rang without answer. She didn’t know her cell number. She tried Greg Trainer’s cell, but he didn’t pick up. She tried him again, and the call answered but was immediately cut off.
Aghast, she stared at the screen for a full three seconds. He’d hung up on her. She called him again because, dammit, this was important.
“Do you know what time this is?” He sounded as if he were growling through clenched teeth.
Had she woken him?
“This had better be good, Agent Quinn.”
“I wanted to make sure you have agents talking to Scanlon’s ex because?—”
“I put in the request with the local SAC.”
“But when for? Her kid is sched?—”
“I said I dealt with it,” he snapped. “You need to stop interfering with this investigation. I know your father used to be a big deal in the Bureau, but, trust me, he’s not anymore. And you certainly are not.”
He hung up again, and she couldn’t decide if she was more humiliated or more furious. Probably a draw.
Goosebumps stole over her flesh even as she huddled inside her jacket. She thought about calling Cas, but he had his own job to do. She settled on Killion instead.
“BFJ Inc., how can I help you today?”
“BFJ Inc.?”
“Bad Frog Jokes. You had to be there. How can I help you, D?”
“Scanlon’s kid is booked on a flight to New Orleans tonight. Unaccompanied minor.”
“Shit.”
So it wasn’t just her. “I want to go out to Seattle. Talk to the mother. Persuade her it’s a bad idea.”
“No.”
“Technically, I don’t need your permission.”
“What did Trainer say?”
Delilah gritted her teeth. “ASAC Trainer didn’t even let me tell him about the kid being on the flight before he told me to butt out.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“He says that he put in a request for agents to contact the ex, but that could take a few days by which time the kid is already in danger.”
“It’s a bad idea.”
“All it would take is a quick conversation. I can be back here by midnight. Trainer doesn’t even need to know. It’s not like I’m doing anything useful.”
“What about Demarco?”
“What about him?”
“You telling him about this or going off on your own?”
“I’m simply going to meet Scanlon’s ex. I’ll talk to her, turn around, and get on the return flight home a couple of hours later.”
“So you’re going on your own.”
Delilah wanted to scream in frustration. “I’m an FBI agent with seven years’ experience, not some innocent civilian who needs someone else’s protection.”
“You go rogue now, you’ll lose your career.”
“I am not going rogue. And while I don’t want to lose my career, I can’t sit around doing nothing while I have a hope of talking Nicole out of sending her child to spend time with a man I believe has murdered five people in the past week. The worst that could happen is I spend the day on an airplane. At least I should be safe.”
Killion released a heavy breath. “Look, I get it. I wish I could come with you, but I can’t leave Audrey right now.”
Emotion swamped her at that. At least she hadn’t been totally abandoned by her friends.
“I’ll call the airline and find you the next flight out as an undercover air marshal so you can keep your weapon. Go grab what you need, and I’ll call you back in ten minutes with the airport and flight information. Use the false identity I gave you.”
Satisfaction filled her. “Thank you.”
He grunted. “Yeah, let’s see if you thank me later.”