Then I berated myself.
Amsel may not have those problems.
I just knew I would if our situations had been reversed.
If it was Nikki carrying my child.
Then I shivered.
Nikki wouldn’t be carrying my child.
No matter how much the idea of it turned me on.
“This is him. I got him a pad of paper to write everything down. I also had them fax the copies of all the members who work for The Women’s Center,” Elliott said, shaking his hand that had a thick pile of papers in it.
When I made to wait outside, Elliott jerked his head. “You too. He asked for you.”
My brows rose. “Me?”
He nodded. “Yeah, apparently he knows you.”
“How would he know I’m working on this case at all?” I asked.
He stopped and turned. “He was the best friend of Darren Cox.”
My mind shut down.
Mother fucker.
That guy. The murdered father in the crime scene that started this case for me.
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
Elliott nodded. “Yeah, needless to say he’s not doing too good.”
***
An hour later, with more information than Agent Palmer had in months over multiple cases, we walked out of Wolfgang Amsel’s hospital room.
We still didn’t have a name.
We did, however, have a hair color.
Black.
Which seemed to be the man’s trend.
Amsel had explained that he’d just gotten off work and was in the kitchen eating the breakfast his wife had just cooked for him when someone had knocked at the door.
She’d gone to answer it, and he’d looked up when she started backing up.
He’d said that he heard ‘Turn around or I’ll shoot her!’
His service weapon had been at the island, half a room away from him, so he’d turned.
And was promptly shot in the back of the head.
He looked over in time to see his wife gunned down moments later by a man with black hair.
Then he was gone.
And he was left to watch as his wife fought for her life.
My phone rang when we made it to the waiting room, and I smiled when I saw it was Nikki.
A little bit of happy in a big bowl of oh fuck.
“Hello?” I answered the phone.
“Hey,” she said worriedly. “We’re outside the ER entrance and there’re a bunch of people outside the doors. What’s going on?”
I cleared my throat.
“There was another murder,” I said softly. “Give me a few minutes to come down and I’ll escort you inside.”
I’d known she’d be here.
She couldn’t help herself.
She’d been by to see Nathan Cox multiple times since he’d been there.
And with what I’d told her last night about Madden and his two kids, I knew she’d be here as soon as she could.
I’d planted the hint to call Shiloh and Georgia, though.
Madden didn’t deserve that lot in life.
He deserved to live a happy, easy life.
Something he couldn’t do anymore.
Not with two kids.
Two kids he was adamant he was not leaving.
And he was most definitely not giving up.
In the eyes of the law, a child is solely your child, no matter what the age.
Although it got a little hairy when you couldn’t take care of your children.
Something Madden couldn’t do by himself.
The best way to make this happen was to place all three within a home that was willing to take them on.
And that was where Nikki, Shiloh, and Georgia came in.
“I gotta go let my girl in,” I told the two men in front of me. “She’s stuck outside the ER with a shit ton of cops and reporters.”
They both nodded.
“That’s fine. We’re leaving anyway. We’ll walk down with you,” Elliott said.
Nodding, I hit the down button, and the elevator doors swung open.
“Do you think what you got today will help?” I asked the two as the doors closed and we started to descend.
Elliott shrugged, but Palmer nodded. “I think so, yes.”
I felt a relieved breath pour through me.
“That’s good,” I told them. “Really good.”
And it was.