Nick was a fantastic cop, but the department had made him somewhat of a spokesman over the last few years because he was just as good in the public eye as he was behind crime scene tape. He was sexy as hell, he had charisma, and people liked him. He’d do well in politics.
Ever since Nick had given me the greenlight on doing some redecorating, my mind had been going nonstop. I’d been having trouble lately focusing. I had two pages of notes, and a fresh new Pinterest board. Now I just had to find someone who could get it all done. Because cop hours and pregnant ladies weren’t conducive to home remodeling. Especially if you wanted to finish the project.
I sent out a feeler to Suzanne since she’d been in the construction business once upon a time. I’d read about nesting, but I hadn’t expected the urge to redecorate the entire house to come on so strong. I wanted it done yesterday.
I brought my sandwich to the kitchen table where I’d set up the agency laptop, my notes, and all the information my mother had given me. I needed to pay another visit to my mother and check out my dad’s shed, but there was no use doing it in the dark and rain. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough.
It felt strange running a background check on Vince, but I figured it was best to follow protocol and treat this just like I would any other case. I started running the search, and then I opened another tab so I could do the reverse phone lookup and find out who Angelica was.
“Luis Vega,” I said, writing the name down on my notepad. “Of course it’s not going to be easy.”
Now I had to do a search for Luis Vega and work my way backward until I found someone named Angelica. While I waited for the computer, I flipped back and forth between Pinterest and HGTV and sent pictures to Suzanne and Rosemarie. Suzanne assured me she had a crew who could start immediately and just to send pictures and they’d take care of the rest.
I liked the idea of someone else taking care of everything. I wanted a no-stress pregnancy, and I wanted Nick to have as little of a headache as possible. As long as he kept getting called out to murders, I’d be in the clear.
Vince’s background check finished first and I pulled up the file. I skimmed over the standard information—driver’s license, social security number, photo ID—and wanted to get to the nitty gritty of his past. People didn’t realize that even their social media information showed up on background checks now days. It was impossible to hide something if you used technology.
I didn’t really know anything about Vince’s past, even though he’d been around since before my sister Phoebe was born. Vince had been married to a woman named Margaret Dixon Walker from Charleston for about two years before she’d filed for divorce and they’d gone their separate ways. No children. And he had no other marriages or long-term relationships until he’d married my mother a couple of years ago.
I thought it strange for a man to go that long without a serious relationship, but it looked like he’d been married to his career. He’d been highly decorated as an officer and there were several articles I found about him and my father and a couple of high-profile cases and task forces they’d been a part of.
All in all, there were no obvious skeletons in Vince’s closet. His ex-wife had been remarried for twenty years and had two grown children with her second husband. Vince paid his taxes, and he didn’t have outstanding amounts of debt.
Now, I only had to find out who Luis Vega was and why Vince had his phone number in his pocket.
It wasn’t hard to find Angelica’s name in the list of known acquaintances or family members. Angelica Vega. Wife to Luis.
And within seconds I had an address to go with the phone number. It looked like I’d be taking a trip to Miami.
Chapter Six
Thursday
“Is someone mowing the lawn?” Nick asked sleepily. “It’s the middle of the night.”
I vaguely remembered him getting in the bed at some point and pulling me into his arms. I’d been in a deep sleep and having very good dreams when he’d woken me up with his question.
“It’s Scarlet,” I mumbled. “She’s in the guest room.”
Nick sighed and spooned close to me again, and then put the pillow over his head. “I must’ve been really tired when I came in to have not heard that.”
“Think of it as white noise,” I said.
He laughed and then threw back the covers, and I pulled them back over my head. When he came back sometime later he was showered and dressed, and he sat on the side of the bed.
“I’ve got to go back into the station anyway,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. “Sleep is overrated.”
“Speak for yourself,” I said. “Next time you get to carry the baby.”
“Next time?” he asked. The bed shook with his laughter. “What do you have planned for our future, Mrs. Dempsey?”
“Don’t call me that,” I said, creaking my eyes open. “Whenever you call me that, I keep expecting your mother to pop around the corner. That kind of anxiety isn’t good for the baby.”
He laughed even harder.
“I’ve got lots of stuff planned for our future,” I said, smiling back. “You’re going to love it.”
“We’ll see,” he said. “But I love you, so that’s good enough. Give me a call once you stop throwing up.”
“Don’t remind me,” I said, pulling the covers
