The Wedding Agreement (19 page)

Evidence

“Daddy, can I bury you?”

Alex directed his attention to Nina, who sat playing in the sand in front of him. “Wouldn't you rather go in the water?”

Nina shook her head. Ever since he'd made the mistake of letting her watch Shark Week a few days earlier, she'd had a newfound fear of the ocean. They'd been at the beach for almost two hours, and Nina had refused to do more than dip her feet.

“Are you sure? I'll hold you the entire time.”

“So the sharks can eat us both? No way.”

Alex heard a sputtering laugh beside him and shot Cass a glare.

“You only have yourself to blame,” she said before turning her attention back to her magazine.

He rolled his eyes as he slipped out of his chair and lay down on the sand. “Bury away.”

“Oh, I'm totally getting in on this,” Cass said as
she knelt down beside him. “Maybe we should start with his head.” She waggled her eyebrows playfully at Nina, who laughed.

Alex lay there and let them pour copious amounts of sand over him. It was oddly relaxing actually. The rhythmic patting of gritty sand was almost like getting a massage. Until Nina accidentally got some too close to his mouth.

“Sorry, Dad.”

“It's okay. Just try to be a little more careful.”

“You know what we need, Nina?”

“What?”

“Some buckets of water so we can make the sand wet. It'll pack in better.”

“What a great idea,” Alex said dryly.

“Yeah, let's go get some.” Nina thrust two buckets at Cass before picking up two herself. “Don't move,” Nina warned.

“Wouldn't dream of it.”

Cass smiled at him ardently before taking Nina's hand and walking toward the water. Alex quickly lost sight of them, but the image of his two favorite girls walking hand in hand down the beach warmed him even more than the summer sun. He and Cass hadn't discussed labels or the status of their relationship, but his feelings were growing stronger. Nina had been with him for a week and a half, and Cass had spent a good bit of that time with them. They'd mostly hung out around the house or visited the park down the street. This was the first day trip they'd taken, and he was glad Cass had wanted to join them. It wasn't that he didn't think he and Nina would have fun on their own, because he knew they would. But spending time with Cass was always a perk.

It dawned on him that the girls had been gone for
much longer than was necessary to fill a few buckets with water. He tried not to disrupt the sand as he strained his neck to try to see where they could be. He had to lift himself up more, knocking most of the sand off his chest, to catch sight of them. Cass and Nina were in the water deeper than he'd been able to lure her all day, still holding hands as they tried to jump over waves. Sitting up all the way, Alex watched them for a little bit. Cass really was very good with Nina, and it was clear Nina adored her. Wanting to join in on the fun, Alex stood, halfheartedly knocking the sand off himself, and made his way toward the ocean.

Cass turned and saw him as he approached. “Hey, you moved.”

“Of course I did. Why should you two get to have all the fun?” he asked as he took Nina's other hand and began jumping waves with them.

*   *   *

“Shit. I mean shoot,” Alex was quick to amend as his eyes darted from his burned finger to a thankfully distracted Nina.

Cass smirked at him. “Maybe you should let me take over.”

Alex stirred the taco mix with the ground beef. “Why? So I'll have to run out for takeout again when you burn everything?”

Cass walked over and flicked him in the arm. “Very funny. At least I'm able to escape the kitchen without third-degree burns.”

“Maybe you are, but the food isn't.”

He watched Cass' gaze dart to Nina before she replied. “You're lucky we have an audience, or I'd make you pay for that comment.”

Alex couldn't help the barking laugh that escaped
him. “Oh yeah, lucky me.” What was the worst she could do to him? Look at him harshly?

Cass scrunched up her face at him before turning back to help Nina add salad dressing to the vegetables she'd just put in a bowl with the care of a curator handling priceless art.

He smiled at the sight of his girls before turning his attention back to the sizzling food in front of him just as his cell phone rang. Snatching it off the counter, he answered it without looking at the display. “Walker.”

“Alex. It's Don. We have a development that needs your attention.”

Alex set down the spatula and looked at Cass, who was watching him with eyebrows raised in question. He gestured to the stove, and she nodded, quickly moving to take over.
Thanks,
he mouthed before leaving the room.

“What's going on, Don?”

“Travers has been running his mouth. Saying there are more bodies out there we don't know about. Says he'll tell us where the bodies are buried if we convince the prosecutor to take the death penalty off the table.”

“Jesus Christ.” Alex ran a hand through his hair.
More victims?
He didn't even want to imagine it. Travers had already left quite a body count. If there were more . . .

“It's your call, Alex. I thought you'd want to question him yourself, but it needs to be done immediately. We can't hand this case over to the prosecutor with a loose end like this.”

Alex glanced into the kitchen, watching Cass and Nina laugh as they finished up cooking. He sighed. “I'll be right there,” he said into the phone before disconnecting the call and joining the girls.

“Everything okay?” Cass asked when she noticed his approach.

He leaned against the counter. “Not really. My case . . . something came up. I have to go in.”

Nina's smile faded from her face, and she looked down at the salad bowl in front of her.

Alex moved over to her. “I'm sorry, honey. If it's okay with you, I'd like to take some of the salad you made with me. It looks too good not to have some.”

Nina raised her gaze to his and gave him a slight smile. “Are you going to catch a bad guy?”

“Yes.” He wasn't
exactly
going to catch one, but the moment didn't warrant a full explanation of his directive for the evening.

Her smile grew. “Okay then. I'll get you a bowl to take with you.”

Alex squeezed her shoulder. “Thanks, sweetie.”

When she went off to find him a Tupperware container, he turned to Cass. “I'm so sorry that I have to leave. Are you okay to stay for a while? I don't really know how long it'll take, but I'll try to be as quick as I can.”

Cass slid her arms around his waist. “Don't worry about it. I understand. And no rush. At worst, I'll raid your wardrobe for a T-shirt and shorts, and Nina and I will have a sleepover. I don't have any early meetings tomorrow, so I can always just run home in the morning to change. Do what you need to do.”

Alex pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “You're the best. You know that?”

“Yup,” she replied with a smirk before she moved back to the stove to finish dinner.

Alex was glad she knew.

*   *   *

Cass couldn't remember having so much fun. As much as she liked her job, she found that, more often than not, she looked forward to the day ending. Nina had been at Alex's for four weeks, and Cass had spent a lot of that time with them. Alex had settled into the role of primary caregiver quite well. And there had been only one time that he'd gotten stuck at work and needed Cass to pick up Nina from camp, so Tessa's worries about Alex not having time to spend with Nina were thankfully unfounded.

Despite worrying that she was intruding on their father-daughter time, Cass couldn't resist accepting Alex's invitations to go places with them. They'd taken a day trip to the beach, attended a baseball game, gone to the movies, and spent a day wandering around D.C. Today they'd driven to Bowie to go to Six Flags. Cass hadn't been to an amusement park in years, and she was probably more excited than Nina by the time they arrived.

They walked to the gate in what had become their usual pose: Nina between them as they each held one of her hands.

“This is going to be so much fun,” Nina practically squealed.

“I know. I'm so excited,” Cass agreed.

They made their way through the long line at the gate, grabbed a map, and entered the park.

“Want to hit the dry rides first, and then we can spend the afternoon in the water park?” Alex asked.

Cass looked over at Alex in his aviators and tank top. It seemed like he got more attractive with every passing day. Though maybe that was her libido talking. As much fun as they'd been having with Nina, the sex
had definitely suffered. There'd been cuddling and innocent touches, even some hot-as-hell groping after Nina had gone to bed that had led to frantic sex, but they hadn't really taken the time to enjoy each other thoroughly in a while. However, judging by how she couldn't stop undressing him with her eyes, she thought that she might need to rectify that soon. “That sounds like a good idea. What do you think, Nina?”

“Fine with me.” From the way she was fidgeting, it was clear that getting on rides of any type was her main objective.

As they walked deeper into the park, they were stopped by a young man with a camera around his neck. “Can I get a photo of all of you together?”

Cass looked over to Alex, who was also looking back at her. Then he smiled and pulled both Cass and Nina closer. “Sure.”

The photographer snapped the shot and handed them a card with a number on it, explaining that they could purchase the picture at any point in the day. Alex put the card in his pocket, and they made their way toward the rides.

Nina's eyes were wide as she took in the attractions. They started on the rides that were geared toward younger kids first: teacups, bumper cars, and the carousel were her favorites. But Nina quickly grew tired of the kiddie rides, so they made their way into the rest of the park. They played a few games in between rides on the Tilt-A-Whirl, the pirate ship, the monorail, and the Scrambler. Cass found that she and Alex were actually perfect amusement park companions—she hated heights and he preferred to skip anything that spun excessively. So they each picked up the other's slack, with Cass accompanying Nina on anything that stayed on the
ground, and Alex taking her on anything that went up high.

After about an hour and a half, Nina asked to go on a roller coaster. Alex consulted the map and chose the tamest coaster in the park. As they approached it, Cass decided that even though the height requirement would allow a five-year-old to ride, it was too much for her. She took hold of the stuffed animals they'd won for Nina and moved to the fence to wait for Alex and Nina to ride the steel death trap.

Looking up at the ride as it made its ascent, Cass wondered if Nina and Alex were aboard. She got her answer as she heard crying and Alex yelling for Nina to stop. Cass turned toward the entrance of the ride to see Nina running away from the coaster as Alex chased after her, though his larger body was having a difficult time getting through the crowd. Not knowing what else to do, Cass rushed forward and grabbed Nina before she got lost in the crowd. “Nina? Nina, calm down. What happened?”

“Let me go. I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home.”

Finally Alex reached them, and Cass directed the same question to him.

“I'm not sure. We got to the front of the line, and she just freaked out. Started crying and then took off.” He lowered himself to one knee so that he was eye level with Nina. “Baby, what happened?”

“Nothing. I just want to go home,” Nina wailed with a petulance reserved for those under ten.

“But we're having such a good day,” Alex cajoled. “Why don't we find something else to ride?”

“No. I don't want to go on any more baby rides.”

Alex looked totally confused. “Then we'll go on some big-girl rides.”

“I don't want to,” Nina whined.

“But why?”

“Because this ride's too scary.” Nina started crying in earnest again.

Cass couldn't even pretend she knew what was going on in Nina's head. It didn't make a lot of sense to her. Clearly Cass was afraid to go on the ride, so it wasn't a big deal that a seven-year-old was put off by it. There were tons of rides they could go on.
This parenting stuff is exhausting.

“Why don't we get changed and go to the water park then?” Alex asked.

“No. I'm a baby. I'll probably be scared of the water rides too.”

“Nina, that's ridiculous. You love the water.”

As Alex tried to coax Nina into downgrading from a category-four-sized tantrum to a more manageable category one, Cass finally thought she might be beginning to understand why Nina was so upset. “Nina,” she said, as she turned the little girl gently toward her. “You don't need to be embarrassed that you didn't get on the ride. You're seven. I'm over twenty years older than you, and I had no intention of getting on there. It's not a big deal.”

Nina sniffled. “Why are you scared?”

Cass smiled. “Like I told you earlier, I don't like heights.”

“Just like I don't really like rides that spin around too much,” Alex interjected. “We all have things we don't like, Nina. It's okay to not want to get on the ride.”

“But how do I know I don't like it if I'm too scared to even get on?” Nina looked at Cass. “Have you ever been on a roller coaster?”

“No,” Cass replied.

“Really? Never?” Alex looked shocked.

“Is now the best time for you to be judging my lack of coaster experience?”

“Then how do you know you won't like it?” Nina asked.

Cass sighed. The last thing she needed was a seven-year-old confronting her about her irrational fears. “I guess I don't.”