Page 77 of Ace of Spades
“And thus the seed was planted,” Nate said. “What happened to him? Did he have family to take him in?”
Josh shook his head. “No, he went into foster care, and Archer lost track of him.”
“I’ve found Wayne Tompkins’s birth certificate and his foster care records. He didn’t last long in any of the homes he was put in,” Court said, his fingers flying over his laptop keys. “At the age of seventeen, he walked away from his last foster home. A year later, he enrolled in Miami Dade Junior College, but dropped out after six months. Looks like he worked odd jobs for a while, and then he was arrested for domestic violence on a girlfriend. Got six months for that. After he was released, his trail goes cold.”
Rothmire scratched his chin. “Is there anything that connects Wade Tillman to Wayne Tompkins that we can use as evidence?”
“Looking for that now,” Court said. A minute later, he raised his eyes from the screen. “It always amazes me how stupid some people can be. Wade Tillman has a Facebook page. His profile picture is an angel.” He turned his laptop around so everyone could see. “His last post, dated yesterday, was that he’d found his angel.”
Taylor’s cheeks drained of color. “He means me,” she murmured.
Nate didn’t care that they were in a room full of fellow agents and their boss, all of them watching. He put his hand on her chair, swiveling it to face him. “We knew that—you knew that—already, tiger.” He used her power name on purpose. Tigers killed. They didn’t get killed. “It’s just hearing it said aloud that’s freaking us all out.” He wrapped hishands around her cold ones. “I would die before I let anything happen to you.” And that was the God’s honest truth.
She blinked, as if coming out of a fog. Her eyes settled on him. “Would you really?”
“Damn straight I would.” The room and people around them disappeared. All he saw was her, the woman he loved. And yeah, that realization was like a boulder falling on his head. One that knocked him flat on his ass.
Rothmire cleared his throat. “I expect an invitation to the wedding, but before that can happen, we have a killer to catch.”
Nate managed not to smile at the sudden pale-pink blush in Taylor’s cheeks at their boss’s announcement. He should probably be embarrassed, too, but the ache that had been residing in his chest since he’d gone stupid, saying stupid things to her, had vanished. He didn’t know if she’d ever forgive him, but he had news for her. He was hers, plain and simple. If she needed him to grovel, he’d do that. Well, he’d do it while making her scream his name against the foyer wall so she could add a few more scratch marks to it.
He met Rothmire’s amused eyes. “Right. Ah, so, Court, you got an address on him?”
“You don’t have to give Facebook an address to set up a page, but they do require a mobile number or an email addy that I can trace. I’ll have something in a sec.”
“While you’re waiting, suit up,” Rothmire said. “I have a judge standing by, ready to sign a warrant.”
Nate stood. “You heard the man. Let’s get this done.”
