Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) (33 page)

Julian didn’t expect the kiss, but it was desperately
needed. God, she tasted amazing and his heart pounded in his chest.

Pulling away, she didn’t care that the sheriff was waiting outside the car. “Trust me,” she whispered. “That’s all I ask.”

He nodded, jumping out of the vehicle, ignoring the smirk on Duffy’s face. All that mattered right now was the woman he loved was back to kissing him. It was step one. Julian would give his brother credit, he’d been right.

Tori knocked on the door of the
farmhouse, waiting for Gail to answer. She could tell the woman was in no hurry to get there, because with them being back there it only meant one thing- her husband was most likely dead.

“Ma’am, can we come in?” she asked, waiting for the woman to step back.

“Hey there, Gail,” said the sheriff. “We need to talk to you for a little bit. Is that okay?” Duffy asked, following Julian and Tori into the woman’s house.

“Sure thing, Jimmy.”

They all went to the couch and sat. The energy in the room said it all. Gail Sumners knew.

“It’s about my husband, isn’t it?” she finally said. “He’s
one of the bodies?”

Tori took her hand in hers and tried to offer the woman some peace and comfort. “Yes
Ma’am. Andrew was found on the reservation and we positively ID’d him with the toothbrush you gave us yesterday.”

She began sobbing uncontrollably. “What happened to him?” It was barely audible.

Tori needed to tell the woman without telling her too much. No one wanted to hear that their husband had all his skin peeled off and was used in some sick ritual. “He was stabbed in the heart, ma’am. It was one blow and he died instantly.”

The woman shook as her whole life crashed down around her. “He was my everything. I met him and just knew. We were going to celebrate our thirtieth anniversary next month. Andy was the love of my life and now he’s gone.”

Tori held the woman, allowing her to weep and get it all out. She knew the pain wouldn’t ever stop, but eventually she’d get past it. Then she glanced over at Julian, and knew if anything happened to him, her life would be over too.

“I’ll get a deputy to come on out here and sit with you, Gail. You’re my priority now, and I’ll make sure you get through it.” He only offered because the news would eventually be banging on her door
, and he needed to look good.

The woman nodded, as he dialed his station. “I want to see him,” she said, softly.

Tori touched her cheek. “No you don’t Ma’am. Let the last memory you had of him be the one you keep in your head. When we found him he’d already been dead over two weeks. He wasn’t in good shape.”

Julian took her other hand. “Ma’am, did your husband have anyone that was giving him a hard time?” he asked, gently.

Gail thought about it. “Everyone loved Andy. We never had any problems with anyone,” then she paused. “Well almost no one.”

Tori pushed. “Who gave him a hard time, Gail? We need to talk to them.” She knew they could be the suspect and if it matched any people harassing the second victim, they had a thread to
connect their victims.

“We got a letter from the Native American council from the reservation. They accused Andy of allowing farm runoff onto the native land. We don’t use chemicals or anything that’s toxic. Most of
the runoff is from the sheep. When it rains, the excrement runs into the land behind us.”

Julian patted her hand. “You don’t happen to have that letter do you?” he inquired.

“I think Andy kept it. He wanted it as proof that we were being harassed by the damn Indians,” then she realized what she said. “I’m sorry.”

Jul
ian shook his head. “It’s okay Ma’am. Just get us the letter,” he suggested, watching her leave.

Tori leaned forward and whispered. “Sound familiar? We have a victim two that was truffling on native land, and a farmer dumping on native land too.”

Julian motioned towards the sheriff hanging up the phone. “We need to talk to the sister of victim two.”

“Care to let me in on what you’re chit chatting about since we’re now in bed together until this is solved?” he winked at Tori.

Julian tensed and tried to relax. He needed to trust the woman he was in love with, or he wouldn’t be getting her back. Jimmy could kiss his ass.

“Here it is,” called Gail, walking back into the room. “My husband is a pack rat. I mean was,” she said, sniffling.

“Gail, I have a deputy coming. You’ll have company all day and if you need anything you just give me a call.”

She smiled at the sheriff. “
Thank you, Jimmy. I appreciate it a great deal. You have my vote this fall.”

Tori rolled her eyes and Julian struggled to cover a grin. “Ma’am, we’ll get this letter back to you as soon as we can. We just need it for a little bit.”

“Okay,” she said, looking worried. “You think a Native did this to my Andy? Am I in danger now too?”             

“Don’t worry, Gail. We’ll make sure the
vile, savage, Indians stay the hell on the reservation where they belong,” assured Duffy, giving his ex co-worker a dirty look.

It was equally reciprocated from both Julian and Tori.

“Ma’am, we need to get moving now, but if you need anything or have any questions for us, here’s my card.” Tori pulled it out, handing it to the woman. “Call us if you have a problem.”

“When can I get my husband’s body back?” she asked, choking on the sob.

“We can’t release him until the investigation is cleared, Gail. But as soon as we are, you’ll be notified.”

“That’s unacceptable!” declared Duffy. “I’ll get your husband sooner than that,” he promised.

Tori simply walked out of the house, shaking her head. The man’s grandstanding for re-election made her want to puke. Once outside, Duffy was grinning at them both. “You know you can’t keep that promise, right?” she said, crossing her arms.

“
Sweetheart, this is a win-win for me. I make a few promises and become a thorn in the side of the FBI. They’ll give in to keep the peace. They always do.”

Tori stared at him. “You
’ve worked with Elizabeth Blackhawk, and you still can utter that sentence?” She shook her head. “You’re obviously delusional,” Tori paused. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. Your family does have a bunch of nuts that fell from its branches.”

Sheriff Duffy stopped smiling and his face went viciously red and his eyes burned in anger.

“That’s for the Indian comments in there, Sheriff. This tiger has claws you can’t handle, so back yourself out of the big game and save yourself a world of hurt.”

The man tur
ned, storming away to his patrol car. There were profanities being mumbled under his breath.

Julian climbed into theirs and started laughing.

“Next stop, Julian?” she inquired, smiling sweetly.

“You lead. I’m just here for an incredible ride.”

Elizabeth rode in the passenger seat as they headed to the council building in the center of the reservation. For the last five minutes, both men tried to talk her out of heading in to deal with the bullshit. It wasn’t that they didn’t think she could handle it, but playing nice with the Natives, or anyone else for that matter wasn’t her thing.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” inquired Callen. “Chief Soaring Eagle is a proud man, and he’s very old school. As for Shaman Tallman, he’s tough too. They lead this council and don’t really like
non-natives.”

Elizabeth shrugged. “We
have three dead bodies and two of them are outsiders. This is our jurisdiction, and they can’t kick the FBI out. If anything, I’ll bring more agents here and make the council’s life very difficult.”

Blackhawk just shook his head. “I say have at them. I don’t doubt you can either win them over or cause it to be one big mess. I’m glad I’m not the
liaison.”

Callen punched him. “Thanks. I just had them settled down and when you both go home, I’m going with you. You aren’t leaving me here to deal with this mess. Are we clear?”

Elizabeth snickered as she hopped down from the vehicle. “Come on boys, let’s go stir up the Natives to keep Callen from being laid off from work. He’s got a college education to pay for now.”

He laughed. “I’m
hoping our kid is smart like you, and then he’ll go to Cornell and be a doctor. I may get out of that bill. Can you say minority scholarships?”

They all walked into the building together to only be stopped by a woman sitting outside the doors.

“They’re in session, and you can’t walk in there,” she said, pointing at the men. “She can’t go in at all, but you gentlemen can make an appointment and come back.”

Elizabeth began laughing. “I love when someone tells me I can’t do something. It makes me want to spend the next hour
trying to prove them oh so wrong.”

The native woman didn’t look bothered
in the least.

“See that fire alarm over there? I’m going to go over and pull it. Then the fire department is going to come running, along with the
chief of police. The entire building is going to have to be evacuated, and I’ll have everyone’s attention then.”

The woman wasn’t sure if she was kidding
or not.

“Then when they ask me why I did it, I’m going to say pregnancy hormones and the woman at the front desk
, refusing to go in and tell them the damn FBI was here to talk to them.”

She stood and went into the room.

Blackhawk laughed. “That was a new one. I’ve never heard the ‘fire alarm’ one before.”

Callen offered her a fist bump.

When the door opened the woman exited, holding it for them. “The council has agreed to make time for you.”

The
y strolled in and immediately the air in the room changed and so did the language. A minute before they were discussing in English, and now the native language was being used in an attempt to ostracize her.

They were in for a big surprise.

The six men sitting at the dais stared right at her as they continued discussing the disrespectful white woman that thought she could bully her way in to talk to them. They were planning to teach her a lesson in manners.

“Are you done discussing me and my manners?” she asked, catching a few of them off guard. Julian was right, the language was almost exactly the same,
only the pronunciation was different. This is where a linguistics degree came into play.

She began conversing with them
, asking her questions in their language, and then ending it in English. “You want to do this the hard way? Because I’m ready to call in fifty more FBI agents to cover this damn reservation, until you stop playing your boys club games with the only woman in the room.”

They went completely silent. “You want to do this in English or your language? While it’s not the exact dialect we speak, I believe I can pull it off.”

Ethan grinned at his wife. Yes, the pot was being stirred.

Chief soaring Eagle leaned back in his chair.
“You are a guest here and respect is expected.”

“Listen, you didn’t exactly show me respect just now either. I’m married to these two men, I’m carrying a Native child and have one at home. I’m drowning in respect for your people. I sympathize
with you and believe in the culture, but I’m not going to be jerked around by a bunch of men that think they have a bigger set than I do.”

Callen groaned at the mess that was coming. By the time this was over, he was going to have to build a home here to clean it all up.
If anything, he took his job damn serious.

“We have three bodies on your beautiful reservation. I have a few questions that I need answered. I respected you enough to leave the local sheriff out of this. Two of those victims are outsiders and
he could be standing here right now. Maybe you’ve met him. James Duffy? You hate him, he despises you.”

Shaman Tallman stood. “I refuse to tolerate
your wife’s mouth. If this woman is indeed yours, she needs to be sat down and given a lecture,” he said, staring at the men behind her.

Blackhawk nodded. “You’re absolutely right,” he paused. “Elizabeth, start with the Shaman first.”

She grinned. “Who here in this room has access to peyote?” When no one raised their hand, she continued. “Okay, so we get some warrants, hold you here until your homes are searched.” She turned and started walking out.

“I have access to peyote,” answered the Shaman. “I use it in my rituals. It helps me see what is not clearly visible.”

“Great. I need a sample of it for testing. If it’s a hybrid version, it’s traceable.”

“May I ask why you need it?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “It’s been detected on the crime scenes.”

“I see.”

Blackhawk stepped forward. “Who here has a permit to distribute and collect eagle feathers?” he looked up and down the line of men. Only one raised his hand.