Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) (34 page)

The
shaman.

“It’s my job to hand them out to the young men that have earned them. Why do you ask?”

Elizabeth leaned against the wall. “I’m building my very own warbonnet and I needed a new supplier.” All the men looked mortified and she smiled. “I’ll need one of those for testing too.”

“Again may I ask why?”

Callen stepped in and took over on this one before Elizabeth buried his ass in more work. “We found some feathers that we believe the killer left behind, and our tech team needs to do a cross matching.”

They looked back and forth at each other.

“It’s so much harder when you don’t have your backup language to use to discuss me, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked, enjoying it immensely.

The
shaman didn’t look amused. “I can’t imagine either of your families approving of …her.”

The men tensed, but before they could comment she did. “We had a family
shaman. He was bigger, badder and tougher than you, Sir. He didn’t scare me, and for the record, I was his favorite. So, you can just supply us with what we want, or we can bust you for selling an illegal substance. As I’m sure you know, that’s FBI jurisdiction.”

“I’ll drop it off at the police station.”

Elizabeth stood from the wall, breaking out the native language and wishing them all a really nice day, before walking out. Once outside Ethan was laughing at what had gone down.

For once,
Callen wasn’t.

“Well we can forget about the Native FBI relations on this reservation,”
Whitefox practically growled, climbing into the Denali.

“Cal, I had to be tough.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I get it.”

Blackhawk glanced over at his brother. “Why are you this
riled up? You’ve seen Elizabeth stir up the locals before and you never cared.”

The anger exploded from him.
“Because this is my damn job, that’s why. I’m not the profiler like you, and I don’t solve it all like Elizabeth. This is the only thing I’m good at, and you just made it harder and frankly a joke out of it.”

Elizabeth didn’t want him to be this upset. “Cal, I’m sorry,” she touched his arm.
“I wasn’t making a mockery out of what you do. I was dealing with men that think because I have ovaries I’m less than they are.”

“Forget it, okay?” he pulled his arm away. “You don’t get it, and I don’t want to discuss it. What’s next today?”

Elizabeth tried to not let his words and anger hurt her. “I’ll text Julian and Tori to meet us back at the police station. We’ll regroup and then head out to the original scene. Julian wants to check it out, and I don’t want him doing it alone.”

“Sounds good to me
,” Callen stated, icily.

Blackhawk’s eyes met Elizabeth’s in the mirror
, and they shared a look. It was hard to ignore the pain Elizabeth was feeling, and once again, he was stuck between the two people he loved most in life.

             
                          *   *   *

Friday Afternoon

Desdemona Adare
was in very hard labor. It was over twelve hours, and she seemed to be pushing the last five of them. The baby simply didn’t want to come out. There was a point where she begged to have the child cut from her to save her the pain, but they couldn’t. Her baby was already down in her birth canal. It was now or never.

With a few more pushes, she was beginning to feel really dizzy. Something didn’t feel right. The pain was ebbing and the waves of disorientation were coming more and more. Maybe she just had low blood sugar.

“The baby is right there, Desdemona. You can do this,” cheered the nurse, as she held her leg, praying the woman could get the child out.

Desdemona pushed again, and there was this tearing sensation as the baby exited her body. The gush of blood coated the doctor’s scrubs.

“It’s a girl!” he declared, holding her up to see her little girl. Desdemona’s eyes filled with tears, knowing she did it, it was all over.

As they took her daughter away, the room spun again, and she listened to the doctor barking orders at the nurse
. Being a doctor, she understood what they were doing. As they massaged her stomach, trying to get her uterus to contract, everything began getting blurry, until she heard the words…

“She’s hemorrhaging! Get the misoprostol fast!”

Desdemona grabbed the one nurse’s arm. “In my phone is a cell number for the baby’s father. If anything happens to me, call him. His name is Callen Whitefox. Tell him to come get his daughter. No one will want her here. He works for the FBI.”

The nurse tried to reassure her, telling her it was normal for this to happen.

“Callen Whitefox,” she repeated again. “He’ll want the baby,” she whispered, the edges of her vision becoming burred with a gray haze.

“It’s going to be okay,” the nurse promised.

Desdemona knew the truth. This was the path her existence was meant to take, and why she didn’t end up with Callen. Her life was over, and she wasn’t going to see her child grow up. Now suddenly she was happy for the man that walked away from her. He wouldn’t suffer over her death, and he would be given a child. In that moment, she regretted the hate and anger. In those last few seconds, Desdemona wished she could take it all back.

“Please call
Director Callen Whitefox,” she whispered, her voice sounding further and further away, even as she kept repeating the same two names over and over.

Callen Whitefox

Callen
Whitefox

Callen
Wh…

And then there was simply blackness as life was snuffed out.

 
                                          *   *   *

In front of Jeffery Hoppers home, they were met by his sister, preparing to leave. When Sara saw them coming, she already knew. You could always tell from the faces of the family.

“He’s dead.”

Tori stepped closer and took her hand in hers. “I’m really sorry, Sara.” She broke down the entire thing, explaining the same thing as she did to Gail.  “We’re working on who took his life.”

“Did he suffer?”

Julian took over for Tori. “No, he didn’t.”

She nodded
, wiping her eyes. “Oh, I happened to be digging through Jeff’s things, and I found a journal he kept. It has a bunch of GPS coordinates and then quantities. I think it may be his locations for the truffles. Would it help you to have it?”

This could
aid them in tracking the killer, giving them another piece of the puzzle. “Yes Sara I would.”

She started back towards the house, tears
rolling down her cheeks. “Can I see him?”

Tori shook her head. “It wasn’t a pretty death. You’ll want to
remember him as he was before.”

Sara turned
, going back inside to find the book she’d offered them. The woman’s words kept playing over and over in her mind. How could hunting for a fungus end so badly?

“You keep telling them that they didn’t suffer, but you
won’t let them see them. What really happened, Agent?” inquired Duffy, “Or is this a cover up.”

She pulled out her phone and pulled up the autopsy email and showed him the skinless corpses, staring at the camera.

“Holy shit that’s disgusting,” he said, thinking he might throw up. “Some savage Indian is skinning the victims?”

“Tread lightly, Jimmy.” Julian warned him. “We don’t know who
’s doing this. Don’t go starting a riot and stirring up the outsiders to benefit your political campaign.”

“I’m offended you even inferred that. I just need to keep the people of my town safe from the blood and skin hungry killer.”

Tori’s phone chimed. “We’re heading back to the police station before going to the original crime scene,” stated Tori, pocketing her phone.

“I’m coming too,” James Duffy insisted.

Julian shrugged. “Why not? It’s been such a nice day with you. Why let it come to an end?”

Sara came out just then, book in hand. Tori took it and handed the woman a card. “If you need anything, call me. Okay, Sara?”

The woman nodded. “I’m going to go call my parents and tell them. Please catch the person that did this, Agent.”

Tori nodded. “
We plan on it.”

The three sat in the police station waiting for the rest of their team to come together. They were silently going over tech reports that were waiting in their emails. At the knock on the door, they looked up. Christina stood there with a report in her hand, and as usual a smile on her face.

“I found the feather information for you and something else you might want to know about. It may be important.”

“Come in,” invited Elizabeth.

“I ran the feathers
, and they aren’t from an eagle at all. In fact, they aren’t real.”

No one was expecting that. Blackhawk lifted his eyebrow. “They’re fake feathers? Is there such a thing?” he inquired.

“Yes there are boss, and they’re made to look like whatever feather’s you want. In this case, the reason we thought they were eagle feathers, was because they are made to be dead ringers.”

“Okay, so we have fake feathers?”

Christina grinned. “Not only that, but on the last one, the killer got sloppy. He left me evidence.”

Elizabeth grinned
, wanting to kiss the woman. “What did he leave the smartest tech in the whole damn FBI kingdom?”

“Glue residue.”

No one spoke, as they waited for her to clarify what she was getting at.

Christina started laughing. “Okay, here’s what I think.
At your grandfather’s funeral, he was wearing that gorgeous headpiece, the one with all the white and black feathers.”

They nodded. Right now it was housed in a display case in their living room.

“I think our killer bought one of those cheap knockoffs online made of fake feathers and is taking it apart with each victim.”

“
We have fake feathers, glue and a warbonnet wearing wannabe?” Elizabeth’s head was spinning. This didn't make it easier at all. In fact, it added more confusion into the mix.

“Yep.”

Deputy Redwolf came to the door. “Ma’am, the council shaman is here and he wishes to speak to you.”

Elizabeth stood. “Christina, stay here. I’m going to have samples for you. Okay?”

She nodded. Anytime Elizabeth wanted her to sit and stare at the men, then she would willingly. It was like a coffee break but even better.

“Christina, be a good tech and eavesdrop on the conversation for me,” asked Blackhawk. “If he gets nasty, or she goes for blood, let me know.”

She nodded, obeying her boss. She’d do anything for Ethan Blackhawk, and that included sneaking a peek at the conversation that his wife was having.

It might get her killed, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

Elizabeth stopped at the desk, waiting for the man to acknowledge her presence. In the back of her mind, she heard Callen’s words and was going to play nice regardless. “You needed to see me, Shaman Tallman?”

The relatively short man stood in front of her. His hair
was free and his eyes were intently staring at her, as if seeking to find some hidden answer. “You requested these.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I appreciate you doing this for us so quickly,
Sir.”

He nodded. “You seem more subdued. I will take it that the men in your life put you in your place
, and you have been reprimanded.”

It took everything to swallow her pride for the man she loved. “I was, and I apologize for my rudeness. It was inexcusable
, and I shouldn’t have spoken to the elders of the council the way I did. I’m truly sorry and hope you’ll forgive me.”

He nodded
, glad to see that she’d learned her lesson. Women today were too brash and easily forgot their place. “Thank you. Have a good day, Agent.”

She watched him turn and leave and had to take three breaths to clear her anger before turning. “Asshat,” she muttered under her breath.

Christina stood in the door open mouthed. “Oh my God! I never thought I’d see this day happen!”

Ethan rushed over and stared out, catching the last half of the conversation. He knew why she was doing it, and he loved her
for it. Turning to his brother, he stared at him.

“She just apologized to a man that insulted her. He’s still
putting her down, and she’s swallowing it for you. I guess she does understand, Cal.”