Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) (68 page)

Respect.

             
                            *   *   *

The
y remained outside the cabin, until the team rolled up with the vans and the vehicles. One tech began stringing up the tape, blocking off any people trying to get on the scene. Already the very quiet roadway was showing signs of life. Soon the media would be arriving. The hounds loved the scent of blood and were greedy when it came to the tragic end of life.

“What do we have?” questioned Doctor Leonard as he gloved up and covered his shoes with the paper booties.

Elizabeth led him over to the door and pointed at the lock. “We have one victim inside, and it looks like he hung himself.” As they inspected the doorframe, a tech was busily snapping pictures. It appeared no one had broken into the home.

“How are we getting in?” Chris inquired. “Am I going through a window?”

Blackhawk dropped to a knee, pulled out a tool from a little black case and had the door lock popped in under a minute.

“Forget you saw that,” she instructed the ME
. “He likes to show off his B&E skills.”

Callen snickered. “When you got it, flaunt it.” It wasn’t the first time they’d had to break into a building for her, and probably not the last.

“Kicking in the door scuffs up my shoes,” Blackhawk admitted. “These are my favorite boots. Italian leather needs to be respected.”

Elizabeth simply shook her head
as she rolled her eyes. “Okay, let’s go,” she answered, pulling on her own gloves and booties. Following the ME in, she assessed the scene.

Hanging from the banister of the stairway was the Native
chief. His face was mottled with blue red patches. His eyes stared blankly ahead.

Elizabeth tried to not look him in the face. The dead eyes were a window into her nightmares. Turning, she scanned the room, and saw the wall. “Looks like our killer had just upped his game and changed the rules mid
-quarter,” she observed, pointing at the vicious red slashes of words on the white wall.

“Yeah, it looks like,” stated Chris as he did a preliminary assessment of the body. “Petechial hemorrhaging is present in his eyes. He definitely asphyxiated.” 

Elizabeth glanced back over at her ME. “I didn’t spend ten years in college and med school, and I could have told you that when I walked in, Chris.”

He laughed. “It must be that Ivy league education.”

That had Christina’s attention. “Who went to an Ivy league school?” she asked, snapping a picture of the surrounding room.

“Opps.” There was laughter
from the ME at the look on Elizabeth’s face. “I guess I let the cat out of the bag. Sorry, Lyzee.”

Christina stared at her boss with a healthy dose of skepticism. “You’re kidding right?”

She sighed and figured it was too late to pretend. “I graduated from Cornell.”

Her head tech simply stared at her
, open mouthed and wondering if she was kidding.

Blackhawk started laughing
and redirected the discussion. “Look at the bloody clothing.” It worked. No one was thinking about his wife’s education. “Chief Soaring Eagle would look damn guilty if it wasn’t for the message scrawled on the wall in blood.”

Examining the scene, Elizabeth had to agree. “Someone laid out the clothing on the
furniture like it belonged here, and then placed a white feather on each of them to symbolize something.”

“He’s laying them to rest,” Ethan said, pulling up the missing person’s reports on
his phone. “It’s symbolic to him. By placing the victim’s clothing here, he’s showing us that in a way, he’s burying them. See how the sleeves of the shirts are crossed over the chest? It’s almost as if he’s making Chief Soaring Eagle own them.”

“Do we know for sure these garments are the victims?” inquired Callen.

Blackhawk shook his head in acknowledgment. “This shirt and pants match Jeffrey Hopper clothing description,” he said, pointing. “It matches the missing person’s report details.” Moving to the next set, he checked his digital report. “This one matches Andrew Sumner.”

Elizabeth stood in the center of the room and scanned it. “Did our killer string him up?”

Chris answered that for her. “I say no. I don’t see any scratches on his throat and no skin under his nails. This man didn’t struggle, which means he was either dead or willing to die.”

“How long has he been hanging there, Doc?” Callen questioned, knowing that Chris Leonard wasn’t going to give them too much more. He liked to wait until the autopsy was done first.

“No more than eight hours.”

Before Elizabeth sa
id anything more, there was a commotion outside. Glancing towards the door, she saw Rick Longtree and his deputies. “We have company, boys.”

Blackhawk knew that was his cue to run interference. Elizabeth didn’t want them on the scene. Not until all the evidence was collected and secured. If one of them was the one that touched the feather found on James Duffy, she wasn’t going to risk having them be able to say it was crime scene contamination.

“Why weren’t we called?” grilled Longtree. “I am still chief of reservation police, and that man is technically my boss.”

Ethan and Callen stood in the doorway like two crime scene bouncers. If Elizabeth wanted to be bought time, they’d get her as much as possible.

“Rick, don’t make this into some giant conspiracy. I was planning on calling you once our tech team cleared the evidence. It’s a small area, and they need the least amount of people walking all over it.” Ethan took in their body language.

T
he logic seemed to mollify the man.

“Oh, well we’re here now, what can we do?” It was apparent that the men had no intention of allowing him access.

“We could really use your help controlling the scene. Can you station your officers at the driveway? I noticed traffic is picking up. It won’t be long before one of the passers-by calls the media.” Blackhawk figured that would be the best place for them- away from the evidence.

“Sure thing,” Longtree said. “
Garrett, you and Melanie take the driveway. Kane, there’s a path that leads to the property back here. Anyone that’s familiar with the lay of the land will know about it.”

The officers all split up.

“Now, what can I do?” he inquired.

Elizabeth came to the door. “You can come in, Rick. Just booties on and glove up,” she paused. “Is your DNA or trace going to be on the scene?”

He stared at her. “Are you asking if I murdered the man?” his temper began to rise. Did they actually believe he was the killer?

Her brow scrunched up. “Uh, no. I was asking if you’d been here in the last few days to talk to the man or if you stopped in for coffee.”

Immediately he calmed down. “Sorry, I guess I’m a little rattled by this entire thing. Does he still have his skin?”

Blackhawk simply nodded.

“I was here about a month ago. Ben wasn’t feeling well, so I ran over the reports he wanted. I didn’t come inside. I stood at the door, but I did touch the door handle, door frame and glass.”

Christina rushed over. “Boss, I found something and you need to see it.”

All three turned and headed after their head tech. Rick Longtree followed. At the desk, they all waited for Christina to explain what had her so excited.

“I was photographing the desk and found this,” she lifted two envelopes and handed them to Elizabeth.

The first one was marked ‘last will and testament’ and was sealed.

“We’ll have this one opened at the lab, but it’s probably exactly what it says,” she admitted. “What’s the next one?”

She handed her boss the final envelope. It wasn’t sealed, and opened easily.

Elizabeth unfolded the letter over the desk, in case anything fell from it. They might have additional trace. Scanning the letter, she finished and handed it to her husba
nd.

“Well?” asked Callen, watching his brother’s face as he read the note.

“We can stop looking for the man that murdered Julian’s father, Officer Kevin Clark and Chief Runningbear. Benjamin Soaring Eagle admitted to the killings,” Elizabeth relayed the confession.

“Did he admit to the outsiders and William Boyd?” questioned Rick Longtree.

“Nope.”

Blackhawk gingerly folded up the confession. “I’m going to call Julian and Tori. I think it’s safe for him to come here now. We were worried, but he can’t snap out and kill the man.”

Elizabeth had to agree there. It looked like the killer had already scared the man into doing it.

             
                            *   *   *

Julian stared down into her face as he glided in and out of her body. The way she made him forget his pain, lifted his heart. “Victoria,” he mumbled, the overwhelming need
to push them into the bliss called to him.

Need surged
as the desire to find refuge in her body urged him on. Having Tori by his side gave him strength to carry on and be at peace.

“Julian,” she moaned, her body quaking. “I want you, always.”

He quickened the pace and they both shattered, shouting each other’s names. As soon as he could focus, he rolled off her body.

“Nice one,” Tori quipped, giggling.

Julian joined in the laughter. “I blame you.”

Instinctually, she rolled, cuddling against his side
. The contact soothed them both, just for different reasons. “I love you,” she said, leaving kisses across her name healing on his chest.

The scent of her skin heated his blood. “I happen to love you too.”

“Are you feeling better?”

Julian thought about it. “Sex is very cathartic. I used you,” he snickered.

“I feel so cheap.”

He laughed and winked. “How much more do I owe you
now?”

Tori ran her hands down his lean frame. “
By my calculations you owe me two hundred forty nine thousand, nine hundred ninety eight dollars.”

“Good to see I knocked two bucks off with this one.”

“It was pretty spectacular.”

Julian loved her and would be completely lost without her. “I need to ask you something.”

Tori looked up at him. “Okay, ask.”

“Do you want kids?”

That wasn’t what she was expecting and it caught her off guard. “Yes and no.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “You may need to
clarify that answer for me, because I don’t know where you’re heading with it.”

She sighed. “I love kids. When I get to hold little CJ, it makes me want them, but then I’m reminded that the woman that made me left. What if I have that abandonment gene in me and I leave our
children?”

Julian understood her pain. “I’d hunt you down and drag you back.”

Tori didn’t think he was kidding. “I worked in a base daycare and understand the basics of them, but I was raised by a soldier. War and killing I get, but potty training I’m probably going to fail at.”

“Okay, so we don’t have kids.”

She could hear the disappointment in his voice. “I didn’t say that, Jules. I’m simply scared to death. I don’t want to ruin a child’s life.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked, gold speckled eyes meeting smoky
blue. “Do you believe in me, Victoria?”

Without hesitation she nodded. “Of course, or I wouldn’t be in bed with you or marrying you.”

“I know for a fact you wouldn’t run. You’d stay to prove you didn’t get any part of her. You’re stubborn and strong willed. If there was even a slight chance you’d bolt, you’d beat it back until the stronger part of you won.”

His faith amazed her. “I want to believe that.”

Julian touched her cheek. “I won’t lie. I want kids, but if you can’t do it, Tori, I’ll sacrifice that need to keep your heart protected.”

The fact the man was willing to give up his lifelong desire to be a father touched her. “I’m scheduled for my next shot in a month. I’ll skip it.
It could take us a while, until the drug is out of my body.”

“Really?” he was surprised.

“Yes, really. I want you to have the kids you’ve always wanted, and I look at it this way. You have enough nieces and nephews that Liana or Connor can teach me how to do this potty training thing.”

Julian wanted to weep with Joy. He always suspected because of her past, she’d run from
the prospects of having children. Bringing it up had always scared the hell out of him. If she said no, could he live with it? Live without her? Now he could enjoy what life had in store for them and not worry.

“Want to practice?” she inquired, running her hand down his body, beneath the sheet and to his erection.

Julian smiled. “I think we should practice three times a day,” he whispered, kissing her.