Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7) (78 page)

Ethan’s phone chimed and Elizabeth picked it up reverently. Her heart skipped in her chest. “He has mail.” Scanning the message, she looked up. “How did you get the gym membership list without a warrant?”

Callen grinned. “Because my big brother is slick and can do just about anything that he puts his mind to,” he said, feeling the sharp rush of pain. When he closed his eyes, Elizabeth took his hand in hers.

“Let’s utilize his work then and start breaking apart that list. Let’s see if any
of our suspects are on it,” Elizabeth said, leaning forward to kiss Callen on the cheek reassuringly. She whispered in his ear. “We’ll get through this my love. I won’t give up.”

He
turned his head to stare into her eyes. “We’re all counting on it.”

One of the
first things that they taught you, when you were in the FBI Academy, was that if you were ever taken and held against your will, try to empathize with your abductor.

And that was what Ethan was trying to do.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, hoping the man would reply.

At first, he wasn’t sure if he should talk to him
, and then he figured why not. “When I saw Harmony at the church, I just knew she had to be mine. She was the best I’ve ever had and she promised me more power if I helped her practice her sex magic.”

Okay, that made sense.

In a sick, twisted, mentally deranged kind of way.

“She invited me to her home
and taught me about Wicca first. She told me that I couldn’t learn the second without understanding the fundamentals. At the church, the priest wouldn’t tell us how he set up his altar, but she knew how to do one. How much different could it be?”

Oh
brother, he wasn’t all there.

Hey, at least his profile was right.

“When we would go to her place and practice, I could feel a little of the power, but I needed more. So, I went online and Googled it. The devil gives power out to those that follow him and make a grand sacrifice.”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you
read online,” Ethan offered, getting through the last piece of the duct tape around his ankles.

“I saw Elizabeth online
and she’s real.”

Yeah, and he wasn’t getting her.
Even if the boon he had to pay was his own life, Elizabeth wasn’t getting caught in his web.

“So
, online I read that sex magick was good but sometimes the dark Lord needed blood. So, I gave it to him.”

Ethan had
to know. “You picked the first three because they were Harmony’s friends didn't you?” he asked.

“Yes. I saw
her at the gym, and she and her girlfriends laughed at me. They said I played in death all day and wasn’t a real doctor.”

“That made you mad, didn't it?
”

He was angry. “YES! I
am a doctor. I decided to teach them a lesson. I figured the fact that they were witches would only make my master that much happier. After all, it is Halloween.”

“How did you pick Artemis?”

“I knew that Harmony was also having a relationship with her, and I couldn’t risk that she told the woman anything about me. Women talk and gossip and I was tying up loose ends. I didn't want it to get out that I was hanging out at the Church of Satan.”

They were all connected around the photo and the one woman in it. She’d been the reason her three friends were killed and then the priestess too
. This man was a complete and total stalker. “Why my wife?”

“
She’s amazing. The minute I saw her on TV, I just had to have her. Elizabeth is the reason for all of this. I couldn’t meet her unless I got her to come to me. She’s the reason I had to kill them.”

Yeah, this man wasn’t all there.

“
I didn't believe that she would actually come, but I promised the dark Lord that if he brought her here, I wouldn’t touch the other women. She would be my ultimate prize, and his perfect sacrifice. Even though I wanted to use Harmony one last time, I took it as a sign that she didn't stir my body like she once had done.”

Blackhawk was pretty sure the Viagra that Arlen James was slipping everyone had something to do with it.
The man was likely impotent without the aid of the drugs.

“The
devil will reward me for giving him such a great sacrifice. The news called her the best that the FBI had to offer. I can’t wait to get her on my altar and have hours of fun with her.”

“If I get out of here, I’m going to kill you,” Ethan said honestly.

He laughed kicking the box. “This is pine. You’re going to die in there, but thank you for the warning.”

Ethan wanted to tell him pine was a soft wood, but he decided to surprise him when he
took his life for even thinking about his woman.

“If you’re going to make an offering to the
devil, she has to be beautiful and smart. He doesn’t want second rate. I won’t be carving a pentagram in her body, so don’t worry. Maybe I’ll keep her in a box too, so I can keep her forever.”

It was apparent that they were working with someone a few bricks short of a full load. How he functioned at work, it was beyond Ethan.
Then again, he thought back to the missing pentacle. “One question,” he began.

“Yes?”

“Was the pentacle that our ME found yours or the witch’s?”

“That bitch ripped it from my neck and must have swallowed it.
It was a gift from Harmony. When your medical examiner found it, I was sick to my stomach.”

“And the locations?”

The man laughed. “I told you all from the start. I left you a map to the final killing. Elizabeth just has to be smart enough to find me.”

“She’s going to stop you,” Blackhawk promised. “Then
she’s going to send you on your merry way to meet your beloved Satan.

“I gave the
devil four witches and a priestess. Now, I’m going to give him a raven haired Goddess. I think that should get me plenty of power and protection. I am going to live a long time with his blessing.”

Y
eah, he wouldn’t bet on that.

His wife was going to send him right to hell.

Callen was mulling it over as they scanned the gym information that had arrived in Ethan’s email. “I don’t think that it’s Clifford. He’s scrawny. Chris is bigger than him and I don’t think that he could carry or drag me. Ethan is a few pounds lighter, but he’s bulky with muscles.”

“I couldn’t carry either of you, but I could drag you
for a short distance,” he added.

“I’m leaning towards Patrick Parrish,” Callen stated.

Elizabeth needed each of their opinions. She already knew which man her gut was telling her was guilty. “Cyra, who would you pick?”

“I think it’s the ME. He just screams creepy killer.”

Chris objected. “Hey!”

She patted his leg. “I also think it’s him because of that first clue. I think that necklace has something to do with it. My gut is screaming about it still.
I don’t think that he knew that she swallowed it, or he would have done the Y-incision. He would have wanted to find it.”

Elizabeth
had to agree. “I say it’s Parrish too. He just feels off to me. We asked him for some office space, he offered up room twelve specifically. Maybe he already had a key. I also don’t buy the incompetence thing with the necklace and the partial autopsy. I, too, believe that he didn't know it was there or didn't really care.”

As her phone began ringing, she glanced down at the number. Hitting answer, she waited.

“Lyzee, I have your information for you. It’s registered to the police and ME’s office.”

Well shit, that didn't answer either question. It could still be Patrick Parrish or Clifford bean. “Thank you, Gabe, I appreciate it.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me to come there?”

She stared at her watch. “No. We’re almost out of time. I have to go, Gabe. I’ll call you after I kill th
is asshole.”

“Be safe, Lyzee,” he stated.

Cyra watched her. “You’re not going to bring him in are you?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m not even going to pretend or lie to you. I’m going to be honest.
Not only has he taken our partner, but he’s criminally insane and won’t get the chair for any of this. He’ll be found incompetent to go to trial, and if for some miracle he does, he touched all the evidence.”

“We could re-
do it,” Cyra stated, not sure how she felt about the ‘
eye for an eye’
mentality.

“If you have a problem, you should go. I don’t want you and Chris to compromise any morals
that you have on this. I care too much about my friend to make him wear a target on this.”

She didn't understand and her face must have said as much.

Chris took her hand in his. “If this goes to trial, they’re going to rake me over the coals. I’m the ME and I run that lab. I let the killer taint everything. Even if I couldn’t have known, the defense will make me look like an idiot. They’re going to pull up any and everything they can find on me personally and professionally. When I first started out as an ME, I made mistakes. I helped lose a big case by guessing and taking shortcuts. When that hits the light of day, it’s going to add to it that I didn't do my job.”

Cyra thought back to her brother and some of the things
that he had done to cause doubt in a jury’s mind.

“Including my mother, Cyra,” Chris added. “It’s a witch case and my mom’s a nutjob
, I’m dating one of the investigators, and my best friend’s husband has been abducted.”

Elizabeth reached over and
reassuringly patted his knee. “I’ll take the blame on all this. If anyone on this team ends up under scrutiny for this, I’m going to own it all. If anyone asks, I forced you and threatened everyone. I’ll worry about my ass later.”

Callen didn't like that at all.

“Some lousy ambulance chasing attorney, who likes to spring criminals, will be trying to make us all feel sorry for him. Plus, he’ll allude to the court that my ME is an idiot for not knowing that the man working beside him was homicidal.”

“That case I lost,” Chris began, “It was one of Lyzee’s big ones when she was
just starting out. My screw up tarnished us both.” He placed his hand over Elizabeth’s on his knee. He appreciated her support and for not holding a grudge years ago. Her friendship was priceless.

Cyra looked
back and forth between Chris and her boss before making her decision. “I’m staying.”

Elizabeth
let out the breath she was holding. “If it makes you feel any better. I’ll only be shooting him if he tries to attack me. If he comes at me unarmed, I’m going to kick the shit out of him instead.”

And she would.

No one wanted to think that taking the life of a murderer was a justifiable outcome, but it was what was likely going to happen.

As if on cue, the dog walked over to Elizabeth and licked
her face. Apparently, he didn't mind vengeance in the least.

“Rex is
an excellent judge of character, Elizabeth. I trust him to tell me who the good guy is,” Cyra stated.

Elizabeth
relaxed. Suddenly, the man beside her practically shouted. It caused them all to jump and Rex to growl.

“I found him
!” exclaimed Callen. He handed the gym membership paper to Elizabeth, and knew when she discovered the name too.

“We have Patrick Parrish leading the pack. See if you can find Clifford Bean on the list,” she asked, handing it back to him.

Standing, she walked to the map and stared at it. She really needed and address and a small miracle at this point. Time was running out.

Closing her eyes, she sent out some energy to her husband. “Hang in there, Ethan. I’m coming for you, love bug. I promise.”

Callen glanced back up from the list. “There’s no Clifford Bean on the membership.
You need to make the gut decision. Do we keep searching for the other suspects or go with Parrish? We need to narrow our focus on this.”

She took a deep breath and let go of all the stress and pain in her heart. Now
, she was going to do what she excelled at in life.

She was a cop to her bones.

“I say we assume that it’s Parrish, and we wait for anything to say otherwise. We’re going to focus on where this asshole is hiding out and bring Ethan home.”

Her last thought was a prayer that he would be alive.

Ethan knew he was in trouble when the man had a hole just about done for him. He’d had to be working on it a while. There was no way he
could dig it all in one night, or it could be that he was drifting in and out of consciousness.