Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (56 page)

“
Lulu, what can you tell me?” he asked, sitting at a table with the woman. 

“I can tell you that I think you’re a really sexy man, and we can head on back to the private rooms for a few minutes. I’d make your day, Agent. Men never complain after a session with me.”

Blackhawk wasn’t amused. “See the beautiful woman over there with all the black hair?” he asked, pointing at his wife.

“Yeah, I spoke to her the other day. I don’t know if I’d call her beautiful. All that black hair is a bit much.”

He almost laughed. “If I call her over, she’s going to be less than pleasant. Just tell me what I need to know, and we can all get on with our day.”

Lulu
leaned forwards and grinned. “You’re uptight sugar; you’re wife not satisfying you? You should come see me.” She slid her hand up his thigh, dangerously close to his crotch.

Blackhawk shifted, but knew she was right there.
His wife had the best or worst timing- depending on your perspective. Right then he had a woman groping at him incredibly inappropriately.

“Lulu, we meet again,” stated Elizabeth
, pulling out a chair and straddling it. “I see you have your hands in places they shouldn’t be.”

Ethan knew it was about to get ugly.
He could hear the twang of southern in her voice, and that meant someone was going to be in a great deal of pain.

“
The agent and I were just having a little talk, and possibly thinking about getting a coffee later, so back off.”

Now Blackhawk tensed
at what the woman was implying.

Elizabeth started laughing. “I find that hard to believe, Lulu,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Why’s that?” she stated, with a great deal of hostility. “Because I’m a stripper? You think a man wouldn’t want to date me outside the job?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “I happen to know for a fact that the
director is a happily married man.”

The woman snorted. “Sugar, here’s a news flash. When they are out there, they’re happily married
,” she pointed at the door. “In here it’s a whole other story. His wife is probably slacked off in the sex department, and he’s just biding his time until he can shake her off and get laid.”

“No, I’m pretty sure he’s very satisfied in bed.”

“Oh, so you know that now too? Aren’t you just a fucking mind reader?”

Elizabeth laughed. “I am. Let me teach you my trick. Are you ready, Lulu?” she asked. When the woman crossed her arms, she went in for the kill.
Normally sex in the workplace was not going to be discussed, but she did just find the woman feeling up her husband in a strip club. This was a whole other ballgame, and when in Rome…

“Ethan, you last had sex with your wife yesterday, she wore that red silk number you liked, and you had a damn good time, didn’t you?”

Blackhawk grinned. “I certainly did. I actually enjoyed how she ended it all.”

“Oh yeah, you like her on top.
We don’t want to forget that.”

Lulu stared at them both not getting it.

Elizabeth held up her left hand and pointed at her ring. “Now Lulu, what piece of jewelry is on my finger that’s identical to what’s on Mr. Blackhawk’s here?”

The stripper still didn’t get it.

“Look closely and you’ll see they’re matching rings. Hmmm, I wonder why that is,” she paused. “Oh yeah, I know. I’m his fucking wife, and if I see you put your hand anywhere near the parts of his body that I exclusively have rights to,” she pointed at his whole self. “I’m going to take your bleached out, skanky ass, outside and show you what a wife who doesn’t particularly like strippers is prone to do. I will make sure your damn dancing days are over. Are we clear?” Elizabeth was used to women hitting on the men in her life, but there was a big difference between flirting and running hands across his lap. Not happening.

Lulu gave her a dirty look.

“Now onto the questioning part of this interview. Fred stated a few women here were turning tricks. Are you hooking, Lulu?” Elizabeth was blunt and to the point.

“I do believe she offered herself up to me,” stated Blackhawk.
“In the back room, assuming I’d be immune to her advances.”

“Wow
, you solicited a federal agent, while his badge was on the table?” Elizabeth shook her head. “That’s has to be the easiest arrest I’ve ever had to make for solicitation of a federal officer.”

“I don’t
have a need for johns,” she demanded.

Elizabeth cocked her head. “So you didn’t just offer to take Director Blackhawk for a little tumble down stripper lane?”

“I’m Lulu LaVous, I don’t need to turn tricks, and the men love me because of my name and my body. Men love all things French.”

Elizabeth laughed. “You realize when you make up a last name you should understand the language
and not pick words that rhyme. You’re last name doesn’t actually mean anything, if fact it’s a dead giveaway you don’t speak French. If you translate it, the meaning is ‘I You’. Unless that’s something you were going for when you were picking it.”

“Please, you’re some back woods redneck,” she said, mocking the
way Elizabeth’s accent came out, by supplying one of her own.

Ethan went to say something, but Elizabeth beat him to it. In perfect French, she spoke to the woman, and then turned her husband’s face to meet her gaze. She spoke of their love, his amazing body and how much she adored him. Ending it a touch to his cheek, she stared back at the woman. “I actually speak French. I guess that’s not too bad for a redneck.”

Blackhawk stared at his wife, his heart pounding in his chest. His brother had one thing absolutely right. Her speaking French was incredibly hot.

“
Are you done trying to insult me and evade questions, Lulu? Or can we get back to the main discussion here? Are you turning tricks?” she asked again. “Because if I have to, I’ll run you in and have an arrest report on you so fast your head will spin.”

“I’ve been arrested
in the past,” she admitted, knowing the woman would drag her in without batting an eye.

“Did any of the other women have
a specific man that visited them regularly?” Elizabeth asked. “One that seemed to be in here more than anyone else?”

“Honey, it’s a strip club. Men come in here five times a week and tell the little woman they’re getting a beer with the boys. I don’t keep tabs on the regulars.”

Elizabeth simply sighed. “No one, Lulu?”

Lulu wasn’t giving her that information. “No, not that I can remember. We see a lot of men, as you can imagine
, and some of us more than others.” If she gave the Feds the name of the men she had regularly, that meant she’d lose money and that wasn’t happening.

Blackhawk stood. “Thanks for your help,” he said, dropping his arm over his
wife’s shoulders.

Elizabeth nodded at the woman, and let her husband lead her away. There had to be something Ethan needed to tell her. When they were off to the side, he motioned to Callen who joined them.

“How’d it go with the men?” Blackhawk asked. “Get anything?”

“A couple of them had ‘private’ dances with the victims and they swear they didn’t know they were doing anything illegal,” Callen said grinning.

Elizabeth laughed. “Yeah, because this country just passed that pesky
‘no sex for money’
rule yesterday.”

“A few stated
that the girls put out the first time for free, and then the subsequent times charged them.”

“That’s called the hook,” she said, glancing back and forth at the men. “To make sure the man’s not a cop, they’ll screw him once, and then the second time they ask for th
e money. They figure undercover cops won’t follow through with the sex.”

Both men stared at her.

“What? I played a hooker for about three weeks. Miss Kitty walked the street a long time.”

Callen was about to make a comment, when his brother punched him in the arm. “Hey! What’s that for?” he demanded.

“You sent me into Lulu land, and Elizabeth had to slap the woman down. Her hands were all over my lower region and dangerously close to…”

Elizabeth chimed in, “My property.”

“Oh shit, I missed it?” He was genuinely disappointed. “Damn it! I love when she gets all territorial.”

Elizabeth glanced down at her watch. “It’s time to head over to our appointment with Patrick Wells. Callen, can you stick here
with Julian and Detective Austin to make sure the tech team gets all the trace done? I want them out of here in the next hour. We’re taking Tori. I want her opinion on anything she sees lying in the open that’s suspicious.”

“Yeah, I can stay. Will you both be careful?” he asked. Even though he knew they were going somewhere completely safe, Callen didn’t like to be apart from them too long.

“Watch your back here. Lulu is looking for a piece of ass to sink her teeth into,” snickered Elizabeth, taking the fist bump from Ethan.

“You both just threw me to her now!”
He started laughing. “You’re a sadistic woman.”

Blackhawk crossed his arms. “Oh, and by the way, Cal. She whipped out the French, stared right into my eyes and it was indeed very hot.”

Now he stood with his mouth open. “You talked dirty in French without me and to another man? That’s our thing!”

“Boys, you’re both too damn much.”

~ Chapter Fifteen ~

Monday Afternoon

Parking in front of the house, both directors and Agent Christensen took in the surroundings. It was a fairly decent sized house in a really nice neighborhood. Immediately, alarm bells went off in the back of all three of their heads. Tori was the one to bring it up first.

“I get that you
three live in an upscale neighborhood, but you’re all directors for the FBI. How does a fire inspector for the local fire department pull in the cash to score this house? I’m pretty sure I make more money than him, and I don’t live in a neighborhood like this.”

“That’s a good question,” stated Elizabeth, as Ethan
Googled the average salary as a point of reference.

He held the phone up showing both women. “Patrick Wells didn’t get this house on his salary.”

That simply made Elizabeth more curious. When she locked into a trail, she dug until she found what she wanted like a rabid dog.

“Let’s go in and overtly ask questions. Shall we? Tori, you
keep your eyes open and see if you can find anything suspicious.”

The three approached the front door and knocked. Waiting for access to the house,
they all scanned the area. Patrick Wells had a brand new pickup truck and it was parked in the front of the house. It only added fuel to their fire.

Before anyone could say anything, the door was pulled open
quickly. It had all three reaching for their guns, expecting the worst.

“Hey!
It’s only me. No need to be jumpy! Come on in and we can get to work. Can I get anyone a drink?” said the man, exuberantly.

Elizabeth was beginning to think maybe he was just one of those irritatingly cheerful people. Like Ginny or Christina. “Thank you,” she said, leading the three in after him. Both agents were blocking Tori, so she could check everything out without Patrick Wells noticing.

They followed him into his office, taking seats facing his really old looking mahogany desk. Everyone declined his offer on the beverages.

Ethan silently observed the man, allowing his wife and Tori to run the conversation. He noticed the agent was
doing a good job of covertly checking out the bookshelves for literature regarding fires. But then again, he was the fire inspector; of course there’d be books.

“We appreciate you having us here,” stated Elizabeth. “Great neighborhood. When Ethan and I were buying a house
in the area, this was one of the places we considered.”

Patrick smiled. “We love it here. My son and I think it’s a great place.”

Elizabeth made the mental note that he didn’t mention a woman. “Yeah, we went with one closer to work and a lower homeowner association fees.”

“The fees aren’t too bad
once you get used to them, I guess. I just wanted a place that we could call home.”

She kept at it. “Have you lived here long?” Elizabeth inquired, smiling easily.

“No, we’ve only been here since my wife passed away five years ago. We simply couldn’t stay in the other house. Her death there made it very difficult for my son.”

“I imagine,” Tori interjected, sympathetically.