The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (14 page)

“Agreed,” she said
, standing and starting to carry the dishes into the kitchen. “Tony, can you do me a favor?” she called to him, filling his travel mug, and handing it back to him when he came into the kitchen. “Take Ethan’s SUV, drop it off with his partner, and later get one of the guys to drop you back here to get your vehicle. Lily is stranded at ‘
The Wayfarer’
and that’s a fate worse than death.” She wanted to grin joyously at the thought, but managed to contain herself at the other agent’s displeasure.

“Okay
, Lyzee,” he answered, grinning as he baited her in front of the FBI agent.

“Am I signing your timecard for today, Deputy Morel?” she threatened, one brow lifted.

He laughed good naturedly. “Yes, ma’am, Sheriff LaRue, Ma’am, you most certainly are,” he saluted her, and grabbed the keys from the agent. “Don’t call her Lyzee on the clock, it makes her cranky,” he warned, as he earned another dirty look.

Blackhawk wondered if she’d give him the same look if he did, and he promised to test that theory.

“Sorry about Tony, he’s out of control,” she smiled, placing the last dish into the dishwasher. “I’m ready now.”

He grinned, as he followed her out the door. He’d been assured another breakfast date and he was riding into town with her. It was a good day after all. Buckling in, he waited for her to start the engine.

For now, he wanted to bask in the victory of masculine afterglow.

Agent Blackhawk
sitting beside her in the jeep was infinitely better than her just sniffing the lingering scent of his cologne. Elizabeth had to admit, she liked how it felt to have Ethan near her. She even remembered to lock her door. Usually, Elizabeth didn’t bother but today it just seemed important, especially in front of an FBI agent.

“That was nice of you to make him drive the SUV over to hotel,” he
said, turning on the air conditioning. It was already going to be a scorcher.

“Yeah, that’s me. Sheriff
Nicey-Nice,” she quipped, grinning. Elizabeth tossed her hat into the back seat, and pulled out of the drive. The day was starting pretty darn good. First there was a run, breakfast with Special Agent Blackhawk and now them sitting side by side in closed quarters. It was hard to ignore how great he smelled. “I just figured Lily is going to be pissy if she has to walk in this heat to the station, and I’m the one she’ll take it out on, since she has it in for me. I’m just cutting the trouble off at the pass.”

He laughed at her old west reference. He found her cowboy boots and hat charming. He was very glad she wasn’t dressed in some stuffy uniform. Low rise jeans and a tank top suited her just fine. “By the way, Lyzee, nice belt buckle.”

She looked down forgetting what one she put on, and smiled at the word ‘
boss
’. “It was my initiation present from my deputies, when I came here.”

“So you're the boss, huh?”

“Hell yeah I am,” she winked at him, salaciously.

Blackhawk felt everything inside him
tighten, and he knew he needed to change the subject, or his mouth would betray him again. “So, what’s your game plan this morning, Sheriff?” he asked, trying to not overheat as he sat beside her.

Man, it wasn’t easy.
 

“Well, since this is
still my rodeo, Cowboy, and the FBI isn’t officially here,” she mulled it over. “I think I’ll start the deputies on doing research on the first three deceased woman and our latest two. There has to be something there that we’re missing. I know my father didn’t get a chance to research them.”

She couldn’t help but notice he was staring at her.

“What? Is that a bad idea?” she was pretty sure she hadn’t said anything wrong.

“Cowboy?” he repeated
, as he prepared to laugh.

“Uh yeah, I believe that’s what I said.”

Out came the sexy Blackhawk grin.

She must have looked confused, but his smile lighte
ned the concern.

“It’s a saying.
I’m sorry, did I offend you?” she asked, pulling into the station parking lot and putting on the brake. “Should I have called you Indian instead?” she grinned, teasing him. “More apropos considering the circumstance? Do I get to be the cowboy then, since I own the hat?”

She didn’t expect what happened next.

Blackhawk leaned in fast, pulling her mouth to his, as he braced his hand firmly on the back of the neck. The kiss on her lips was slow and warm. When Ethan finally broke away he spoke, grinning wickedly, “Cowboy is what Gabe and my co-workers call me, so yeah, use it. I like the way it sounds coming from your lips. Thanks for breakfast, Lyzee,” Blackhawk said, jumping out of her Jeep and entering the building. He was pretty sure he caught her off guard.

Elizabeth ran her fingers over her lips, and they
still felt warm to the touch. Just that brief contact made her whole body tingle. It occurred to her that she was out of her element with this man, and he had a way of catching her off guard and making her forget about work.

It was going to be really hard to focus
all day.

Blackhawk escaped inside to the conference room, and he couldn’t believe what he just did. Christ, what was h
e thinking? He just kissed her in her Jeep, outside work, and during an assignment. Holy shit, day two and she already was breaking down his carefully constructed control. Elizabeth LaRue was a huge, distraction.

Then it occurred to him, she didn’t stop the kiss
. In fact, she had participated in it…

Once inside, after regrouping her thoughts, Elizabeth called all her deputies together for a meeting. They met in the conference room, and watched her eagerly. She had sent out text messages for them all to reconvene back at the station for new assignments. On the way into work, she realized this was a new game, and she needed her deputies focused on the killer, and not doing the normal jobs, like speeding tickets and missing newspapers.

When both the FBI agents
entered the room, she began. “Thank you for rushing in, guys and Sara,” she said, smiling at her deputies. “We’re taking a new approach to the situation. Instead of being out in the streets, I need you all to be at base and doing some leg work. There has to be a common thread that ties all the murders together. Something we’re missing, like a community event, a location, or even a person. We just need that next little piece of the puzzle to give us an idea of where this guy is taking this.”

“I agree with
Sheriff LaRue. Right now the answer is in the information we can gather regarding the individuals. Something they said, did, or even saw could lead us to the killer. That will keep us from finding more victims,” said Blackhawk, standing beside Elizabeth.

“Leave no stone unturned and even the littlest
information could mean the biggest piece of the puzzle, so keep your eyes open and start searching. Here are your assignments,” she paused to pull out the paper. “Chris, you get our first victim. Her name was Tara Scott. I need to know everything you can find on her. Who she liked, what she did, what her favorite past time was in town. I mean everything,” she said, handing him the paper and dismissing him from the conference room.

“Tony, you get our second victim, Melissa Martin. Again, everything you can find, who she dated, who her best friend was
in high school, anything relevant.” Elizabeth patted him on the shoulder, as he took his assignment and left the room.

“Tyrell, you have our third victim,” said Blackhawk, holding out the file. “Melody Howe, she was found hanging in the square.” He handed him the file and waited until he was gone.
“Sara, you have Patricia Parker. We suspect the only reason her friend was killed was that she was with her. The killer didn’t expect it. She wasn’t from this area but visiting her friend,” he handed her the file.

“Thank you, Agent Blackhawk,” she said smiling, pausing at the conference room door. “Umm, Sheriff
LaRue?”

Elizabeth looked up from her papers and over at the
deputy. “Yes, Sara?”

“Nice flower,”
Sara teased, grinning and walking from the room, whistling a cheery tune. If she was a gambler, she would venture a guess as to where that flower came from.

Elizabeth scowled at Blackhawk, and he raised his hands in
mock surrender.

“It wasn’t me who put it the
re,” he said, grinning wickedly at her. Just seeing the flower in her hair gave him a sense of possessiveness. What astounded him was that even after the teasing, Elizabeth still kept it in place.

She was about to say something sarcastic, when Martha appeared at her door, looking nervous and downright upset. “Martha, what’s wrong?” she went to her side, putting her arm around the woman protectively.

“Sheriff, we had a call from the mayor,” she paused, “he found a body this morning on his property.”

“Another one, alr
eady?” she said, going on alert and glancing over her shoulder at the agents. “Can you grab the missing person report, Ethan, on your way out?”

He nodded and strode to the door, already heading
for the vehicles “We’ll meet you outside, Sheriff,” he said, motioning to his partner.

“Martha, tell the deputies to head out there
. Let’s try not to cause a panic and riot. I want to get to the crime scene before Armageddon happens here in town.”

Martha nodded. “Be careful, Sheriff,” she replied, watching her boss rush from the building.

She only hoped that she was able to find the killer before more people had to die.

Elizabeth nodded to the agents sitting in their SUV. She dialed the ME and told him the location, as she pulled out of the parking lot. The good news was this was being kept quiet; the bad news was that they had another body and were nowhere near having a viable suspect. In her rear view mirror, she could see the FBI right behind her, and it gave her a small measure of reassurance. There was no doubt that they would help her find the killer. It was just a matter of how many bodies they had before it was done.

Deep down
, fear gripped her, and she pushed it down until later. Now, she had to be the one in charge of leading the investigation.

As she pulled into Mayor Argot’s drive, her blood pressure spiked. There had to be ten cars and people milling around. Jumping out
, she looked ready to kill someone, and she knew who was first on her list.

“What the bloody hell
?” she muttered, stalking her way over to the mayor. “Will, what’s going on?” she snapped angrily, as there was media and people all over the yard were moving in on her body and crime scene.

“Sheriff,” he muttered
under his breath and through his fake smirk. “Smile, there are cameras on us.”

“I’m not going to smile
at these media jackwagons! I’m going to throw everyone’s ass off your property,” she turned towards the TV cameras and to the newspaper photographer. “This is officially a crime scene,” she saw her deputies arrive. “Tape it off, and escort these fine people away from here and confiscate cell phones, video cameras, and anything else they think they can sneak out of here,” she snapped, her voice tinged with sarcasm. 

The chorus of displeasure sounded from the media.

“Sheriff!” The mayor looked panic stricken that she was ruining his sound bite and media coverage.

Elizabeth gladly took him by his arm, and le
d him to the side of the house out of earshot. “Will, seriously? You call in a body, and then you call the media right after it?” She looked over her shoulder at the FBI agent, and he looked just about as angry as she did. “The point is to keep the town from panicking, not stir the shit pot so we have mass chaos!”

He shrugged,
“Elizabeth, I have a civic duty to the fine people of this town. It is my job to show them that our sheriff and her deputies are working this and, trying to solve it as fast as possible.”

She stared at him open
mouthed unsure if he was serious.

“Besides, it is an election year,” he paused, and before he could finish sh
e took another step towards him, and he obviously saw the anger in her eyes.

“If you think for one second
that I give a shit about this being an election year, you’re out of your mind. I care about the girl who died, not if I get re-elected,” she growled, menacingly. “Where is she?”

He pointed to the back of the house and replied, “
Along the tree line and by the stone wall.”

“Wait here
! You need to be questioned,” she tossed at him angrily, before walking away.

Elizabeth crossed the acre of property, and kept scanning the area for any sign of footprints, car treads,
or anything that would give them an idea of how she got to the field. As she got closer, she pulled a pair of rubber gloves from her back pocket and slipped them on. Looking down at the body, she shook her head.

“Sheriff, what do we have?” asked Blackhawk, pulling on his own gloves
, and crouching beside her.