The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (26 page)

Immediately, Blackhawk was at her side and the look on his face wasn’t a pleasant one.

“What do you want, Forbes?” she relaxed marginally.

“I want an interview with you, regarding the serial killer living among us,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Not happening in this lifetime.” Elizabeth moved to walk past him, and he grabbed her bandaged arm, causing her to suck in a sharp breath.

This time Blackhawk moved first. H
e had his body between them, and had maneuvered the man away from the sheriff. When he had Forbes pressed against the tree, he finally spoke, “Let me make myself perfectly clear,” he spoke, menacingly. “The next time I see your hands anywhere near her or on her body, I will make sure you temporarily lose use of them.”

Forbes looked up at him, fear in his eyes. “I just want an interview
with her.”

“Touch her again, and you and I will be conducting an interview of our own. Before you think about telling me you’ll call m
y boss and report me, let me warn you in advance. I will have you dragged back to Quantico on some bunk charges, tying you up there until this is all over. Am I clear?” he said softly, but his voice held so much threat, the man looked like he believed him.

“Clear.”

Blackhawk steered her away from him, his arm protectively around her shoulders until they were inside. “Are you okay?” he asked, rolling up her sleeve to inspect the wound.

“I’m
good,” she said, recognizing the violence she saw in his eyes. She touched his cheek, with her free hand. “Ethan, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just don’t like him popping out behind trees and manhandling you
.” Ethan saw the tint of blood seeping through the bandage. “We need to have Doc look at this,” he said, leading her to the morgue.

“Ethan, I’m okay, really,” she followed him into the
elevator. When the doors closed she gasped, as he spun her around to face him.

He didn’t know what he was going to say, instead he just kissed her. All the emotion came pouring out of his body, from his soul into her
s. He had wanted to be calm, patient, and rational, but that man putting his hands on her, causing her pain, drove him over the line. As he broke the kiss, fear covered him. He hoped he didn’t just scare her away from him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered softly, dropping his forehead to hers, afraid to open his eyes. “I don’t know what came over me. That was personal Ethan, not professional Ethan.” He tried to find a rational excuse.

When he
finally opened his eyes, she was smiling up at him. “I don’t know if I should be hurt, or mad that you just apologized for kissing me,” she paused, caressing his cheek. There was no anger in her eyes, just sparkling, icy blue gentleness. “Both Ethans are more than welcome to do it again.” Elizabeth saw him struggling with the inner battle of finding a middle ground, and she understood and appreciated that he was trying.

The tension on his face lightened, and a small smile curved up the corners of his lips. Maybe
with her he could be the real him, with no recrimination. It felt good.

She leaned into him as she pushed the basement button, and then did something for both of them; she linked her fin
gers with his and held his hand as they rode in silence down to the morgue. When the door opened, she kept the connection even when he tried to release her hand. The looks from the lab techs and the raised brow of Doctor Trudeaux were also ignored. Elizabeth knew he needed it, and she would break a few rules to help his heart.

Blackhawk observed that she didn’t even take any notice to the stares, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Hey Doc, I hear you have some information from the Feds,” she said, hopping up on the empty exam table, her legs swinging off the side.

“I do,” he pulled out the reports, “I was waiting for you.”

“Before you do, Doc,” Blackhawk motioned towards her. “Please look at her arm. Elizabeth has a cut and it’s bleeding.”

Elizabeth gave him a scowl. She mouthed the word ‘
traitor
’ and gave a look promising payback.

Blackhawk ignored her.

Doc cut the bandage from her arm, and inspecting the cut.

“It needs about six stitches and to be cleaned,” he said, poking at it.

“Hey, that hurts,” she hissed, flinching and trying to pull her arm away.

“Want me to stitch it up?” he pulled a needle from his drawer
and began to unwrap it. “I have everything I need here, but the anesthetic medicine.”

Blackhawk interjected, “Maybe I should take her to the ER.” He didn’t know if he wanted to see her take six stitches without it being numbed up.

She shook her head. “We don’t have that kind of time, so, just stitch me up; I have things I have to do yet today. I can’t be playing in the ER for three hours.”

“Lyzee, it’s going to hurt
.” Ethan caressed her cheek. Now he was worried. Before he could change her mind, Doc pulled her over to the sink and held her arm there, as he cleaned the wound aggressively.

“Hey, come on! The needle should hurt
and not the damn water!”

He just laughed as he pointed to the table. “L
ie down, please.”

“What?” she asked incredulously. “I am NOT lying on a table that had a dead body on it.
I don’t care what you say.”

“We do clean up between bodies, Lyzee,” Doc looked over his glasses, grinning.

Blackhawk laughed at the sheer look of horror that was on her face. “I’ll hold your hand,” he offered, helpfully.

She sighed as Doc pointed
, not giving her any choice. “This is damn creepy,” she muttered, “at least distract me, Ethan.” Blackhawk leaned down to kiss her, and she interrupted his plan, “I meant with the tox report.” She did laugh now. There was no way in hell she needed to be making out with the FBI agent while lying on a morgue slab. He was sexy, but she had her limits and this was one of them.

He stood beside her, holding her one h
and, allowing her to squeeze it with every stitch being placed in her wound. There was no doubt, his sheriff was tough.

His
sheriff.

God, what he wouldn’t give for that to be truth.

It tugged at his heart at the possibility. He composed himself, and read the results. “They found Digitalis toxicity.”

“Digitalis?” she asked, flinching. “Isn’t that a heart medication?”

Doc nodded and continued stitching. “Yes, it’s given to some heart patients. It’s also found in nature.”

“So, could you fall into a coma like state, if you’re given too much Digitalis?” she asked, taking the last stitch
and hoping she didn’t break Blackhawk’s hand. Then again, he ratted her out to Doc, so maybe that would be his karma.

“You can have a variety of reactions, from dizz
iness, blindness and the worst, death. Digitalis is prescribed as Digoxin, for individuals with congestive heart failure. It strengthens the patient’s rhythm. It’s one of those things that in small dose can save a life, but if overdosed it can kill. It’s lethal if taken incorrectly.”

Elizabeth let Blackhawk pull her up, and Doc bandaged her arm. Now they had another little piece of the puzzle
. The killer was overdosing the victims, putting them into a coma like state, so they were more manageable. “We need to find where they are getting the Digitalis from,” she hopped down and unrolled her sleeve.

“That’s not going to be easy,
digitalis is everywhere, especially in nature,” said Doc. “But at least it’s a start.

“I’ll take whatever I can get at this point. To
day was a pretty productive day. We have a new suspect and drug that was used to kill. We may be able to run with this and get a break.” Elizabeth walked over to Doc and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for the stitches,” she added.

“Be careful, Lyzee
!” His eyes flickered to the FBI agent’s over her shoulder.

Blackhawk nodded.
There was no doubt in his mind that he wasn’t leaving her side for a second.

As they waited for the elevator, there was
silence; she had pulled away, deep in thought. “Want to share?”

She looked over, surprised. “I’m sorry, Ethan, when I start thinking about something, I just get lost in it,” she said, squeezing his fingers reassuringly.

“Maybe I can help.”

“Something is brushing against my brain, like this little tickle.
It’s telling me that I’m missing something. The minute Doc brought up the Digitalis, it started. I just have to let it play out and eventually it’ll come to me, just like the connection to Salem witches.”

He nodded and asked, “Want me to drive?” He scanned the area to make sure she was safe. He didn’t trust Forbes to be smart and stay awa
y. He was sure he’d be prowling and waiting.

“Thanks,” she handed him the keys.

Blackhawk paused until she buckled her seatbelt. “Where to now, Sheriff LaRue?”

Elizabeth noticed they had been in the morgue a while. “Tony is off duty in
an hour, so we need to swing by and pick up some pizza.”

“
Where’s the pizza place?” Elizabeth gave him directions and let him drive there. When they arrived, she jumped out and then leaned back in to ask him a question.

“What do you like on your pizza, Cowboy?”

“Anything that once lived works for me.”

“Veggies, it is,” she said,
laughing. “After you tattled to Doc, don’t think I won’t pay you back with green veggies.” Elizabeth closed the door and walked away whistling.

Blackhawk shook his head, entertained by her. While he waited, he would get some calls out of the way. He dialed
Lily, and felt guilty that he seemed to have forgotten all about her. He and the sheriff had built such an easy rhythm together, he almost felt like they were partners. When the agent answered her phone, he briefed her on what they found.

“I’m glad you’ve had some luck.
I have to say that I think the sheriff is dead wrong. We can’t find anything to prove she’s onto anything.”

“Nothing?”

“When I say nada, I mean nada. There isn’t any correlation that any of these women have been involved in witchcraft.”

“Can you keep digging? Something has to be there.”

Lily Sanderson sighed, “Ethan, you can’t make her theory valid if there’s nothing to it,” she paused, “we are almost out of options.”

“I trust her instinct,” he added. “Something has to be there.”

Lily bit her tongue, knowing exactly what was there, but it had nothing to do with the sheriff’s job and everything to do with her bed. “I’ll keep at it.” The tone of her voice was chilly, and she hoped he heard it.

“Thanks, I’ll check in later.”

“Sure, I hope you know what you're doing, Ethan,” she disconnected the call.

Blackhawk watched her walking out, balancing two pizzas and beer. He was willing to take a chance, his instinct and gut feeling was
rarely wrong. He was going to bet it all on Sheriff LaRue.

Elizabeth opened the back door, placing the pizzas and beer inside. “All set,” she buckled her seatbelt. “What?”

“The other team isn’t finding anything that has to do with witchcraft. They all seem to be good Christian girls.”

Elizabeth leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. “Okay, well, then we re
-examine it and see what we find.”

He started the Jeep. “We may need to be prepared to have to search for another
avenue to pursue,” he was preparing her for what may happen, if they couldn’t connect the dots.

Elizabeth was curious as to why he sounded so
apprehensive; just a few minutes ago he was fine. It was like he was tiptoeing around something. “Ethan, if you need to say something, just say it.”

“
I hate to throw this out there, Lyzee, but you may be wrong.”

Elizabeth laughed and spoke, “Like this would be the first time? I’m not worried
Ethan. I’ll find a connection; it just may take me some time. Until then we have to keep moving forward with it. I’d rather be wrong and work on something, as opposed to just sitting here waiting for another body to show up.” Elizabeth didn’t trust Lily Sanderson’s ability to do a deep search. The woman didn’t like her and she wasn’t exactly thrilled about working with her. Lily was nothing but trouble. She’d give her team some time, they may find something.

He completely agreed.

“It isn’t like we have a whole lot to run with right now. Have some faith, Mr. FBI. This isn’t my first rodeo; everyone just seems to think it is.”

Blackhawk laughed
at her cowboy reference. “You’re pretty adorable for a bad ass sheriff.”

Elizabeth shrugged, whipping out the drawl. “Darlin’ I do try.”

He took her hand in his, feeling complete calm for once in his life. “Now, let’s go home.”