True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (16 page)

Timothy Blackhawk wasn’t going to
be fond of the idea that his other grandson was chasing a non-Native woman. Since Ethan Blackhawk was only half Native, he’d given up trying to keep the bloodline pure. When he first met her, there was that moment of tension until she won him over. But Callen was pure Native blood, and Timothy wasn’t going to like this at all. Her heart broke for her brother-in-law, and she knew she was going to have to intervene and help him out. She’d face down the elder patriarch, so Callen could catch a break.

Yeah, he was watching her the same way. Oh boy, things were going to get interesting.

“Callen, is everything okay?” she asked, grabbing his attention.

Immediately, he heard the voice and relaxed. His brother and
Elizabeth were here, and he could just focus on the doctor and keeping her safe. “Lyzee,” he approached her, hugging her. “I’m so glad you both arrived safe,” he said, leaving a kiss on her lips.

“Your brother was driving, so it took us longer.”

Desdemona glanced over at them and the easy nature of their relationship, and she was envious. How she wished she could walk into a room, especially one with corpses and command someone’s attention like that. Really, there were dead bodies all around them, the room smelled like death, and still Elizabeth Blackhawk had his full attention and the intimacy of a lip kiss. That was skill. Then there was the jealousy of the closeness between them, and it was something she didn’t understand. Not often in her life did she feel jealousy, but now it seemed to be there eating away at her.

“Director,” she said, nodding.

Elizabeth nodded. “What do we have, Doctor?”

“Well, I can tell you what we don’t have,” she said. “We don’t have time of death, since the bodies are frozen solid. We don’t have any identification on any of them,” she continued, “and we have no chance of autopsy until tomorrow when they thaw out.”

“Great, and here I thought it was going to be hopeless,” she said, grinning.

“Bodies are all stiff
, but I can’t tell if it’s because they’re popsicles or if it’s because they are in the rigor mortis stage. I need a good eight hours in the chiller to defrost them.” Desdemona leaned down and tried to move an eyelid. “Even their eyeballs are frozen,” she said, sliding the skin over the solid orb.

Elizabeth turned into Callen’s body
and his arms came around her automatically. She could handle anything about a corpse but the dead eyes. They really freaked her out, and had since the day she lost her partner in the field and watched him die, his eyes never leaving her face.

“Drop the lid, Desi,” Whitefox said
, softly. He knew it made Elizabeth squeamish. “It’s okay, Lyzee. I have you.”

Desdemona did what he asked, and looked over at her boss. Was it possible that the woman with brass balls that scared the tech team was afraid of
corpse eyes? That amused her, and she tucked it away for future reference.

Whitefox whispered in her ear
and she turned, squeezing his gloved hand tightly. Callen kept her against the front of his body protectively. Deep down he hoped Doctor Adare didn’t make a production out of it. Not many people caught Elizabeth at her weakest moments, and he didn’t want her big fear made into a joke at her expense.

“Sorry, Doctor. What do we know, since we seem to have a great deal of unknown?” She changed the subject fast.
It didn’t sit well with her that the doctor had just seen her cower in horror. She had a reputation to uphold with her tech team, and if word got out, her credibility was shot. Leaning against Callen, she felt icky feelings drift away, as he hugged her against him protectively.

“We know that the killer is only taking one piece of each person. There are no other visible external wounds.”

Elizabeth moved over towards the victim with the stained shirt. “This is victim three right?”

“Yes, and I can’t tell you what he’s missing. When I pulled back the shirt, there’s an incision of some sort, but its frozen solid. If I go digging around before he’s thawed, I may lose evidence
and risk us being able to figure out the weapon or knife used.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Do we have a place to thaw the corpse-cicles?”

Whitefox answered. “The sheriff offered us a room in the basement that has a cooler. We’ve yet to see it, but he guarantees it’s adequate.”

“It’ll have to suffice. We’ll dump them there overnight and go from there,” added Elizabeth.

Blackhawk wandered into the building. “Wow, and here I was hoping to eat again one day soon. I guess that’s just not going to happen.”

Elizabeth snorted.
“Two hours and you’ll be eating something. Who are you kidding?”

Blackhawk laughed. “Yeah, probably.” Turning he put his focus on Doctor Adare.
“Nightfall is coming soon, Doc. How long will it take for us to pack this up and get away from this abandoned feeding ground for mountain lions?”

Desdemona stared at her boss with big eyes. “What? Mountain lions?
Where?” Granted Whitefox mentioned wild animals, but she thought he was just being sarcastic because of the sheriff.

“Oh yeah
the sheriff just mentioned it, so the less time here after dark the better off we are.” He shook his head and patted his brother on the back. The man was staring at the doctor, and he knew that look. It was the one that spelled out trouble. Specifically, woman trouble and since he’d recently been there himself, he knew what was coming.

“Give me an hour
to get the trace contained and then we’ll be ready for transport back to the sheriff’s station.”

Blackhawk was good with that and nodded. “Callen, can we talk?” he jerked his finger outside.

He didn’t want to leave either of the women alone.

“We’ll be okay, Callen,” said Desdemona
, smiling brightly at him.

He followed his brother out and glanced over his shoulder at the two women. When his eyes met Elizabeth’s, she nodded and he knew they’d be fine for a little while without them. “What’s up, Ethan?”

“What’s your initial assessment on the sheriff?” He didn’t want to be biased, and he was since the man had hit on his wife, right out the gate.

He almost told him how he didn’t like him because he was leering at Desdemona, but then he decided that probably wasn’t the kind of assessment he wanted. “I think he’s pretty laid back, and he’s genuinely trying to be accommodating. His staff, that’s another story.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“In the first five minutes
the secretary was abrasive and insulting, and then the Native Deputy, Julian Littlemoon gave me a heads up about the other deputy, Bobby Lee Tills. Apparently, he isn't fond of anyone not of his ethnic origin-specifically we ‘Indians’.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. We tend to
run into a great deal of bias. Elizabeth had to correct the sheriff when he dropped the Indian word.”

“That’s funny,” he said,
snickering. “Did she use it in the very next sentence to taunt him?”

Now Ethan was laughing. “No but I’m sure it’s in her game plan shortly. It isn't like her to not do it at some point. She actually sounded insulted.”

“Nice. Deputy Littlemoon alluded that the town would be similar,” he added, and looked back over his shoulder at the doorway. “So I’m sure Elizabeth will get plenty of opportunity to practice her PC skills.”

“Or crack together a few skulls in the process.” He waited for a reply, but Whitefox was staring at the doorway again.
It wasn’t lost on Blackhawk that his brother was in protection mode. He knew he was super protective of Elizabeth, since she was abducted, but he suspected this went further than just that. May be it was all about his wife. She was just leaning against his brother, and that meant something had to have happened. Elizabeth didn’t get cozy at crime scenes.

“Ethan, I think we need to watch our backs,” he said,
shifting his focus back to his brother.

“
That sounds like a good plan to me.” If anything, he wanted his wife, brother and unborn child safe. “Here comes the sheriff,” he said, under his breath.

Both men stopped talking shop as the man strolled on over to them.

“How’s it going, gentlemen?” he asked, stopping just short of the building holding the bodies.

“We’ll be packed up and out of the elements in the hour,” answered Blackhawk.

He nodded. “Works for me, I don’t like freezing my nuts off out here.”

“Sheriff Duffy, we may need an office space in your building. You know, to work out of while Doctor Adare is working on the autopsies tomorrow.” Whitefox wasn’t leaving her alone in that building.

Blackhawk lifted a brow, and analyzed his brother’s request. They planned on working out of the private home as much as possible. It was just a safer option. He wasn’t sure why he was asking for space.

“On top of the space for the ME?”
He tried to figure out where to place them.

“Yes, I’ll be working there when the doctor is conducting the autopsies.” He met his brother’s eyes, and the message was passed. Desdemona was not staying there alone.

“Anything you can provide would be appreciated, Sheriff,” added Blackhawk, covering for his brother’s request.

The man nodded. “Let me figure it out, and let you know tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Callen said, walking back to where they left the women. Hell would have to freeze over first for him to leave Desdemona anywhere near Sheriff Duffy. That was like leaving the lamb to the wolves.

As far as he was concerned, i
t wasn’t nearly cold enough outside.

Elizabeth watched as the last body had been zipped into the body bag, and she surveyed the scene. The tech team was collecting samples and stripping the entire place of any trace evidence. When she saw Christina, she motioned her over to her.

“Christina, here’s the name of the place you’re staying.” Elizabeth handed her the GPS coordinates and an envelope. “There’s only one hotel in town, so make the best of it, and try and be positive.” That made her laugh. Christina Hart was always positive, bubbly and optimistic.

“Yes ma’am,” she
answered, smiling. “You have an entire floor, and I’m putting you in charge of the situation. Same old rules apply. Keep it to a minimum, make no disruptions in the lives of the locals and don’t do anything that will embarrass the FBI,” she paused. “Or I will come over there and drop kick some techs off a cliff. Am I clear?”

Christina knew she wasn’t kidding. “Clear as crystal, Director
Blackhawk.”

“Oh and Christina?”

“Yeah boss?”

“Good job on clearing the scene as quickly as you did. I appreciate not having to fill out paperwork on techs that were eaten by mountain lions,” Elizabeth grinned and offered her a fist bump.

Christina laughed and took the fist bump willingly. Elizabeth didn’t hand them out to just anyone. Usually it was something she reserved for her inner circle or closest friends. Getting one was paramount to getting a shiny star. The other option was an ass chewing, and they never ended well.

“Dismissed
.” When the woman saluted she nearly snickered, until she saw the ME watching her with the eerie cat eyes. “Get out of here,” she said, nodding towards the tech vans.

“
Thanks Elizabeth,” she said, trotting off to the warmth of the van.

“Doctor Adare, you ready to roll and get out of the elements?”

“Yes, Director. I can keep an eye on the tech team at the hotel if you want,” she offered. Yeah, Elizabeth Blackhawk was scary, and she couldn’t wait until she was far enough away from her and could relax. The entire time she stood over her, she felt like she was going to fracture from the tension in her body. The woman made her incredibly nervous and envious at the same time.

“Not going to be possible. Y
ou’re bunking across town.” She pulled out her phone and messaged her husband that they were about ready to head out.

“I am?”
She felt a little panicky. Staying alone in a strange town while the stalker could have followed her didn’t sound like something that appealed to her common sense. Maybe she could find a tech to swap with and bunk where the team was going to be.

Whitefox
strolled back in, and was relieved to see that they women were just fine. In fact he was happy to see that they were talking and getting to know each other.

“You’re staying with us,” she stated simply. The look of horror on the woman’s face would have been funny if it didn’t perplex her as to why it was there. “Is that
going to be a problem?” she asked, watching the woman and still not getting it.

Whitefox heard the conversation and went to Desdemona’s side and placed himself
between the women. His hand automatically went to her lower back, offering her reassurance. He rubbed soothingly, all while watching Elizabeth.

“No, Director Blackhawk.
I don’t believe it’s a problem at all.” Except that she now wanted to vomit and just might still do it. Even with Whitefox rubbing his hand up and down her back, she still felt like the prey being stalked by the predator.