Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (34 page)

“I’ll bunk with her if that happens. You
’re clear, Cal. You aren’t engaged, and you don’t have to put yourself in that position.” Elizabeth wasn’t going to let him do anything he wasn’t comfortable with ever again.

“Thanks Lyzee,” he dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “I know
there’s no kissy-face on the crime scene, but you did just cut me.”

Elizabeth started laughing. “I’m screwed. You plan on using t
his the rest of our lives.”

“I’d be more worried about the pictures the techs took of you in just the cutoffs and bikini top. They are going to be on the internet by nightfall
, as soon as they get reception to upload them to all the social media outlets. I can see it now. ‘Hot FBI babe in the swamp’ looking for corpses. Your badge hung in just the right spot.”

“What?” Now he had her attention. “They were taking pictures?”

Whitefox laughed. “I can’t blame them. I would have too, but I know better.” He patted her on the ass and walked away, supremely happy to finally catch her off guard.

Elizabeth whistled. Everyone looked except Whitefox. “I will be confiscating phones immediately. If anyone has pictures of me on it, consider yourself not leaving this swamp alive,” she stated, and watched the t
hree techs scramble.

“You better have deleted and not emailed, boys. Or you’ll be having a talk with Director Blackhawk. You know him right? Big scary
Native man that is very fond of his wife and mother of his child.”

Whitefox laughed even harder as the men both looked scared shitless.

He loved working with Elizabeth a great deal. There just was never a boring day.

Tuesday
Mid-Morning

Ethan opted to take his wife’s rental car instead of one of the FBI vehicles. It smelled like her perfume, and he liked feeling like she was close by, and not out in the middle of an alligator infested swamp. If she played nice with local law enforcement officers, he would have insisted that she took the safer assignment and he’d be there in her place.

Now
Blackhawk just needed to trust that his brother would have his partner’s back and take care of his wife like she was his own. Then he nearly laughed, because that was probably what was happening.

Callen was crazy in love with Elizabeth, and it was blatantly obvious to everyone
who watched him. That now including the ex-fiancée, who was sitting silently beside him at that very moment. Ethan noticed that her hand was bare of the family ring, and he made a mental note to confiscate it and place it in the family safe back home with its matching mate. 

“Callen dumped me,” she said, suddenly.

Well bloody hell, this was going to be very uncomfortable. Ethan didn’t do heart to heart talks very well, because he wasn’t a ‘share emotions’ kind of guy. His brother was the sensitive one. He was the problem solver.

“I’m aware, Doctor Adare. I spoke to Eli
zabeth last night.” At her name, he noticed she flinched visibly.

“
Callen told me he’s in love with her and always will be.”

Blackhawk didn’t know if she
was telling him to piss him off or just continuing the conversation. She wasn’t telling him anything that he wasn’t aware of and Ethan could have just as easily pointed out that his wife loved him right back.

“
I don’t think I can go back after all this is done. I may sell the house and everything in it. Please have Callen have his stuff out.” Desdemona liked her house, but she couldn’t live there and just know what happened next door. Or to work with the three of them it was just too painful.

“His things are already out.”

Of course they were. Desdemona was sure they helped him too, in his hurry to purge his life of her. Damn Elizabeth and the rest of the Blackhawk family.

“Are you giving me your notification that you’re quitting?” he asked, calmly. “If you want a letter of recommendation, I will gladly give it,
despite the lying, the slapping and the general belligerent behavior on your behalf.”

Her head snapped over and
she glared at him.

Blackhawk gave
Desdemona credit. She said nothing, but her eyes said it all. There was no love lost now between her and any of them now. He made a mental note to file the paperwork for her discharge.

Blackhawk’s phone beeped
, alerting him he had a message.

                   ‘
Call me when you’re free.’

Elizabeth wouldn’t just text him randomly, unless there was a situation that needed his attention. He hit speed dial and it started ringing.

“Ethan, long story short, I may lose you
. We’re still out in the swamp and the reception sucks, but we have an issue.”

“What is it?” he asked, being cautious of what he said in the confines of the vehicle.

“Are you on speaker?”

“No, go ahead.”

“We definitely have two bodies,” she said, then started breaking it down for him. She told him about Desdemona’s mother and then the fact that the bones fit the profile. “I want to ship the skull back for facial reconstruction.”

“You think you're right?” he asked.

“I have that feeling in the pit of my stomach, and it’s not a good feeling either. Callen is pretty stirred up too. I want to keep all the information regarding the second body from Doctor Adare. I’ve already told the tech team to keep it silent. I think if we’re wrong it’ll be a hard blow to swallow, and if we’re right same deal. We need to move her into the bed and breakfast. If that’s her mom and sister, she’s next.”

“You're too kind.”

Elizabeth heard the blasé tone and knew she had to be right there. “Is she busting balls over Cal?” she asked, dropping her voice.

“
Yes, you know how it is.”

Elizabeth felt bad for
her husband. Ethan didn’t really do girl drama very well. She was low maintenance, so the bullshit wasn’t something he was accustomed to facing daily. If she had an issue she’d just beat it out of them and then let it go. “Uncomfortable?”

Blackhawk laughed. “Yeah, you better believe it. You owe me one.”

Now she was laughing. “You’re breaking up sexy. I have to get out of this cesspool and soon. “Oh, by the way, honey, there was an incident with this water moccasin, me accidentally slicing Callen’s wrist and me having to take my top off. I love you.”

That had his attention. “Elizabeth! Are you guys okay?”

Desdemona jumped in the seat beside him at the tone of his voice. Ethan Blackhawk didn’t yell often.

Elizabeth was breaking up and laughing at the same time. “I’ll tell you when we meet up.”

Then she was gone.

“Are they okay?” asked Desdemona concerned. Was it too much to hope Elizabeth was swallowed by a
gator? Yeah, that was petty of her, but a girl could hope and dream.

“Yeah, I think she was just trying to torment me.” He hoped at least.
They pulled into the sheriff’s station and parked.  “I’ll handle Sheriff Denton. Just stay calm and don’t lose it.”

She looked over at him. “I rarely lose it, Director. I
’m a trained professional and not a child.”

Blackhawk didn’t like the tone. “Oh
, I’m so sorry. I must have gotten you confused with the woman that got drunk and slapped her boss, my wife, and then proceeded to punch my brother too.”

It
was a direct hit and registered.

“I’ll say nothing.”

Blackhawk walked into the office, lifted his sunglasses and looked around. There was one deputy, and then an office. “Excuse me. I need to speak to Sheriff Louis Denton.”

“Sheriff, there’s a man out here to see you,” he yelled into the office.

“Okay, coming.”

Blackhawk stood
, saying nothing. When the man emerged he waited calmly until he came over. “Sheriff, I’m Director Ethan Blackhawk of the FBI.” He held out his hand and greeted him pleasantly or at least tried. “I’m here regarding the disappearance of Cordelia Adare over two weeks ago.”

“You’re a little late Director.
We had a woman here just the other day, about yay tall,” he held up his hand to his nose. “Pretty thing with a really great body and hot as hell. She tried to get the report, and she couldn’t get it out of me. But you have a nice day regardless.” Denton was laughing, as he turned around.

Few things could push Ethan Blackhawk over the edge. He’d handled racist comments about his heritage without flinching, comments about him being nothing more than an ‘Indian’, but his wife was his hot button.

“Thank you for confirming that my WIFE is attractive and hot, but I was already aware. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled that you find her to be acceptable. After all, it’s so important in our line of work that the local law finds us sexy,” he said, sarcastically and then had the man’s attention.

“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just,” he started and was cut off.

“I’m here to notify you that we found two bodies, and we’re claiming jurisdiction on them as of right now. One we believe to be Cordelia Adare, and the other to be unknown.” This was the tricky part of not eluding to the fact it could be Desdemona’s mother.

“I don’t think so, Director.”

“Oh, I do. Add to that I’m claiming it because there’s a stalker involved that blew up FBI property in the process. It’s our issue now that it crossed state lines. Then you can toss in that the bodies were discovered on Native American land. We now are leading this investigation.”

The man said nothing.

“So, I’m OFFICIALLY requesting the missing person report and any follow-up paperwork that you have stating what measures your department took to find the missing woman.”

Sheriff Louis Denton crossed his arms. “Where exactly did you find the bodies?”

Blackhawk grinned his famous smile that always put people at ease, right before he struck. “Well since you’ve been so forthcoming and helpful I will tell you that we found them in a swamp.”

“This whole town is a swamp.”

“Exactly.” And then Ethan went in for the kill for his comments about his wife. “Here it only took my people three days to find not one body, but two, and your department who is based here still had nothing. Hey! I bet the pretty thing with the great body, and who is hot as hell, is just really good at her job. We’re transporting to your local ME facility. We hear you no longer have one on staff, and we’re commandeering it under federal jurisdiction.”

“This is
complete and total bullshit.”

“Oh, your day is going to get worse shortly. I’m going to tell my co-director and partner what you said, and then let her chew you up and have you as a snack.
Hope your medical is paid up. You might want to look into supplemental insurance for long term disability. She’s hell on pompous jackwagons that think she’s just a piece of ass.”

Blackhawk dropped his glasses back on his face and turned to leave. “I don’t need that copy of the report. I’m sure it’s blank.  Consider this your ‘official’ FBI notification. My team’s on the ground and my wife is about to stir up Cypress Grove to find a killer. Have a good day, Sheriff Denton.”

Blackhawk strolled out with Desdemona beside him.

“I really want to be there when the body gets brought in,” she said. “I need to see if it’s my sister.”

“We both know that’s not happening Doctor Adare. You know what the victim’s going to look like after two weeks in the heat. “Give the team a few hours to get you the ID, and then you can see her if it’s a match. As family, you have a right to see the body.”

Desdemona
didn’t like the answer, but she understood why they were road blocking her now. “Okay.”

“Pack up your things and move to the bed and breakfast and possibly I’ll let you help in the lab.”

“I’m fine out at the house,” but she knew her grand'mere was going back out to look for roots today, and she’d be alone. God, she wished Callen was still in love with her and there right now. Desdemona could use a friend.

“If you don’t comply, you don’t assist. It’s the end of discussion. I
’ll spend the next part of my day making sure you’re kept out by an armed guard if need be. Maybe Elizabeth would like the job, seeing you already got your shot in and she owes you one.”

Desdemona knew he’d do it. Ethan did what he said, and meant what he threw out there.
Director Blackhawk wasn’t one who would bullshit without absolute follow-up. “What do you need?”

“Something of your sisters with DNA
that we can use to get do a comparison,” Ethan looked up in the rearview mirror, only to see that they had company. Obviously, the sheriff really wanted the bodies the tech team found.

“Back at my grand'mere’s house there’s a hairbrush in her room, and a toothbrush.” Desdemona hoped it wasn’t her sister, but what was she supposed to do? This was life, and she understood death.