Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (41 page)

“Speaking of the tech tree, I was just down there and they were all staring at me with ‘the look’. It seems your sign on the doorknob has peaked interest in the best forensic experts in the country.”

“They’d have a field day in this room,” stated
Blackhawk, smirking at the bed. Ahhh the fond memories rushed back and he flushed.

Elizabeth started laughing. “Well I
’ll fix that.” She slipped on her boots and paused at the door. “Be right back gentlemen. I have some minions to scare the hell out of, and that makes me happier than coffee.”

Heading down the stairs,
Elizabeth rounded the corner and stopped in the doorway of the dining room. Everyone looked up and the chit chat stopped. A definite sign of who they were discussing. That and the doctors couldn’t look directly at her, because they knew they reeked of gossiping guilt.

“Good morning, team. I see we’re up
early and talking. Let me jump into the conversation here.” She pointed at the two techs sitting beside Christina. “I want you two to call FBI West and have the pregnancy test we found in the Adare family home validated. I want the samples ran and the information to me on how our victim died. I also need to know if we have DNA on victim one. Then when all of that is done, I want to know what is so damn vital about me hanging a sign outside my door that says ‘do not disturb’. Anyone care to tell me why it’s a topic this morning?”

Everyone jumped and looked around
when she hit the nail right on the head.

“If I want to wear the damn sign as earrings, I absolutely will. I’m tired, cranky and this is my first damn cup of coffee. Someone speculate what’s going to happen if I get pissed off before I get to the bottom of the cup.
Think about it team. You think the old Elizabeth Blackhawk was left back at FBI West? Think again, the meaner bitchier model is here, because she’s not near her child. Do you know what happens when you separate the momma bear from her cub? Someone gets eaten for breakfast! Now get to getting and hustle!”

They all started to scramble.

“Get me my damn information! I have two bodies and neither of them have a name. So let’s start with that. Get me something and get it for me fast or there will be other bodies shipped back to FBI West. Unless you want to fill out your own toe tags, start helping me solve the mystery of who killed these women, not what happens in my room at night. That mystery is no one’s damn business!” Ahhh scaring the team was the best part of her job.

Elizabeth sipped her coffee
and watched the team scramble. Now her day was brighter, and she was considerably happier. There was one last stop to make before returning to the room. Stopping outside Desdemona’s door, Elizabeth knocked and waited until the woman got her ass out of bed.

W
hen the door opened, it gave her great joy to see that Doctor Adare was hung-over and looked like hell. Not only did Elizabeth get to spend the night with the two sexiest men in the world, and scare her team, but she got to harass Desdemona now too. There definitely was a Karma fairy. “Hey, Doc! How are you?” she asked, loudly.

“Jesus
Elizabeth! I have a headache can you tone it down?” she mumbled, stepping back. “Stop screaming at me!”

“Wow! That’s too bad.” Now she
raised her voice a little more and grinned evilly. “Rough night partying Desdemona?” she inquired, following her into the room.

“You could say that
.” She sat and placed her head in her hands to block out the sunlight streaming through the partially opened curtains. “You’re fucking enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, yes I
believe the sadist in me is enjoying your pain.”

“Why are you here, Elizabeth?”
Desdemona dug in her purse for headache medicine. “It can’t be for coffee and chit chat, because you didn’t bring me one.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. When someone slaps me
and puts a bruise on my face, I stop bringing them beverages. I’m funny like that.” Elizabeth beamed and leaned against the wall. “I’m heading to your grandmother’s house in a few minutes to get the DNA for your sister.”

“And? Yo
u just thought to wake me up and scream it at me?” Now she was irritated. She’d come back last night and seen the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door, and it pissed her off. There was no doubt what was going on that they didn’t want interrupted.

Desdemona
then had Julian buy her booze to forget what was going on behind closed doors. Only it had the opposite affect and it made her want to knock on the door and confront the three of them. Luckily, Julian had the fortitude to restrain her. She needed to know if her ex fiancé had betrayed her with Elizabeth. Why it mattered at this point, she hadn’t a clue, but it was now consuming her and the big obsession in her life.

“You want me to kick in the door?” she asked. “Okay, works for me.” Elizabeth went to the door and opened it.

“Wait, okay?” Desdemona pulled out her keys and handed her the one on her ring. “Don’t lose it, it’s my grand'mere’s.”

“I think I can keep track of a key.”

“I’m going to sleep now until this hangover is gone. Can you bring me the journal? It’s on the desk in the bedroom. I want to read it later.”

Elizabeth
stared into the eyes of the woman who was once her friend. “For the record, Desdemona, I would have been your friend the rest of your life, despite Callen and all this. You mattered to me and I cared. I would have been here for you and helped you through all this. Now I’m left wondering if you can say the same thing.” Elizabeth pocketed the key, and turned away from the woman, slamming the door behind her out of anger, not out of spite. If Doctor Adare thought she was the only victim in all this, maybe she needed to take a closer look.

Desdemona’s eyes filled with tears because she knew
Elizabeth was telling the truth, and now she wished she could get that back at least. Where losing the fiancé hurt, losing the first real friend she ever had, hurt far worse.

Climbing back into bed, she succumbed to the overwhelming need to purge the pain in the form of vicious tears.

When
Elizabeth returned back to her room, both men were flipping through papers and stopped to stare at her. It was hard to not laugh at the look on both of their faces.

“You're both thinking about sex. I can tell.” She pointed at her husband
first. “When you think lecherous things, your eyes get all happy and sparkly.” Then she pointed at Whitefox. “You just look damn giddy at the prospect, and your smile is just a little too big. People will talk if you both don’t stop looking so damn smug.”

The
men laughed and couldn’t help it. Smug was an understatement that morning.

“Did you have fun abusing the team?” asked her husband, drinking his coffee.

“Some women like sparkly things; I like to make people cry before seven a.m. Tears and diamonds are shaped the same for one very important reason.” Elizabeth crossed to the men and since there were only two chairs and both had occupants, she picked a lap.

Callen was surprised
it was his that Elizabeth settled in, especially since Ethan was right there. It made his heart skip in his chest that he was her first choice.

“I got Doctor Adare’s keys, and we can head to her grandmother’s house at any time for the DNA.”

“Did you have to beat it out of her?” inquired Whitefox, running his cheek across her shoulder, taking in her scent.

Ethan watched his wife
, noticing the tone in her voice. “You’re still mad and hurt, huh?” he asked, knowing her all too well. Elizabeth offered the woman complete friendship, and had it handed back to her with lies and the slap.

“I’m over it.”

Both men knew that wasn’t true. Elizabeth was a big puddle of mush under a hard shell. Once she loved, she loved completely and the hurt would live within her for a long time.

Callen felt guilty.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into this, made you be her friend, and she hurt you, Lyzee. I wish I could take it all back. It was a disastrous seven months, not only for Desdemona and me, but you too.”

Elizabeth took his face in her hand and looked
him in the eyes. “This is not your fault. You took a chance at love, and that isn't ever wrong. It just isn't always the right time or person. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me for believing I could have a friend that wouldn’t hurt me. Sometimes the circle has to stay small to stay intact. I’ve learned my lesson on this one too.”

“Want me to go kick her ass for you
?” asked Blackhawk.

“I’ll go too,” offered
Callen, willing to do anything for her. The woman was rooted deep in his heart, and he felt the need to protect her with everything in him.

Elizabeth leaned into his body an
d was grateful to have them both. “I love you both. Don’t ever forget that.” These two men would always have her back, and the circle they shared was precious to her.

“Ready to hit the road?” Blackhawk knew they needed to get the day started. “Since you harassed the techs, I’m free for the morning.”

“Yeah, let’s go get that DNA, so we can do a side by side comparison. Then we might have a little more to work with on this.” Elizabeth stood and grabbed her gun, badge and sunglasses. “Let’s hit the trail my sexy Native partners. We have a killer to find.”

“Right behind you, Boss,” said her husband.

“Because that’s the superior view,” added Whitefox, snickering and earning a fist bump from his brother in agreement.

Elizabeth turned and stuck out her tongue, because she could. As they exited the room no one was around, and she took that as a sign that
the team actually obeyed her. All three came down the stairs, and Elizabeth imagined they looked intimidating.

Here she was
tall, toting a gun on her hip, glasses in place and two large Native men flanking her body. Callen was dressed just pretty much the same. Beat up boots and jeans encased his body and made him look just as bad ass as she did. Then there was her sexy as sin husband. Usually he’d be in a suit, but today he too had boots. Although his were Italian, leather and perfectly shiny, and they matched his persona perfectly. As usual, he wore the customary black in the form of a polo and designer jeans. The man didn’t do laid back like her and Callen. 

The look on the faces
of their team, as they passed them in the parking lot, was entertaining. They were desperately trying to not stare at the three, as they headed out to take care of their end of the investigation. Even the ME and anthro doctors were trying to avoid looking directly at them. It looked like the tech team had a slew of guilty consciousness between them.

Inside the Escalade
, Elizabeth finally grinned. Yeah, they got the point, and it should be handled for now.

“Scared them shitless,” said her husband
, laughing.

“It was probably the comment about them filling out their own toe tags,” she answered,
buckling into her seat.

“Vicious women are so sexy.”

Whitefox laughed. “Oh yeah they are.”

                                *   *   *

He ripped out the pages of the journal and began burning them in the barrel behind the building. He needed to make sure the truth was lost forever.
Chances were no one had time to read the pages, since embarrassing questions had yet to be asked. There may still be time to save all the innocents unwillingly involved.

Wh
en he read the dead woman’s words last night, it turned his stomach, sickening as the truth was plain to see. Trinity Adare had left a trail, even though she’d been dead more than twenty years.

Now
, he needed to ensure the trail went ice cold. Even if that meant scaring home the FBI agents who were invading Cypress Grove. The woman looked to be the boss, and that meant she had to be the first to go.

If he couldn’t get to Desdemona Adare, he’d make sure that he got to the FBI
and made his point known to them all. Since he was already guilty of taking a life, why not add to the count? A sin was a sin, and already he was accountable.

Focusing back on the journal, h
e kept burning the tattered pages, until all that was left was the cover. Watching the ashes float into the sky, he released the truth to the heavens in hopes that only he and God would know the sins they were hiding.

                                *   *   *

Elizabeth knocked on the back door of the Adare homestead, waiting to see if anyone was home. There was no way she was using the key if Morgana Adare was there. The old woman had a propensity for shooting her gun at anyone on her property, and it was too nice of a day to die. Looking over her shoulder, Elizabeth was worried about the men behind her. The bayou witch had a general dislike for Natives. Maybe they should have thought to put on Kevlar just in case.