Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (54 page)

Ethan flinched at the tone in his voice towards his wife. If it were any other man, he’d beat the hell out of him. Yet, this wasn’t just any man. It was his brother.

“Callen wishes to not discuss it. So, I think we should drop it.” Elizabeth tucked the papers away and then turned to face her husband. “Want me to tell you what we found out?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Elizabeth replayed the entire interview, breaking it down for her husband. What they learned and what they suspected.

“So she was concerned about birth defects?”

“Apparently, she was. I sent Doctor Leonard a text to find out if there were traces of drugs in her body. He can do that hair test and take it back more than six months. Maybe she was drinking and doing drugs and was worried.”

“Maybe.”

“You know how mothers can over worry while they’re pregnant,” added his wife.

Now he was looking at his brother. Whatever had him stirred up had something to do with children. When they started talking about the pregnancy, his wife’s eyes flickered over to his brother. “That’s a possibility.”

“Now seriously, how was the meeting?” she asked.

He laughed. “Well, we’ll all get a paycheck another few weeks, but apparently our lab ordered some fancy equipment and took us way over budget. Other than that three hundred thousand debacle, we’re good.”

Elizabeth looked over her sunglasses. “They ordered a three hundred thousand dollar toy?”

Blackhawk laughed. “Not quite. I like to keep the budget about two hundred thousand under, just in case.”

“They ordered a machine costing half a million dollars?” Now she was appalled.

“Yep, give or take a couple of hundred grand.”

“
Holy shit I’m going to kick someone’s ass!” she stated, and then turned around in her seat. “How did they manage to pull that off? Shouldn’t we have to sign off on a purchase that big, being we’re responsible for the money?”

“Oh, well I asked that question too, but apparently our head lab tech and head ME can order whatever they need by just faxing the form to
the main office. No one questioned it, since we’re generally spot on budget. Quantico assumed we had the funds and processed without checking.”

“
Well that rule is going to change! I’m going to kick someone’s ass back to FBI West.”

“I figured.”

“Who did it?”

Now he smiled. “Christina.”

Elizabeth turned around. “Oh, I bet you think I’m going to enjoy this don’t you?”

Blackhawk winked. “Yes I do
, and I can’t wait to watch you go all ‘Director’ on her, especially dressed like this today.”

It was time to ruin his day.
“That’s where you’re very wrong. She’s your tech supreme, you handle it, and I better see some carnage and not just some little lecture either.”

“Seriously? You
like to handle the yelling. I look forward to it.” He hated being the bad guy, the techs were already wary of him.

“It must be my new appearance, who knew
? The receptionist was cordial, the doctor helpful, and I’m taking a pass at abusing Christina.”

Whitefox laughed at that. “Ethan, the
doctor was ready to jump her right there on the exam table. He wanted to be extra helpful to Elizabeth and her legs.”

“What?” he replied incredulously.

“Really Cal? You just tossed me under the Ethan bus?” she started laughing. Whatever was bothering him had apparently passed.

“I did
, because when he was flirting you didn’t kick his ass. Had you been more angry at his blatant innuendos maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Let’s go back there. I’ll kick his ass,” demanded Blackhawk.

Elizabeth laughed. “I sent a text to Doctor Adare, and she’s aware we’ll be arriving. How about we stop focusing on the men that are flirting with me? Generally you’re both very guilty of that offense too. He was just more overt.”

“I think we’ve been insulted, Callen.”

“That little snotty statement just makes me want to work harder to show Doctor Lombardi how it’s done.”

She punched him in the leg. “I owe you one too, Ethan. You’re just lucky I can’t reach you without hurting myself.”

“I can’t wait. You can hurt me later if you want,” he quipped, lecherously. “I don’t mind if a beautiful woman teaches me a lesson. I’m a very slow learner, be aware.”

“Oh, me too. I’ve been a very bad
agent.” He grinned and winked at her. “I need to be retrained and often. Three four times a day at least, Warden.” It was his new fantasy.

He took another shot to his leg.
“Ouch!”

“You can give him his half of that later
,” she stated, punching him again. Now she was laughing at them both. A man thinks about sex every seven minutes, and they’d been in the car eight minutes and she knew the looks. “Stop thinking about it, we’re here.”

“I’m trying, but I have it stuck in my head. I just have to let the fantasy play out
. When the sexy music stops, I’ll stop,” laughed Whitefox, and he got a fist bump from his brother.

Elizabeth sighed. “L
et’s go do our job or our boss won’t let us play together ever again.”

Both men followed her to the door of Morgana Adare’s home. They both flanked
a side of Elizabeth’s body protectively. Not that they were worried about anyone hurting her, but just because she was their woman. Was it caveman like? Hell yeah it was, but then again they didn’t see anything wrong with that. No one ever accused the Blackhawk boys of being civilized, why start now.

When the door opened, it was Desdemona. “Come in.” She stepped back, inviting the agents into her grandmother’s home. “We’re in the living room.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Thank you for getting everyone together in one place.”

Desdemona introduced her guests. “This is Holly and Ivy Delray. They were my sister’s friends in school. Again, you already know Jonathan; he was also my sister’s friend.”

“
Who are we missing?” asked Elizabeth.

“Vinny
’s at work today. He runs the homeless shelter down at the church,” answered Jonathan Delray, as he glared at Elizabeth Blackhawk. “My brother was a little busy for this today, as were the rest of us.”

Elizabeth didn’t flinch. She was accustomed to people being hard
assed in interview. She preferred it. Pissed meant they were close to the edge and people on the edge fell over if you pushed hard enough.

“If you wouldn’t mind coming with me,” stated Whitefox. “I need to ask you some questions
in private.”

Desdemona
was surprised. Elizabeth was letting someone else run part of the show. Oh wait, why be surprised? She was sleeping with Callen. Why not let him be one of the main players? The comments were kept to herself, as was the dirty look she’d love to give the woman.

The loathing surfaced. She just wanted to get this over with, and then get away from the
m all.

Leading the man
out to the grass, Callen stood facing him in the sun. Whitefox was glad he had this interview, because he didn’t want this man anywhere near Elizabeth. The dislike was evident, as was Jonathan’s trigger temper. Having it go off anywhere near his woman, wasn’t going to be happening.

“We need to get this done and fast. I’m on duty at eleven and I actually have
work to do.” Jonathan Delray stated, alluding that the FBI was useless. His sisters told him about how this man was once engaged to Desdemona, and now he was shacked up with his brother’s wife. He didn’t get how men could share one woman. It just screamed perverse and wrong on so many levels, despite how hot the woman.

“Then
, let’s answer the questions, and you’re free to go.”

The man stood there with his arms crossed, looking up at the Native man. “I’m ready.”

“Were you involved in a relationship with Cordelia Adare?”

His face remained completely neutral. “We were friends
and had been for years.”

Whitefox didn’t buy it for a second. He knew men and beautiful women meant one thing; sex. “So you
’re stating for the official record, one law official to another, that you in no way were having sex with the woman at the time of her disappearance.”

He shrugged. “Cordelia and I were friendly.”

Whitefox noticed that didn’t answer the question. The man was trying to clear himself in the future by a technicality. This wasn’t his first day on the job.

“Let’s try this a little differently. Maybe I’m not asking you the question the correct way. I need a yes or no answer. Not
you evading with vague answers.”

“I’m not evading.”

Whitefox stepped closer. “Then once again, Jonathan, were you having a sexual relationship with Cordelia Adare. Yes or No.” He saw the pause and eye flicker down and to the left. Here came the lie, and he was ready for it.

“No.”

“Good, thanks for answering. Now, can you please submit to a DNA test for confirmation?”

“
Confirmation for what?” Now he was confused.

“Oh, didn’t Desdemona tell you? Her sister was pregnant, and we have fetal DNA
. We need to officially eliminate you as the father of the dead woman’s child.” Whitefox saw the sign a little too late and took the punch to the face. It knocked him back, and then he was ready for when the man leapt on him. The both rolled around, struggling to get on top.

Yeah,
Jonathan was having more than sex with Cordelia.

He was definitely having a serious relationship with her.

Elizabeth was about to begin questioning the women when she heard the yell from the back yard. Both Blackhawks ran for the door in time to see Callen Whitefox rolling around on the ground trying to subdue the deputy. There was blood and it didn’t look pretty. The man looked out of his mind.

Blackhawk jumped into the fray, helping his brother get the man into handcuffs.

“What happened?” he asked,
lying across the man’s shoulders until his brother could cuff him.

“He punched me when I asked him for a DNA sample. Apparently, he was offended when I told him Cordelia Adare was pregnant.”

Both sisters gasped and looked down at their brother but said nothing.

Elizabeth went to the Escalade and found tissues.

Whitefox stood and wiped his mouth on his hand and saw the blood. “Good thing I’m taller or that would have been my God damn nose!”

Desdemona came over and touched his arm. “
Come inside with me and I’ll check you out, Callen.”

“No thank you,” he said, pulling away. When he saw Elizabeth coming with tissues, he went to her side and took them from her. “Thank
s, angel.”

Elizabeth touched his lip and looked at it with concern. “
Your lip is split. I don’t think you need stitches,” she said, caressing his cheek.

“Good to see you’re a doctor now too,” muttered Desdemona, going back over by the women.
“Thank God I wasted ten years getting a degree.”

Elizabeth gave her a look
, but then continued to check Callen’s face. She wasn’t going to play games with the woman. There was a time and a place, and this wasn’t it. “So he punched you and you didn’t hit him first or back?”

“Nope. He punched me
, and I tried to subdue him.” Whitefox knew better. They have him behind bars now, and could get a warrant for his DNA. “All I asked for was his DNA. How was I supposed to know that he didn’t know that she was pregnant?”

Blackhawk pulled the man to his feet. “Did he admit to sleeping with her?” he asked, grinning at his brother.

“Not verbally, but punching me speaks pretty clearly.”

Elizabeth walked over to him and stared into his eyes. “So, basically you
punched an FBI officer for no reason whatsoever?” she inquired. “That screams either death wish or plain stupidity. Which is it Jonathan? Are you on a suicide mission or just a really big dumb ass?”

“Now you're provoking him!” snapped one of the sisters.

Elizabeth turned around and walked over to them. “He just assaulted a director of the FBI, and if we find he’s lying that’s jail time for obstruction. You ask your new best friend Desdemona if I’m yanking his chain on sending him to jail. She’ll tell you the truth.”

Desdemona sighed. “She’ll toss him in jail just to piss us off and enjoy every second of it.
Elizabeth has no conscience, compassion or soul.”

Whitefox stared over at the woman angrily
, furious that Desdemona was taking jabs at her. If she wanted to slice at someone, she needed to come at him and him alone. From day one he’d made it clear, Elizabeth was off-limits. Now it was more so than ever.

Elizabeth
drew the attention back to her. “I’m a big scary bitch like that. I get offended when people lie to me and then try to beat the hell out of the people I care about.” She turned around. “Ethan, will you baby sit the deputy for me? I want to finish questioning the ladies, and then we’ll take him for a ride.”