Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (57 page)

As the men exited the vehicle, Blackhawk punched his brother in the arm and dropped his voice
really low. “Are you insane, Cal? You don’t tell the new woman that the old one made a play. That’s an invite for bloodshed, and when there’s bloodshed the man is always going to be in the line of fire. Didn’t I teach you all this when we were young?”

“I didn’t think Elizabeth would care. She knows how I feel
about her.” Even as he tried to rationalize it out loud, he realized how stupid it sounded. “Hell, I’m an idiot!”

“Of course she’s going to care.
You gave her the family ring and that means committed relationship. The moment you gave her that ring, your lips are prohibited from ever touching another woman again. That’s a big couple rule. No lies, no making out with other women, and no keeping secrets. If you break any of those three, you don’t get laid for a long time. Now, let’s get in from the bloodshed at least behind the glass, so we can watch the fight without getting hurt,” he said, laughing.

“My money’s on the smoking hot one in t
he skirt with the bad attitude,” stated Whitefox.

Blackhawk laughed. “No bet. I’ve seen her beat down men three times her size. Doctor Adare’s a goner.”

Yeah, it was wrong they were both going to enjoy this.

Blame it on the ma
le DNA.

There were somethings that they just couldn’t be held responsible for, and this was one of them.

Elizabeth watched the men leave. “Yes?” she asked, stopping in front of Desdemona. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I want to help in the lab. I need something to do. All I know is I feel sick to my stomach all day long over all of this, and I just need to do something other than sit at the bed and breakfast.”

“Where’s Julian?”

“He went to shower and I
snuck away.”

Elizabeth laughed because she found it funny their super tracker got ditched. “Give me a few good reasons why I should let you
.”

“We used to be friends.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t let friendship come in the way of my work. So you can take that off the table.”

“Because I was once almost family and you do anything for family.”

That one she had her on, except she betrayed them. “Desdemona, I’m pretty pissed at you.”

“Me? You’re sleeping with the man I’m in love with! How pissed do you think I am
over all this?”

“
I love my family.”

Desdemona looked over at the door, and noticed both men were staring out at them, but neither were looking at her. “Can I ask you something and will you
tell me the truth?”

“
You know I will, but don’t bitch later if it hurts your feelings. I tell it like it is.”

“Are you in love with him
?”

Elizabeth weighed her choices between lying and the complete truth. Generally, she disliked hurting people, but this was getting old and fast.

“I’ll take it to my grave.”

Here went nothing. Damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. “I’m in love with him.”

“Were you two having an affair behind my back?”

Elizabeth looked right into her eyes. “No. I don’t cheat, and I don’t break the girlfriend code.”

Desdemona didn’t look away, as she searched for an iota of truth. “Are you having sex?”

“That’s none of your business, and I’m not going there with you. All I’ll say is that I abided by the girlfriend code until you severed that bond by putting your hands on me. What happens in our bedroom is our business, Desdemona, and I really am tired of discussing it with you and everyone else that thinks it’s up for discussion. Private life is not fodder for work.”

She nodded.
“Are we ever going to be friends again? Is there a way to repair this?”

“Probably not,” she answered
, truthfully. “You still have feelings for a man I’m in love with. That’s not something you’ll overcome and forget.”

“I think you’re probably right.” Desdemona thought about it. “Can I work in the lab until this is over?”

Elizabeth thought about it. “Can you be objective, Desdemona? If I told you that I suspected one of your friends or family, could you really swallow that?”

“No, but I will. I’m a scientist. I’m damn good at my job. Let me in
and give me a chance to prove it.”

“Go back to the bed and bre
akfast. Tomorrow you can start, but you need to go and find Julian. He’s probably worried.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth.”
Desdemona turned to walk away and stopped, turning back around. “You know I’ll always cherish the time I had you as a friend.” Then she walked to her Mercedes and got in, pulling away.

Elizabeth watched her
drive away, her eyes filling with tears. She was grateful she had sunglasses on to hide behind. “So will I, Desdemona. So will I.”

And that was the complete truth.

Both men watched the women, and neither looked angry. In fact they were being civil and that was even more terrifying.

“I think I may throw up,” muttered Whitefox, as he watched the ex and Elizabeth talk.

“Elizabeth is being really calm. I’d be scared shitless if I was you,” his brother teased. “
Right about now they're discussing your performance in bed.”

Callen punched his brother.
“Seriously, what if that was your ex and your wife talking.”

Blackhawk
grinned. “Won’t happen, because I’m pretty sure Elizabeth’s already tracked her down and killed her.” Now he was laughing. “Chill out, Cal. What’s the worse she can do? Give you back to Desdemona?”

Whitefox gave him a dirty look. “
Wait! They’re done! Oh hell, Elizabeth doesn’t look happy. Son of a bitch, this is bad.”

Both men stepped back as Elizabeth walked into the ME building. “Okay I’m ready.”

“You okay, baby?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “We just had some things to discuss, to clear the air.
You know, girl things.”

“Okay.”
That made Callen even more nervous.

“Let’s deal with work; I hate this personal bullshit falling all over the place when I’m trying to find a killer. It pisses me off.”
Elizabeth walked away, trying to regain her composure before she had to talk to Doctors Leonard and Magnus. When she finally entered the lab, both men were reading papers, oblivious to the world around them.

Finally they realized that she was standing there. “Hey, Lyzee! You came to visit us. Have more evidence or bodies?”

She laughed. “No, but I did need to talk to you both.” Finding her customary spot on an exam table, she hopped up. “You were here when Desdemona and her grandmother came in, right?”

“Yeah, we were here. Why?”

“Tell me about the grandmother’s reaction.” Elizabeth glanced over at her husband coming through the doors. “Walk us through it.”

“
Ms. Adare looked upset, and she cried when we uncovered the bones of both women.” He was sure she was going somewhere with this, because Elizabeth Blackhawk didn’t just ask questions unless there was a damn good reason.

“
Genuinely upset?”

“Yes
, very upset. Are you thinking she’s involved?” Now he saw where she was heading with it.

“I have her on my short list, that’s all. Don’t worry
, Desdemona’s in the clear.”

Both men looked relieved.

“She also just asked me if she can come to work in the lab. I cleared it, but again, she does nothing that involves vital information. I don’t want to be grilled in court on why I let a family member, whose grandmother could be a suspect, handle evidence.”

“We can seal some of the information by
coding it,” he offered.

Blackhawk wandered over to his wife’s
side and spoke, “I don’t want Desdemona to know we didn’t have DNA on the missing fetus. I want to hold that for as long as we can. It feels like it’s part of this somehow and may be our ace in the hole down the line.”

“You don’t trust Doctor Adare?” he asked, looking over at the woman. “She’s FBI.”

Blackhawk spoke up. “I already began her paperwork for termination. She told me she’s leaving, and Ginny is processing it right now. By the time we leave Cypress Grove, she’ll no longer be FBI.”

“
Once her ID and gun are pulled, Desdemona will simply be an ‘expert’ we’re having assist us in an assignment. Ginny is very efficient. I guarantee right now all her computer access is already gone. If she helps here, it’s not as an ME. It’s as a tech.”

Both
doctors nodded.

Elizabeth
felt like cheering herself up, and she knew exactly how to do it. “I have a question.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Which one of you doctors requisitioned the very expensive machine that put us way over budget for the month?” She caught them both off guard and when they recovered each man pointed at the other.

Blackhawk shook his head. “Well then I guess I have to fire the one that sent the form, since I don’t know who did the actual crime.
You know how rules are rules, Doctor Leonard,” he grinned, getting a little payback for his wife. “Where’s Christina?”

Both men looked alarmed
, as he walked over to the door dividing the lab, but Chris looked sick to his stomach.

“Christina, can you come in here?” he asked, looking in the other room. When he turned around and saw his wife grinning. Here came the bloodshed.

Whitefox hopped up and sat beside Elizabeth to watch the festivities.

“Christina, you authorized a piece of
equipment to be ordered for the lab. I believe it was a Fourier Mass Spec.”

She looked at him innocently. “I faxed over the request, but I didn’t actually order it. I
just did the paperwork on my desk.”

Elizabeth leaned against Whitefox
and laid her head on his shoulder. “I wish we had popcorn while we watched this all go down,” she whispered. This was going to be priceless.

“Here’s the big issue with sending over that request. It put us over budget in the lab, and that put the whole building over budget. It was over
five hundred thousand dollars for that machine. We’re in the red by three hundred thousand. Imagine my horror, as my boss and seven other directors above me chewed my ass out for it on my conference call.”

Christina looked sick to her stomach, and yet she didn’t look over at the
doctors.

Elizabeth grinned. Oh yeah, it was one of the
men. They looked upset, and Christina was purposely not looking at them.

“Well, I have only one choice,” he said, crossing his arms. “I’m going to have to do something drastic
if the guilty party isn't going to own up to it.”

“It was me
, okay?” Chris Leonard raised his hand. “She just faxed it. Don’t fire her, fire me.”

Elizabeth started laughing and when her husband turned, she offered him a fist bump. “Good one,
Ethan.” It was enjoyable watching all three ‘suspects’ look freaked out.

“So, we aren’t fired?”

Blackhawk winked at his wife. “No, but I think you three learned a valuable lesson. No more ordering big ticket items. Think of it like a marriage. We,” he pointed at his wife and himself, “hold the credit card, and you have to ask permission for anything over one thousand dollars.”

“Everything? Come on!”
objected Doctor Leonard. “Ninety percent of the lab supplies are over one grand. Do you know the paperwork backlog this is going to cause?”

Elizabeth grinned at her ME. “Oh, but Chris
, you love tossing around that rule book, remember?”

“Hell.”
It just came back to bite him in the ass.

“I’m not fired?” squeaked Christina
, drawing their attention.

“No,
you’re not, but here’s your lesson for the day. Don’t let those two con you into doing their dirty work. Clear?” asked Elizabeth.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Get back to work.” When the woman was gone, the three directors started laughing.

“You’re sadistic,” mumbled Doctor Leonard. “If I didn’t confess then what?”

Blackhawk shrugged. “Nothing, but the Mass Spec is going back, so call the tech squad back home and have them pack it up for transport. You’re grounded boys. No more shopping on the FBI dime, even if you think it’s a fun new toy to play with, or next time one of you will be fired.”

“You wouldn’t.” Chris Leonard challenged laughing. “You need us both.”

Elizabeth grinned. “Oh, you're right, you have us there. But I have a solution. Now we just don’t find you a backup ME and you,” she pointed at Doctor Magnus, “You don’t get to go on scene to look at bones, they get shipped to you in-house. That should save us about four hundred thousand a year, and over ten years…”