Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (77 page)

Whitefox still held the man down, he knew what was coming, and he wanted to make sure that Elizabeth was safe if the man erupted. She may have been Desdemona’s target this morning, but he wasn’t letting her be Jonathan Delray’s too.

“Remember the day you punched my partner here, and we took the epithelial cells from under
his nails?”

“Yes.”

“We found they matched. Your father had an affair with Trinity Adare.”

The man first looked confused, then he got it, and that confusion went from shock to horror and then to sheer
revulsion. “I was in love with my own sister, and we created a child?”

Elizabeth
simply nodded because words wouldn’t ever be able to soothe that heart wrenching truth.

“Oh God
, oh God,” he muttered. “I’m going to be sick,” he stated quickly.

Elizabeth grabbed the waste paper can and shoved it under his face
, as he purged everything in his body. It wasn’t lost on her that Jonathan Adare was more upset that he had sex with his sister than that his father was a murdering, lying, adulterous bastard.

Didn’t that just say it all?

Neither agent spoke as the man was violently ill over the truth coming to light. Incest was always an ugly thing, especially for those who believed that they were living their lives like normal people. What were the chances that the man would fall in love with his own sister? At any point, Jefferson Delray could have told his kids the truth, doing the right thing, but he wasn’t honorable. This was the ugly outcome of sins the father created years ago. Now the kids were left to clean up the huge mess that the man had made.

When he finished she handed him a tissue. “You going to be okay
, Jonathan?” she asked, crouching back down.

“Are you kidding me? Seriously? My father’s dead and you just told me I was fucking my own sister
, and we created a child. Do you think that I’m ever going to be okay again? That any of us are going to survive this?”

“Ease up, Jonathan. We didn’t create this mess.”
Whitefox let him up, but protectively stood beside Elizabeth, just in case he tried to go after her.

“I need to go tell my sisters all of this. I need to go be with my family
, because they can’t hear this from you. Stay the hell away from my family!”

Elizabeth nodded and watched him leave. “Well, he took that just about the same
as Desdemona took it.”

“This is a big mess.”

She couldn’t agree more. “At least it wasn’t me dropping the F bomb in the house of God this time,” she said, trying to lighten the grimness, as they stood in a room half covered with an old man’s brains.

“The heathen in me likes when you curse in a church,” he answered, walking
over and staring down at the man. “Lyzee, he leaves a note, confessing his sins for the last time, but he doesn’t confess to killing Cordelia. I take it that we were right. He didn’t kill Cordelia. If you're going to off yourself, you confess it all. Not just half. Jefferson Delray didn’t take Cordelia’s life.”

“
I believe this is pretty much confirmation for me. I’ll bet my badge on it at this point.”

Ethan Blackhawk escorted Doctor Chris Leonard into the room with a few techs, before closing the door behind him. “I need every piece of evidence in this room and fast, and the man transported back to the lab. I need to know if he self-terminated or had a helping hand into the afterlife.”

“Yes Director.”

Elizabeth stepped forward. “Doctor Adare knows the truth, and she turned in her badge. She’s not allowed in the lab. If she shows up, send her away.
All she gets is COD and nothing more.”

“Okay, boss,” he said. “I haven’t seen her yet today. Is she going to be alright?”

Elizabeth shrugged and changed the subject. Pulling on gloves, she took the sealed up note and handed it to her husband. “Chris, look at this man’s hands. Tell me what you see,” she said walking over with him.

Chris Leonard waited while the tech swabbed for gunshot residue
, and then took the man’s hand in his. “Holy shit. This man is riddled with arthritis. This had to be incredibly painful. He’s lucky he was able to pull that trigger and take his life.”

Elizabeth
focused on her partners. “Is it your professional opinion that the man couldn’t drag Cordelia Adare through the swamp and hide her body?”

“Lyzee, this man had to be in continual pain. There’s no way he could walk to his car without agony, let along trudge through the swamp like we did
, or scale that rock cliff to get to the bodies.”

“Thank you Doc, that’s all I needed to hear from you
.”

Elizabeth, Ethan and Callen left the room to give the techs the time they needed. Outside the building
, they stood there in silence.

Blackhawk finally spoke
, reiterating what she’d pretty much already knew. “So we have two killers.”

Elizabeth just shrugged. “I can’t see it as just the old man.”

Whitefox crossed his arms. “What if Jonathan Delray found out that he was having a relationship with his sister, and then killed her? We never found the fetus, and assumed that the snakes ate it, but what if he removed it to hide the evidence. The killer would have known the truth the entire time. He would have known that the Delray’s and the Adare’s were related.”

“It’s possible,” said Blackhawk. “Maybe we should go pick him up and bring him to the sheriff’s station for questioning.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I’m going back to the bed and breakfast. I want to get the journal entries so that we can hit him with them and see what we can shake free. Can you two handle pick up?”

“Yeah,
you’ll meet us there?” There was hesitation in his voice, and Ethan was sure that she’d hear it.

“
I want to hit him hard with the words of the dead woman. Maybe guilt, remorse, or repentance will make a surprise visit today. Right now, he’s the most likely suspect. Jonathan Delray had the most to be angry about. Now we just need to tie him to the location and get him to spill he was aware of it.”

Ethan didn’t want her going alone. “You should take Callen with you.”

Elizabeth laughed. “You're going to bring in a suspect, and want me to have a babysitter? Did you hit your damn head, Ethan?” she asked. “I’m driving to the bed and breakfast, inside and then to the sheriff’s station. I’m probably going to be there before you. Take your brother and stop worrying about me.”

Whitefox was torn. He didn’t want to leave either of them. “Why don’t we all go back, and then we all go pick him up.”

Now she elbowed him in the side. “Callen, darlin’, go keep your brother safe. I’ll be fine.”

Both men stared at her and their cheeks twitched.

“I love you both,” she said, catching the keys from her husband. “Be safe, put on your Kevlar if you’re going into his house. I don’t want to hear that either of you got shot. I will be damn pissed that the two of you let some backwoods deputy hand you your asses! You both know better!”

Ethan kissed her fast on the lips
, oblivious to the tech team milling around him. Lightly he stroked her cheek with his fingers and stared into her eyes. “See you at the station.” Now he needed to steal a vehicle from one of their crew.

Callen stared at her
, desperately wishing he could freely kiss her too and have the same open relationship that his brother had with her. But, he knew better than to push the rumor mill further into overdrive. “Be safe, angel,” he said, hands remaining at his side. There were already stares from the team. He could feel them on his back. “I love you,” he said softly, turning from her, his heart clenching with pain in his chest.

Elizabeth saw the hurt
in his eyes. “Callen?” she called to him, drawing his attention.

“Yeah?” he stopped and turned.

Elizabeth went to him and planted one right on his lips, and it wasn’t a simple friendly peck. When she pulled away, he looked startled. “I told you that I don’t care what people think when it comes to the men in my life. We have another rule in this unit. If you’re going to do something risky, you kiss the ones you love, just in case.” Then she ran her hand down his cheek. “I love you too, Callen. Be safe and keep Ethan safe.”

He watched her turn and walk away. When he went to follow his brother, he noticed there were techs watching, incredulously.
The blush crept up his body.

“Hey! You three get to work,” snapped Blackhawk, and when they scrambled
, he glanced at his brother and winked. “Suit up, Cal. We have a suspect to bring in.”

Whitefox grinned wickedly
.

Y
eah, they did.

                                *   *   *

The truth was now out
and soon it would be all over town. News of the old man’s death was spreading, but he wasn’t surprised in the least. He knew his father carried this sin his whole life. He was a man, and he couldn’t fight the allure of Trinity Adare. Just like the two sons, who were helpless to fight off the sexual desire and advances of Cordelia and Desdemona.

They were their father
’s children.

Sinners one and all
, and they paid the price.

Now
, it was all coming to a head, and the truth was going to be out for the world to see. But before it did, he was going to take care of the remaining sin in their dysfunctional family. The last tie to the horrible truth that they’d all succumbed to the Adare witches.

I
t was time to fix the mess that his father had created over thirty years ago by not being able to keep it in his pants. Yes, he’d been a handsome, charismatic minister and the woman probably lured him in, and he’d been punished.

His wife had died slowly of cancer.

His body had fallen apart and become broken by arthritis.

His sons had incestuous relationships with their own sisters.

A child was created from the vile union.

Thankfully
, the baby they made was destroyed when the truth was found. Gratefully, he’d run into Cordelia coming from the doctor appointment in tears. It gave him the opportunity to end this mess before another generation was destroyed by the sins of his father.

Now
, it was time to stop the last woman who carried the truth in her genetic code. Desdemona Adare was the last living piece of his father’s betrayal, and it was time that she found her way into the watery depths like her mother and sister.

It was the beginning of the end. Once he took her life, he could be at peace, knowing the family was pure again and not riddled with incestual secrets. The secrets that to this day still warmed his body, because he was a sinner. The anger filled him that he enjoyed the memories, and it pushed him forward with his goal.

No one was going to stop him. Then, he would follow his father into death. But first, he needed to take his dear Desdemona to the place where her mother and sister found their final graves.

Then he’d take what wasn’t his to take.

Her life.

After all, he was
a sinner and his father’s son.

                                *   *   *

The bed and breakfast was eerily silent, as Elizabeth ran into the building and to her room. The entire team was either out in the field working on Jefferson Delray, or at the ME lab pulling the bomb pieces apart. Looking at her watch, Elizabeth had a few minutes left before she needed to race to the sheriff’s office. Both men still needed time to bring in Jonathan Delray. Pulling out her papers, Elizabeth scanned and reread them. There in front of her was the list of names that Desdemona Adare had given her husband while they were in Red River hunting a killer.

Something about it
bothered her. It nagged at her incessantly and kept pulling her attention from everything else. Elizabeth was notorious for needing all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted, and there was a piece of her that was urging her to get the remaining doubts cleared. There was only one thing she could do to alleviate the nagging feeling in her brain. Pulling out her phone, Elizabeth dialed Sheriff Denton, hoping he’d give her the help she needed and feel less hostility if she called him first.

His deputy put her on hold,
as she walked down to the Escalade. When he finally came to the line, Elizabeth had one important question.

“If I give you a few dates, can you tell me if Jonathan Delray was working
or off duty?”

“I certain
ly can, Director Blackhawk. I’m at my computer right now, so when you’re ready, fire away.”

Elizabeth pulled up the dates on her tablet
, as she leaned against the rental car and read them off. The specific ones she had in mind were the day the Denali was blown up in front of Callen house, and the day they started the trip to Red River. These dates were the days they had Desdemona’s stalker across the country with them.