Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7) (70 page)

It was still hard for both men to walk away, since the risk was so high.

But for now, they needed to
continue on with the job.

They needed to carry the woman
who had shouldered all their weight for so long.

Today, they’d help her survive it all.

As soon as they walked away, she went and took a hot shower. Some of her best thinking was done while she stood under the spray. There were a million things going through her head at that moment, most importantly, why Artemis?

She understood the four friends, and where they originally thought
it was random, it hadn’t been at all. Now, there was the big fat question mark on how she fit into the scenario.

Was he making a point?

Or screwing with them further? If he was indeed watching them all, he knew that they had visited that shop a few times. Was this all their fault?

Once she showered, Elizabeth paced the room, trying to find some peace. Final
ly, she flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling as she began thinking about the tons of data that was flooding her mind.

Then
, she began thinking about her own life being at risk, and the fear overwhelmed her. If anything happened to her, what would become of her babies and the men she loved?

Closing her eyes, she wanted to believe what Artemis had told her in the shop about Timothy being near. Letting out the breath she was holding, she sent it out to the universe.

“Granddad, help
me. I’m next…”

Sunday Afternoon

Walking into the gym, the two men garnered quite a few stares. Maybe it was that they looked incredibly serious or had guns on their hips.

Yeah, chances are it was that they were
the minority in town. Two large Native men were going to attract attention. As they sauntered up to the desk, the woman behind it immediately paused, like a deer in headlights.

“Uh, are you here to join?” she asked, staring incredulously at them.

Callen wanted to laugh. Where Ethan was half-Native, he was full blooded, and was generally more the spectacle when they were together. They even had people sometimes ask to touch their hair. It was creepy, and almost like being in some people petting zoo.

Don’t get him wrong, he liked plenty of
stroking from a white woman, but he was very particular about which one.

Ethan handled it. “No, we’re with the FBI. Can you tell us if Craig Decker is here today? If
he is, we need to speak to him.”

The
desk girl just nodded as she stared at their badges. Immediately, she dialed the phone.

“Craig, you better get down here. There
are two FBI agents here, and they want to see you.”

When she hung up the phone, she
continued staring at them.

Callen had to turn around, because he was about to start laughing
at any second. His brother was getting red at the scrutiny. Where it didn't faze Callen, it made Ethan flustered.

“Yes, can I help you?”

Ethan turned towards the man
and held out his hand. He was going to do this in true FBI director style. “Craig Decker?”

“Yes, that’s me. What’s going on?”
Now, he looked worried. The Feds didn't come knocking often, and if they did, you gave them whatever they wanted.

“We need you to take a look at four pictures and let us know if you recognize any of them,” Callen offered, pulling them up in his tablet. As he held it for the man, his face didn't register anything suspicious.

“Yeah, I don’t know them by name, but they attend an exercise class that we have here on the weekends. They seem really friendly. You know how girls are; they giggle, talk about the men lifting weights, and then laugh all the way into the ladies locker room. Have they done something illegal?”

Ethan continued, “They’ve been murdered.”

The man looked horrified. “Are they the ones on the news? Are they the women that were taken by the Satan worshipping serial killer? I saw a blurb about it and the photo of some black haired babe in charge of investigating. It’s all over the media.” Then he tried to lighten the mood. “She can come work out here any time if you know what I mean.”

Callen loved when someone commented about their woman. It generally meant a melee of
sorts. It was fun to watch his brother get all fired up.

“I actually do know what you mean
about her being a babe, since she’s my wife,” Ethan said, staring down into his face with his best menacing glare.

“I’m
sorry! I didn't mean anything by it. She’s really beautiful,” he stated, trying to be profusely apologetic. “Is there anything else I can help you with then?”

“Yeah, those four women, did they have any issues with anyone bothering them
, hitting on them, or making them uncomfortable?”

He looked at the woman at the desk. “Tiff, did anyone complain about being harassed or have issues lately?”

“No Craig, it’s been quiet,” she replied.

The man shrugged, not sure what he could tell them. “It’s a gym. Men are going to check out
women in little shorts, and likewise the women like to see some man with muscles too. It doesn’t usually get out of hand.”

Callen h
ad a question, “How about this woman?” Have you ever seen her in here with any of those four?” He flipped to Artemis’s picture and showed him.

“She doesn’t look familiar,” he said. “May I borrow your tablet?” he inquired. It was handed over to him, and he brought to the woman behind the counter. “Tiff, does she look familiar?”

The woman stared at her. “I don’t think so, Craig.” Then she glanced up at the men. “If you give me her name, I can look her up in the system and let you know. We save everyone’s names and scanned driver’s licenses.”

Ethan spelled it for her and even gave her both names. When she finished typing, she shook her head. “She isn’t a member,
and we don’t even have her on our list as someone that came with a friend. I’m sorry.”

The
y understood that it was a long shot.

Ethan spoke up
, “For the rest of our conversation, you’re going to want to take us to your office.”

The man looked worried. “Am I in trouble?”

“Should you be?” Callen asked, following the man as he escorted them upstairs.

“No, but you both make me nervous.”

Ethan laughed at that. “I tell you what. You help us out, and we will smile more.” They both did just that, but it wasn’t happy smiles but more feral ones.

The man swallowed and sat behind his desk.

“We have four women that have your gym in common. We need you to give us an alibi for your time.”

Callen watched his brother work, not sure where he was heading with it. There was a gym full of men
who could have been guilty. This man didn't really fit the bill, and that meant he was up to something. Rarely did Ethan chase his tail on dead ends.

“You think
that I’m a Satan worshipper killing people?”

“It’s a little bizarre that all the sudden we have four members of your gym
turn up dead. I’m just asking now, before the media gets wind of it. I mean, if we have a press conference and it gets taken out of context, it could be bad.”

“Yeah, it could destroy a business wi
th horrible publicity like that,” Callen added, joining him on good cop/bad cop.

The man
appeared to be getting sick to his stomach. “Give me the days,” he said, pulling up his time sheet. When Callen read them off, he had two of them covered with work. “Wait, I can find the last three.”

Ethan shrugged. “If you say you didn't do it, we might be willing to take that into account if you’re willing to help us out a little bit.”

Craig Decker nodded. “What can I do?”

“We could really use a list of all your members here. I know you’re not supposed to do that, but if you help us out,” Ethan smiled, “when we have that press
conference, we may mention your name and make you seem like a hero.”

“Wow, that would make business boom,” Callen
added. It was fun working with his brother. Like with Elizabeth, you never knew what was going to happen.

“I’m not really supposed to do that.”

“Well, we can get a search warrant, close you down, tear the place apart, but that’s going to make you look bad,” he said, standing. “I hope that doesn’t make people nervous about coming to your establishment. You are the only gym in town. Come on, Director Whitefox.”

The man called after them. “If I email you them, can we just pretend
that you never got them?”

Ethan shrugged. “If that’s what you want, Craig, but know you’ll forever have the gratitude of the
Federal government and the FBI. You’ll be an unsung hero.”

“Give me your email. It’ll take a couple of hours
, but I’ll send them as soon as I get it done. I’m going to do it from home and my personal email.”

Pulling out one of his cards, he scribbled his work email on
it. “Thank you, Craig. You’ve been amazing to work with on this, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate citizens like you.”

Callen was struggling not to laugh. It was funny to watch
, and if Elizabeth was there, she would have simply beat the names out of the man. His partners had vastly different methods.

“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling like a little kid.

The men headed from the building and once out of earshot, Callen began laughing. “That was priceless. You just got him to give you records that we wouldn’t have gotten without tap dancing before a judge.”

“Yeah, it was fun.”

“You, my brother, are super slick.”

He hopped up into the Denali and laughed. “I like how you think Elizabeth is the
ONLY
one that can get people to do things. I’ve been a Fed longer than she has and learned a few tricks along the way.”

Callen shook his head. “
I don’t doubt that. I just like watching her do it, because it doesn’t turn me on when you have at it.”

Blackhawk
snickered at his little brother. “Way to think with the appropriate part of your anatomy, Cal,” he replied, laughing.

“
You trained me well.”

Halloween Eve early evening

Standing in the autopsy suite, Chris was suited up and watching Patrick Parrish finishing up Ares Lafay’s postmortem. When he’d heard that the man was coming in, it was incredibly poignant. Here was a man who had just lost his wife, and in the midst of grief, he took his own life.

Chris couldn’t imagine losing Cyra. Part of him could rationalize what the man was thinking,
and the logical part couldn’t justify pulling the trigger.

Patrick Parrish shook his head. “
It’s days like this that makes life harder to swallow. Here was this healthy man, and he died way too soon,” he said. “I guess when it’s your time to go, it’s your time.”

He had to agree on that one
, except that this man willingly pulled the trigger to follow his wife into death.

“I guess it’s a good thing
that they didn't have kids. This would have been heart wrenching for any children.”

Chris had to wonder
, if they possibly did have kids, might that have prevented it. Maybe Ares wouldn’t have been so willing to follow his wife into death if there were children behind to protect.

“I only hope
that I find that kind of love one day,” the ME said, glancing up at Chris. “You look like you have a good relationship. Have you been in it long?”

He shook his head. “No
, not long at all.”

“Well, I hope you stay together
. Too many relationships collapse after little bumps in the road.”

God,
he prayed they didn't hit any bumps at all.

As if timed, Cyra
walked into the autopsy suite and stopped beside Chris. “Is it all done?” she questioned, staring at him still in his scrubs.

“I just finished her not too long ago. I moved slow, making sure I caught it all.”
Chris forced the dead woman, and the sorrow that he was feeling, out of his mind by thinking about the living one in front of him.

“Well, we’ve been summonsed back to the hotel to go over a few of your results
, and what Callen and Ethan found out today.”

Chris nodded
as he began pulling off the outer layers of paper gown and coverings. Beneath them, he was wearing the aqua colored scrubs that matched his eyes. “I’m going to change, want to come with me? I could use some coffee too,” he added.