Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (14 page)

“What do you want to know about?”

“The dream.”

She sighed. “I was on my second tour of the Middle East, and with my unit. We were embedded in the middle of this little village. It was one big sandbox. I was on patrol and someone took a bullet meant for me. I watched him die, and sometimes I see the dream over and over again. Last night was one of those nights.”

“That sounds like you could have PTSD.”

She shook her head. “I’m generally fine, Elizabeth. Once in a while I have the dream, and it catches me off guard. I didn’t sleep for shit last night, and then seeing Julian added to it.”

“Why?”

Tori didn’t want to have this conversation. “We started a sexual relationship thing in Cypress Grove. I know we shouldn’t have, but it just happened.”

Elizabeth laughed, taking the woman’s clenched hand in hers. “You are allowed to have sex with whomever you want. Ethan and I haven’t started policing that, yet. Julian isn’t a co-worker, Tori.”

“I like to keep my private
life quiet. Julian is a really terrific guy. He makes me laugh, and he’s sweet, but I’m not relationship material.”

Elizabeth patted her hand. “Ethan thought that too, and look
at how that ended. You don’t know what you can or can’t do until you try.”

The tears filled her eyes and threatened to fall. “Don’t yank me from this assignment. I’ll do whatever you want. If you want me to see a shrink after we finish up, I’ll do it. Just let me work this assignment.”

Handing her a tissue, she calmly waited for the woman to compose herself. “Why Tori?”

“Because my brother was killed in the Middle East, my dad found
out and died of a heart attack. I don’t know where my mother is, because she left us years ago. If you pull me, I’ll sit at home alone and think. I was a soldier and thinking is your worst enemy. I just need to do. Inside I’m still a soldier, and I don’t know how to not be one.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” She left the room and went back over to Whitefox’s office. “Cal, can you go out in the field with Julian to the scenes? I can’t send Tori out today.”

“Sure angel. I don’t mind. What will you be doing?”

Elizabeth went to his side and dropped a kiss onto his lips. “I have Detective Austin arriving shortly, and then we’re heading down to autopsy for the new details.”

“We can check out the scenes and then meet you back here for lunch. Then we can start breaking down what we know.”

“Thank you, Cal.
” She ran her fingers down his cheek.

“Is she going
to be okay?” Julian asked, needing to know.

Elizabeth shrugged. “What she needs is some patience, a few friends and I think some therapy.”

At least it wasn’t him. He tried to tell himself he didn’t want to be saddled with a woman that had baggage, but something about her drew his attention. “If she needs anything, I’m available.”

“Christmas day we’re playing football, eating copious amounts of food, and celebrating the birth of Christ.
That may help.”

Both men looked over at her and she started laughing. “What? Now you Indians have a thing about the baby Jesus too?
First we can’t have a Columbus Day party, then I have to have Thanksgiving early, and now Christmas too?” Elizabeth winked at Callen. “Warn me now if you have some Native Easter Bunny envy.”

Whitefox started laughing at the absurdity of Elizabeth’s statement. “Get me the list of the crime scene
s and we’ll head out.”

When she left the room, Julian lo
oked over at Whitefox. “Football?”

“We have a game almost every holiday. You’re on Lyzee’s team.”

“Works for me.”

“Here’s a little proposition for you. You throw the game and I’ll make sure you get included in the bet.”

“What’s the wager?”

Callen grinned. “Ethan and I get alone time with Elizabeth doing whatever we want
for date night.”

Julian grinned. “I get alone time with her too? Count me in on that one.”

Callen wasn’t buying it for a minute. “You get alone time with the woman you want.” He didn’t have to say her name, because both men knew he was referring to Tori. “I saw your face when she came into the room, and you have more than a friendly interest in her. Nice try with the deflection, but the jig is up, Julian.”

He
shrugged. “She doesn’t want to be anywhere near me.”

“I’ll handle that, you just throw the game on Christmas. Let Ethan and I do the rest.”

Littlemoon held out his hand. “Deal?”

“Deal.”

Elizabeth went to the cooler and grabbed two bottles of water for her and Agent Christensen. Now that she was pregnant, she needed to skip the coffee as much as pos
sible or she’d pickle her child in caffeine. While the men were missing, she’d start pounding water, and then have coffee later if they were around. Keeping the pregnancy a secret was going to be a pain in the ass. Thank God Christmas was in only a couple days.

Entering her office, she handed the woman a bottle of water and leaned against her desk watching her. Apparently, Tori Christensen was good at pulling herself together and fast. “Better?” she asked, drinking her water.

“Yeah, thanks for being…”

Elizabeth grinned. “The opposite
of an uncaring bitch who derives pleasure from scaring the life from the agents she bosses around?”

Tori laughed. “The gossip has nothing to do with you being a bitch,” she said, feeling considerably better. 

“Care to tell me what the gossip is then? I do love to know when the minions are planning an uprising.”

Christensen held up her
left hand and pointed to the ring finger. “Your ring has them all stirred up. Word travelled fast and furious.”

Elizabeth shrugged. “What are they saying?”

“You’re having some torrid affair behind your husband’s back, that you’re a threesome involved in kinky weekend games where you swing, and that you're a nympho.”

Now she was laughing. “Wait until word of my pregnancy gets out. Then it’ll be a pool to guess
who’s the baby daddy,” she said snickering.

Tori shook her head and smiled the first genuine one for the day. “You know, what they say about you isn't true.”

“Rumors and gossip seldom are, Tori. That’s why I told you that you can tell me anything. You’re my agent, but now you're my field partner and I’d like to think my friend.”

Before Tori could spill anything else, Elizabeth’s intercom buzzed.

“You have a detective out here waiting for you, Mrs. B,” stated Ginny.

“I’ll be right out. Have her wait right there.”

“Yes, Mrs. B.”

Elizabeth stood. “We
ll, shall we go down to autopsy and see what our doctors found out about the women laying in the morgue?”

Christensen nodded. “I’m ready.”

Elizabeth banged out a text to Chris Leonard, warning him that they were on their way down.

Out in the lobby stood the police detective, and she was looking around taking it all in and observing the agents that passed by her.

“Detective Austin, how are you this morning?” she asked, holding out her hand in greeting.

“I’m good Director Blackhawk
, and I’d just like to tell you that whatever you said to my captain was amazing. He officially cleared my workload and has sent me to be at your every whim and need.”

“Wasn’t me, Detective. The
governor had all the pull on this one. My co-director can be very persuasive. He called and requested your assistance in his most spectacular, bossy way.”

Cyra Austin shook the
agent’s hand next. “Well either way, thank you. I get a break from…” she almost said her partner. That wasn’t a good thing to let drop out there in conversation.

“This way,” she led them towards the elevators. “You don’t have to cover for
Detective Jackwagon. I know he’s a hot mess in a pair of loafers.”

Detective Austin said nothing.

“He has more time in as a detective in the homicide unit, and yet you're the lead detective. That means one thing; he’s out of control and you act like the babysitter to reel him back from the edge. Then there was the telling fact that you were genuinely surprised when I informed you the file was incomplete. Your eyes flickered over to him, so I’m betting you asked him to fax it.”

Agent Christensen liked working with Elizabeth.

“Then last but not least he’s a glory hound and only after his name in lights on this one, and I have no time for that in my busy day.”

“In his defense, he is a really decent cop. Brian just has temper issues and impulse control.”

Elizabeth pushed open the doors to the autopsy suite, noticing no one was around. When she turned, out of the corner of her eye, she saw motion coming at her and immediately, she defended herself.

Chris Leonard needed to see if the wounds consistent on the one victim were from fending off an attack and the best way was to practice on a human. When he saw Elizabeth, he lunged for her, and didn’t think she’d move as fast as she did.
She was pregnant, and maybe it was a bad idea all around, but it was all in the name of scientific experiment.

Elizabeth grabbed his arm, twisting, foot sweeping
his legs from behind and pinning the man to the floor with her knee on his groin. Both the detective and agent beside her pulled their guns and pointed them at him.

“Chris, is there a reason you’re trying to assault your boss in
autopsy?” she asked, applying more pressure before she continued, “especially with your evaluation coming up in about two weeks?”

Tony Magnus started laughing. “I warned him that he should attack anyone but you, but he insisted.
There was some twisted rationale in his head that you would be the least likely to shoot him.”

“Lyzee, can you get off me?” he said, hoping she didn’t move
more, or he was in for a world of hurt. Then he noticed the other two women with guns, and one of them was new to the building and absolutely amazing.

“Why Chris?” she asked again, standing and this time offering him a hand up.

“Because victim number five had a ton of defensive wounds and I needed to see how a woman would react if I jumped out at her. I couldn’t tell you I was going to do it.”

“Chris, what if I shot you? Ethan would have paperwork to do and you know that makes him cranky.”

Yeah, he never thought about that little issue. “We don’t have to tell Ethan or Callen about this do we?” he said sheepishly.

Elizabeth laughed and turned her focus back on the other women
as they reholstered. “Detective Cyra Austin, I’d like to introduce you to my crack staff. This is Doctor Christopher Leonard, and when he’s not trying to assault helpless women, he’s my ME,” she grinned.

Cyra held out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Doctor Leonard.” The man was absolutely adorable, in a geeky, mad scientist kind of way.

Chris was captivated. The woman was absolutely beautiful. Her hair was blonde and she had gorgeous emerald green eyes. “It’s my pleasure Detective but please, call me Chris or Doc.”

Cyra smiled. “Okay, Chris.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Tony Magnus, and he started laughing. “This gentleman here is my Forensic Anthropologist, Doctor Tony Magnus.”

Cyra shook his hand too.

Elizabeth took control of the conversation “Can we talk about the victims?”

Chris refocused and walked over to the tables. “I kept them sealed up for you, Lyzee,” he stated, grabbing the five case files.

“You're the best, Chris. Thank you.”

“I have to say, the ME that did the original autopsies didn’t really do a
thorough job. Well, not a Blackhawk quality autopsy. I didn’t see x-rays in the files, so I called over to the ME’s office. None were taken.”

Cyra looked confused. “Is that standard procedure?”

Elizabeth hopped up onto the empty table and crossed her legs. “Yeah, the ME usually hangs out with the fire inspector, they chit chat about the bodies, check out the scene
in situ,
and then they do the autopsies together. The fire inspector gives the ME information regarding the scene that may have impact on the victims last few minutes.”

“Okay, so our ME screwed up.”

Chris shrugged. “Anyway, I did the x-rays and then I tried to open them up, but the women are too fragile. They’re breakable.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Okay, so we have five incomplete autopsies.”

“Here’s what I can tell you, Lyzee. Victim one was strangled. That’s it when it comes down to COD. She’s brittle and since we shuffled her around, she’s a mess.” Then he realized what he said. “Not that I knew her personally,” he paused to try and regroup. “What I mean is that I didn’t know her then, so I can’t tell you what she was like before.”

It was funny to see her ME all flustered. Since he’d worked with her for over ten years and worked with Tori before
, it only left one possibility. Elizabeth glanced at the detective. She was watching the doctor intently. The love bug must be in the filtered, re-circulating air. Thank God she’d already been bitten twice.