Past Will Haunt (30 page)

She let his words settle in. Was he really asking her to quit her job?

Did she really want to do that?

“If we do this, Livy, then you’re retiring. We can’t both work out in the field, and this is my one and only caveat to your marriage proposal.”

Her eyes got wide.

Shit!

He was asking her to do just that.

“Surprised, Livy? I guess it’s not so much fun when someone throws your future around, is it?” Gabe asked. “You wanted my answer, and there it is. Now, you have to decide what you’re willing to sacrifice too.”

She stared at him. The Dragon Slayer had turned it around and managed to put her on the spot. “Are you being serious? You really want me to quit my job, marry you, and have your children?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ll accept your odd and poorly timed marriage proposal because I love you, but you have to know I can’t do this every day, Livy. I can’t have a wife who gets shot at and used as bait. If you really want me to marry you, then prove that you want me just as much as I want you. We’ll have to meet in the middle.”

She shrugged. “Okay. I’ll meet you in the middle.”

He stared at her. “What? Okay as in you’ll marry me? Wait! I mean I’ll marry you, or was that…”

She laughed, knowing that this was definitely the right answer. When it came down to it, Elizabeth was the one who carried the weight of their team. She solved the cases, and Livy, if anything, was just her keeper. She loved her job, but she loved this man more. When she thought about her future, it meant a husband and family.

It was Gabriel Rothschild.

It was as clear as day to her.

“You heard me right, Gabriel. I’ll quit my job and become Mrs. Rothschild. I’ll be your wife, and I hope you want lots of kids. I happen to love children.”

He sat up, knocking her into his lap.

His heart thumped.

“If you’re yanking my chain, Olivia, I’ll have a heart attack. I don’t do spontaneous and crazy easily. I’m a thinker. This is a huge risk for me.”

Livy was well aware.

It said it all. If he was willing to even compromise and put his heart out there, this man had to love her. Gabriel Rothschild had to think about what color highlighter he’d use to mark up an agent’s report. He NEVER did spontaneous.

It wasn’t in him.

“Can I ask you something now?” Livy inquired. While she had him off guard, she might as well go for it.

“You’re not going to tell me this was all a joke, are you?”

Livy hated the worry in his eyes. She’d never take it back. She wanted him, his baggage, and a life together.

She wanted to be his partner.

“I wouldn’t hurt you like that, Gabriel. I swear I would never do that to you.”

He relaxed as she stayed on his lap. “Then ask me anything you want.”

“You’re about to move up the ladder, right?”

“Yes,” he offered, lifting a brow. “Why? That’s a really odd question to ask someone when you’re talking marriage.”

She was aware, but with Gabe, she needed to get it to a level he understood. She did spontaneous, she did wild, and she was crazy.

He was the opposite.

Together, they’d be perfect.

“Relax. I’m not some gold digger. I only ask because I don’t want you out in the field either. If we get married, I want you safe. I don’t want you getting shot at and being in danger every day. Love is a two way street.”

His heart melted.

She did love him.

“I know as deputy director, and one day director, that it’s still dangerous. They are powerful jobs, but at least you won’t be gunned down working a case. If you can promise me that you’ll be inside where you’re safe, I’m in one hundred percent. I’ve never loved anyone more than I love you. Despite what you did, I can’t live without you. My heart knows you were meant to be mine.”

He touched her face. “So, we’re really going to do this?”

“Yes. We’re going to do this,” she said, and then she paused, “but I need a favor.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to tell Elizabeth yet. She’s going to be shocked. We swore we’d always be a team. I need to tell her on my own time. This is going to blindside her. You’ll need to find her someone who can fill my role. She’ll need someone stable, reliable, and willing to have her back.”

Ethan Blackhawk would be ideal. Gabe needed to work on that.

“I know someone who fits that role. I’ll ask him if he wants to do a partner swap. I love Lyzee. She’s my family. I’ll take care of her.”

“Thank you, Gabriel.”

He kissed her. “You’re really going to be my wife? I feel like this is some dream.”

“Is it a good one or bad one?”

“Oh, it’s a really good one. This is like the Christmas present you weren’t sure you wanted, but now that you have it, you can’t imagine not having it.”

“And you’re sure you really want it to be me?”

He laughed. “Yeah, I really do.”

She ran her fingers over his cheek. Gabe looked a million times lighter. “Why do you look like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders?” she asked.

“Had I known all I had to do is ask you to quit your job, I would have started a relationship with you sooner. I was only worried about us dating because of the scrutiny of the FBI. I’ve always been attracted to you, Livy. I think I’ve always loved you.”

She rested her forehead against his.

“I’ve always loved you too, Gabriel. You were made for me, and I was supposed to be part of you. I’m the yin to your yang.”

He agreed. This woman really was. His heart recognized it well before he did, and that’s why he’d been stressed. Gabe had tried to fight fate.

Now he could just relax.

“Now I can follow my dream and my heart. I can be the man I want to be at work because I’m not conflicted. I don’t have to worry about losing what I want more in life.”

“Directorship?” she asked.

“Oh, Olivia, you don’t know me as well as you think you do. I want to run the FBI, but I want something more.”

She waited. “What?”

“I want to be loved. I haven’t felt that in a very long time. When my mother left, I closed myself off. My father loved me, but he never showed me. You make me believe I’m worthy of love.”

She stared into his eyes. “I love you, Gabriel, and I always will.”

“Oh, Olivia, you have no idea. I’d kill for you. There wouldn’t be a line I wouldn’t cross. You’re going to be my wife.”

He held on to her.

Gabe loved the word. It was, quite possibly, his new favorite word in the whole world.

He was getting Olivia as his wife.

Gabe wanted to celebrate.

When his phone rang, he glanced over at it. His whole demeanor changed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It’s work. That’s the code line. There’s another body.”

“We can go,” she offered. “I feel weak, but I’m sure you can play body guard.”

He laughed. While he could do that, he wouldn’t. “No, we absolutely can’t go out there. I just got a fiancée, and I’m not losing her in the same day.”

Screw that!

Gabe wasn’t taking a chance on it. At that moment, he had that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

All Feds got it right before something bad happened. His gut was screaming, and it wasn’t from the ulcer Livy and Lyzee had given him the last year.

Flipping open his cell, Gabe took the call. “Prep the scene for the lead agent and ME. They’ll be there. Have the Capitol police keep everyone back and wait for their arrival.”

He hung up and began dialing.

In his heart, he was praying Elizabeth and her ME were on the ground in DC. If not, he was going to have to take Livy right out and into the open.

He didn't have a choice.

His boss would be monitoring everything, including the local news, and if he wanted to keep his job, he’d handle it.

Shit!

He prayed for a miracle.

Taking Livy out there wasn’t an option. This was now riding on one person.

Elizabeth LaRue.

CHAPTER NINE

Dulles International

Airport

The wheels of the jet had barely touched down when both Elizabeth and Chris Leonard’s phones began ringing. It was obvious why it was happening.

It looked like
‘The Butcher’
had struck again.

Pulling hers out of her pocket, she flipped it open. “LaRue.”

She listened.

“Okay, Doctor Leonard and I have arrived in Dulles. We’ll be on our way as soon as we clear the tarmac. Have the techs prep the scene until we get there.”

When she hung up, Elizabeth didn't have to tell him anything.

“Another, huh?”

“Yep. He moved again last night, and Gabe isn’t letting Livy on the scene. He’s freaked out about the warning the killer left on her doorstep last night.”

“I can’t blame him. I’d be more than freaked out. This guy is loopy. If I was Gabe, I’d have her shipped off to Mongolia for protection.”

“Yeah, then Livy would kill him. Women don’t like it when men pull shit like that, Christopher. If you ever get married, you best not treat your woman like that. She’s an equal, not a possession you lock away.”

He laughed. “I’m never getting married, unless that’s your way of proposing to me. If it is, then yes.”

She snorted. “Get your ass moving, Doc.”

As they exited the plane, there was a Denali waiting for them. Good old Gabe was never out of the loop.

“It looks like our chariot awaits,” Chris said, as they tossed their gear in the back.

“Can I drive?” Chris asked.

She gave him a look. “No. I’m not letting you drive. You have a speedy Mercedes, and I’m willing to bet it’s never been over fifty five. Well, until me.”

Chris just wanted to get the look of fear out of her eyes, so he was distracting her.

“I once went fifty six,” he said, knowing she was now thinking about him and not what they were about to walk into. She was his first friend, and Chris hated seeing her suffer.

She’d defended him.

Befriended him.

Protected him.

This was the least he could do.

“You and I have to have a long talk when this is all over. I’m going to have to show you how to live on the edge,” she said, as they hit the highway.

“When you live on the edge, you fall off.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Not always. When you have really good friends, who want to protect you, they keep you from tumbling.”

She patted his leg.

Chris stared down at her hand. When he placed his over it, he felt this warmth.

“I know what you’re doing, Christopher. Thank you for that. You’re a special man, and I’m lucky to have you.”

He didn't say a word. He was too choked up.

“Will you be okay?” she asked as they pulled down the street toward the pub. As she rolled her window down, she flashed her badge at some cops. They cleared them through.

“I’m on the edge, but I think I can trust my best friend to keep me from falling off. I’ll be glad when this case is over—that’s for sure.”

She smiled at him.

“I’ll always have your back, Christopher. I promise.”

The Denali rolled to a stop.

“Then let’s do our jobs.”

With that, they got out. It was going to be ugly, and neither wanted to do this, but what choice did they have?

Someone had to wade through the blood and gore.

And it was them.

The first thing she noticed when they arrived was the wailing man being held up by two local cops. Immediately, she recognized him.

Somehow, she didn't think that Timothy O’Leary was going to be mourning like this because his bar was used to set the scene. The sounds coming from the man was that of a victim’s family member. She’d heard it plenty of times in the last year.

Her gut reacted.

Elizabeth knew that the dead woman was going to be the man’s redheaded daughter. She knew that when she walked inside the pub, it was going to be Meghan O’Leary they found.

Shit!

She’d been alive yesterday.

This sucked.

As Officer Connolly guarded the door, she pulled on a pair of latex gloves. Behind her, Chris was pulling on his protective suit to begin. They were about to wade into the mess of someone’s death.

“Meghan O’Leary, right?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am. The owner was worried about his daughter. She worked a double yesterday, covering for someone. She was supposed to head home after the place closed, but early this morning, when he got up, he noticed she never got there.”

Great.

It was bad enough this killer was being an asshole, stealing lives, but he’d killed someone Elizabeth had just talked to. It pissed her off.

Wasted life always did.

“What do we have?” Chris asked, as he approached.

“Same as the other scenes, Doctor. He did a number on the victim. Her father found her. He came to the pub, saw the car, went inside, and his whole world collapsed around him.”

“Shit!” they said together.

“What can I do, Agent?” the cop asked.

“I need you to keep the media as far back as possible. They’re swarming like vultures, and we can’t let them make this a circus. Mr. O’Leary deserves better, and so does his child.”

“Sure thing!” He hustled away.

“Well, Chris, are you ready for more fun?” she asked, taking a deep breath.

“We got this, Lyzee. Let’s give the poor girl some dignity.” God knew it was the least they could do.

They headed in.

Once inside the door, the floors were still sticky, but this time it was from the drying blood. The paper booties were sticking to the wood as they headed toward the woman. The entire place smelled like copper pennies, and not the stale beer smell that had once been there.

Yeah, this was a bloodbath.

As Elizabeth scanned the room, it didn't take long to find Meghan.

She wasn’t on a table.

She wasn’t on the bar.

She was on the floor, and he’d really spread her out.

The poor girl was mutilated. She looked like a skeleton butterfly with fleshy wings. He’d done more than a number on her.

He’d ruined her.

“Geez,” Chris said, pulling over a chair to stand on it. He wanted a higher view. As he stood there, he could see certain things.

“This is more complex than the last one,” he stated. “He’s begun removing tendons, cartilage, and organs.” Chris looked around. “I think her heart is missing.”

Elizabeth began looking for it. She hoped he wasn’t taking it as a souvenir. This guy was already three days past crazy. They didn't need him doing something worse.

If that was indeed possible.

Meghan was truly grotesque now.

She got everyone’s attention. “I need every tech to stop and look around,” stated Elizabeth. “We’re looking for a heart.”

The techs began searching.

Finally, one held up a jar. “I found it! It was sitting over here by the darts.”

Both Elizabeth and Chris glanced over. Not only was it by the darts, but it was on the exact table where they had been playing.

“Shit!” muttered Chris.

Yeah, he could say that again.

Apparently, the killer had seen them there. He’d watched them playing darts that night.

“Bring it here,” Chris stated.

The tech carried it over to Chris, and he carefully pulled the girl’s heart out of the container and into his hands. “Bag this,” he ordered, placing the jar in the tech’s hands.

Elizabeth watched him examine the heart.

“Well?” she asked.

“He’s not a doctor. He butchered the removal. He bisected the main artery, and there’s one hell of a nick in the aorta.”

Well, there was at least that. This wasn’t going to be some sick doctor running around with access to patients and organs.

“You need to call Gabe,” Chris offered. “A heart in a jar is significant. The fact that he left it on the exact table where we sat isn’t going to be a coincidence.”

She was aware.

This killer was playing to her. He was trying to tell her something.

“Lyzee, you had a profiler, right?”

She nodded. “Gabe has some up and coming guy that he swears is the next coming of Christ.”

He glanced over at her. “Call him. This is a message.”

She didn't know what the hell it could be trying to tell them. “What do you think it means?”

He looked surprised. “You really want my opinion?”

“Yes. I trust you, and besides that, you’re a forensic pathologist. You had to study shit like this in school, right?”

He bagged Meghan’s heart.

“I need anything I can get on this one, Chris. Meghan died horrifically, and Livy is marked. I’m working blind on this one, and without my partner. I need you to tell me everything that pops into your head.”

“You have really pretty eyes. They’re chilly but warm.”

“I should know better. I retract that statement.”

Chris winked at her. “When someone puts their ‘heart in a jar’ it usually means they’re trying to protect it from someone hurting it. Then there’s the possibility that someone stole his heart and destroyed it.”

She listened. “He’s killing redheaded women who are Irish. Someone broke his heart, and I’m willing to bet it was someone he loved.”

“I would say you’re probably right.”

Elizabeth turned, grabbed him by the collar, and kissed him on the mouth. “You, my friend, are an asset to my team. This is why I’m working with you the rest of my career. You get me, Doc.”

He cleared his throat. “It’s my pleasure.”

All the techs stared openmouthed at what had happened. They looked confused, and she was glad. One way or another, she was going to get her new friend some respect.

Elizabeth winked at him. “Thank you, Doc. Carry on. I have to make a call.” For the first time, she had hope.

They might be able to find this maniac.

Outside, she dialed her phone. Gabe answered on the first ring.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m on the scene, and I need you to call your profiling genius. Our killer cut out her heart and put it in a jar. I need his opinion on this.”

She told him everything Chris had suggested.

“He’s probably right. If you want, I can give you his number. Ethan is a good guy. You’d like him.”

She didn't have patience for this today. “Gabe, you have to call for me. I’m working alone in the field, I have the media crawling all over me, and I can’t take the downtime to have a friendly chat with some profiler. You said you’d have my back, and I need someone to do the digging while I wear the bull’s-eye.”

He got it.

“I’ll make the call. If you need backup…”

“I’m good. I can run this. I just need someone to work the small details like the call. Stay in and keep Livy safe. He’s out there, and he’s escalating. Boston was nothing compared to what he’s doing now. He’s making art, and I need to know why.”

“Go do your job. I’ll handle it.”

Elizabeth didn’t even say goodbye. Instead, she hung up and headed back into the pub.

“Christopher, what do you have?”

He looked up from her body. He was trying to carefully roll up her damaged flesh to keep her intact.

“Really? Are you crazy?” he asked. “You can kiss me non-stop, and it’s not going to get you anything.”

“I get it. You can’t do it.”

He closed his mouth, narrowed his eyes, and gave her the look.

“I was just with you as you pulled this on another ME. I’m not going to play this game.”

“Is it a sexy game, Doc?” she asked, making him blush.

“Elizabeth! Stop!”

She grinned. He was flustered, and she found that to be cute. Plus, she liked making him nervous.

“If I didn't need something, Christopher, I wouldn’t ask. I think you know what’s on the line here.”

“Fine!”

“Share, Doc.”

“She was exsanguinated, much like the other victims. There is a contusion to her forehead. It’s likely how he incapacitated her. I’m going to wager that he struck her in the face.”

She made notes.

“I need more.”

“Like what, Elizabeth? Do you want me to get out my crystal ball?”

She snorted. “Maybe, but how about we start with the basics like TOD.”