Pledging to Die (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 11) (57 page)

Ethan thought about it as he sipped his coffee. “A sociopath will be despotic. He’ll think his way is the best way. We’re thinking he was doing this autonomously of the school, but what if in his mind he was doing it for the school?”

She thought about what he was saying.

“What was the one thing he loved?”

They both answered, “The university.”

“That’s what I mean. He didn't form any relationships, but he always had his good old standby.”

Elizabeth thought about it.

“He didn't want us here, but the trustees pushed his hand. He saw himself as the supreme ruler, and he would want to find a way to work around the situation, thus the blackmail. He wanted the power, and that’s how he got it.”

“We need more,” Elizabeth stated.

“We can go back to the scene and check it out,” Ethan offered.

Callen got their attention as his tablet beeped. His search was done. “Raymond Hallowell had some issues growing up as a child. His parents ended up handing him over to a state home. Apparently, he was killing things.”

Well, if that wasn’t a red flag, what was?

“His pets were all found cut up.”

Ethan weighed it into the profile. “He could have done that. Since a sociopath tends to be highly intelligent too, he would have found himself bored and likely wanted to know what made them tick.”

“Uh, when I was bored, I watched a movie or read a book,” Elizabeth stated. “I didn't cut Fido up and try to put him back together.”

“That’s surprising,” Chris teased.

She pointed at him. “Don’t make me hurt you. You’re a daddy now.”

He raised his hands and grinned. “Gotcha, boss.”

“It gets worse,” Callen stated.

“How can that get worse?” Merry asked, looking disgusted. “He was killing innocent animals. That makes me sick.”

They all looked at her.

“Do you know where you work? A dead kitty is worse than the shit we see here?”

She shrugged. “I love animals. People…ehhh.”

It wasn’t like they could disagree. They’d seen the inhumanities of what man would do to man.

“His mother turned up dead,” Callen stated. “They looked at him as a suspect, but he was in the group home. It happened at night, and they couldn’t prove he broke out. It became a cold case when the investigators hit that wall.”

“Great. So he escalated from fuzzy pets, to his mother, and then to college co-eds. One of which he had sex with. Anyone want to take bets she was dead at the time?”

They all looked grossed out.

“It fits. A sociopath also lacks guilt, remorse, or a level of morals. He’d absolutely be a deviant and take a girl while she was dead.”

“We’re running background checks on all the staff at any college our kids want to go to,” Elizabeth stated. “And no freaking frats or sororities. I’m at my max.”

The men agreed.

“I’m still impressed I’ve rubbed off on you with the whole hyoid thing. I should get a raise.”

Elizabeth hated to disappoint the man, but she’d seen this before. “I worked a case where one of the victims had this same thing happen. In fact, it’s the case where I met Ethan. So, it sticks in my mind. Nice try though, Chris.”

“I’m still taking credit.”

She shook her head. “Let’s head back to his house. I want to take my time and tear that place apart now that the team has all the trace pulled.”

They followed her to the door.

“Keep processing everything,” she stated. “We need to tie this up in a pretty little bow.”

Outside, she pulled out her phone. Gabe answered on the second ring.

“What’s up?”

“Well, since you’re asking, I’m going to assume nothing is on the news.”

There was a pause.

“What did you do?”

She laughed. “Uh, this wasn’t me. Your buddy the blackmailer has caused a stir. You should be seeing it all over the media in a couple hours.”

“Did he come out and air my dirty laundry?”

“I can guarantee that’s never coming out now,” Elizabeth reassured.

“Why?”

“He’s dead.”

There was an audible gasp. “Please tell me you didn't handle the situation.”

She laughed even more. “Uh no, but thank you for your vote of confidence in my skills as a purveyor of the law. You realize I don’t kill people so easily, right?”

He let that go. “What the hell happened then?”

She told him everything.

Occasionally, there’d be an audible hiss, or some sort of gasp as all the details came out.

“Well?” she asked when she finished briefing him.

“You have a mess.”

Elizabeth snorted. “Gee, you think? I believe now is about the right time I tell you that I want a raise—a big fat one. Since I know Ethan makes more money than I do, I want you to rectify that.”

Blackhawk grinned as he drove them toward the dead man’s house. “You can be my sugar momma anytime,” he said.

Callen started laughing from the back seat. “I love me some sugar momma. Take me shopping, angel.”

She gave them both a look, but it was hard not to be amused.

“Just get this cleaned up.”

“Well, I’m not really calling you to update you or ask for a raise. I’m calling to tell you that you have to call the board of trustees and explain that they had the conductor of the crazy train running their school. Tag. You’re it.”

With that, she hung up.

Ethan kissed her knuckles. “You’re the love of my life. Anyone with balls that big to hang up on The Dragon Slayer deserves my heart and soul.”

“You’re mine,” she replied.

“HEY!” Callen said from the back seat. “Forgetting someone?”

They both laughed. There was nothing like getting Callen stirred up. They had it down to a science.

“What are we looking for,” Callen asked from the back seat, “other than my broken heart?”

Elizabeth snorted. “We need to find anything suspicious, or something that tells us why the hell the president of a prestigious university was offing his students and taking random organs.”

“Yeah, that should be easy.”

“Tell me about it,” Elizabeth said, as she stared out of the window. There had to be an answer.

It was only a matter of finding it.

                         *     *     *

It was done.

Making the phone call, the details were passed along to the people higher up.

They needed to know what was going on.

It was dire that they be aware the situation was taken care of, and fast.

“You still have one left.”

“I know. I’m planning on doing this one myself. He left one hell of a mess for us. I’m working on cleaning it up.”

“You better. Just in case, we’re going to go under and bury everything.”

“That’s probably a damn good idea. I don’t know what that idiot did. I searched his house, but I didn't find any proof that he kept a log. We may be fine. He fancied himself smart, but he royally screwed this up.”

This was one hell of a mess—one, which would take years to clean up. It was a good thing they were moving on.

“Just take care of the last one. Bring it to the drop off and leave it. We’ll pick up and deposit the money into the account. I hope you didn't leave a trail.”

“I didn’t.” There was worry there.

“You clean this up, and we’ll move to another city. See you there.”

With that, the call ended.

Yes, they would meet again.

The money was just too good.

       
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Doctor R. Hallowell’s

           House

Monday Afternoon

As they headed up the drive, Ethan saw it. The police crime scene tape was cut on the door.

Someone had entered when they were gone, and they could still be in there. Motioning to his partners, they all pulled their weapons. Callen headed for the back, and Elizabeth stood beside Ethan, ready to enter the house.

When he signaled, they quietly opened the door and went in. It wasn’t hard to locate the person. They weren’t exactly being quiet. There was a rustling of papers and shuffling around.

In the office, they found their intruder.

“Hands up, or I’ll shoot,” Elizabeth stated, pointing the nose of her Glock at the man behind the desk. “You’re under arrest, Archy Saba.”

He stood up, and Ethan’s gun tracked him. “If you move, I will shoot you.”

The man looked scared shitless.

“Wait! I didn't kill him. I was here looking for details for my story.”

Elizabeth didn't care. She kept her gun on him as Ethan approached to pat him down. As he checked the man for weapons, he found none, but he did give him a nice shiny set of bracelets.

“You can’t arrest me!”

She laughed. “We found you at a crime scene breaking and entering. We absolutely can arrest you, and for that alone.”

Callen entered, holstering his weapon. “Shocking. You found yourself a douchebag reporter. They seem to follow us everywhere we go.”

Didn't they know it?

“Please don’t arrest me,” he stated. “I’ve been following that girl from the university—the one who found the bodies. When I saw you coming out of the hospital, I began following you,” he admitted, as Ethan pulled him toward the door.

She wasn’t shocked.

“Then you came here, and I had to follow! I saw you pulling the president out in a body bag. This is going to be big news! I’m going to break it.”

“Confiscate his electronic equipment.”

“You can’t do that! I have a duty to the students!”

She didn't really care.

“I’m not technically arresting you. I’m holding you for questioning. See, here’s your loophole, Archy. I can hold you for twenty four hours. Then I can decide if I’m charging you. In that time, you’re going to have no contact with the outside world. If you are involved in this, I won’t have to look far.”

He looked horrified.

“Callen, call Sheriff Rakin for a special pick up.”

“You’re a bitch! I’m going to make you look bad in this article!”

Callen took him by the arm and walked him right into the wall. His head thudded off the wood. “Shit! You better watch where you’re going, and what you’re calling my woman.”

Archy shook his head to clear the fog.

When he was gone, Ethan glanced over at her. “He’s not going to be the one who killed Hallowell,” he stated. “This killer wanted it to look like a suicide, so he’s not going to risk coming back here. If he was going to search, he would have done it as Hallowell was dying.”

She was aware.

“Let’s tear this place apart and get back to what we were doing.”

He moved closer, lifting her chin with his finger. “It always comes back to us, baby. This reminds me of the first time I saw you. You were all outraged and riled up.”

She laughed. “That’s your fault. You pissed me off.”

Ethan kissed her lightly. “And now?”

“You're kissing me in a house where someone was just murdered, so…”

He lifted his eyebrow.

“It seems right.”

Blackhawk found that amusing. “It does, doesn’t it? Let’s find all that incriminating evidence. I want to wrap this up.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

He heard it in her voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“Maybe I missed this because I’m the one losing her edge,” she admitted. “Am I too old to do this?” she asked, knowing he wouldn’t lie.

“You’re smarter, tougher, and seasoned. You’re not losing your edge, baby. You’re running this like its second nature.”

She let out the breath she was holding.

“Want to go see what kink was in this man’s closet?” she asked.

“Hell yeah! You know I do.”

They headed upstairs and found that his closet was immaculate. It was organized to the color, and it occurred to her that he had some serious OCD issues.

“Shit! He’s crazier than you.”

Ethan snickered. “Thanks. I’ll add that to my list of favorite compliments.” He looked around. “I will say that this matches the kinds of things you’d find in a killer’s closet. He liked nice things, he was highly organized, and he had a shoe obsession.”