Discarded by Fate

by Morgan Kelley

  All night, he’d wanted to sneak kisses.

  Now he could.

  When they got in the elevator, he pressed her to the wall and forced a heated kiss on her.

  She melted into him.

  When he set her free, her brilliant blue eyes were glazed over.

  “I want you to come home with me.”

  “Right now? I think Elizabeth would kill us both and hide the bodies.”

  He laughed. “When this case is over. Can you get some personal time?”

  “Are we staying in bed?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “I like that idea,” he said, smiling, “but I was thinking more like Iowa.”

  “The state?”

  “No, the country,” he teased.

  Then she got it.

  “You want me to meet your parents?”

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “Yeah, Blue, I really do.”

  She hugged him. “I love you so much. I know it’s silly, but this feels right.”

  He was aware.

  He recalled what Ethan had said. It took him four days to get Elizabeth to be his.

  It wasn’t weird.

  For some people, it was just right.

  And that was why he needed to see her with his family. They may be simple, but they were his. If she couldn’t blend…

  He couldn’t stay with her.

  They were who he was. In order to make Blue his, she had to realize that he couldn’t change. He wanted her acceptance as much as he craved her love.

  Ivan was a simple man. He liked simple things, and he needed to fit her into that mold.

  “Then it’s a date.”

  She smiled. “It’s a date.”

  When they got to the tunnel, they headed in, leaving their blacked-out ride sitting there.

  He knew it was time.

  He knew that vehicle anywhere.

  That was Elizabeth Blackhawk’s and she was in his neck of the woods.

  How quaint.

  So, he was going to make this count. After all, he wanted her next. While she didn’t chase him earlier in her career, she was still the ultimate challenger.

  He wanted to beat her.

  Then he could help his partner go after their real prey.

  Michael O’Banion.

  Word on the street was he wasn’t dead. The man knew too much, like where they hid the dead, plus so many more secrets.

  He was next.

  But first…

  He wanted her. She wouldn’t be mixed with anyone. He wanted Elizabeth on her own. She would be stunning alone as one of his dolls.

  He couldn’t wait.

  Creeping out of his ride, he checked the door on the passenger side. It was open.

  He crawled in and pulled his stun gun from his pocket.

  “Come to Daddy,” he said, pushing the button.

  The sizzling sound came to life.

  Now it was almost done.

  “I bet the wonderful profiler didn’t see this one coming.”

  Yeah, no one would.

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

  Ivan was covered in cobwebs, and so was his girl. To be honest, Blue was still the most beautiful woman in the world.

  Even dusty.

  As they headed out, there was nothing new there. The killer hadn’t been back, and they dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s for Elizabeth.

  “Want to get breakfast?” he asked, walking her to the ride.

  “Yeah, let’s. I’m starving. I could eat an entire pizza.”

  He laughed.

  “I’ve created a monster.”

  Blue gave him a kiss as he opened the door to the passenger seat in the ride.

  “That was nice.”

  “There’s more where that came from,” she promised.

  Oh, he couldn’t wait.

  As she hopped in, he walked around the back of the ride, spinning his keys around his finger.

  It was turning out to be a beautiful day. Ivan couldn’t wait to get back, schedule some down time from babysitting ‘Typhoon Elizabeth’, and then taking Blue home.

  When he dropped his keys, Ivan went to pick them up.

  What he missed was the flash of the Taser in the window.

  As he opened his door and hopped in, Blue was leaning back a little in her seat.

  “Are you tired?” he teased.

  Her lack of reply worried him.

  Then he heard it.

  “No, she’s dead.”

  That’s when he felt the hit to his body. The volts sizzled his nerves and his body went dead too.

  Then his world went dark.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Morgue

  A s they sat there, Christina shrieked. It caused everyone in the room to jump. No one expected it, and it was something that she’d never normally do. In fact, it was as if she cut herself, or maybe worse.

  “What?” Elizabeth asked, jumping up from her seat.

  “I matched DNA.”

  “To who?” she asked.

  “Well, this is going to sound weird, but to the blood on the window.”

  They waited for it.

  Christina liked to showboat.

  “I found something on the victims.”

  “What?”

  “Phlegm.”

  They all looked at her.

  “Snot, Christina? You found snot that matched to our reporter?” Elizabeth asked.

  This might be the end in sight.

  “Please tell me he’s the killer.”

  “Well, it partially matches to the blood we found on the window that belonged to Alex O’Malley.”

  “What?” she asked.

  Now would be a really good time for someone to figure out what the hell all of this meant.

  “So we are looking for a relative of Alex O’Malley?” she asked.

  “Yes, at twenty-five percent of his DNA, it’s going to be an uncle. I can tell by the markers that it’s male.”

  “Well, that is weird. Here I would have pegged it as him being the killer. I don’t like that creep.”

  “Who is still in jail for all the things you pinned to him,” Ethan said. “The killer had to leave that body between the time the captain headed to work, and arrived home. Alex was at the scene before us, and is still locked up.”

  He had a point.

  It wasn’t him.

  But then who?

  “Can we run his family?” Elizabeth asked.

  Johanna pulled him up and began working on that.

  Tony and Chris kept working on pulling back flesh so he could inspect the scraping.

  “I think I found something,” Callen stated.

  They all looked over.

  Elizabeth crossed her fingers.

  “I think I found a case. Suzan Golden was presiding judge, the cop who testified was Patrick O’Brien, the DA at the time was Dorian West, and he was brought into the hospital and checked out by a nurse named Melanie Coffman.”

  They all got excited.

  “Heath, call Ivan and get him to come back in. We may have something.”

  He pulled out his phone to do just that.

  Tony gasped. “I’ve seen this before,” he said. “It was a case I worked for Doctor Michaels. It was when you and Chris were gone away on vacation. It was right after Michael O’Banion went kablooy!”

  She headed his way.

  “Who? Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll never forget it. It was for a mob case.”

  He had everyone’s attention at that point.

  “Who?”

  “Joey ‘The Thug’! He worked with Michael O’Banion. He was his right-hand man. He was big into hurting people.”

  That rang a bell for Elizabeth. “Christ! I put a bullet in him when I was here years ago!”

  Ethan stood.

  It all came together for him.

  “I profiled the case that put him in jail! I remember it now.”


  Elizabeth headed his way.

  “How did you profile, and not know this was our guy?”

  “I am only given the basics—not names. If I’m not on scene, I see the crime photos, maybe, but most of the time it’s a written report. The law handling it was keeping it close to their vest because they wanted to put Joey away.”

  Elizabeth went to the tablet and pulled it up.

  She was able to read it all.

  “A local businessman went missing, and then his family did too.”

  “Yeah, that’s the case,” Ethan stated. “Boston PD called us in. They wanted us to handle it.”

  “Who worked this case?” she asked.

  Elizabeth sent it to the big screen. “Arresting cop was O’Brien, but while on the stand, Joey ‘The Thug’ swore that O’Brien was on the take.”

  She scrolled.

  “They couldn’t prove it.”

  And that was why he went missing.

  “What is Joey’s last name?” she asked.

  Johanna had it. “O’Malley.”

  BINGO.

  “That weasel Alex was getting a little helping hand from his family. He was getting notes from his…”

  Johanna kept scrolling.

  Then she found it.

  “Alex’s mother is Joey ‘The Thug’s’ sister. She’s deceased, and Alex’s only living family.”

  “What else do we have on Joey?” she asked.

  Johanna kept digging.

  “Uh oh.”

  “What?”

  “Anyone want to guess what the city took from him? They took his bar.”

  “Was it ‘McCory’s’?” she asked.

  “Yep. The paper said it was seized, and it also says he was given a small amount of money for his legal fees.”

  Well, that would make him hate the city and anyone who worked for it. He was putting Boston on the map.

  “What else?”

  “He was incarcerated in that case,” she said, reading. “He was found guilty of some minor things when Dorian West couldn’t pin any mob related things to him.”

  She listened.

  “They sent him to The United States Penitentiary.”

  Elizabeth whistled. “They call that the Alcatraz of the Rockies. ADX is the worst prison in this country.”

  She read the list of his crimes.

  “Petty theft? Some minor infractions where he was found guilty of laundering Michael O’Banion’s dirty money?”

  She nodded.

  “Suzan Golden sent him there.”

  Well, that explained why he had a big old hard on over that woman.

  “So he hated the DA and killed the man’s daughter as payback. He took down the cop who arrested him because he was just as dirty and didn’t give him a heads-up to get out?”

  “Yes,” Johanna stated.

  “He took out the judge who sent him to Hell.”

  “Yeah, they rape the weak in there, and they make them pay,” Ethan said. “That prison is notorious.”

  Well, that would piss a crazy off.

  “Medical?”

  “Oh, he’s cuckoo,” Callen said. “His discharge papers, which was merely six months ago, say he’s got some schizophrenia, with a side of cutting.”

  “Yeah, others, not himself.”

  It was making sense now.

  “The waitress recognized him,” she said. “Molly would know him, and that would be a perfect reason to take her.”

  “What about Kellie Benson?” Elizabeth asked.

  Johanna got searching.

  It didn’t take long. “She worked for O’Banion. She was a stripper at his flagship booty haven.”

  Well, she connected too.

  Christina raised her hand. “I can explain Lucy O’Donnell. I just ran everyone’s DNA against Joey ‘The Thug’.”

  “And?”

  “She’s fifty percent his DNA.”

  “His child?”

  She nodded.

  Callen pulled up her birth certificate.

  “No father listed.”

  “He’s going after anyone who was touching his life and likely didn’t help him escape trouble.”

  Revenge.

  There it was.

  “I can tie Melanie Coffman to him too,” Johanna stated.

  “How?”

  “The day the police brought him in, he was beat the hell up.”

  “Police brutality?”

  She nodded.

  “He was seen in the ER. Want to guess who was called to the stand?”

  “The nurse?”

  “Yep. She said he was perfectly fine when he came in, except for his injuries. She was asked if he looked ‘abused’. She said yes.”

  “So she told the truth?” Elizabeth asked. “And he still killed her?”

  “Why not?” Ethan offered. “He killed his own kid who likely never visited him across the country.”

  He had a point.

  “I found someone else at the trial,” Johanna stated.

  “Who?”

  “A woman by the name of Bessie Sanders. She was his live-in girlfriend. Only, when she was on the stand, she was asked to corroborate some of his alibis. She wouldn’t. She hung him out to dry.”

  “Detective, take that address and Johanna. Head there. If he’s there, call me. Don’t go in. Basically, watch the place. Don’t approach this nut job.”

  “Got it, boss.”

  They headed out.

  Heath came back in the room.

  “I have a problem.”

  “What?” Ethan asked.

  “Ivan’s not answering,” Heath stated.

  “Head to the tunnel location, and find him. We have our killer in sight, and we are close to ending this.”

  The man ran off.

  “I want to see this Fruit Loop. Do we have a picture of him then and now?”

  “Yeah, I’ll send them to the screen.”

  The minute she saw his prison picture, she stared at Callen. “Jesus in a pair of thigh high boots. Does he look familiar?”

  Callen got it.

  “That’s the guy that asked for my autograph while we were in ‘McCory’s’. That’s him!”

  And that’s how close they came. The man had been four feet from Ethan. In that moment, they were glad that Joey ‘The Thug’ hadn’t taken a shot.

  “I found something else,” Callen offered, pulling a sheet from the file. “Here’s the list of the state’s witnesses against Joey ‘The Thug’.”

  “Who?”

  She read them off.

  “Kellie Benson was asked to testify against him for illegal deals with Michael O’Banion. She overheard them in the club while shaking her ass.”

  “Jesus. Someone really held a grudge.”

  “They are all on here.”

  “What about Molly?” Ethan asked.

  “She worked at the bar where he said he was the night they went missing. He wanted her as an alibi.”

  “Let me guess. She rolled?”

  Callen nodded.

  Tony spoke up. “These are definitely the same etchings from that mass grave. If we can bring in Joey ‘The Thug’, we can finally tie him to a shitload of killings he did for his boss. He’s been signing his victims for a long time.”

  Well, that made her happy.

  Before she could say anything, Ethan’s phone rang, and he answered it.

  “What?”

  He waited, listening to the call. “Don’t touch it.”

  When he hung up, he stared at her. “That was Heath. He went to the tunnel. Their ride was gone.”

  “Okay, and?”

  “The killer was there.”

  “How does he know?” she asked.

  “He left his vehicle, and a body. We found the captain and probably Bessie Sanders, since she was the last one on this testifying list, and now he likely has Ivan and Blue.”

  Well, shit.

  This was not going as she planned.

  Elizabeth really hated
Boston.

  With a passion.

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

  Bowels of Boston

  It was dark, dank, and foul.

  He knew what death smelled like, and he knew how blood smelled, too, and he was experiencing both.

  He didn’t know where the hell he was, and then it all started coming back to him.

  Whoever had done this had told him Blue was dead. He recalled that part when he got into his ride.

  Turning his head, he could see her not far away in a metal cage. She was lying on the bottom of it, not moving.

  It was silent all around them.

  Holy shit!

  This was bad.

  The killer had them.

  Looking around, Ivan’s hands were tied to the cage above him. His legs were free, but they felt like a million pounds each.

  Whatever the man had used had nearly fried his nervous system.

  This wasn’t good.

  Staring at his wrist, his watch was still on his arm. He could see the time.

  They lost an hour.

  Shit!

  Not far from him, there was a worktable.

  On it, he could see a saw, some vice grips, and a shitload of blood.

  They were somewhere dark and damp.

  Then he heard him.

  The man was heading his way.

  Ivan closed his eyes, and pretended to be out still. He had a plan. Taking his wrist, he bumped the pin on the side of his watch. It pushed all the way into the dial, setting off his GPS beacon.

  Ivan didn’t move.

  He was afraid to do anything.

  For now, he had to hope they’d look for him as soon as the team realized they were gone.

  He prayed Blue stayed out. If she woke up, this was going to escalate and fast. The man was standing at the makeshift table sharpening the circular blade of his saw.

  This was bad.

  Very, very bad.

  He closed his eyes and began to pray.

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

  Elizabeth knew they had to find him. Heath was back, and they were running a few members down. As soon as she sat down, the tablet in front of her began beeping.

  “Someone’s tracker is going off,” Heath said.