Choices will Destroy (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 14)

by Morgan Kelley

  His family had his back.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Saturday Morning

  They slept.

  It was the doorbell at five in the morning that woke them. Ethan and Callen were on the floor, and their wife was still keeping Chris safe.

  As soon as Ethan heard it, he was up, gun in hand. Callen moved with him toward the door.

  Together, they peeked out.

  Then there was relief.

  Opening the door, the two people rushed in.

  “Jesus,” Tony Magnus said, hugging the two men. “We just got in. Where’s Chris?” he asked, waiting for Callen to point toward the couch.

  There was Elizabeth with her arms wrapped around him.

  Tony didn't hesitate. He rushed the man, joining them on the couch. The two of them closed Chris between them as he began weeping all over again.

  “Let’s go make some coffee,” Jaxon said, heading toward the kitchen. She knew they needed to talk.

  The men followed her, giving the threesome space.

  “Chris! Jesus! I’m so sorry! I wish I was here. I caught the first flight back from Bora Bora with Jaxon. What can I do? Tell me what you need me to do for you.”

  He didn't speak.

  He wept.

  Chris simply let his two best friends hold him. The only way he was going to get through this was with them. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to do it alone.

  Elizabeth gave Tony a kiss after Chris’s weeping subsided. “Who called you?”

  “Merry. She knew I’d want to know.”

  She was going to kiss her tech again when she saw her. Elizabeth was right. Merry was good people, and they were lucky to have her.

  The three of them sat there.

  “I can’t believe any of this,” Tony said.

  Chris couldn’t either.

  “What’s going on in the case?” he asked. “Merry said you were working one.”

  She told him everything, with the exception of her killing Seamus O’Brien fifteen years ago. Tony stared at them with so much emotion in his aqua eyes.

  “Holy shit! This is a mess.”

  They were well aware.

  “I have to head into FBI West today to handle some things, and I was worried about leaving Chris and Bethe. Can you and Jaxon hang out with them? Wyler will be armed, so you’ll be safe. He is even better with a gun than I am.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Chris offered.

  “You can’t, darlin’. You know I can’t let you see her right now. I’m going to get the autopsy results and push the tech team.”

  He already knew what those results were going to say. In his gut, he knew the truth. She was the one in the fire. He was certain. His heart was breaking, and he just knew.

  “She’s right,” Tony stated. “You can’t do this to yourself. Cyra loved you. She’d never want you to see her like that.”

  “I have to. I need to face her.”

  Elizabeth took his face in her hands. “I’ll do it for you.”

  “Lyzee.”

  It was the least she could do.

  As the men and Jaxon came in, carrying a tray with coffee on it, she immediately gave Chris a kiss on the cheek. “Anything you need, let me know. I’m here. I have your back, Christopher. I always will.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “Lyzee, about what you asked me to think about last night?”

  She sipped her coffee. “Yes?”

  “I’m moving with you. I can’t stay. If you, Callen, and Ethan will have us, I’d love to come with you.”

  Ethan grinned, patting him on the shoulder. It looked like they were back on the East Coast track. He was glad. Ethan really wanted that Deputy Director position. “The more the merrier, Chris. I guess this means we’re moving again.”

  “Wait.”

  They all looked over at Tony.

  “What do you mean you’re moving?” he asked. “I’ve been gone two weeks, and you’re packing up and leaving? Where? When? Why?”

  She could see the hurt in his eyes.

  He really thought they were bailing on him.

  “Ethan was offered the Deputy Director positon under Gabe in DC.”

  “Oh. So you’re moving across the country? We’re splitting up the team? Now Chris is going too?”

  She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You didn't ask what I’ll be doing. You’re off your game, Doctor Magnus. That’s so unlike you.”

  Tony tried not to be hurt that his family was bailing. “Okay, I’ll bite. What are you going to be doing, Lyzee?”

  “I’ve been offered a team. I’m going to be working the particularly difficult cases that no one else wants or can handle.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m allowed to pick my team.”

  He stared at her. “Who did you pick?”

  “Well, I’m taking Merry, because who the hell wants to train a new head tech. We’ve all been there and done that. I’m not doing it again.”

  “I see.”

  “I’m taking Agents Madden and Seaton. I need a few agents to watch our backs when we’re out in the field, and they seem to be damn loyal and good eggs.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Chris is coming. Once he’s ready to come back to work, he’s going to fill one of my doctor slots. I’ll use some ME there until he’s back on his feet.”

  “It won’t take me long,” he admitted. “Work will help me stop thinking.”

  She patted his cheek. That’s one more reason why she wanted him to come.

  Tony continued, “Yeah, and?”

  “I think that’s it.”

  Tony looked heartbroken.

  “Well, there is a position for an anthropologist. Know any?”

  He kissed her on the mouth. “I’m in!”

  Ethan cleared his throat.

  “Sorry! I lost my head.”

  “I was referring to your wife, Tony. You might want to ask her opinion. You did just promise for better or for worse.”

  “Oh! Shit! I keep doing that!”

  Jaxon laughed. “I noticed. You’re starting to give me one hell of a complex.”

  Tony waited. “No position for her?”

  “I haven’t gotten the official list of how many people I’m allowed to bring, but like here, I’ll use her for forensic reconstruction. Maybe in her downtime, she can work for one of the big universities that surround DC. There are quite a few.”

  That made Jaxon grin.

  They all knew where her heart was. She was academia all the way. She was only in the FBI for Tony.

  Doctor Magnus faced his wife. “It’s up to you, Jaxy. You get to make the call.”

  She could see it in his eyes. “I’d love to move back to the East Coast. I guess it’s a good thing that we held off on getting rid of my apartment there. When do we leave?”

  Elizabeth laughed. “If I solve this case and the killer doesn’t get me first, shortly after I deliver this baby.”

  The men weren’t amused.

  None of them.

  “Lyzee,” Chris said. “You have to be careful. You can’t get hurt.”

  Both Callen and Ethan were in agreement with his sentiment. They weren’t leaving her side.

  “Don’t stress it. I’m going to find Carol Spade and kill her.” She wasn’t joking.

  Ethan knew it was time.

  “I have bad news for you,” he admitted.

  “What?”

  “Someone beat you to it. Carol is dead. Gabe and Livy had a search warrant. They found her.”

  “So it’s over?” Chris asked.

  Elizabeth knew that wasn’t possible. Carol’s phone was pinged not far from them.

  “When did she die?”

  “Days ago,” Ethan answered. “It was likely when she stopped showing up at work. She’s not the maniac stalking us.”

  Elizabeth got up and began pacing. As she rubbed her hand over her belly, everyone watched her.

  “What the hell am I missing?”
she asked.

  Chris stood. “If you guys don’t mind, I want to go see if Bethe is up. I want to hold her. I feel better when I do.”

  They all hugged him, and as he headed upstairs, Tony waited until he was gone. “I’m going with you. When you find out who this is, I’m going to hold them down and let you kill them.”

  Yeah, except that’s how this whole thing started.

  “I have a more important mission. I need you both to keep his mood light, and don’t let him out of here for a second. I need you to make sure he’s not mourning twenty-four-seven.”

  “Uh, that’s not going to be easy.”

  She patted him on the cheek. “I have to find a killer, and all I have is one hair with a root, and possibly a bar bill with a fingerprint. Trust me. You have the easier job.”

  “Where are you going?” Callen asked.

  “I’m getting dressed. I need to get to the office. I’m going to scare the hell out of the tech team if they don’t have something for me.”

  “By scare,” Ethan asked, watching his wife, “what exactly does that mean?”

  She turned on the stairs. “Let’s just say it involves lots and lots of paperwork on your end.”

  He didn't like the sound of that.

  “Elizabeth.”

  But it was too late.

  She was already racing up the stairs. She had a killer to find.

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

  Salem

  The bait was set.

  She had left the note taped to his front door. She’d done her research, and he was madly in love with Elizabeth.

  Oh, he’d do whatever she asked, and that was going to work toward her favor. He was just like the other men in her life. He was a lost little lamb who couldn’t help but follow her around with stars in his eyes.

  For that alone, he needed to pay.

  When this was over, she’d have one more victim, only this one would be executed in her home. Maybe she’d drown him first, or crush him with stones. Better yet, she could hang him from the front of her vacation home.

  Either way, it would be justice for that bitch.

  He would be the final blow.

  What better way to cap off this revenge than ending this game exactly where it started.

  That was poetic justice.

  Elizabeth LaRue Blackhawk had met her match, and this payback would end in death.

  Hers.

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

  Hoover Building

  Livy was tired, but she kept working. She kept telling herself this was just like studying all night, or being up with a sick kid.

  She had this.

  As she was going through the files, she started looking at everyone’s partners. They swore the killer was having inside help, or a Fed, so that was a safe place to focus.

  Then she saw something.

  “Uh, Gabriel, wake up.” She elbowed him on the couch.

  He sat up fast, going for his gun. “What?”

  “I think I found something, but I wasn’t an agent, and I need you to listen and let me know if I’m onto something.”

  He rubbed his eyes. “Okay, honey. What did you find?” he asked.

  “Tristan Case had a bunch of partners. After I worked with him, he had Thomas Weilder, Barbara Vanchouster, Lily Sanderson, Ethan Blackhawk and then…”

  “Stop.”

  “What?” she asked, glancing over at him. “What did I say?”

  She read the names.

  “No, the third one!”

  “Lily Sanderson?”

  He began mulling it over.

  “What about her?”

  “She was Ethan’s partner when he went in to help Elizabeth as sheriff. She ended up causing nothing but misery, she put her hands on Ethan, and I busted her as far down as I could.”

  “Seriously?”

  “William Donnelly had just retired, and when I talked to him about it, he told me to send her somewhere else. I rode her ass hard to punish her for being a menace to the team.”

  “Do you think she could have carried this grudge all these years? It’s been a while.”

  He knew she could. “Yeah, she is exactly the type who would carry this the last five years. She was bitter then.”

  “Would she be homicidal now?”

  He nodded. “Pull up the case files on the following assignments that team Blackhawk worked.”

  She rushed to his computer and went into Elizabeth’s electronic personnel file. She read each and every one off where they had gone out in the field.

  Then waited for confirmation from his wife.

  As Livy typed, she started reading.

  “Tristan Case accessed the files. Each and every one has his electronic signature. He was doing research on them.”

  He thought about it. “I doubt it was him. Elizabeth knew my passwords and logons when we worked together. She probably knows her husbands’ too. I never change mine. The only time I did was after the Oracle debacle.”

  “Well, yeah probably. What’s that have to do with it?”

  “Want to bet that Tristan didn't give her the information, but that she used his access?”

  “You think?”

  He nodded. “She quit the FBI over nine months ago. When did ‘he’ last access it?”

  She checked. “It’s right before that. If I cross reference it with Lily Sanderson’s last day, there’s nothing after it.”

  Gabe pondered it.

  “She didn't kill Tristan because of you, Livy. She killed him to cover her tracks. She took out Donnelly because he told me to ship her ass to Alaska.”

  “We need forensic proof,” Livy stated. “What I don’t get is why did Lily murder Carol Spade?” she asked.

  “We may never know how they connected, honey. All I know is that Carol and Lily likely crossed paths or worked together. Lily was based out of this office. I’m sure they had contact at some point. They may have been friend, or it could be as simple as she needed a scape goat to distract us.”

  They both thought about the woman’s body. She looked like she’d had the shit kicked out of her. Maybe she was tortured, too, for information.

  “I hate not knowing.”

  “Yeah, me too. I wish we could tie this up in pretty little bows, but that’s not how it always works.”

  She was aware.

  “Call the lab. Have them run the hair they found on Carol Spade against Lily Sanderson’s DNA on file. I’ll ask around and see what I can dig up.”

  She picked up the phone. “We might have just solved this.”

  He hoped they did, and they weren’t too late.

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

  FBI West

  Morgue

  As an investigator, no one really liked watching an autopsy, but it was the element of the beast. If there was one thing a cop would tell you, it was that fire victims were the absolute worst.

  When they were lit up, fire ravaged their body. As they burned with accelerant… it was a million times worse. The body curled into this sick position where they’re limbs locked.

  It looked like something from a horror movie. Once you saw it, you never forgot it.

  If that wasn’t bad enough, the smell was something that would haunt you. The cooking of human flesh was a cross between a roasting pig, and decay. As bowel and organs cooked in the body’s own fat, vile things were the outcome.

  Cyra Leonard had become that mess.

  No matter how hard you tried to think of anything else, it was right there, staring you in the face.

  Her hair was gone.

  Her features were gone.

  She looked like an overcooked marshmallow before you used it to make S’mores.

  This was the worst way to die.

  As Elizabeth walked in, the room was dead silent, and that was out of respect for Doctor Leonard.

  While he suffered, so did they.

  “What do w
e have?” she asked, getting this horrible show on the road. The only reason she was there was for her best friend.

  “We have matched dentals,” Doctor Zane stated. “I can say without a doubt that this is definitely Cyra Leonard.”

  There was a quiet gasp from the entire team as they gawked at her in ruin. It was clearly written on their faces that the sympathy was now not for the dead, but the living.

  Her husband and daughter had to carry on.

  “Tell me that she was dead beforehand. I need to have something to tell Chris,” Elizabeth said, leaning against the men in her life.

  She wanted to be sick.

  This whole thing had rattled her.

  “She wasn’t. She had blunt force trauma to the head, but her lungs had smoke in them. It looks like the killer tried to bash her skull in, but it didn't end her life. The fire did.”

  That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. In fact, she had to do something about it.

  “I need you to falsify the autopsy.”

  Zane looked over at her. “What?”

  “Chris is going to want to read that report. If not today, then someday. I need to protect him. I’d do it for anyone here. You wouldn’t want to see that your spouse or partner was cooked alive. He’s already dying inside.”

  He got it, but still…

  Elizabeth noticed his hesitation.

  Screw it. She’d change it and falsify it if need be. Before she could say as much, Merry raised her hand.

  “I’ll do it,” Merry offered. “I can go in and overwrite the reports. I’ll go in and fix it for Chris. I can’t stomach thinking he’s going to read this.”

  She appreciated it. “Thank you, Merry.”

  Zane pushed on, giving them the details. “We found trace of accelerant.”

  “Gasoline,” Merry added.

  “We also found many wounds to her bones. I don’t think they were related to the fire. They look peri-mortem.”

  She made notes.

  “There was no sign of anything on her but this.”

  He pulled a vile off the cart and tossed it to his boss. “It’s a melted medallion. It was placed in a very sensitive place in her body and the heat didn't fully get to it.”