Even he had limits.
Although, Gabe had sent her out, and this should be a lesson for the next time someone wanted her to play a game. They could always plead that they knew this was going to happen, circumventing any future assignments.
“Officer Murphy, a minute of your time,” she said, pointing at him. Lifting her glasses, her gaze swept the room and caused all the locals to look away. Yeah, she dared them to even think about making a comment about the ethnicity of the men in her life. Her kids were mixed, and she’d lose her damn mind.
“Sure thing,” he said as he patted the seat beside him. “Why don’t you get yourself a coffee and donut? I suggest the raspberry ones. She stuffs them until they’re like little bombs of fruity goodness.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath and tried to remain in control. It was hard to remember that not everyone moved on Fed time. Sometimes, sleepy little towns had their own slower paced clock. “Okay, let’s have coffee and talk.”
The waitress came over to the counter, and they placed their order. When she was gone, it was time to handle business.
“We need to know where you saw the victim, and I need an answer that’s more specific than in town, on the street, or just walking. At this point in the investigation, I need the exact location.”
He sipped his coffee and thought about it. “The boss said you were on your way here and that you were pissed off. She told me if you were rude to tell you ‘eff’ off.”
Yeah, it wouldn’t be the first time the ‘F’ word was directed at her, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last. “I’m not even close to rude. I’m having donuts and coffee,” she stated, picking up the berry stuffed concoction. She knew it was going to send her into sugar convulsions, but what the heck. All she could pray was that it wouldn’t go right to her ass.
“There’s a shop about three doors down. I believe it’s called ‘Mystic Memorabilia’. I saw her taking in a sale sign the one day. I normally work at night, and it was just about when they were closing up. I have to say, she was dressed like some wacked out nutcase. Is that specific enough?”
She chewed on her donut. “Yes, and I appreciate it.”
Callen finished his sugar laced confection and stared at her half eaten one.
“Cal, I’ll cut your hand right off,” she warned. When he gave her that big puppy look with his warm brown eyes, she didn't have a chance. Sighing, Elizabeth slid it towards him.
Blackhawk started laughing. “Keep it up and you aren’t allowed on top anymore,” he said as he poked his brother in the washboard abs. There wasn’t any fat on either of them, but they liked to bust his ass regardless, since he tended to out eat them both.
The cop looked over. “Are you three really having sex?”
Elizabeth stared at him. “No, we’re eating donuts,” she replied, lifting her eyebrow. It was simply one more reason to dislike the woman they had just visited. Apparently, there was idle chit chat going on behind their backs.
Big shocker there.
The cop laughed as he took a sip of coffee.
“Just to clarify, your boss has a big mouth,” she stated. It wasn’t like they were trying to hide it, but there was such a thing as couth. The only way something like that would be brought up in casual conversation was in gossip. People rarely talked about other people’s sex lives out of the blue as a point of reference.
“Yeah, she does,” he agreed easily. “That’s not the first time that someone has said that about her.”
The man’s easy going nature almost had her mood brightening. It was hard to get angry at someone who was laid back and munching donuts.
Standing up, she tossed money on the counter and paid for all four of their sugar fixes. “Have a good day, Officer Murphy, and thank you for the information,” she stated, walking past the staring people. She almost wanted to check her face for any wayward jelly.
“See, sugar makes the world go round,” Callen said.
“I thought that was sex?” Ethan replied grinning. “After careful contemplation, I’m pretty sure I’m right.” He patted his wife on the ass.
Elizabeth didn't flinch. “Yeah, and you’re dangerously close to being kicked off that train, Cowboy,” she added.
Callen snorted.
“You can be riding solo too, Cal.”
That shut them both up pretty damn fast.
It didn't take long to find the storefront that Officer Murphy had been talking about. Pausing on the sidewalk, she stared up at the sign above the door. It appeared to be a cross between a hippie hangout and some new age haven. Pulling on the handle, she found it locked. The hours were listed on the door.
“Okay, it’s closed on Monday and Tuesday,” she stated. “I guess we will have to put this on the list for tomorrow. There’s nothing we can do about it right now.”
Ethan made note.
Elizabeth’s phone began ringing. Looking down at the caller ID number, she answered. “Yeah, Agent Rickard, what do you have for me?”
She listened to him break it down over the phone as she stared into the shop windows, trying to recognize any of the merchandise that was being sold there.
“What else?” she asked. In the window, she could see both of their reflections. Callen and Ethan were carefully watching her as she received the information. “Okay, head back into the morgue as soon as you gather all the items for the team. We’ll meet you there,” she stated, hanging up. At least someone was having far better luck on the investigation front.
“What do we have, angel?” Callen asked.
“They finished the sweep of the victim’s house, and it appears that the pentacle that Chris found in her throat was pertinent after all.”
Blackhawk didn't know where she was heading with it.
“According to the team, it looks like our victim was a practicing Wiccan.”
“So, we have a devil worshipper that’s killing witches?” inquired Callen.
Elizabeth dropped her sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, it appears so,” she stated. “It looks like we’re going to max out on weirdness with this one, boys,” she stated.
Great.
It was just what Callen and Ethan wanted to hear.
~ Chapter Six ~
Tuesday mid-day
Arriving at the morgue, they found Patrick Parrish outside smoking. He was just the person that Elizabeth wanted to see. Walking up to him, she waited for him to acknowledge her presence.
“Yes, Director Blackhawk?” he asked, glancing up from his phone.
“Do you know if there is any empty space upstairs in the office?” What they needed was a meeting room to work out of as a team.
“It depends. What are you using it for?”
“We need a space to lay everything out and have our daily check-ins. Also, if we get a room, that’ll give you more space in the autopsy suit. Doctor Leonard can work up there when you’re busy, and you wouldn’t feel like you’re being watched.”
That idea appealed to him a great deal. He was feeling like the other doctor was always measuring up everything that he did. He was pleasant enough, but when he was just autopsying the accident victim, he knew the man wanted to make a comment about his style.
“There’s one medium sized room. It’s not huge, but it’ll do for a place big enough for six comfortably.”
“I appreciate your help with this. Thank you.”
Doctor Parrish was just glad to have his space back. The Feds were cramping his work style. “Room twelve and I’ll get the key sent over from the administrative office, so you can lock up at night.”
Elizabeth was glad that they had a place to call their own. Now they’d have privacy. Heading first to the room, she walked in and hit the lights. Across one whole wall was a giant white board. “Oh hello there lover! Where have you been all my life?”
Both men were entertained. Elizabeth had an incredible fondness for the boards and this was proof.
“Do you want us to leave you two
alone so you can get acquainted?” Callen inquired. He was amused by the woman he loved, as she pressed herself against it in a loving embrace.
“Shhhhhh. We’re having a moment.”
“Had I know it was that easy, I would have stopped buying jewelry and gone for one of those,” Ethan said grinning. “Plus it would cut down on CJ writing on the painted walls with crayon.”
Elizabeth was feeling better already. “Yeah, well now that my lover and I are reunited, how about I ask the question that I know you’re dreading?” She could tell whenever her husband was working on something big in his mind. It was almost like she could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. Ethan had that look on his face the last hour or so.
“I already know what you want,” he stated. “I can give you a baseline, but I’ll already warn you that you’re not going to like it at all.”
Yeah, that didn't make her excited. Elizabeth was dependent on his profiles. Without them, she couldn’t do her job. Ethan was the king of getting into the brain of a psychopath and figuring out what made him tick. With his help, they closed every assignment that they had worked on together.
“How baseline is it going to be.”
“The killer’s likely Caucasian.”
Callen started laughing. “Well shit, I could have told you that, and I suck at profiling. The whole damn town is white.”
Elizabeth joined in the laughter as she wrote it on the board. “Okay, what else can you give me?”
Ethan took a seat and dropped his Italian leather boots on the corner of the table. “I told you that you weren’t going to like it. That’s really all I have. I can’t take the similarities between the victims if there’s only one. By this stage in the game, we usually have more than one corpse. We don’t generally get called in on day one. I usually have more to work with by now.”
She understood. “So, what you’re saying is that we just sit back and wait until he or she makes their next move?”
Unfortunately, that was exactly what he was suggesting. “Sorry, Lyzee baby, but I’m afraid so.”
Okay, today was like an emotional rollercoaster. The happiness of the white board was quickly deteriorating.
“I can’t give you gender, since the killer isn’t sexually assaulting the victims. If it is a man, it could be that he’s impotent. That may be why he’s not touching a naked woman that’s lying on his altar.”
“Could this really be a woman?” Callen asked, disgusted by the probability of that being true.
“It could be,” Ethan replied.
Elizabeth texted her team to head up to the room and then wrote ‘Gender unknown’ on the board. This was probably their most pathetic attempt at filling in a board in her entire career. She was one of those investigators who needed to see it all in front of her in order to work it out.
“Again, I told you it wasn’t much,” Ethan restated.
“It’s so anti-climactic. Here I have this big ol’ board, and I have nothing to write on it,” she teased, trying to alleviate some of the pressure from Ethan’s shoulders. Not being able to formulate a profile had to be making him just as crazy.
“I can give you this, and it’s pretty much the obvious. He’s doing it for attention- specifically yours. For some reason, he’s fixated on you and wants to have your focus.”
“Yeah, well he has it.”
“If he even feels like you’re not fully invested in this, then he’s going to likely escalate to get you to take notice again.”
Callen was sick to his stomach, and he doubted it was the sugary donuts. “That makes me nervous.”
“It should,” Ethan stated. “Since the person is obviously crazy, we can’t even begin to guestimate what he or she may do to regain Elizabeth’s focus.”
There was a knock on the door and in sauntered Agent Rickard and Cyra. It was hard not to notice the definite hum of stress between them. It filled the room and reverberated around all of them. When they sat down, Cyra took a spot as far from the man as possible and almost protectively beside Callen.
It didn't bode well. Something had happened.
“Why don’t you two share with the class?” Elizabeth said, knowing that the last thing that she needed now was for her people to implode too. She couldn’t work this assignment without teamwork.
As Thomas Rickard began breaking it down for his bosses, in walked a smiling Chris Leonard, and he was as cheerful as ever. He took a seat beside Cyra and began listening to the agent discuss their findings.
“We searched her apartment and found nothing that led us to believe she was practicing devil worship. In fact, until we found her altar room, it all seemed to be the opposite. The place was light, airy and full of flowers and stuffed cats.”
Cyra continued, “During the search of her bedroom, we found a knife under her bed.” She held up the evidence bag and passed it to Elizabeth.
“It looks wicked,” she stated, staring at the handle.
Chris watched his boss and his stomach began twisting as he debated on telling them what he knew. Then he figured out a way. “It’s called an athame. It’s used in Pagan rituals on their altar. I’ve seen them before,” he added. Then he crossed his fingers and prayed that no one would ask where. Some things were just better left unexplained in his life, and this was the big one.
Ethan searched the internet to fact check his medical examiner. “Chris is absolutely correct,” he stated. “It says they are used to cast spells, call quarters, and symbolize the phallus or male part of the ceremony.”
“Is it used on all Pagan altars?” she asked, waiting for her husband to search.
Chris knew the answer but didn't offer it up. He wasn’t tossing out the witch card. It was better to let his bosses figure it out on their own. They were both very smart, and he had no doubt it would happen.
“Witches,” stated Ethan.
Elizabeth was confused. “Aren’t all Pagans witches?” She looked around the room and finally her eyes fell on Chris. “You’ve got the highest IQ here. Make me a happy boss and enlighten those of us in the trenches.”
He was relieved. Elizabeth believed him to be the king of useless trivia facts. It may just save his ass after all. “All witches are pagans but not all pagans are witches. It’s like Christianity,” he answered. When they all looked confused, he paused, “May I use your board for show and tell?”
She willingly handed the marker over to him and took a seat.
“In Christianity you have Baptists, Catholics, Born Again Christians, etc. They’re all technically Christians but they don’t all believe the same thing. If you go more specific, you have to break it into the sect. Where they all have one belief in one God, they don’t all believe in saints, or how and when Jesus was resurrected. So, to call all Pagans witches, is like calling all Christians Catholic.”
Elizabeth stared at the circles he was drawing. “Is Satan worship considered Pagan?”
Chris knew that too. “No. In Pagan religions, they believe everything is balanced in nature. Each deity has a counter force that keeps everything even. There are Gods and Goddesses for protection, fertility and even death. That’s as close to a ‘devil’ as you’re going to get.”
Elizabeth was getting a headache. Why couldn’t everything in life be cut and dried?
“Wiccans and most other Pagans don’t believe in the existence of a devil. There’s no hell, so how can he exist. Satanism is actually a branch off from the beliefs of Christianity. You have your good- Jesus,” he drew a cross, “and then you have your evil.” Next, he flipped it. “The inversion of the cross is a slap at Christianity. It mocks the way their God died.”
“How much do you know about all this?” Ethan asked, surprised by the man’s comprehensive knowledge. It might come in handy in the end.
“I find many things in life fascinating, Director,” he stated, handing Elizabeth her marker back. “I’ve read quite a few books,” he added. That wasn’t necessarily a lie. He had read everything his mother ev
er handed him in an attempt to convert him. Over his lifetime, Chris had done a great deal of researching, but he was a scientist to the core, and facts were all that really mattered in his life. Then he glanced over at Cyra, who was smiling at him.
Nothing mattered until her.
“Chris, you may be my new favorite ME,” Elizabeth offered. She shifted focus to the other agent. “Thomas, did you photograph the entire altar?” She needed to know. If Chris was as well read on the subject, she planned on picking his brain.
“We did. Christina has them, and she should be in from the scene by now.”
Ethan spoke, knowing where his wife was heading with it. They’d been a team long enough to know what the other was planning. “Chris, if we get you those photographs, could you look at them and tell us all we need to know?”
He swallowed. Here was a fine line, and he knew he couldn’t cross it. “Yes.”
Elizabeth continued. “If you can’t, we are going to have to find us a witch that’s willing to help out on the investigation.”
Chris crossed his fingers, hoping they didn't ask him if he knew any. He’d have to say yes, and they would want to meet her. Then the cat was out of the bag.
“I’ll get those photos to you today. Do you think you can spend some time writing up something for the case file?”
He let out the breath that he was holding. “I can do that for you. My work load is fairly light, since we don’t have another victim. Have her send them over, and I’ll be more than happy to do it.”
Ethan whipped out the email to Christina.
“I appreciate your help, Chris.”
Focusing back on the team, Elizabeth needed to know what else they had found.
“There were books and calendars where she’d marked certain days with an ‘R’. As of yet, we don’t know what that means,” Cyra stated. “The team is trying to cross reference anything that may get us an answer.”
Elizabeth pointed at Rickard. “She lived in an apartment. Did we check to see if there’s another name on the lease?”
“It’s in Scarlet Red’s name.”
“Damn it,” she muttered. It was another dead end.
Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7) Page 16