Cyra got the text and headed to the meeting location. She’d left Rex with Chris and promised to bring them both something to eat. Pulling up, she found the three directors already there, sitting inside at a booth. Cyra took the seat beside Elizabeth and had to ask.
“Is everything okay?”
She looked over. “Yeah, why?”
“You just look a little irritated and pissed off. That generally means bad news is coming.”
Callen told her about the stunt the police chief pulled, and how they weren’t real happy with it.
“I’d be pissed too,” she stated. “What are we going to do about it?”
Elizabeth sipped her coffee. “We’re going to regroup, and we’re officially on our own. I don’t believe we can trust the police in this town to be effective in helping us find this killer.”
The waitress wandered up, and they ordered their food. When she was gone, they got down to business.
“Are the searches done on the properties?” she asked, waiting on her agent to give her anything at this point.
“They are. I did deed and title searches and here’s what I found.” She emailed the information to their tablets before continuing. “On property one, we have an abandoned camp. It’s owned by C & E mining. They have pretty much been out of business for a while, but they still hold rights to the land. It’s been leased to them for one hundred years.”
“Okay, next?”
“The most recent one was the easiest. The government owns it. It’s state game lands.”
Elizabeth held her coffee cup in one hand and flipped with the other. “Who knew the government would make our lives easier?”
“I know, right? Victim two was the only woman found on private property. I traced it to a woman in a nursing home. She owns about twenty acres and the family is preparing to sell it.”
Ethan looked up. “Did you run the family?”
“I did. She has one son and he’s in his seventies, so I doubt he’s the killer. So far, nothing has come up tied to this in his financials or personal life. It may all just be random.” Pulling up the map, she showed them the locations. “We have two down here, but still far enough apart and one above it up here,” she pointed on the screen. “I tried to see if they aligned and nothing popped. The FBI programs can’t link those three locations.”
“Random to a killer is like coincidences to a cop. It’s total bullshit.” Elizabeth wasn’t sure what the killer was doing, but if he was being so methodical to stalk his prey and call her out, there was likely a reason that he picked those spots.
“I want you to stay on this and keep tracking the locations if he gets the next two people.”
She nodded. “I will.”
“How about our two favorite witches? Did the deep searches come back on them?” Elizabeth asked.
“In fact, before you texted me, I was going to be calling you to give you an update on Artemis.” She flipped through her tablet to find the location of her typed up notes. “We only have half the search back so far, and the reason that it’s taking so long is that they didn't legally change their names. I had to try and ferret out their names the old fashioned way. Right now, they’re running their business off a federal tax number and not their social security numbers.”
Callen was curious. “Did you find anything odd?”
“Not on her. She’s totally clean. I can tell you that she got married early, and that’s how I’m hoping to find Ares name on the marriage license. They’re from a small town in Washington state, and I had to leave a message on an actual answering machine.”
They started laughing.
“Okay, just give me what you have,” Elizabeth said.
“Her real name is Melissa Holmes.” Cyra turned the tablet around to share the old driver’s license that she had located. “I really thought she was younger, but she’s actually thirty one years old. She got married at eighteen and then dropped off the map until five years ago.”
“Crap, at eighteen? She was just a baby,” Elizabeth said. “I couldn’t imagine being married that young.”
Ethan took her hand in his across the table. “I would have loved to see you then. We could have grown up together.”
She loved when he said romantic mushy things to her. It made her heart flip in her chest. She kind of wished they did too. The three of them would have been amazing together even then.
“Anyway,” Cyra said grinning. “Five years ago, she came here with Ares and started her business.”
“I still think that they’re the center of it all, and we just need to keep digging in order to get to the bottom of it.”
“I’ll keep on it. I’m sure I can locate more.”
She needed to say something. “Thank you for being so good about being stuck behind a tablet. I swear on our next one out, you get to play in the field.”
Cyra remembered what Chris had said. “I’m okay with it. I know that you have your mind on other things.”
Yeah, like trying to stay alive.
“Hey, if you don’t mind, I have a question that I need to ask you.”
“Go ahead,” Cyra urged.
“How do you feel about porn?”
There was a part of her that wanted to laugh, believing that the woman was teasing her. Then, Cyra figured that probably wasn’t the case, since no one else was laughing. “Uh, as in making it, watching it or renting it.”
Elizabeth grinned at her agent. “I want to tell you that you and Chris are perfect together. He would have said exactly the same thing to me, only he would have grinned hopefully.”
The truth in her words made her smile. Cyra was touched that her boss thought they fit together. It showed how astute Elizabeth was, since she believed it too.
“You and lover boy get a date night fun fest. While we’re running paperwork, you and Chris get to watch hours and hours of the vile sex acts that went down at the Church of Satan.”
She stared, hoping that her boss was kidding. “Seriously?”
“Yep. The lab is trying to pull ID’s from the images, but you’re up to speed on the assignment and were a street cop. I’m betting you’re good with faces.”
“I am.”
“I’m hoping that if you and Chris stare at the images, you might recognize one of the men.”
As her lunch was placed in front of her, she wasn’t sure what to think. Suddenly, bitching about research didn't seem like such a good idea.
“Oh, and Cyra?”
She stared at her boss. “Yes?”
“Make him buy you dinner first.”
After Lunch, they sent Cyra back to the morgue office to get her dog and keep looking for Ares real name. They, on the other hand, were getting ready to interview Harmony’s boss.
As they pulled up to the little building, it wasn’t hard to find a place to park. It wasn’t really tax time, so the CPA business was a tad bit slow.
Entering the building, there was a man sitting at a desk that had a name plate for the deceased woman.
“Can I help you?” he asked, glancing up.
It was hard to miss that the man looked frazzled. Pulling out their badges, they handed him the spiel. When he looked confused, Elizabeth pointed at Harmony’s name plate. “Mr. Keys, we’re investigating her murder, and we need to sit and talk to you about it.”
When he finally understood why they were there, he stood and led them into his bigger and more comfortable office. “I’m going to miss Harmony. She was the best office manager that I’ve ever seen. The woman was focused and could pretty much balance everything at one time. She’d come to work happy and leave the same way. Harmony was a gem.”
Ethan asked the first question. “Regarding her boyfriend, did she ever say anything to you that would make you believe that she feared for her life?”
He shook his head. “No. She was crazy about him. Then she found out that he was cheating and it all went downhill. She told me that when he betrayed her, there was no way she could still be with
him. Then she dumped him, and he hurt her that one time,” he answered. “Do you think that he killed her?”
“That’s why we’re here. We need more information into the woman’s life. You worked with her every day and spent a majority of your time with her, so you may be able to give us something.”
He looked a little off balanced over it all.
“Is there something wrong, Mr. Keys?” Ethan inquired, sensing the man’s discomfort.
“I do know something, and I’m embarrassed to admit it. I don’t think it’ll help you find her killer, but it’s still in my head and keeps popping up.”
Callen gave him his mediator smile. It reassured just about everyone. “You can tell us, Mr. Keys. We’re professionals and have heard just about everything. Besides you may think it’s nothing but it could be something that helps us catch her killer.”
That was all it took.
“She was working late one night, and I had forgotten a file and needed it to do an audit, so I came back. As I walked in, she was on the phone having a private conversation.”
“About what?” Elizabeth inquired, her curiosity piqued at that information.
The man actually blanched. “I can’t believe I’m even bringing this up. It is so embarrassing.”
“Go on,” Callen reassured.
“It was sex. She was having phone sex with someone at her desk,” he finally gushed and was glad to get it off his chest.
“Did you hear what she was saying?” Elizabeth asked, hopefully.
“NO! I promptly reopened the door and slammed it, hoping she would realize that she wasn’t alone anymore. By the time I came around the corner, she off the phone.”
Ethan pushed, “So, you heard nothing?”
He thought about it. “I heard her making some moaning noises and that’s about it. She was all flushed and flustered when I came into the room.”
“Do you know when this happened?” Callen asked, hopefully.
The man rattled off a date and time immediately.
Elizabeth lifted a brow at the information. “Okay, you have to be really good with numbers to pull that off. I couldn’t tell you today’s date if my life depended on it.”
He tapped his head. “My brain is like a calendar. Would you like the phone number that she called too?” he offered. “I really want to help find her killer.”
They all stared at him incredulously.
Could they be this lucky?
“You actually have the number in your possession?” Elizabeth was about to kiss the man herself at this point.
“Yes.” He opened his drawer and pulled out a file. As he flipped thought the papers, he glanced back up at them. “I’ll need it back, since it’s for tax season.” The man picked up his highlighter and marked the call.
“Can you make us a copy?” Elizabeth asked. “If this becomes evidence, it’ll be backlogged until a trial. I don’t want to inconvenience you or the IRS.”
He readily agreed.
The three of them shared the exact same look. It was an amazing streak of luck that the man had the fortitude to do the research on all of this. It was quite possible that this might be something that helped them find a lead into the killer’s life.
When he returned to his seat, he circled the information before passing it to the Feds.
Ethan stared down at it and grinned. “I still can’t believe that you have this.”
He shrugged noncommittally. “I’m a CPA. We keep everything.”
* * *
Cyra was lying on her belly on their bed doing searches on her tablet for everything that Elizabeth had requested. She had yet to tell Chris their evening plans. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure how to even bring it up.
‘Hey, guess what! I have satanic sex rites to watch with you tonight. Got popcorn?’
Somehow, any way that she thought about bringing it up felt weird and creepy. Here, they were just newly dating and this would be odd.
At the click of the door, she and Rex glanced up to see him finally arriving. He was carrying take out containers and his messenger bag over his shoulder. “Hey honey, I’m home.”
She stared laughing. God, she wanted to just kiss him senseless.
“You said something in your text about videos, and I figured some really good Italian and a bottle of wine would make it perfect.” Chris pulled it from his bag. “Then we can toss in some naked making out and the night will be amazing.”
She hoped that he would feel that way when he found out what they had been relegated to handle. “Want to get comfortable?” she asked, patting the bed beside her.
He kicked off his shoes and grabbed the wine. “Want to get drunk and have sex?”
Giggling, she leaned over to kiss him. “I would say yes, but we can’t. We’re working tonight.”
“I thought that we were watching movies and eating lasagna.” Or just making out and having sex. Chris would skip the wine and the food any day when it came to her.
“I wish that were the case.” She popped the disk in the laptop and hit play. When the scene came on the screen, he leaned forwards, and his mouth dropped open.
“Holy shit, we’re having a date night with satanic porn.”
She laughed and hit pause. “We’re to watch all these disks and find anyone associated with this assignment.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe my girlfriend and I are going to watch a bunch of Satanists having sex.” Then he glanced over. “You’re a total freak. Next time I pick the porn.”
She slapped him and couldn’t help but laugh. “I wanted to have sex and roll around naked without the videos, but Elizabeth gave us this little assignment. We’re to look at the faces and find her a suspect.”
Chris grinned over at her. “Yeah, I’m sure the faces are exactly what will have my attention.”
Cyra snickered. “Christopher, do you want to tell her we didn't do it?”
He shook his head. Chris knew that he was in enough trouble since they lost DNA. If Elizabeth wanted them to watch pornographic Satan sex acts, he wasn’t about to say no.
Pushing play again, they both sat there and stared at the screen. When there was a loud moan, Chris actually blushed.
Cyra glanced over. “What?”
“I didn't think I’d ever be watching porn with a girl in the first week of dating. Our sex life hasn’t started to fizzle quite yet. The porn is a little premature.”
She leaned over to take his mouth with hers. Pulling away, she stared into his eyes. “It never will never fizzle. I can promise you that much.”
His heart skipped in his chest at her words.
They went back to their watching, and he oddly was at peace. You would think that it would be horribly uncomfortable to watch a bunch of men in black robes having intercourse with a hapless victim, but Cyra was making it easy.
Everything about her was like that. Rarely did she make him feel less than at peace. With her, he was the luckiest man in the entire world.
Again, she glanced over. “You okay?”
“I’m just thinking.”
“About?”
He didn't know if he should say it, but he figured why not. After everything that they had been through, he’d risk it. “I love you.”
She hit stop and sat up, staring at him like he’d said something so ridiculous. “What?”
“I said, ‘I love you’. That’s what I was thinking about.”
Suddenly, all the air had left her body, and she swore that she was going to pass out. Those were the sweetest words that he could ever say to her, and here she was shocked they came out so soon.
“I just wanted to let you know,” he stated, as he went back to watching the video. Now, he felt like an idiot. What was he thinking? He just said the most important phrase to her while watching demonic porn.
What an idiot.
“Christopher?”
He glanced up at her. “Yes?”
“I love you too.”
Now, it
was his turn to feel the air rush from his body in one big ‘whoosh’.
“I’m madly in love with you, and I don’t think I’ll ever feel like this for anyone else. You make me very happy.”
Chris simply stared at her, unsure what to say. He wanted to jump up and down on the bed in glee.
He caught the girl. Check.
He got the girl to repeatedly have sex with him. Check.
The goddess was moving into his mausoleum. Check.
Now he actually managed to get her to reciprocate his love.
Check! Check! Check!
This was pretty damn amazing!
“Maybe we can take a little break and celebrate this moment?”
“Anything you want, sweetheart,” he replied grinning.
“I want you, Christopher, more than anything in the world, right now,” she whispered, teasing his ear with her teeth. “Close the laptop.”
She didn't have to ask twice. Immediately, Chris shut it and placed it on the floor. When his precious Cyra moved into his body and took his glasses from his face he wanted to shout in sheer celebration. As her hand promptly moved through his hair and pulled his mouth to hers in a searing kiss, the euphoria spread like wildfire.
Maybe the catalyst was the words that they had both declared, but everything felt different. Now, it was so much more. At that moment, what they’d both just found in each other had become all that would ever matter.
This was everything.
Rolling with her, he placed her beneath his body, as he stared into her eyes. “I am the luckiest man in the world,” he admitted as he left kisses down her jaw, to her throat, and the vee of her shirt. Once to the top button, he used his fingers to unwrap his prize. Now, he wanted to make love to his gorgeous, precious treasure. When her shirt was open, he left a trail of kisses down her body, until he found the button of her pants. “I want you so bad, Cyra,” he muttered. Adeptly, he flicked it open and pulled them down her hips, taking her lacy panties with them.
It was then that he found what he craved.
Exploring her body, he became addicted to her taste. It was like honey on his tongue, and he knew there’d never be enough of her to satisfy him. He could do this daily, hourly, and every minute of the day and he’d still crave her.
Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7) Page 40