Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7)

by Kelley, Morgan

  All three of them watched in awe, as she reconstructed it from memory. It was almost verbatim of Ethan’s files. It was as if something took over, and now had control of her. It was forcing her from the misery and into the here and now.

  Cooler heads were prevailing as the agent had beat back the grieving wife in an epic battle of wills.

  Callen began to feel some relief.

  If Elizabeth was back, then they had a chance. He allowed the pressure to leave him for a second, as tears filled his own eyes. He could now take a moment to mourn, since once more there was hope.

  Elizabeth stared at that damn blank wall for twelve hours and had enough. It was time to take back her life and kill the man who dared to touch her family.

  It was as if a light switch went on, and she became her old self once more. As she was lying there, she thought about when she’d been abducted. Ethan mourned a little and then tried to find her.

  She was going to give him the exact same thing, with the same outcome. Plus, she remembered the vow that they made. The other person would spend the rest of their lives searching for the other if they became lost.

  Well, he was lost and the time was now.

  Elizabeth wanted her damn husband back, more than she wanted the self-inflicted pity party. She had children who needed Ethan back and in one piece, and that meant taking control.

  The more she stared at the blank wall, the more she thought about using it to her benefit. She was well aware she was trapped in there, but she wasn’t going to let that get her down. This was about what was right and just, and she was going to make the best of it.

  The profile came rushing back, along with every single thing that she knew about the case. It torrentially gushed from her and filled almost an entire wall. Yeah, the hotel was going to be pissed, but screw it. Her husband was hurt and going to die. She’d pay them whatever they wanted. Hell, she’d paint the damn wall herself if that’s what it took.

  Moving off the bed, she pulled a chair over and stood on it, balancing until she could reach up high enough. Filling in everything about the victims, she jumped down and backed up.

  “Welcome back, Elizabeth,” Chris said grinning, as he finally broke the silence. “What’s up first on the agenda?” he asked.

  She turned, speaking for the first time. Her eyes were cold and dead and held none of the life they generally had in them. Her voice was calm and emotionless, even though she was talking to people who knew her well. This wasn’t the old Elizabeth.

  This was a woman who had retribution to hand out.

  “First up on my agenda is to find and rescue my Ethan. Then,” she paused, capping the marker in her hand, “I find this fucking asshole and end his life.”

  Ethan drifted aimlessly in a restless sleep. The angles of his arms and the pain in his torso kept him from finding ease. Suddenly, the pain disappeared and trees and grass appeared around him. Turning, he was completely free and dressed.

  “Hello, my boy.”

  The voice brought back so many memories. Turning around, he found his grandfather standing there.

  “Granddad?”

  The man nodded and moved towards him. “I’ve missed you Ethan.”

  Blackhawk lifted his shirt and stared down at his body. It was all healed and free from injury. His hand went to his hair, only to find it loose and still there.

  He was whole again, and now he knew it was nothing more than a dream.

  “Why don’t we take a walk?” Timothy asked, holding out his hand.

  Ethan went to him and grinned when skin touched skin. There was the scent of pipe tobacco and herbs in the air. “So this is what Elizabeth, Callen and dad experienced?”

  Timothy nodded. “I was waiting for you.”

  “Are you going to tell me how to escape?” he asked, thinking about his wife and kids.

  “No my boy. I’m here because it’s time. I’ve waited to cross into the spirit world to bring you home. I’ve known this was coming since the day I passed over. I chose to stay and make the journey with you.”

  Ethan shook free his hand and began backing away. “No! I’m not going!”

  Timothy sighed and shook his head. “Ethan, when it’s time, it’s time. I didn't want you to make this journey alone. That’s why your visit was saved for last.”

  Alongside his grandfather, appeared a woman he had never thought that he would see again. “Mom?”

  She moved towards Ethan and opened her arms for him.

  Blackhawk stared at her and forced his mind back into his now fading memories to recall what she looked like when he was a kid. It was the same, only cancer hadn’t ravaged her body. Catherine Blackhawk was whole again too.

  “I missed you, Ethan.”

  He tentatively crossed to her and went into her arms. The familiarity and feelings were all there.

  “You’re going to be okay, I promise,” she vowed. “We’re going to cross and the pain will all be all over. I’m proud of you, honey. You fought valiantly and have earned this passage. It’s time.”

  He let go of her as he shook his head. “I can’t go. Don’t you see? I have three children, Elizabeth and Callen. If I go, the pain is just beginning. I won’t leave them, Mom, not even to have you both back.”

  His grandfather stepped forward. “You don’t get a choice, Ethan. When it’s your time, it’s up.”

  He didn’t believe that. He was master of his own destiny.

  Stepping back further, he refused to leave. “This is only a dream. I still have a choice. I’m a prisoner, but I still have some control. I choose to take the physical pain in order to have my family back.”

  “Ethan, come with us,” his mother said, holding out her hand.

  “No! I’m going to see my sons marry. I’m going to walk Catherine down the aisle with Callen. Elizabeth promised me more children, and eventually I’m going to watch grandchildren fill my home. I am NOT going to walk away from any of that if there’s a chance.” Ethan remembered asking his wife to fight if she was taken, and he’d do the same. He wouldn’t quit, and he would give her every opportunity to find him.

  Blackhawk had faith and believed that fate didn't bring them together only to end it like this. In that moment, he chose to believe in his wife.

  They stepped towards him.

  “No! If there’s a slight chance I can survive, then I’m staying. I’ve dedicated my life to the dead and the defiled. I’ve walked through blood and lived in the minds of the insane. I deserve a second chance. I won’t go out this way!” he raged, spinning in a circle. “Do you hear me? I choose the pain! I won’t quit now and give up if there’s even a miniscule chance that I can survive!”

  He faced his grandfather. “Help me, Granddad! If you loved me even a little, you’ll help me get back to them! On your death bed, you told me to protect Callen. You made me swear that I wouldn’t ever let him fall prey to the pain waiting for him in the world, now I’m keeping that promise. If I die, he and Elizabeth will crumble. If I quit, the two people that own my heart will be forced to wander life half complete!”

  The man’s eyes filled with tears, as he helplessly watched the boy he raised suffer emotionally and physically.

  “Damn it! It’s not my time! I have a life to live and people that need me!”

  “You know how I feel about you, Ethan. It’s just out of my power to do anything.”

  Ethan wouldn’t accept that in the least. “Bullshit! I put my faith in my family. My soul mates will find me! Elizabeth!” he screamed until he was almost hoarse.

  “ELIZABETH!”

  She wasn’t giving up. Something deep down was compelling her to move forward. For now, she had no choice but to find her husband. “We’ve looked at this every single way possible. I know we’re missing something,” she said, staring at the wall. “We can explain everything, except the things that don’t make sense. He began altering the kills, and I’m going to bet my badge that if we dig deep enough into that, we’ll find out why.”
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  Callen hoped she was right.

  When he didn't answer her, she stared over at him. “Cal, are you okay?”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid, Lyzee.”

  She was too. “We’ve got this. I need you to make me a list of everything that didn't make sense. Anything that didn't match up, and we’ll go from there.”

  He nodded, doing as she asked.

  “I’m going to find him, Callen. I’m going to bring him home and nurse him back to health. I promised granddad that I would protect you both, and I’m done being scared and running. Now, I’m going to get him home and make us whole again.”

  He believed in her.

  She stood. “Cyra, what do we have on that land?” she asked, pointing at the map. “I need to lock this down so I can get it off my mental list.

  “It’s another federal game preserve.”

  She jumped up on the bed and wrote it on the wall. Turning, she stared at the three of them. “Who picks federal land to screw with the FBI?” she asked.

  “Someone that’s nuts?” Cyra asked.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “No. He had to use that land. I don’t think he had a choice. That would be even too close for comfort for him. He’s a watcher and likes to live in the shadows. He wouldn’t risk it unless there was no other option.” Before she could continue, Chris’s phone chimed.

  “I have the email from the distributer of the Demon powder,” he stated excitedly, and then he scanned the information and his face fell.

  “What?” she asked, staring at him.

  “One address is the church of Satan, and the second is a PO box. We can’t access that information without a miracle.”

  The killer wanted magic? Well, she would give it to him. He’d picked the wrong team to mess with, because she had a few cards up her sleeve. “Oh, I’m going to get us that address.” Elizabeth pulled out her phone and dialed the private number, even though he would be in his office.

  When he answered the phone, she wanted to cry but managed to keep it in check. “Gabe, I need your help.”

  “Lyzee honey, what’s wrong?” he asked, sensing the tension in her voice.

  “I have a big problem and if I ever needed you, it is right now. Before I trust you, I first need you to swear that you’ll adhere to my wishes and trust my judgment.”

  Gabe hated the sound of that, but he also knew the woman who was on the other line. She’d never start a conversation like that unless it was important. “It’s a deal. What happened?”

  “The killer’s taken Ethan, and I have less than nine hours to find him before he kills him.”

  “I can mobilize everyone on the west coast.”

  “NO! Gabe, listen. If we call in anyone, he’s dead. The man’s stalking my every move. I’m holed up in the hotel until I get a lead on him. I need a favor and I need it done quietly and faster than you’ve ever worked your magic before.”

  Gabe was listening.

  “I have a post office box address, and I need the name that’s tied to it. I know its three days beyond legal, but if I don’t get something, Ethan’s dead.” Emotion filled her voice. “Please Gabe! Help me get my husband back. Callen and I need you. Your Godchildren need you to help me bring their father home.”

  “You know that I will do anything I can. Give me the box number. I’ll call in some favors and have it to you in a little bit.”

  “I don’t have that long. Work fast.”

  He understood. “You hang in there, Elizabeth. Tell Callen I said it’s going to be fine. Ethan is a tough man and will fight the killer every step of the way.” Gabe prepared for the worst and knew that he might be heading west to his surrogate family if it went bad.

  Cal heard the man’s reassuring words and tried to believe them. God, he prayed that he was right.

  “Call me back, Gabe.”

  There was no reply since he was already gone.

  Elizabeth needed an update from her ME. “Catch me up to speed on Artemis’s autopsy.”

  Chris did as he rattled it all off. He told her about the lack of smelling salts and the physical abuse.

  “It’s too bad that we don’t have that DNA,” Cyra said. “Who would have thought that those four hairs would have broken this case wide open?”

  Elizabeth didn’t move as she replayed Cyra’s words over and over in her head. “You know, you’re right. It would have done just that!” Pulling out her phone, she called Christina.

  “Boss, are you ok?” she whispered.

  “Yeah, but I have a few questions. Are you alone?”

  She moved around. “Let me call you right back, Mom. I have to step outside. It’s too noisy in here.”

  The phone went dead.

  Elizabeth stared at them. “She’s not alone.” Shortly, the phone began to ring and she placed Christina on speaker phone. “Where are you?” she asked.

  “I’m in the ladies room. It’s been crazy here today. Everyone’s been in looking for you.”

  That alarmed her. “Who?”

  “When I arrived, the police chief was here with an officer. She left a little while ago after talking to the ME. Then another officer was in with donuts for the tech team.”

  She was automatically suspicious. “Okay, I need to know about the hairs that we lost.”

  “I’m so damn sorry, boss. If I knew they were going to be the only DNA evidence I would have slept with them.”

  All of this rubbed her the wrong way. Her team was one of the best in the nation. This should have been a red flag from the start. “I need you to walk me through the process. You were working on the hairs and then what?”

  Christina thought back to the day. “I took them to evidence lock up, where we always keep them. They were in a metal cage and locked inside a room.”

  “Clear bag?”

  She thought about it. “Yes, why?”

  Elizabeth knew they brought their own evidence cages with them. It was their way of keeping everything contained to one person and one key. She also knew they weren’t solid but had little bars at the top. “Which cage did you place the hairs in?”

  Christina really thought she was losing her mind. “In the top one marked DNA,” she paused. “Ohhhhhh…” Finally she got it.

  “Was the room secured?”

  “Yes, I locked it myself.”

  Now for the big question that was plaguing her mind. “Where did you get the key to the room that you were using?”

  “Probably the same place that you got your key for the upstairs space. I had to pick it up at the main desk in the police building. Since they own that building, and it houses all their administrative offices.”

  Callen was getting excited. “So you got it from Clifford Bean?”

  “Yes. I asked Doctor Parrish who to talk to, and he sent me there.”

  Elizabeth started grinning. “I’m betting nothing else went missing because the hairs in the plastic evidence bag were all that would fit through the top. Someone fished it out. In order to do that, they’d need a key to the room, and I doubt there’s only one per room.”

  “Someone’s knocking, I have to go,” she hung up the phone.

  The three stared at her. “What?”

  Callen laughed. “I’m glad you’re back. I never would have even suspected the missing DNA was stolen. How did you come to that conclusion?”

  “What if he’s not altering his killing methods because he’s crazy, but because he has inside information and is changing it up to stay one step ahead of us?”

  They all appeared dumbstruck.

  Elizabeth was prepared to plead her case. “Okay, hear me out. When we arrived on scene to victim one, we found clothing with blood and DNA evidence. We know that the victim was still dressed, only her dress was cut open as he carved her up.”

  “I’m with you so far. You think that he knows we found evidence in the fire and decided to make sure we didn't again.”

  “I do,” Elizabeth replied. “Still, with victim one, there
was a necklace down her throat and you, Chris, said he was standing beside her when he sliced her jugular.”

  The ME nodded. “I did.”

  “So, the very next victim, what happened?”

  Cyra answered, “There was no necklace and Chris determined that he stood behind her head and changed position.”

  “You could be onto something, Elizabeth,” Callen stated.

  God, she hoped so. “Next, we have the raven blood. We pinpointed it during the testing and ‘poof’ it stops until he takes Ethan.”

  Chris was enthralled. “So, he’s fixing them to be harder crimes to solve.”

  Callen understood where Elizabeth was leading with it. “He didn't want to give away anything else with the bird. He was afraid that you would figure out it wasn’t you that he was referring to, but Ethan.”

  “Exactly. No one outside our family knows that I’m the protective raven. There is no way in hell he could find that out. Who would spill that detail? Certainly, it wouldn’t be us or Wyler.”

  They were all on the same page.

  “So, we find four hairs, and they’re going to identify him at some point, so he tries to make it look like we jacked it up. He takes suspicion and places it on us as error. In the meantime, we never find another one, because he’s making the next kill better and perfect in his eyes.”

  Cyra was excited too. “The smelling salts! On victim three we found trace on her lip.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Then on the next victim, it was wiped clean from her skin,” stated Cyra, “but he didn't think to remove it from her nasal cavity.”

  “Or he didn't expect us to be suspicious by that one aberration. We’re in a town with very few murders, so a killer might not know how deep we take our investigation. Every little change is suspicious to us. My ME is the best one in the whole damn realm, and he’d pick up on something like that,” Elizabeth stated.

  Chris knew what his bosses expected. “Then with Artemis he just stopped using it, fearing we’d use it to catch him.”