True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3))

by Kelley, Morgan

  “I will, Maddy. Thank you,” she answered, and clicked off the phone, then started laughing.

  “I’m just mortified.”

  Elizabeth laughed more. “Ethan, you’re a sexy man, why are you so shocked that women think you’re hot?”

  The heat was creeping up his neck, and he didn’t have an answer for that. Maybe it was his past and the way he always felt about his heritage. Until Elizabeth he wasn’t comfortable with the man he truly was inside and out.

  “I don’t think I can ever look at that woman again, and not think about this conversation.”

  Elizabeth dropped her sunglasses on her nose and took her husband’s hand in her own. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Ethan.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked curiously.

  “Joan of Arc will have a bigger fire to put out if she even thinks about taking a bite out of my husband’s ass. I will give rabid a whole new definition.”

  Ethan Blackhawk believed that to be absolute truth.

  Monday afternoon

  Red River

  Callen Whitefox pulled up in front of a building and read the sign. The GPS had been right, they were indeed in the right place. This was the Sheriff’s office.

  The rest of the drive had been very quiet. Desdemona would talk to him when he asked her a direct question, but she suddenly wasn’t very talkative, and he wasn’t quite sure why. The minute the call had ended, she dropped his hand fairly quickly. Granted, he shouldn’t expect her to sit there and hold his hand, they’d just met. Desdemona was purposely avoiding contact.

  Part of him wanted to learn more about Desdemona Adare, and part of him wanted to say ‘screw it’ and jump into the deep end of the pool, just because she was his shot at a normal life off the Rez. His gut instinct was warning him that he needed to think it out and be cautious, but he decided to ignore it. How many chances was he going to get? What he wanted most in life was the life his brother had built, and that meant finding and outsider, much like their Elizabeth.

  Now, if he could only get her to open up and stop being super skittish around him. That was going to be the challenge. That and keeping her from being scared to death of a woman that was really super gentle and sweet once you got to know her.

  Desdemona was having a wicked hot flash, and it all had to do with the man sitting next to her. The last thirty minutes of the ride, she wasn’t able to even think, let alone talk to him. It may have come across as her being cold, but when she was completely flustered like this, she said stupid things. And people then tried to get as far away from her as possible. Desdemona didn’t think she wanted this man to run, she genuinely liked him. From his warm gentle smile, to the caring brown eyes, everything about him felt safe and comfortable. Then there was the fact that he was completely and totally gorgeous. The scientist in her wanted to run her fingers down the sharp angular planes of his face and cheek, and then the woman in her wanted to see if those lines ran everywhere. Yeah, he was very distracting.

  “Are you okay?” asked Callen. “You didn’t say much the last few miles,” he stated, the look of worry on his face.

  “I’m fine, Callen,” she said, giving him a smile. Just the fact he even cared made her heart a little mushier over the man. Rarely, in her past had any of the men she dated or slept with ever thought to ask how she felt. There was something special about him. “Are you okay?” she asked back.

  “Yeah, I’m ready to head in and start this, but we need to have some ground rules,” he said, grinning at her.

  “I’m pretty good with rules, so I guess we can have a few.” Desdemona smiled at him and knew he was trying to cheer her up and keep her safe. It just seemed like the kind of man he was inside. Caring and very protective- both she never had before in her life with another man.

  “Okay, since we’re here to scope out the scene and get the assessment, we need to observe more than interact.”

  “Okay, and that means?”

  “That means we don’t know if one of the people in that building is the killer. Until Ethan and Elizabeth get here, we watch everyone, and we try and keep under the radar. That means we tell the sheriff nothing we know or notice until the cavalry arrives.”

  “I’m not sure if the tech vans are heading right to the scene to secure it and get any unauthorized personnel away from the bodies or meeting us here,” she added, checking her phone for any emails from Christina. The lab tech in charge, Christina Hart, was her left hand girl. The woman was head of the tech team and from what she’d seen and heard, Ethan Blackhawk’s go to girl. The woman was very good at her job, and she knew the scene would be managed and secured as soon as she rolled in to the area.

  “You don’t leave my side.” He tried to not sound bossy, but when his brother warned him, it meant something. Ethan Blackhawk didn’t just throw out warnings for no apparent reason.

  Desdemona laughed. “Oh, you’re serious.”

  “I’m very serious.”

  “Okay, Callen. I promise I’ll stick close.”

  He was satisfied. “Then, get out your badge and get ready Doctor Adare. We need to head on in and meet the players.”

  Part of her wanted to take his hand again, not because she was afraid of death, but because the living were the ones most likely to hurt you when you least expected it.

  Sheila Court sat at her desk and looked up when the two strangers walked through the door of the office. One was a large Indian man and the other looked like some woman playing dress up. The skull jacket made her look like she was ready for Halloween. Then take in the red and black hair, and it was just something that wouldn’t fly in Red River. These strangers were going to be trouble. She’d bet her next paycheck on it.

  Whitefox dropped his sunglasses onto the top of his head and scanned the room. The interior was fairly empty. There was a deputy working behind his desk, and a secretary who watched them like a cat after a bird for dinner. It was apparent that she was the guard at the sheriff’s door, and already wasn’t pleased by what she was seeing.

  Yeah, Red River was a small town.

  “Excuse me, can I help you?” snapped the woman. “You’re not from around here.”

  Oh good. There was going to be hostility right off the bat. Most local authorities had issues when the FBI rolled into their town, and it appeared that this woman was about as angry as they came. It wasn’t boding well for what the sheriff was going to be like, and he braced for the hostility.

  Whitefox pulled back his jacket and flashed his badge and gun. “I’m Special Agent Callen Whitefox, and this is our ME, Doctor Desdemona Adare. I believe the sheriff is expecting us.”

  The woman stared at them, and then stared at Desdemona. “She’s a doctor?”

  It was like she wasn’t even in the room.

  “I’m the Medical Examiner Officuim.”

  “What?” she snapped her gum. “Officuim? Is that some weird language?” she asked. These two were quite the pair. In fact, this had to be a joke. There is no way that the girl was the ME. They were old men, and she looked barely able to drink.

  “It means on duty,” she answered, simply.

  “In what crazy language? Is that some Indian term?

  Callen bristled; the woman was rude, angry and going to get her ass kicked when Elizabeth walked into the office. Then again, the way the woman was staring at Desdemona, he wouldn’t mind seeing Elizabeth beat some manners into her.

  “It’s not a tribal dialect to the indigenous people found in the United States,” she added. It bothered her that the woman threw out the word ‘Indian’ like it was a bad thing. Desdemona was accustomed to the negativity. Her own grand-mère disliked Native people a great deal and she’d heard it her whole life.

  “Yeah, well whatever,” she shrugged.

  Whitefox looked down at his partner and the silent message was passed as they both rolled their eyes.

  On top of it all, Red River was going to be a giant bigoted mess.

  ~ Chapter four ~

&nbs
p; The man in the doorway watched the entire interaction. He hoped to beat Sheila to the FBI agents, but he’d been tied up with the mayor on the phone. Now he was forced to watch his administrative assistant ostracize and pretty much disrespect the people that were going to help him keep his town safe.

  Well shit! Now he needed to fix this mess on top of the one they turned up at the Boy Scout camp.

  Callen was a pretty patient man, and very laid back, but there was one thing that he couldn’t tolerate. It was blatant bigotry. This woman was going to push him right over the edge. “Can we please talk to the sheriff, if it’s not too much of a bother for you?”

  She shrugged and jerked her thumb at the man standing in the doorway.

  “I’m the Sheriff,” said the man, walking towards them. “Sheriff James Duffy, and please forgive my administrative assistant.” He struggled for a lie. “She’s just frazzled by the deaths and not herself today,” he covered for her. He didn’t know why he did it; maybe it was because he didn’t like the peace to be unbalanced or maybe he just was a complete idiot.

  “Hello Sheriff Duffy. As I was telling your administrative assistant, I’m Special Agent Callen Whitefox and this is our ME, Doctor Desdemona Adare.”

  “Welcome, please come into my office. Can I offer you both some coffee?” he asked, hoping he could smooth the ruffled feathers. He led them into the room, closing the door.

  “No thank you,” answered Desdemona. “I had some on the ride up here.

  “I’m good too, Sheriff Duffy.”

  Whitefox pulled out the chair and waited for Desdemona to sit. Then he placed his chair directly beside her and relatively close. He was pissed the administrative assistant had insulted her, and he really wanted to tell her to go to hell, but that was probably a bad idea. Especially since he was supposed to be the Liaison to the Native American community, and he couldn’t keep his cool around the outsiders. Right now he’d bide his time and let Elizabeth chew up the woman. That would be vastly more entertaining for everyone involved.

  Sheriff Duffy sat, and contemplated the two visitors in his office. “I have to say, I expected more people. I don’t see how you both are going to handle all of this once word gets out, and it explodes.”

  “We’re just the initial team, Sheriff. The two lead investigators are on their way, and should be in town within the hour. I’m here to meet with you, and get your take on the situation. Doctor Adare is here to start the preliminaries. Mostly my function is to give her back up and keep her as safe as possible on scene.”

  “I completely understand, Agent. I meant no disrespect,” he smiled at the woman. “I’m sorry Doctor Adare, you must get this a lot, but you look so young. Are you one of those geniuses that the FBI scooped up to work for them?”

  Desdemona smiled at him. The man was trying to be friendly and the fact that he was being honest was a bonus. She preferred to have people ask a direct question instead of assume and talk about her behind her back.

  “Well, Sheriff Duffy, I can promise you that I’m relatively smart, but sadly I’m considerably older than I look. It’s just good genes. What I gained in appearance I sacrificed in height.”

  “Great things come in small packages, Doctor,” he said smiling. The doctor had a sense of humor and was a pretty hot. This might not be too bad of a day after all.

  Whitefox didn’t like the man flirting with Desdemona. It rubbed him the wrong way and made him want to grind his teeth. He took a deep breath. “Can we discuss a few things related to why we’re here?” Whitefox hoped it didn’t come out the wrong way, or sound like he was angry. Although, he was bordering on it at that exact moment.

  Desdemona heard the ice in his voice, gone was the sweet and gentle, and it startled her. When she looked over at him, he gently stroked her wrist with his fingertips, reassuring that everything was perfectly fine between them.

  “Sure thing, Special Agent.” James Duffy kept a smile in place, and he didn’t miss the displeasure on the man’s face. It was a less than subtle hint that the doctor was off limits. Good thing he ignored subtle as much as possible when it came to the opposite sex.

  “Doctor Adare is going to need a place to perform the autopsies. Is there a location that you frequently use? Or that your town ME uses?”

  Sheriff Duffy laughed. “We don’t have a town ME; we don’t even have a hospital. Nearest one is in the next town over. I do have a suggestion for a location though. When this building was built, there were plans for a cafeteria in the lower level. There is a cooler unit there that has shelving that can house the bodies.”

  “What about a prep area where my team and I can examine the victims?” she asked. The cooler would be fine, as long as it could keep the bodies at thirty nine degrees Fahrenheit.

  “There’s a prep area and sinks. I believe the cooler has a thermostat that’s adjustable too.”

  “I won’t need the sinks; we can’t let the biological leak into the ground. My team knows the proper procedures and we’ll handle it. There won’t be any need for concern, I assure you.”

  Whitefox wasn’t sure if he liked the idea that Desdemona would be in the sheriff’s department. Yeah, she’d be safe there, since there were lots of people, but the sheriff kept watching her like she was a big meaty steak he wanted to consume. “Thank you, Sheriff for being so helpful.” Man that was painful to get that out with a smile on his face.

  “What can you tell us about the location of the bodies, Sheriff,” asked Desdemona. “How many people have come in contact with them?”

  Duffy thought about it and leaned back in his chair. “I found them with my Deputy Julian Littlemoon. Other than that, we’ve keep the door closed with the exception to take the pictures for the guy at Quantico. He was really insistent.”

  “That’s good, because less contamination means my job is going to be easier,” she answered and smiled.

  “Miss Adare, I aim to please.” Duffy tipped his hat at the doctor. “I assume it’s Miss,” he added as he glanced over at Callen Whitefox.

  Desdemona could smell the testosterone rising, and she didn’t like where it was heading. The Sheriff was baiting her partner, and that angered her. Callen Whitefox had been nothing but kind to her, giving her support and the most important thing; friendship.

  “If you’re asking if I’m married, I’m not Sheriff Duffy, but you knew that from me not wearing a wedding ring,” she smiled sweetly. “If you’re asking if I’m in a committed relationship,” she added, tipping her head to the side before continuing, “that’s a very personal issue, and I don’t plan on bringing my personal life to work with me. So if you don’t mind, let’s go with Doctor Adare. It took many years to earn the title. Miss is too generic for me, and believe me when I say I earned every letter after my name and before it too.”

  Duffy grinned his good ole boy smile. He loved a woman with spunk. Yeah, he’d investigate the woman later when the man wasn’t around.

  Whitefox was having a hard time with the man blatantly flirting with Desdemona, and then she must have noticed. This time her fingers stroked his wrist in reassurance, as she told the sheriff in her own way to back off.

  Both their phones began beeping.

  “Blackhawks?” asked Desdemona looking down at her own phone.

  “Yeah, they’re twenty minutes out. It looks like we need to get up to that crime scene Sheriff,” he said, standing and offering the doctor his hand. At first he wasn’t sure if she’d take it, but she smiled up at him and accepted his gesture willingly. When she gave his fingers a squeeze, he felt even calmer.

  “Thank you, Callen,” she said, smiling warmly at him.

  These feelings of intense jealousy were surprising. When his brother had brought home Elizabeth, he felt jealousy, wanting the life his brother found with the outsider woman. But these feelings were more emotions he couldn’t understand. Desdemona wasn’t his to be possessive about, and yet it was still there. This was something he needed to figure out and soon. Forcing hi
mself to focus on Elizabeth, he felt the warm curl of heat rise through his body. Next, he thought about the woman sitting beside him and he was filled with the intense need to take care of her. Everything in him knew that this woman needed someone to stand up for her, and he was that man. Why? As of that moment, he had no clue.

  “I’ll have my deputy bring you up, and I’ll be up there shortly. I just want to make sure I have the basement room ready for the doctor and her team,” he said, smiling at the woman. She looked like a kid, but when she spoke you could tell she was definitely a woman. The outrageous doctor intrigued him a great deal. From the wild hair, to the skulls on her coat, she screamed mystery.

  “Thank you, Sheriff.” Callen Whitefox nodded at the man as he led the doctor out into the reception area. Safely tucked in his bigger hand was her delicate one, and he didn’t want to let go. It took everything in him to drop her hand and be professional, but once she was free of his touch he moved his body closer to hers in a very protective stance.

  “Julian, can you take the agent and doctor up to the crime scene and relieve Bobby Lee?” James Duffy didn’t want the hostile deputy anywhere near them. That just screamed bad idea. Bobby Lee was a loose cannon, and more offensive than even Sheila could be on her worst day.

  “Sure thing, boss,” answered the man, as he stood from his desk.

  “I’ll be up as soon as I can get the downstairs ready for the doctor.” He went back into his office and called the maintenance crew. He was going to need them to get over there fast and make sure that everything he just promised the doctor was taken care of, or they were going to have to put the bodies out back in the snow bank. That really screamed hick town sheriff’s department.

  Whitefox escorted the doctor out into the cold air and observed the man beside them. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t know if he should or not. “Deputy, is there something you want to say to us now that we’re alone?” he asked.