Ethan was glad someone did. When he looked in the mirror, all he saw was his past. The man staring back was nothing more than some Indian carrying more ink and emotional baggage then he ever should have.
He hid it, yes, but his biggest fear was someone would see beneath the veneer. When that day came, he wasn’t sure how he’d deal with it.
“Would you like to join us for dinner tonight? I’m meeting with the two agents who are working this case. You can tell them about your profile.”
Ethan shook his head. “I can’t, Gabe. I have to take care of those two files you passed to me. My partner is off tonight. He’s got a date.”
Gabe leaned back in his chair. “Well at least one of you does.”
Blackhawk grinned.
“When are you going to have a date?” Gabe asked, pushing the issue. He wanted to have well rounded agents working for him, and the man in front of him wasn’t one. He loved work a little too much. In fact, he was on a one way trip to burning out. If something didn't give, Ethan Blackhawk would take that wrong path. Gabe could already see it.
Ethan laughed at that. “Yeah, there are plenty of women and time, boss. I figure if I’m ever meant to settle down, fate will slap me with the cold hard reality of it. If not, I’ll just keep on keeping on.”
Gabe got it. The conversation was over.
“Hey! It’s not my circus and not my monkeys. You have to live your own life.”
“Truth.”
“Well, thank you, Ethan. Call me if you need anything,” he offered. “I'm heading into a meeting with the director.”
“Don’t get your ass chewed out too much.”
He laughed. “From your mouth to God’s ears, Blackhawk. If I had a dollar for every time he grumbled your name...”
Ethan took that as his key to escape.
So he did.
Gabe watched the agent walk away. The man was a handful, but he was a damn good investigator. Between him and Elizabeth, Gabe had his hands full. Blackhawk might be good with profiling, but he couldn’t see the forest through the trees.
His life was a mess.
In a way, Gabe felt bad.
But that wasn’t his job. His agents’ personal lives were just that.
Personal.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Three Hours Later
They each took half of the neighborhood. Some of the people were more than happy to help, some not so much. You’d be surprised how freaked out people could get when the FBI knocked on their door.
The second they saw the badge and the questioning began, you’d think J. Edgar Hoover had appeared. People were damn paranoid.
They apologized for the craziest things.
Parking tickets.
Playing their music too loud.
It was like they thought they gave a damn.
Honestly, Elizabeth and Livy didn't care if you were in your pajamas at two in the afternoon or if you were growing pot in your grandmother’s bathroom. That wasn’t their gig.
They had bigger fish to fry—mainly, the ‘Irish Butcher’. He was the one they needed to find. They were concerned with the carved up woman down the block, not the crazy going on in private apartments.
There were priorities.
As they asked around, no one saw anything. For a bunch of people setting up a memorial with bears, candles, and flowers, you’d think they’d have known the person who died a little better.
One man didn't even know her name.
When he was asked by Livy about Stephanie O’Malley, he simply shrugged and didn't have much to offer. Apparently, the only reason he was there was because Seamus O’Brien knew her to see her. At the local pub, he mentioned that she served beer and was a good egg.
Yeah, great.
They already knew that.
Livy thanked him, and then headed on her merry way. Hopefully, Elizabeth had better luck with the canvas. She was batting a big fat zero.
Only, she didn't. When they met up, she, too, had gotten nowhere.
As the day wore on, they were faced by the cold hard facts. No one saw jack shit. They were going to start fresh in the morning, and all they could hope was the killer didn't take another woman tonight.
Luck wasn’t on their side, but there could always be a miracle.
Yeah, right.
Somehow, they knew that wouldn’t be happening. When it came to this job, luck wasn’t your friend, and fate liked to screw with you.
When they met back up in front of the dead woman’s home, the media was filming and shouting questions at them. They were asking everything that the public wanted to know, only Livy and Elizabeth didn't have the answers.
So, they weren’t going there.
There was no way that either woman was going to give a sound byte to the media without Gabe’s permission. They’d seen him tear agents apart for sharing too much with the vultures.
Yeah, it was professional suicide.
So, instead, they moved further away to compare notes.
“What did you get?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Not a hell of a lot. The older woman next door said she didn't hear anything at all last night. In fact, she was pretty sure there was no way Stephanie could have been killed in her home. We know that’s total bullshit because the blood splatter tells us otherwise.”
“Is she saying there was no screaming?” Livy asked. “This sicko mutilated her. Someone had to hear something. There’s not enough gag material in the world to block that out.”
Elizabeth agreed.
“Well, grandma said we’re chasing our tails on this one.”
Livy shook her head.
“When granny wasn’t looking, I peeked around her kitchen. She had a shitload of pills on her counter. I’m willing to bet that someone takes them with booze, and then she sleeps like the dead. It’s the only explanation.”
Livy agreed. “How else would someone miss any of this? There’s no way. We found the dent in the door, and it’s likely from her head. She was attacked here.”
“What about the neighbor on the other side?” Elizabeth asked. “Did you have any luck with them?”
She laughed.
“What?”
“He’s deaf.”
“What? Come on! You’re kidding, right?”
“Imagine my surprise when he came to the door signing. Imagine his horror when I had to draw pictures in my notebook to get him to understand. Let’s just say that someone shouldn’t play Pictionary in her downtime.”
Elizabeth laughed.
God!
She loved her partner.
“Anything else with the crowd?”
Livy shook her head. “Everyone I spoke to was pretty much shocked it had happened. No one saw it coming. I heard the same thing over and over. Stephanie was a sweet girl, and we’re screwed if we don’t get something.”
She was well aware. The worst part of a serial killing case wasn’t the killer. It was the media, the scared citizens, and your boss breathing down your freaking neck.
They had all three.
It was the shit fest trifecta.
“Okay, so we have absolutely nothing, and this killer probably knows it.”
“Yep. That’s what it looks like.”
Livy glanced down at her phone.
Elizabeth proceeded to bust her ass. “Got a hot date?” she asked. “Running late?”
Livy sucker punched her in the side. “Shut up. You know it was your idea. If this blows up in my face, I’m going to make your life hell tomorrow.”
“Livy, we look at dead bodies all day. What could you really do to make me miserable? Make me hold some dead woman’s stomach? Oh wait…I did that today. Make me stare at a deboned victim. Yep…been there too.”
“Don’t be a smart ass. I’ll think of something.”
“Well, in that case, while you’re pondering my demise, you should head home, get a shower, and then get dressed to meet up with your sexy love muffin.
”
“What will you do while I’m doing that?” she asked, hating that she was leaving her partner to do all the work while she was on a man hunt of her own.
“I’m going to lay low, avoid Gabe, and wait until he leaves for dinner with you before I camp out at my desk to do some work.”
“Gee, that sounds titillating.”
“Yeah, I’m one hell of a wild woman. Sadly, my life is about as exciting as sleep and it’s never going to get any better. The life of Elizabeth LaRue is a boring one.”
Livy dropped her arm around her partner’s waist as they headed for the Denali. “Well, if I have a good night, do you want me to call you and tell you all the sordid details later?”
“Are you kidding me? Hell yeah, I do. I do believe that rule five of the girlfriend code states…”
“Sex talk happens often, and is kept on the DL,” replied Livy. “Yeah, I have them all memorized.”
The two women laughed.
How could they not?
At least they had each other.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
He watched them leave.
The entire time they wandered around, he was impressed by their persistence. While they were there, they didn't stop asking questions.
He liked that in a competitor.
Maybe he’d been wrong about judging them. The one woman was pretty enthralling.
He could see himself making her over into some beautiful piece of art. Before it was over, he was going to make sure they realized how dangerous it was for little girls to play with serial killers.
He’d already decided that the redhead would have to be his.
But first…
He would watch because that’s what got him off, and that always came first.
CHAPTER THREE
Tuesday Night
Gabe was nervous, and he didn't know why. When he’d gotten the text from Elizabeth with the location, he easily agreed to it before doing any research.
Why would he have to? Elizabeth was his family, and she’d never screw with him, right?
Wrong.
When he arrived at the restaurant and saw that it was a fancy place, his suspicions were piqued. Why would two of his agents want him to meet them there?
It was puzzling.
When he was led to the table in the back, where other couples were dining, he noticed it had only two place settings.
Crap!
Elizabeth screwed him over.
Immediately, his heart began pounding, and Gabe began praying that the other plate was going to be for Elizabeth and not Livy.
If it was the redhead, he was screwed.
Shit!
His fight or flight kicked in, and he wanted to run from there like a maniac. Gabe wondered if he had time to escape before anyone else arrived. Pulling out his phone, he glanced at the time. Just as he was about to make a phone call to Elizabeth, he heard the clicking of heels heading his way.
When Gabe looked up, his suspicions had been right. It was a sexy redhead, and he nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw her.
Oh, holy mother of God.
He was in so much trouble.
As the waiter pulled Livy’s seat out for her, he couldn’t breathe. She was wearing a beautiful green dress, and it made the color of her eyes pop. She looked so gorgeous, that it stole his breath.
He wanted to weep for what he could never have. In that moment, he knew she was just out of his reach.
It killed him.
Gabe wanted to experience her touch once. Was that too much to ask?
She looked so lovely.
“Are you okay, Gabriel?” Livy asked, getting nervous as he sat there staring. Until that moment, it seemed like a damn good idea.
Yeah, until she walked in and saw him there.
He was still in his work attire. Gabe could work a suit like no one’s business. It fit him perfectly. The strong lines of his body were accentuated with the material, and Livy was desperate to see what was beneath it. When she saw him in running gear, she wanted to drool, but here, in the candlelight of the restaurant, she wanted to bury her hands in his hair as her mouth plumbed the depths of his.
God!
She wanted him.
Livy desperately wanted to run her fingers over the silk of his tie as she forced him to really see her. She wasn’t just his agent.
She was a woman, and she wanted him in her life as something more than a boss.
Screw that! Her gut feeling had to be right about him. It was screaming that there was something there between them. What they could have would be beautiful—if she could just get through to him.
Livy noticed that his green eyes danced with fear, and that was so very unlike him.
It made her incredibly wary. Suddenly, it felt like she was walking to the gallows.
The man at the table didn't look excited that she was there. He looked the opposite of that, and it made her stomach drop. This wasn’t going to end well.
She could already tell.
Shit!
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a long day,” he said, trying to keep calm. The last thing he wanted was to look like a fool in front of Livy. “Where’s your partner in crime?”
Livy ordered a glass of wine and tried to pull this off. It was too late to escape, and this was going to be a huge mistake. She could already see it now.
Gabe wasn’t amused.
In fact, his fear was morphing to something more. He was putting on the chill, and that was never a good thing. Oh, she’d seen it before. Being an agent, if you pissed Gabriel Rothschild off, he turned icy.
That was coming out.
She could feel it.
Livy was going to get her ass handed to her by HR for sexually harassing her supervisor. There was no doubt in her mind. The man she was crazy about wasn’t feeling it.
Here was the proof.
Livy’s only solace was that when he crushed her, she was going to seriously hurt her partner. Oh, she wasn’t going down alone. Livy would take Elizabeth with her. She was going to be sitting beside her in HR.
“Something came up, and she couldn’t make it.”
“And the dress?” he asked, watching her in the soft ambiance of the room.
“She picked the place, and they don’t let you in wearing jeans. You’re in a suit, so I didn't want to feel out of place.”
Yeah, like she did at that very second.
Shit!
Shit!
Shit!
“And the lipstick?”
Livy felt the chill, and instead of her bolting in horror at what she’d done, she had to own it. Well, if Gabriel wanted to play that way, she could too.
“Are you going to take an inventory of my attire, or would you like to talk about work? All that’s left is my undergarments, and I’m sure you’re not really interested.”
He blinked.
Her tone said a lot.
For a second there, Gabe was disappointed. Yes, he was irritated that Elizabeth bailed, but not because of the woman before him. He was just scared stupid.
And she was wrong. He was very interested in what was under her dress—more so than he should be, and that was the problem.
The woman before him was amazing, and he’d love to get entangled in her life. Only, it would change everything that he’d worked so hard at earning.
It was terrifying.
“Okay, we can discuss work.”
Livy tried not to show how upset she was. The switch was flipped. Gabe had made up his mind, and he wasn’t going to entertain her jackassery.
The night was officially a wash.
Then again, what was she expecting?
Gabriel Rothschild was an up and coming power player in the Federal government. Of course he wasn’t going to get involved with an agent. She should have known better.
He wasn’t in her league.
“Today, I asked for some help, and I spoke to an agent who does a reall
y good profile.”
She sipped her wine, trying to stay calm. It wasn’t easy. The cold reality of this dinner was sinking in, and Livy wanted to get it over with.
“How’d that go?”
“He feels that the person is a professional, and that Boston is the key. This killer is trained. The body is being cut apart by someone with skill.”
“We were thinking that too. He’s doing it fast. The ME said TOD was about two hours after she got out of work. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t do what he did to her body in that little amount of time.”
“Me either. What did you find when you searched her place? Was there anything there?”
Livy paused long enough for the waiter to fill her wine glass. Yeah, she needed it. This was a disaster.
“We did find her employer, so we don’t have to contact the IRS and get the information.”
“That’s great.”
Yeah, it was freaking dandy. Livy was all about the job, but at that moment, she wanted to stand on the table and shout at him. She wanted him to see her—not the agent.
Instead, she remained calm.
“She’s a waitress at an Irish pub called ‘The Bog’. I found the napkin with her schedule, and Elizabeth deciphered it. We’ll be hitting the place up at some point.”
“That’s good work.”
“Thank you, boss.”
Gabe hated when she called him that, and with that controlled tone in her voice. Before, when his name trickled from her lips, his heart had done summersaults in his chest. He hated that he’d made her angry.
But he had, and Gabe couldn’t blame her.
Just then, Livy’s napkin slid off her lap, but before he could grab it, some suit wearing patron at the next table got to it first. The man smiled at her, telling her she looked lovely.
Immediately, Gabe’s blood pressure shot up. He couldn’t believe that the man was being so forward, and that Livy was actually talking to him. As the stranger joked around with her, Livy smiled back.
What the hell?
Was she flirting with someone else?
When she turned back to him, his face must have said it all. She lifted an eyebrow in question.
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