It was barely six thirty in the morning. If that didn't tell the tale, then the fact that he was wearing the same clothes from the night before did.
It was like a big neon sign over his head flashing, ‘I scored with the woman beside me’.
“Where’s Agent Spencer?” she asked, ignoring all their looks. If there was one thing about Elizabeth, she didn't give a shit about what anyone thought, especially when it came to her friends. Chris mattered, so she would hold up under their speculative stares.
Carol Spade, the head tech, pointed at the vehicle pulling up not far behind Chris’s car.
Livy jumped out and waved to the agent behind the wheel. Apparently, she got to work really early.
Or she got a ride in with Gabe.
Elizabeth waited for her to meet her. “Where’s the Denali?” Livy asked, checking out the shiny ride.
“I came in with Chris.”
She stared at her.
“Did you…?” she asked, staring over as the ME got into his gear.
“He slept over. We didn’t have sex. It was a long night. I’ll explain later. We’ll grab coffee after this.”
“You better! I’m curious as hell. You don’t ever ride in with a man.”
“Yeah, well rules are meant to be broken,” she said, pulling off her sunglasses. “You know me.”
Yeah, Livy did, and this had to mean something. Elizabeth didn't flaunt her sex life to anyone. In fact, she was like a freaking nun. There wasn’t one to show off.
“More importantly, how did your night go?” Elizabeth asked while Chris was still getting ready. He didn't like anyone touching the body before he saw it, so this was going to be his show.
“We kissed, and he asked me out tonight.”
“You better go.”
“Are you insane? I got my girly gear on under this suit. I’m ready. I’m also making him dinner at my place. I plan on locking him in and having my wicked way with him.”
Elizabeth fist bumped her. “Hell yeah! You better. Getting laid britches are the best. I can’t wait to live vicariously through you.”
“You rode in with the ME. You should have had some fun last night. He keeps looking over at you. I’m sure he would have been up for it.”
She laughed. “No comment.”
Livy wouldn’t let it go. As she pulled out her little notepad to make notes once they got inside, she was grinning like a fool. “I’m betting the ME wouldn’t mind seeing your britches,” she added.
Elizabeth was well aware, but once they threw down the friendship card, sex was off the table. She didn't screw people she called buddy. It ruined the bond.
“Not going to happen. Work relationships are a bad idea.”
“Hey! I work with Gabe, and I want a relationship!”
She smiled. “Hey, that’s your choice, but you know how it can get jacked up. I’m not saying it won’t work for you, Livy, but it won’t for me. You’re actually a catch. I’m like hooking a water moccasin on your fishin’ line. I get all bite-y and mean. Someone could die.”
She laughed. “You have a very valid point. You are a total shrew.”
“Yeah, don’t I know it?”
When they noticed the ME was ready and in his gear, they headed his way. “Are you all set, Doc?” she asked.
He had his serious face on. “Yes, Lyzee.”
Livy glanced over. No one called her that but her, Gabe, and her daddy. This was new. She seriously doubted that nothing happened last night. There was no freaking way her partner was handing that nickname out.
That never happened.
When Livy opened her mouth to say something, Elizabeth pointed at her. “Later.”
Instead, they followed Chris up the walkway. The cops at the door looked green. All three of them were pretty damn sure this was going to suck. When she saw one of the cops, he looked familiar. Was it the same cop at the other scene?
“Officer Connolly?”
He glanced over at her.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“You look sick. Do you need a minute?”
He shook his head. “I’m good now, Agent. It’s just bad in there. He really lost it.”
“Lost it?”
He nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am. You never get accustomed to this kind of thing. Ever.”
She was aware.
Elizabeth grabbed the paper booties that the one tech was handing out. Carol was staring at her and then Chris, and then her again.
She wanted to wipe the smirk off her face.
Elizabeth hated assholes. She especially hated bullies who crossed that line. When someone was both, she wanted to make them bleed.
She’d grown up in the south, and she was an outcast in certain circles there too.
She didn't talk like them, dress like them, and her daddy was the sheriff. Moonshining families didn't like her family simply because he wore a tin star.
She’d been the victim of obnoxious behavior countless times, and that’s why she always rooted for the underdog. Nastiness pissed her off.
“Where are you in the process?” he asked Carol as he started his job.
“We started with the photographs, Doctor. It’s worse than the last one, but we didn't move her. Are you sure you can handle it?” she asked, snideness present in her voice.
“Can you handle me writing you up?” Elizabeth asked. “You’re so busy riding my ME, that you’ve forgotten who’s in charge of this scene. We are.”
She glanced at Elizabeth.
“I do my job, Agents.”
“You just touched that door frame without gloves on,” Elizabeth said. “You just contaminated the scene. Your hair isn’t pulled back, and you’ve now left trace. I suggest you head to the van and get ready to dust that entire frame. You let Doctor Leonard do his job, and you try and do yours. Well, better than you are now.”
The woman’s mouth formed a stiff line.
Elizabeth noticed Chris was trying not to smile. Once inside, that amusement faded. There was blood everywhere. The dining room walls were coated.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
Yeah, he could say that again.
As they moved closer to the body, she could see what had been done to her.
She was practically butterflied.
“Get me a chair,” Elizabeth said, pointing at a tech. When one was pulled over, she climbed up on it.
“What do you see?” Chris asked.
“I know her.”
They all stared at Elizabeth with a curious look on their faces, Livy included.
“Not personally. Chris, she was at the bar with us last night. While we were there, I’m pretty sure I saw her.”
He noticed everyone was staring at them. Elizabeth just spilled the beans. Now everyone really was definitely thinking that they had rolled out of bed together.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes. I don’t forget a face. I have an excellent memory. Look at her from up here.”
She hopped down and held out her gloved hand to help him up. If he was hung over, she didn't need him falling onto the victim.
Chris took her hand and climbed up.
He saw it.
“You’re right. She was there. While we were at that table, she was at the bar, the fourth stool down. Right?”
She was proud of him. “Yep. She was wearing black. I remember thinking that her skirt was really short and if I tried to wear that, my daddy would have kicked my ass,” Elizabeth said. “Where are her clothes?” she asked.
A tech held out the bag. “We have one black skirt. It appears to have been cut from her body.”
They watched her work.
Elizabeth’s mind was spinning a mile a minute.
“What else do you see, Chris?”
“She’s laid out like some…”
“Art work,” she finished for him. “We’ve been thinking he’s just cutting her apart because he’s a sicko, but he’s doing so much more. He’s peeling back layers to rev
eal something.”
He looked ill.
“He’s nuts.”
Yeah, they knew it.
Livy climbed up next. “Get me the camera,” she stated. From her vantage point, she got the picture. “Do we have this angle from the last woman?”
They all looked around.
Elizabeth knew the team dropped the ball. They had taken up close pictures, but this was something more.
This was a message.
“What about the files from Boston?” Livy asked. “Do we have shots like this?”
Chris handled this one. “The files aren’t complete. They’re sloppy at best. The autopsies were handled by the city, not the FBI. I saw the notes the ME made, and they aren’t really up to standard.”
Elizabeth knew what that meant.
They needed to take a trip to visit the person who did the original autopsies.
Chris moved toward the body. He was shaking. Maybe it was the beer or maybe that he ate before a crime scene, but either way, he was feeling it.
Elizabeth was steady. While the first victim was a shock, she was adjusting to the carnage.
“Livy, can you handle this?” she asked. “I need Chris to help me with the files outside.”
Livy knew what she was doing. When she got her partner alone, she was going to grill the hell out of her. “Yeah, I got it.”
Chris looked confused. He wasn’t sure what the hell she was talking about. All the files were back at the office.
“Doctor, are you done here?”
“Yes, I am.” He focused on the team. “I want you to carefully bag her. I’ll work on her at the morgue. Try and roll her splayed out flesh back toward the body the best you can. I know it won’t be easy.”
The team began working.
“Where are we going?” Chris whispered, keeping his voice low.
“We need to get you to your car. Get in.”
When he stripped out of his paper suit, booties, and gloves, he held them in his hand.
Elizabeth whistled. A tech glanced over. “You have a job. When an agent or ME strips out, you be there to bag it. We don’t toss anything that’s been near the victim. We might find trace that transferred from the floor to the gear.”
The woman rushed over with an evidence bag. She gathered everything.
Chris hopped in his vehicle, and Elizabeth joined him.
He looked like he was going to puke.
“Breathe,” she said, hitting the air conditioning.
“I don’t know if I can do this job. I’m seriously beginning to think I’ve made a horrible mistake. I wanted to help people, but I’m not sure I can pull this off.”
There.
He said it.
She grabbed her sleeve and used it to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead. Chris was having a rough one.
They all were.
“You can do this job. I have faith in you.”
“What if I made a mistake?”
Elizabeth turned his face so he was staring into her icy blue eyes. “Listen up, Doc, you didn't make a mistake. You just need to get your bearings. This is a hard gig. That’s why not everyone gets picked to be an ME for the FBI. They only take the brightest and best. You graduated at the top, right?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t just have a medical degree, right?”
He shook his head. “I graduated from med school and studied for a degree in forensic pathology.”
“Well, there you go. You can do this. You’re new. How long have you been working for the FBI?”
“Four months, three days, and one hour.”
She sympathetically touched his cheek.
“What if I’m failing at this?”
Elizabeth figured that was the issue. Chris likely never failed at anything. He was smart, and he probably cruised through school. Now he was having to work for it.
“The team hates me, Carol likes to bust my ass, and I’m beginning to believe that I deserve it.”
“She’s a bitch. Techs need someone to keep them in line. When you see the other ME’s head out, what do you notice?”
“They don’t take any shit.”
“Exactly. You own this. This is your team. I run the investigation with Livy, but you’re the big man here. You’re the ME. I can’t do my job without you, Chris.”
“I’m letting you down.”
“If you quit, you are. If you put on your big girl panties, tell them to fuck off, and then do the job, you’re making me proud. If you do that, I’ll have your back no matter what. I can promise you that.”
He closed his eyes, trying not to see the woman inside the house on the table.
“When I started this job, I wanted to help people, but I figured as an ME, I’d be dealing with shotgun blasts, drowning victims, or assaults. I never thought…”
She understood.
“No one thinks they’re going to walk into that mess. Only, we’re all they have left. Someone raped her, cut her open, and spread her out like a piece of meat. We have to give her dignity back. You have to lead the way, Chris. I’m only as good as you are. If you can’t do this for you or her, do it for me. I need you, Christopher.”
He thought about it.
“Fifteen years from now, where will you be?”
“I don’t know.”
“Know where I’ll be? I’ll be getting down and dirty in the trenches. I’ll be trying to save that next victim. If you can’t say that, Chris, then maybe you’re right.”
He looked surprised.
“I can only protect you for so long. Let’s face it. Last year, over twenty Feds went down. I may not be here forever. I may burn out. I may go out in a gun fight.”
“That makes me want to be sick.”
She kept going. “You have to dig deep. If this is your calling, then go for it. You gotta own it, rich guy, or you gotta get your ass home, make more money, and live that life. Make the choice.”
He looked like he wanted to say something to her.
“Go ahead. You can always be honest with me.”
“You’re a total bitch.”
She kept her face neutral. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re likely going to tell me that again and again over the next two decades?”
He laughed. “I don’t know what to do about you. You have me as confused as hell.”
“You’re the worst boyfriend ever, Newton,” she stated, busting him about his boxers.
Chris stared at her. “You’re insane, and I think I love you.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Darlin’, you ain’t seen nothing yet. What do you say we take this town by storm, and we really give them something to talk about?”
She held out her hand.
Chris stared at her. In that moment, he didn't want to let her down. If he didn't do the job, she’d get another ME, and he’d be miserable. He wanted to work with Elizabeth—more than anything, and he always wanted this job. It was just a matter of digging deep and getting through this.
He took her hand. “I trust you.”
“I won’t let you down. I promise.”
That’s all it took.
They both had to stick.
They were now a team.
When she got back to the scene, Livy was running it as she waited for her.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Yeah, Chris is going to be fine. He’s tougher than he looks. Plus, he called me a bitch.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that’s shocking. That’s not the first time I've heard that used to describe you.”
“Hey! Come on!”
Livy patted her on the back. “You know I love you, but you’re an acquired taste. You either love Elizabeth LaRue, or you want to run her down with your car.” As if to prove her point, Livy pointed at the scowling head tech. She’d busted her chops in front of the entire team.
That was hell to swallow for anyone.
“Yeah, well, you know I’m hard on techs. I run them through the ringer, but I don�
��t expect more from them than what we do. She touched the doorframe with no gloves. That’s FBI one-oh-one. They teach you to glove up on day one.”
She laughed more. “I hope you never get to be boss. If you do, there will be mutiny.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Probably, but if someone puts me in charge, they’re even nuttier than I am. Who would do something so insane?”
She thought back to what she said to Chris—chances are that she’d burn out long before that ever happened.
The good ones always did.
“Where to next?”
“We need to give the techs some time to pull all the trace, and then we have to come back here. We should also take her picture to the bar. Maybe someone saw something.”
“That works for me.”
Elizabeth knew the bar wouldn’t be open at that time, so they had to do other things first. They were going to be hitting the road.
“Christopher,” she called.
“Yeah?” he replied, as he was working with his team to get the woman loaded up.
“I need your keys.”
He reached into his pants and pulled them out. Without hesitating, he tossed them to her. “I’ll ride back with the team in the van.”
She smiled, knowing everyone was watching their interaction. Well, screw them.
“Darlin’, I’ll bring you coffee when I get in-house.”
“Hey, Lyzee?”
She glanced over at him. “What, Doc?”
“Don’t make me wait fifteen years to get that coffee.”
Livy watched the interaction between them. She saw something there, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. Elizabeth was a private person but now she didn't seem to care.
It was puzzling.
“Are you telling me that you’ll still be here in fifteen, Doc?” she asked, thinking back to their conversation.
He grinned at her. “You better believe I will be. Someone has to have your back.”
With that, she winked and headed to the vehicle. When they got in, Livy shook her head.
“What?”
“First, people are going to question why we’re Federal employees driving a sexy Mercedes.”
She snorted.
“Next, I’m going to tell you that you should hook up with the ME, and fast.”
Elizabeth looked over. “Why?”
“The man just gave you the keys to a pricy car and didn't bat an eyelash. That should tell you something.”
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