“Why are all the lights off?” asked the man, heading toward the wall to flick the switch. “That’s not proper procedure.”
Ethan picked up the smell first. It was of bowel and blood, and it was clearly present over the scent of morgue antiseptic.
That was off.
Merry touched his arm. “This is wrong.”
He agreed. Before they could stop the doctor, he hit the switches, flooding the room with the bright light.
It didn’t take long to see why the room had been dark. There was a little present left for them.
Their killer had been there. This had to be a first. Never before had they ever had a killer who made house calls.
This person was definitely insane.
The killer wasn’t only taking livers of dead people and hookers, but he’d taken to taunting Elizabeth.
“Wow, I don’t know what to think,” Merry offered.
Yeah, he didn’t either.
“Merry, make the call to Elizabeth. Tell her that we have a body, and she needs to get on the scene, and fast.”
She pulled out her phone.
“She’s not going to believe this,” Merry offered. “In fact, she’s going to think we’re yanking her chain.”
Ethan was well aware.
“Then call Doctor Gaines. Have her ship Doctor Leonard here. I want all hands on deck for this one.”
“We have a crazy.”
He shook his head.
Yeah, they really did.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Max Howell’s
House
Johanna and Brady had opted to do the interview before heading into the morgue to drop off the medallion. It was easier to find their creepy suspect than to make a return trip.
When dealing with Elizabeth Blackhawk, you wanted to be as efficient as possible. Pissing her off, much like her husband obviously had, was never a good idea.
Ever.
As they walked through ‘The Quarter’, and to the man’s address, Brody was thinking.
“Do you think they’ll make up?” he asked.
Johanna glanced over. “Those two? Hell yeah. It’s not easy working with your husband and balancing work and private life. It’s bound to get messy.”
“We don’t get messy.”
“No, we don’t, but couples fight.”
“We don’t fight.”
“We do.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Yes, Brody, we do.”
“No…” He got it. She was busting his ass. “You’re funny, Joey. Har har.”
She punched him in the side. “So what? We don’t fight. Do you really want a relationship where you argue? I like our calm lives. Now that we escaped our parents, it’s heaven.”
“Well, you have a point. It’s nice being married to my step-sister.”
She snorted.
“Still, maybe fights are important.”
“Why?” Johanna asked, checking out the surrounding area. She wasn’t taking any chances, and since Brody was stirred up, she was on duty.
“Maybe it makes for hot sex.”
“Think back to last night when we did it on the balcony and some tourists threw beads up to me.”
He stared laughing. “Okay, you have a point. It’s hot without the fights.”
“What are you worried about?”
“Are we permanent?”
She stared at him.
In fact, she stopped in the middle of the street. “Why would you ask me that? We’re married. That’s pretty damn permanent.”
He took her hand in his, and their wedding bands were all shiny. It made his heart skip.
“We didn’t buy our brownstone. You wanted to rent.”
She stared at him again. “That’s why you think we’re not permanent? Because I wanted to rent?”
He waited.
“Brody.”
“Why, Joey? It’s been bugging me. I thought we’d settle down and plant roots. I want that life with you. I want a wife and place we come home to every day.”
“You told me to find us a place. You didn’t specify. When Merry told me about the brownstone, and it was rent or purchase, I went with the easier, that’s all. Don’t read too much into this.”
“I want more.”
“Please don’t say kids because then we will be having a fight. I warned you this would happen.”
He kissed her. “No, I meant our own place—a dog, a cat, you and me, plus a home.”
She softened. “Brody, then buy the place. Do the paperwork and sign the papers. I want a home with you. I just opted to rent because we travel. That’s all. What if we relocate? If you rent, you just call the landlord. You buy, and you have to sell.”
He relaxed. “Thank you, Joey.”
She hugged him. “You don’t have to thank me. I want you to be happy.”
And she did.
They kept walking. When they reached a small saltbox house on the street, they checked the address.
“We’re here.”
Walking onto the porch, it was decorated as if it was Halloween. Only that wasn’t for a few months.
“Only in New Orleans.”
She elbowed him as he knocked.
It took a while, but the man finally came to the door.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Max Howell?”
“Yes?”
They flashed their badges.
“What did that asshole say I did now?” he asked, as if he already knew who pointed them in his direction.
“Officer DuChamp?” Brody asked.
“Yeah, him.”
Well, that said it all.
“We’re here to talk to you about the morgue related thefts. Do you have some time?”
The man stepped back. “Come on in. The sun is bright, and I just got up.”
They followed him in.
The man liked the macabre.
How did they know?
There was a coffin in his living room.
“Uh, do you sleep in that?” Johanna asked, pointing at it. She really hoped he was going to say no.
“I have sex with my girlfriend in it. She thinks it’s funny. I like to keep her laughing.”
Brody rolled his eyes. Johanna would kick his ass if he even suggested something so insane.
Hell!
He’d want her to do it too.
“What’s the issue between you and the officer?” Johanna asked as Brody pulled out his tablet to make notes.
“He’s got it in for me. He told my boss that I have sex with the bodies.”
“Do you?” she asked.
He walked to his bookshelf and pulled down a picture. “I have sex with one body, and it’s hers. That’s my girlfriend, Angel. She’s the only person I jump, and she’s not dead.”
“Can we check the coffin?” Brody asked.
The man wasn’t amused.
“Just because I’m Goth doesn’t mean that I like creepy shit like that. Come on!”
They could point out that his whole living room was done in red, he had a coffin, and lots of upside down crosses on the walls. This room was something.
Hell!
He was something.
The man looked like a vampire. He hadn’t seen the sun in so long that he was nearly transparent—if that could be a skin color.
“What can you tell us about Officer DuChamp?”
“He’s a douchebag. He told my boss I was talking to the bodies and touching them. I prepare them for pick up. I have to touch them. It’s hard to dress them if you’re only using your mind.”
He had a point.
“And the talking?”
He laughed. “I was wearing a Bluetooth. I was talking to my girl. She called, she was in the mood, and I didn’t know we had an audience. It’s kind of funny if you think about it.”
He was right.
“Did Officer DuChamp do his job?”
The man laughed.
“Want to explain?”
“When he stuck around, he did his job. That was rare on most nights. He would leave when I did around midnight, claiming it was his break, but he was out trolling. If someone was screwing people in the morgue, it would be him—not me.”
“Does anyone work there when he’s on duty?” Brody asked.
“No, after I leave at midnight, he’s on patrol until dawn. That’s his shift.”
They heard a noise from the other room. Immediately, they were focused on the doorway.
“It’s just my girlfriend. We were sleeping.”
“Maxie, come to bed. I miss you,” she called.
He grinned wickedly. “If you’re done, my babe has need of my services.”
They got out of there and fast. Outside, Brody was snickering.
“What?”
“She looked so normal in that picture. It’s always the sweet, girl-next-door types that are the freakiest.”
He slapped her on the ass.
“Right, babe?”
“Broderick Seaton!”
He took her hand in his. “Yes, Mrs. Seaton?”
What was she going to say? She had beads from some raunchy balcony sex. He had a point.
“Never mind.”
Why press her luck?
Chapter Twelve
Thursday
Mid-Morning
They were on their way to Kaleb Meeks home when the call came in from Merry, telling them to head back to the morgue. It appeared that they had another body.
She’d found it odd that they wanted her at the morgue, but then when Merry told her where it had turned up, Elizabeth almost wanted to laugh. This was definitely new. They had a killer who made house calls.
If they weren’t behind the eight ball on this one, it might just be amusing enough to chuckle. This person either was seriously out of their mind, or liked poking the Blackhawk beast with a stick.
Either way, taking it to their domain was going to be a mistake. Elizabeth and her team were in their element in a morgue.
They rushed back to where the team was stationed, and as they walked in, the scene was being carefully preserved.
“What do we have?” Elizabeth asked, pulling on a pair of gloves. Merry was snapping pictures while the other techs were getting ready. As she strolled in, it was hard not to notice that Doctor Perette was smirking at her.
She wanted to rip his lips from his face and tap dance on them. Yeah, she didn’t see this one coming. From the man’s perspective, it must have looked like she’d been overridden by her boss husband.
Great.
That made her job harder.
Now she wanted to hurt Ethan all over again.
“Our killer left you a present, Elizabeth,” Ethan said, watching his wife. This would be their first interaction since the shower episode, and he was curious to see if she was actually over being angry.
He hated when they were out of sync.
Then again, he had no one to blame but himself. He’d crossed that line.
He’d made the mess.
Ethan watched as his wife scanned the room for anything out of place. She was beginning to get ready for whatever was coming.
Her face said it all.
She was pissed.
The killer was taunting her.
Before Ethan could say anything, Elizabeth had focused on the stand-in ME. He hoped she played nice.
“Well, this beats it all. You come to New Orleans, and the killers are so hospitable, they bring the dead right to us. However do you train them to do that, Doctor Perette?”
“It’s the jambalaya. It’s like mother’s milk.”
Elizabeth snorted.
Well, at least the man had a sense of humor.
“Okay, let’s get this crazy caravan on the road.” If he thought she was going to take it easy on him, since he was out of his FBI element, he was wrong.
This was a teaching moment for the man.
The FBI rolled hard.
As the doctor moved toward the body, he snapped on the purple latex gloves. Before he could even touch the woman, Ethan stopped him.
“Actually, we’re waiting for one more person to arrive, and then you can start your autopsy.”
Elizabeth glanced over.
“Are we, Ethan?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes, Doctor Leonard is joining us. What fun would it be if we couldn’t have two ME’s working this case?”
She was so happy that she did something she normally wouldn’t do. Elizabeth offered up a big, wet kiss to her husband. He’d kept his part of the deal, and that meant she could keep hers.
When she pulled away, Ethan grinned.
Apparently, he was indeed forgiven.
“I don’t see why we have to wait. You came to me and asked for my assistance. I’m here. I can guarantee that I am qualified to do the job.”
Shocking that Doctor Perette wasn’t thrilled.
Too. Damn. Bad.
Elizabeth was the one smirking now. She could hear the footsteps coming down the hall and the telltale tap of a cane. Her ME was back in the saddle.
Oh, if she could pull out her camera and snap a picture of the other man’s face, she would. There were moments when Elizabeth loved Karma.
This was one of them.
When Doctor Chris Leonard came through the door, he looked calmer, and that added to the happy. The man looked lighter than he had for weeks.
Maybe she owed Callista Gaines an apology…
Yeah, no. She broke the code.
Despite her tension with the doctor, today was going to be a good day. She could feel it in her heart.
“Christopher, welcome to the party. We’re glad you could make it,” Elizabeth said, as he dropped his medical bag on the counter beside her.
Chris touched her hand with his, signaling that he was doing fine and they’d talk later.
That silent message spoke volumes between them.
“What do we have?” he asked, pointing at the woman wearing the ruined clothes and all the blood.
She filled him in.
He didn’t miss a beat.
“How do you train them to deliver?” he asked.
Elizabeth offered him a fist bump and started laughing. “My friend, we’ve been a team way too long.”
“You hit that punchline already, huh? I hate coming to the party late. You miss all the good one liners.”
She was well aware.
Ethan watched them in action, and he saw the well-oiled machine. This was the right choice, and he was at peace with his decision. While it wasn’t always easy to do his job, when this was the outcome, he could pat himself on the back.
Chris was solid.
She was in good shape.
He understood all he needed to know. This was why she was good at her job. The people around her grounded her.
“Suit up, Doc. You and Doctor Perette are working this one together.”
The local ME sputtered.
Chris knew he was being given a gift, so he opted not to look a gift horse in the face. Instead, he tried to smooth it all over. “Doctor, it will be a privilege to work with you. I went over your original autopsies, and they were well done. You have some really great attention to detail. A lot of that is lost on people anymore.”
That seemed to pacify the man.
“You should get into your scrubs,” he stated, obviously accepting the olive branch.
“Ladies?” Chris asked, knowing that he needed to move fast. He was going to strip down, and he didn’t have time to go into another room. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t done it before. The proof was how all the females turned their backs.
Well, except one.
“Uh, Elizabeth?” Chris said, grinning at his friend. “Believe it or not, you were included in that ‘ladies’ part.”
She snorted.
She was so damn happy that he was back that she opted to bust his ass. “Like I haven’t seen you in your britches.”
Callen started choking on his coffee. Up to that moment, he’d been quietly watching his woman do her thing. He’d been observing and making sure she was indeed okay.
She glanced over at him. “Lust monkey, are you okay?”
Oh, she was raring to go. His woman was back on her game, and she was going to find this killer.
“Lust monkey is plenty fine. I can see you’re better.”
“I’m happier than a June bug in July.”
Callen had no freaking clue what that meant, so he took that as his sign to get to work.
He was tagging out. Ethan was on duty.
“I’m going to pull the security footage. I don’t think I want to be privy to anything that comes out of her mouth when she’s this damn happy. I see HR in someone’s future.”
“Chicken,” Ethan muttered.
Callen was, and he knew when to bail.
Elizabeth winked at him, and then he was gone.
Chris was still waiting to drop his pants. “Really, Elizabeth?” he asked.
She cut him a break.
Sort of…
As Elizabeth turned, she timed it just right.
“I see London, I see France. I see Newton’s underpants,” she teased.
Ethan stared at her.
Then at Chris’s boxers.
And then back at her.
He was indeed wearing boxers with Newton on them.
“Elizabeth!”
She was amused by the look on his face.
Chris tugged on the innocuous green scrubs, and all the while, he, too, was laughing. It was good to be back. “All set, boss. You can head on over.”
Chris knew it was going to be rapid-fire questions, and she was going to push hard. The killer had been in their space, and that would insult her.
Big time.
He slipped into his gloves, as he and the other ME approached the body.
“Merry, did you take the photos?” Chris asked, making sure they’d followed proper protocol.
“All done, Doctor.”
“Great. Have we followed every other protocol and have trace collected too?”
Blood Shall Run (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 15) Page 32