Dying to Love (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 18)

by Morgan Kelley

  Tony grinned. “For the record, they let Chris kiss you all the time and no one hurts him. I can’t help if I’m in a good mood and want to spread it around.”

  “Diseases spread, Tony. Happiness…not so much,” Chris corrected.

  Something was definitely up, and her interest was piqued. Tony was a happy guy, but this was a little over the top—even for him.

  “So, you’re happy, are you?” she asked.

  He closed his mouth.

  That was the only hint she needed. Someone had a secret, and that meant she needed to ferret it out.

  “Office,” stated Elizabeth and Chris at the same time.

  They’d been together for years. Tony was spilling his guts, or they were going to trick him into it. One way or another, the truth was coming out if they had to drag it out of him.

  Inside, she closed the door.

  “What gives?” Chris asked.

  “Nothing. Can’t a guy just be happy and love his job?” he countered.

  “Liar,” stated Chris. “We’ve known you almost fifteen years, and there is some extra spring in your step. So, share or we’ll hurt you.”

  He shook his head.

  “No one loves their job that much, Tony,” Elizabeth stated with certainty. “What’s up?”

  Tony stared blankly at her as if playing dumb.

  “It’s time for a rousing game of ‘Name that Potential Answer’,” stated Elizabeth. “Up first is a doctor who likes livers and cold dead babes. Here’s Doctor Christopher Leonard.”

  Chris clapped and made cheering sounds.

  “Also up is an investigator who has almost two decades of solving things under her belt. Let’s give it up for Director Elizabeth ‘going to beat it out of you’ Blackhawk.”

  Tony tried not to laugh. It was hard not to when your family consisted of these two nuts.

  “I say he scored,” Chris offered.

  “With a stranger in a bar,” added Elizabeth, keeping the game going.

  “And it was this morning after he woke up on a street corner from his cocaine bender. You should have him drug tested,” Chris stated.

  “I should,” she offered. “Make sure you draw some blood later, Christopher.”

  He grinned wickedly.

  Elizabeth continued, “While on that corner, he was in women’s panties.”

  “They were his too.”

  Tony stared at them. “You’re sickos for even doing this to me.”

  Oh, they weren’t done yet.

  “He also had a threesome with two strippers who gave him a ride to work.”

  “Is that gave him a ride, or did he give them a ride?” Chris asked. “His wife doesn’t care. She was busy with the pool boy.”

  “Hey!”

  “Jaxon got tired of the old man and wanted a younger model,” Chris said. “It’s me.”

  “HEY!”

  “Spill it.”

  “Fine! Stop!”

  Chris dropped his arm around Elizabeth’s waist in triumph. “What is it?”

  “Pinkie swear first.”

  They held them out without any hesitation. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this, and it wouldn’t be the last.

  “If you tell, I’ll have to stop being your friends.”

  She snorted. “Oh no! No more popsicles and sleepovers for us?” she teased.

  “My wife will kill me.”

  They all got that. What happened in best friend land stayed in best friend land.

  “What is it, Tony?” Elizabeth asked.

  “We’re having a baby,” he said, grinning widely. “My not so old sperm found her very fertile young egg, and we made a little Magnus.”

  They stared at him, trying to keep straight faces, but it wasn’t easy.

  “You realize we both have kids. We know how it’s done,” Elizabeth teased. “And Chris is a doctor who delivered your godchild. We got the how to down to a science.”

  He grinned. “I’m going to be a daddy. I’m going to be a father, guys. I can’t even fathom it.”

  They hugged him.

  They knew how huge this was. Tony’s mother had been killed, and he’d been in and out of foster homes all his childhood. He’d always sworn he wasn’t going to have children, in fear of what would happen.

  Now, he was going to have a child of his own.

  A lot had changed in the last year.

  After his mother’s murder was solved, he’d healed.

  Love healed him.

  Jaxon healed him.

  Tony wrapped his arms around both of them, and tears filled his eyes.

  “I can’t believe it. This feeling…it’s amazing,” he whispered as Elizabeth kissed him on the mouth.

  “And I swapped spit with Elizabeth,” he teased. “This is the best day of my life.”

  Unfortunately, it was said just as Callen opened the door. Of course, the best day went downhill, and fast.

  “Pardon?” Whitefox asked, crossing his arms over his big barrel chest. “Who swapped what with my woman?”

  She and Chris snorted.

  “You couldn’t marry a scrawny man, like Chris, who didn’t scare me, could you?” Tony asked.

  “HEY!” Chris objected. “I’m not scrawny. I’m brainy.”

  She found that amusing. “Yeah, well, it’s hard to marry your brother,” she stated. “Now, shacking up with two brothers? That’s totally acceptable in my world.”

  Callen pointed at her.

  “Enough distraction. Why are you enthusiastically holding two people and swapping spit with Elizabeth?” Callen asked again. He was sure there was a good answer for this.

  Then again, these two men were his wife’s family. They were the ones she leaned on all those years ago until he and Ethan could cross her path.

  They really didn’t mind.

  Well, he didn’t. Ethan was always a wild card.

  Tony motioned for him to close the door.

  Callen did.

  “Jaxon and I are going to be parents.”

  That was all he had to say. Callen got it. That was huge for the man. A child…it changed everything.

  Callen grinned.

  Now he got it.

  “This calls for celebration. Elizabeth, kiss me.”

  Tony stared at him. “Come on, man! That’s cold.”

  She started laughing. “Tony, I’m so excited for you. You’re going to be an awesome dad.”

  Chris held up one finger. “Don’t let babies chew on bones.”

  Elizabeth snorted, but she couldn’t help herself. She held up two fingers to continue, “Bugs are not for infants or toddlers. They will throw them up. If this baby is like you, it will be on a complete stranger.”

  Chris held up a third finger. “No losing the baby like you do your tools. You can replace a child, but the authorities frown upon it.”

  He stared laughing.

  Tony loved when they busted his ass. It gave him that sense of belonging. He was sick like that.

  “I get it. Let Jaxon make the rules,” he stated, accepting a hug from Callen.

  “I’m happy for you. Fatherhood, it’s amazing.”

  He believed it. Tony watched his two best friends with their kids, and he wanted in on that action.

  “I have one other thing.”

  “What?” Elizabeth asked, glancing at her watch. By now, the team should be ready to go.

  “Chris and Lyzee, will you be our child’s godparents? Jaxon and I decided that since Jagger’s death, we want you both to handle it.”

  She and Tony shared a look.

  Then she hugged him, tears in her eyes. “I love you, Tony Magnus, and I promise I’ll be the best godmother ever. I’ll love this little Magnus like I do his little Bethe.”

  “Actually, you’ll be more like his or her aunt because you’re like my sister.”

  That made her cry.

  She broke down.

  “Good one. Break the investigator before we get to the scene,” Chris tea
sed as they hugged the man again. He knew it was true. The three of them had something special and it wasn’t broken by death, time, or pain.

  It was love.

  “Thank you, Doctor Anthony Magnus, you big goof,” she said, kissing him again. “The day you walked into my life,” she began.

  “And puked all over me,” Chris added.

  “It was the best day of my life,” Elizabeth finished. “I feel like whistling today too.”

  They knew how much that said about her happiness.

  “I love my family and I love my job,” he said.

  Callen patted him on the back. Honestly, they loved him too. These men were good for his woman.

  They grounded her in the past, present, and likely all of their futures.

  “Your team is ready. We should go. Hopefully, you’ll be passing this off, and we can grab lunch with Ethan.”

  Hopefully.

  “We should celebrate,” she offered. “Lunch is on Chris!” she stated.

  He snorted. “Now you let me buy. This day has to go in the calendar.”

  Callen was laughing.

  “Gee, that calendar is getting pretty damn full today.”

  “I’ll hurt you,” she warned.

  He grinned. “I hope you try.”

  Chapter Two

  Abandoned

  Warehouse

  DC

  When they pulled up to the scene, it was a freaking circus. There were cops acting like clowns, and one detective playing ringmaster.

  Elizabeth immediately began cursing as soon as she saw it. Someone had alerted the media, and it was one hot mess.

  She was going to string someone up, make them pay, and show them what happened when you screwed with one of her crime scenes.

  As she and Callen suited up, they both were at a loss as to what the hell was going on around them. They were accustomed to the media vultures, but never on day one on the first scene.

  Never.

  “Why is the media all over this?” Callen asked. “I know they love when we’re on a case, but no one knew you were handling this.”

  She was aware.

  Pulling out her cell, she dialed her husband as she pulled on her Kevlar and FBI jacket.

  “Hey, baby, what’s up? Coming back in?” he asked hopefully.

  “Uh, why do I have about ten reporters, just as many cameras, and a circus on my hands?” she asked.

  In his haste to tell them about the dream, he’d forgotten one part. “Yeah, Gabe mentioned one of the cops on the scene spilled his guts to a camera guy. It looks like Metro gave you the gift that keeps on giving.”

  “Yeah, a migraine. When I find him, I’m going to spill his guts onto the ground,” she added.

  “Play nice with Metro, baby. You know it makes a shit mess for your favorite husband.”

  Callen snorted. “I didn’t know I was going to start doing paperwork along with my other duties.”

  Ethan snorted. “Damn. Foiled again.”

  She gave Callen a fist bump for making Ethan laugh. She was worried about him and his sanity.

  “Thanks, Ethan. I’ll call later when I figure this mess out,” she offered.

  “I await the call.”

  He hung up.

  Elizabeth turned. Seaton and Seaton were standing right there and they were smiling like the Cheshire Cat. Someone wanted their own case—and from the looks of it—desperately.

  “See if these women had ID’s on them. If they did, I want you to secure their homes. We’ll have Amir split up his merry band of dead-loving men and send them to the scenes.”

  “On it, boss,” Johanna said, as they saluted and headed off to get the job done.

  As the media began shouting at them, she ignored their questions. Elizabeth wasn’t in the mood for that jackassery on a good day.

  Today?

  Nope.

  Chris was headed their way, and he didn’t look happy.

  “What’s up?” she asked. “Why do you have your cranky ME face on? You were fine before we left the morgue. Did someone play fast and loose with your dead body?”

  He wished.

  “There’s a cop on the line, and he won’t let me cross. He said not until the lead investigator tags in.”

  She lifted a brow.

  Seriously?

  “We don’t need a pissing match, but before I hand this nightmare off to Seaton Squared, I’ll clear the way.”

  “Uh, honey, you know him,” Chris stated.

  That had Callen’s interest.

  His wife knew the cop?

  Really?

  Callen had a million questions, but he’d start with the priority one.

  “Know him know him, or KNOW him in a biblical sense? I need to know if I have to kill someone.”

  Chris shook his head.

  There was no way he was outing Elizabeth on this one. He went with a partial answer, since he didn’t know how much Callen knew about Elizabeth’s past love life.

  All he knew was they didn’t know about him.

  “Know as in we worked with him a while ago. It was a hooker case that we worked.”

  Elizabeth stared at him. “What hooker case?”

  “Miss Kitty part one. THE hooker case that started it all.”

  She stared at him.

  Yeah, that case was when they became a sexual couple. It began the years of their relationship.

  The one NO ONE knew about.

  Besides that, it was an important case. It was the one that put her back on the path to being a damn good investigator.

  Chris was staring at her with THE look.

  “Oh boy.”

  Chris nodded. They shared a silent message.

  This was dangerous ground.

  “Williams or Sheehan?” she asked, trying to remain calm over the whole thing. Already, she was getting that panicky feeling. A cop from her past, a rose calling her out…

  Yeah, this was bad.

  Ethan had been right.

  “Detective Sheehan is the detective on the tape, and he doesn’t look like he’s going to be happy about a reunion.”

  “Okay, I have this.”

  Callen was confused. “Why do I feel like I’m missing something?” he asked.

  Oh, he was.

  Elizabeth explained to get him up to speed, “It was just after ‘The Butcher’ incident. My career was tanked. Gabe handed me a case with prostitutes being slaughtered. They were garroted, and I had to go under as a hooker.”

  He was laughing.

  “Needless to say, I solved it. Unfortunately, one other detective in vice was undercover with me. Cathy McCall was her name, playing Precious was her game. She died. The killer found out she was a cop and took her out before I could solve it.”

  “Well, that’s not your fault. Surely, he’s not still holding a grudge all these years later.”

  Chris snorted. “Yeah, you don’t know Detective Sheehan. We’ve crossed paths again and again with Metro.”

  Yeah, and none of them had been good.

  “He’s not the forgiving sort, and to add to that, she was sleeping with Detective Sheehan. He’s never really gotten over it, and he’s not my biggest fan. I think we solved the case of ‘who alerted the media’,” she stated.

  Elizabeth hoped she was wrong, but she doubted that were the case. She didn’t believe in coincidences, and already, this one was fraught with them.

  “Maybe we’re overreacting?” Callen asked.

  Yeah, not likely.

  She and Glenn had bumped into each other a few times over the course of her career. She’d revised her role as Miss Kitty to do her job while he was in Vice, and it never ended well.

  She’d become the FBI darling, Gabe’s hired gun, and he’d become an alcoholic.

  They weren’t friends.

  Hell!

  They weren’t ever going to be.

  “Want me to handle it?” Callen asked, cracking his knuckles.

  “No, we play nice, we go in,
check this out, and I pass it off to the Seatons. We stick to the same plan, same outcome. I don’t want to stir Glenn up. He’s been volatile since Cathy’s death. He lost his partner.”

  “He died?” Callen asked.

  “No, he bailed. Glenn started drinking, acting erratic, and being a douchebag, so Kaleb left DC, and I don’t blame him.”

  Chris started laughing.

  She knew why. Elizabeth, at one time, had a relationship with both men. Okay, it was a one-night stand, but that was about it.

  “Laugh it up, chuckles,” she said to him, knowing he got it. They’d had their fun too.

  “Why is Chris laughing?” Callen asked.

  She wouldn’t lie.

  “Um, well,” she stated, “I may or may not have had a sexual relationship with him.”

  Callen opened his mouth, and then closed it.

  “Okay.”

  Chris stared at him. “It was that easy?”

  “We all had lives before now, Chris. I had sex with quite a few women, and I get it. She was young and sowing her wild oats as a Fed.”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for understanding.”

  “Oh, I do. Don’t tell Ethan. He won’t. You know how he gets, Blessed Virgin Elizabeth.”

  Chris and Elizabeth exchanged looks.

  AND that was why they never told him, or anyone, about their relationship.

  “Let’s get this done. Ethan is texting me non-stop. He’s edgy for you to get back in-house.”

  “Good idea. Let’s go.”

  As she headed toward the tapeline, Glenn was there, and he didn’t look the same. This wasn’t the same man she’d had a few drinks with, and then a one-night stand.

  He looked like shit.

  He looked beat down.

  He looked forty years older instead of fourteen.

  “Wow, Detective Sheehan, we meet again. Who would have seen that one coming?”

  He stared at her. “Elizabeth LaRue, look at you playing investigator. Who would have seen that one coming?” he shot back at her.

  “Whitefox-Blackhawk,” she corrected, letting the rest go for now. She wasn’t getting into a pissing match with him. It was clear his life had sucked.

  The script had been flipped, and hers was awesome.

  “Yeah, I heard you married the Deputy Director of the FBI. Hey, whatever you gotta do to move up, right?”

  Callen tensed.