Dying to Love (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 18)

by Morgan Kelley

  “Hey! I called the grocery store. They have limited surveillance, but they do happen to have a camera right where her car was left.”

  “Well, we lucked out after all,” she said, walking around the house. On the front porch, Robert Donaldson was sitting there.

  Weeping.

  “His life will never be the same,” Callen stated. “If I lost either of you, mine wouldn’t be either.”

  They felt the same.

  “Let’s get this video, and see what we can find. Someone stole Kristen Kowan out of a parking lot, and I want to know how he drugged her with Special K without her knowing it.”

  Yeah, that had to be one hell of a trick.

  Their killer was sneaky, but he was up against a pro. She’d find him.

  If it was the last thing she did.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Morgue

  Amir was working on finding an ID.

  Doctor Leonard said it was his top priority.

  While he liked his job, he was confused. In school, the evidence was the top priority. It really wasn’t his job to do searches.

  Now he was unlearning what he had studied.

  It confused the hell out of him.

  Heading toward Chris, he knew the man didn’t like to be bothered while he was doing an autopsy, but he was done with the task at hand.

  “Yes?” Chris asked, glancing up from the headless torso to help his tech.

  “I have her identity.”

  “Oh, great. Who is it?”

  “Her name is Linda Yu. She was arrested for prostitution. I have facial identification in case we find her head.”

  “We probably will, once we find the killer. Killers like to keep souvenirs. I hope he doesn’t have a whole bunch of them. That’s always creepy,” Tony offered, holding the tray for Chris.

  “Well, her name will help Elizabeth do her job. Keep running DNA and anything else that will give us an edge over the killer.”

  “Okay, sir. Do you want me to call her?” Amir offered.

  Chris knew it was best to keep the newbies away from her. She ate them for breakfast. So far, Amir was doing an okay job. He might just last if his Elizabeth contact was limited.

  “No, I got it. Someone dial Elizabeth and hold the phone up for me,” he said, his hands stuck in a chest.

  When she wanted info ASAP, she wasn’t kidding around.

  They needed it fast.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  At the local grocery store, they hunched over the screen to watch the video.

  It showed Kristen Kowan pushing her cart through the parking lot.

  It was filled with groceries.

  She loaded them up.

  She put the cart away.

  She took a bottle of water out of her purse, looked at it, and then gulped it down.

  Then she got into her car.

  She never turned it on. The taillights never went on, and that told them one thing.

  The Ketamine kicked in fast.

  “It was in the water bottle,” she said. “She looked at it like it was foreign, and then drank out of it because it had to be hers. How else would it get in her purse?”

  “He slipped it in her purse in the store,” Callen stated. “That’s likely when it happened. You know how women are. You’re shopping for your kids, not paying attention as your purse sits in the front of the cart unattended.”

  She knew he was right.

  She did it all the time. Well, until that moment. She’d never do it again.

  “Look,” Ethan stated, pointing at the screen. “That car backs in, he opens the door and it blocks what he’s doing, and he then goes to her door.”

  They were parked side by side.

  “No one would be paying attention,” Callen stated. “No one would even be questioning it. It was so nondescript that it’s barely noticeable. He’s good.”

  Yeah, too good.

  They watched as Kristen was pulled from the vehicle, shoved into the seat, and then her car was closed up.

  “He moved fast. He knew how long it would take, and he didn’t hesitate. That’s ballsy. It was all based on her drinking that water. Had she done it while driving, it would have been an accident, and he wouldn’t have gotten her.”

  “That proves one thing,” Ethan stated.

  “Yeah, that he’s not a criminal mastermind,” Callen offered. “That’s one hell of a risk to take to get your chosen woman. It could have gone South, and fast.”

  “He’s definitely sick,” Ethan offered. “No one would risk this in plain sight—not a killer. They prey at night when it’s dark, and they can get away with it.”

  “Houston, we have a cuckoo,” she stated.

  “It’s a Mercedes,” Callen offered. “You can see the emblem when he backs in.”

  “Any plate?” she asks.

  “No.”

  “Shit.”

  “He knew we’d check,” Ethan offered. “He’s crazy, but he’s holding it together. The hardest criminal to catch is a semi-lucid one. They can go either way.”

  She was aware.

  “He’s got access to some big time cars. First, we had Audis, and now we have a Mercedes.”

  Her phone rang.

  Elizabeth checked out the caller ID. She didn’t recognize the number. “Blackhawk.”

  “Lyzee, honey, it’s me. I have your victim’s ID. Sorry about calling on a tech’s line, I’m mid autopsy, and I don’t have a free hand.”

  She was glad to get the call regardless of whose phone he used. At this point, God could call, and she’d be grateful.

  “Who is it, and is she a hooker?”

  Chris rattled off the name. “Linda Yu, and yes, boss lady, she was a hooker. Lucky you.”

  “Yeah, unlucky her. Why does that name sound familiar?” she asked.

  “Got me. I have Amir still working on it. Give him time. He’ll find something for you. He’s running her DNA still. We’ll find out more before the day is up.”

  In this case, she might be able to live with that. If Ethan’s assessment, that the killer was done, was right, she was going to be able to do some interviews, regroup, and maybe hit this up logically.

  That was new for a change.

  Normally, she was playing catchup as the next body turned up. She trusted her husband and his skills.

  His profiles were gold.

  “Well, we have a few more interviews, and we’ll be back in, so tell your newest head techie to dazzle me, or I’ll boot him around for shits and giggles.”

  He snorted. “We are all aware, and I’m pretty sure that he is too.”

  “Well, as long as we’re on the same page,” she offered.

  As soon as Chris hung up, she held up her finger, signaling she needed a minute. Dialing the Seatons, she got Johanna on the line.

  “Joey, I need everything you can find on Linda Yu. She’s the newest victim.”

  “I can do that, boss. No problem.”

  “I have Amir working on it, too, but you how I like covering my bases with the newbies. The more working on it, the better chance something won’t get past us.”

  “Got it, boss!”

  Elizabeth hung up.

  “Do we have him putting the bottle in her purse?” she asked, as Callen and Ethan worked on speeding through the tape.

  “Here he is, entering the store.”

  Elizabeth studied him. “He moves fast, he’s relatively bulky, and he knows we’re going to pull these.”

  Ethan agreed. “He could be wearing layers, but he has a spring to his step.”

  “Of course he does,” she offered. “He’s about to kill someone. He’s all excited. He’s in the home stages of creating this mess.”

  Callen fast-forwarded through. “Here’s where he sees her, and he’s always aware of his surroundings. He actually walked awkwardly to avoid the camera.”

  “Yeah, he’s studied it. Can we pull earlier footag
e, like the previous two weeks?”

  Ethan got it. “You’re thinking he did this before as a trial run, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, I am. If he watches, and the husband said his wife did this every other Saturday, then he knew that.”

  Ethan went to find the manager.

  Meanwhile, Callen stared at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  He tugged her toward him. “I want you to make sure you stick close to me, Lyzee. If he’s done killing, and you’re the final person in his sights, I don’t want him near you.”

  “I promise I’ll stay by your side. This may be the first occasion we have time to figure this out.”

  He didn’t care.

  Callen wanted to make sure his wife was safe. That’s what the whole thing came down to for him.

  Her well-being mattered most.

  Her safety.

  Her life.

  They were paramount.

  Screw chasing killers. If it came down to it, this nut could run for it, and as long as his wife was safe, the mother of his children wasn’t hurt, then he’d suck it up.

  “Are you just holding me for your health, or are you going to give me some lip action?” she asked.

  He tugged her mouth to his.

  Slowly, Callen gave her a kiss. It was soft, gentle, and as his tongue slid effortlessly against hers, they both fell into the lip lock.

  When Ethan walked back in, he watched them. The sight of Elizabeth and Callen always stole his breath. It centered him and gave him peace.

  They were home.

  Family.

  Life.

  Love.

  This was why he got up every day, went to work, and kept it up even when he was exhausted. They were his to love and make proud.

  He cleared his throat.

  “Why is it that Callen can’t help himself from making out with you in small closed in rooms?” he asked, looking around the cramped security office.

  She started laughing. “It’s because he’s a pervert, and I like him that way.”

  Callen laughed. “Gee, thanks.”

  “Anyway, I found the manager. The recordings aren’t held more than forty-eight hours, unless they have a reason. The police had him copy this one. We can’t look back. Anything we could have ascertained is now history.”

  “Of course not,” she muttered. “Damn it! We were so freaking close.”

  “We learned a lot,” Ethan reassured. “He has access to cars, and he knows we’re watching.”

  Callen agreed.

  “We also can see his size. Kristen was small, and he was towering over her. He will be tall. I’d go with around your height,” he offered.

  Ethan continued, “He also took her in the afternoon, and we have TOD as around six, so we know he took her somewhere and took his time.”

  She agreed. “It has to take some major time to cut out someone’s heart. He went through her chest while she was alive. There was some big time screaming there. This is looking bad for our buddy Ralph Dixon.”

  She reminded them about the man they had to interview who worked security.

  “It fits,” Ethan offered.

  “And we all know what that means,” Callen stated.

  “Yeah, that there just might be something there.”

  Or so they hoped.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Whitefox-Blackhawk

  Homestead

  Wyler was pacing.

  Something was up, and he couldn’t get calm. All night and that day, he’d had the feeling that something bad was coming. He simply couldn’t shake it.

  While he knew they were safe, locked behind the walls of the secured home, he didn’t think his boys or Elizabeth were.

  As he walked back and forth, avoiding the toys, he kept getting that sick feeling.

  “Wyler, my love, what’s wrong?” Maeve asked, walking into the room with two mugs of tea.

  “I feel off, honey.”

  “About what?”

  He heard the wind chimes, and he knew his father was nearby. He was watching over them.

  “My kids.”

  She handed him a mug. “Why don’t you meditate? I’ll watch the babies, and you go get some peace. I’ve never seen you this stirred up before, and I don’t like it. Where I’m from, the spirits warn you, and this might be a message.”

  He stared at her. One of the things he liked best about Maeve was she got it.

  The Irish believed in the voices of the dead, and so did he. In fact, he needed to make a call.

  “I will, honey, but give me one minute. I need to call Elizabeth. I feel compelled.”

  She ran her hand up and down his arm, and her wedding ring glinted from the light.

  “Go ahead, my love. Do it. Go with what you feel is right,” she said.

  He had to.

  Wyler had his father whispering in his ear, and he was warning him.

  The raven had blood on her wings.

  He could see it now.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  When her phone rang, they were on their way to Paul Freeman’s house. They were trying to knock out some of the interviews before they met with Chris for his autopsy information. Hopefully, since there was not likely to be another killing, they would be able to eat a decent dinner, tuck in their kids, and focus on the case before bed.

  Once locked down in the compound, she would be perfectly safe.

  It never worked like this, and they were taking advantage of the situation.

  When she read the screen, she was worried. “It’s Wyler.”

  Hitting speaker, she answered, “What’s up, Dad?” she asked.

  “I don’t feel well.”

  They all worried. Wyler, while in excellent health, he was an aging man. They had placed a lot of pressure on him to be the caretaker of their tribe.

  “Do you need a doctor?” she asked. “We can take you to the ER.”

  There was a pause.

  “No, sweetheart, not that kind of sick,” he offered. “I feel off, and I was compelled to call you.”

  “Oh,” she said, relaxing.

  In fact, they all felt off with this one.

  “I heard Timothy. He’s warning me. The wind chimes are going crazy, I feel edgy, and I know he’s here.”

  She understood.

  They all had a run in with the same warnings. Wind chimes were Timothy’s preferred method of communication with them. When they heard it, they knew he was warning them of what was to come.

  She heard them a few times, and they were all in warning.

  “Okay, well, I’m fine,” she reassured.

  “The raven has blood on her wings. I keep hearing that.”

  Ethan glanced over while driving.

  “What?”

  “I keep hearing it, son. I don’t know why, but I do. It has me a little freaked out.”

  Well, since it reminded him of the dream he’d pushed to the back of his brain, it now had him freaked out too.

  “I’ll be okay,” she promised.

  “Something ugly is coming, Elizabeth. You make sure you watch your back.”

  All the Blackhawk men were stirred up.

  She needed to cut this pony off at the pass, or they’d be telling her to hide, and that would do one thing.

  It would piss her off.

  “We’ll talk about it tonight over dinner. Can we have something Native-y?” she asked, getting him to refocus elsewhere.

  The change in subject had the desired effect.

  “We can. What would you like?”

  Ethan and Callen were staring at her. Clearly, they knew what she was doing.

  “Surprise me. Make whatever Maeve likes. I want her to experience it now. She’s the newest member to the family and needs the introduction to the cuisine.”

  “Okay, sweetheart, and I know what you’re doing.”

  She laughed.

  The Blackhawk boys were just lik
e their father.

  “I’ll be safe, Wyler. I promise. You just handle the homestead, and keep the security all over our kids and yourself. This killer isn’t all there.”

  “Boys, you watch her back!” he said, knowing they were there.

  “We will, Dad,” Ethan offered.

  Callen braced his hand on her shoulder. “We have her, Dad.”

  He felt a little better.

  “Okay, kids. I’ll see you later. I love you all.”

  They loved him too.

  When she hung up, they both opened their mouths. She cut them off. “The first person to tell me to go into hiding doesn’t have sex for the next year.”

  They closed their mouths.

  “I’m fine. I have two babysitters. What the hell could possibly go wrong?”

  “Whenever we say that,” Callen began, “something goes wrong. Now we’re screwed.”

  She laughed.

  “That’s not true,” she stated. “We’ve had plenty of times where it went right.”

  Callen stared at her. “Oh, sure. Name one time.”

  “When we were looking for Desdemona’s sister. You two were all over me. I do believe I said what could go wrong, and we ended up a happy couple.”

  “Okay, you have a point.”

  “See?”

  Ethan shut off their ride as they parked in front of Paul Freeman’s home.

  “We’re here.”

  They all hopped out.

  “Let’s get this interview done,” she said, following the two men up the stairs. Normally, they followed her, but they were playing shield and flanking her body.

  Whatever it took to get this over with.

  At this point, she simply wanted to get this case handled. All she could think about was telling Ethan about her past with Chris, and then taking a vacation.

  Yeah, the house in Salem was going to be a nice place to hide out for a week.

  She couldn’t wait.

  As Callen knocked on the door, they heard footsteps heading their way.

  When the door opened, the man stared at them, and they knew what was going to happen.

  He was going to run.