Pledging to Die (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 11)

by Morgan Kelley

When the men stared at her, she shook her head. “I’m not the one he needs to worry about,” she stated. “You see, when my ME gets here, Nick, he’s going to peel the hide off that campus dick. Doctor Christopher Leonard gets testy when someone plays with his dead.”

  “He was just trying to help. You can’t fault him for that, Elizabeth. I mean, he found her. That’s a good thing.”

  Elizabeth stared at him. “Yes, I can, and I can also fault him for one other thing that I’ve noticed.”

  He scratched his head. “What?”

  “Each time Johanna found a body, he was there. Now he miraculously finds our missing victim, pulls her out, and dumps his DNA all over her. Did he do it to be helpful or are we getting close? He was awful quick to blame Johanna. That makes me incredibly suspicious.”

  Ethan agreed. “I can’t count the times a killer pointed out the body trying to be ‘helpful’. Sometimes, they think we’re moving too slow, so they like to give the investigation a push.”

  Nick stared at them. “You’re suspicious of everyone now. Maybe that’s how he rolls,” he said, pointing at Ethan, “but you’re definitely not the sweet girl you used to be.”

  Blackhawk laughed about that. “Oh, she’s sweet, until you get on her wrong side, and now Roddy Penson is on it.”

  Hell yeah, he was.

  Elizabeth couldn’t wait to brow beat the campus cop. She was looking forward to it.

  When Chris Leonard pulled up, his boss was waiting for him. He should have known immediately there was an issue because she was blocking his path to the crime scene.

  “Where is she?” he asked, already suited up.

  “Wait, Chris. I have something you need to know first,” Elizabeth said, placing her hand on his arm.

  He stared down at it, and then his eyes went wide. “Oh, no! Please tell me someone hasn’t screwed with my body. The only time you ever stop me from getting to work is when something has happened.”

  Her team knew her well.

  “You need to stay calm.”

  Those words did the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do.

  “Please tell me that Doctor Leape didn't beat me here,” he said, looking around. “Did he start poking at the victim?”

  Oh, if that were their only problem, Chris was going to be happy.

  No, this was far worse.

  “When we arrived on scene, the body was already recovered.”

  He paused, weighing her words. “Wait. Recovered? As in moved? Someone actually moved the victim before I got to see her?”

  She nodded.

  “They took pictures before she was touched, right?”

  Elizabeth shook her head.

  “No! What?”

  It was time to break the bad news. “Our victim was found in the storm drain by a campus cop, and he was trying to give her some dignity, so he hauled her body up and out, resting her on the grass.”

  He looked horrified. “On the grass? The same grass that people walk on all day long? The same grass where people spit and leave chewed up gum fraught with DNA?”

  She nodded.

  “Oh. My. God! No! This can’t be happening. No one is that big of an idiot to move a decaying body. She’ll leak fluids, it’ll mess with my time of death, and…”

  She patted his arm. “I’m sorry, Doc.”

  Chris stared at her.

  “She’s blocked off now, and no one’s touched her since we arrived on the scene. This is one of those times where you can laugh or you can explode. I suggest you get your giggle on. You’ll feel so much better.”

  He stared over Elizabeth’s shoulder at a cop standing between Ethan and Callen. He looked freaked out, and that meant one thing.

  He was the one.

  “So, what you’re telling me is that someone destroyed evidence, contaminated the scene, and now I can’t see the body in situ?”

  “Pretty much.”

  He glared at the man, pointing with a blue gloved finger. “If you don’t kill him, I will. He’s just made all of our jobs so much harder. If she was in a storm drain, the killer put her there. Now, I can’t see what position she was in, and that says a lot about a killer.”

  He tried to get past her, but Elizabeth moved into his path. “Chris, we’re going to torment him, so you can go do your job. Trust me, no one’s happy with this, and I’ll make him pay.”

  “Oh, I’m so far from happy, it isn’t funny. This week, I’ve had to babysit Doogie McCutter ME, and now someone screwed with my body.”

  Elizabeth found that amusing.

  “My leg hurts, I miss my girls, and now a campus cop has jacked with a scene? This is like my worst week ever.”

  Then he stared at her.

  “Why are you so calm? Normally, you’d be storming around like a lunatic, tearing everyone a new one. I think I like the old Elizabeth better. Where is she?”

  She grinned. “Oh, she’s here, but because you’re not calm, I have to be. It’s not often that I get to be one of the calmest people on a scene. This is like a present for me,” she offered.

  He let out a long breath. “Can I speak to the cop?” he asked.

  “Are you going to hit him?”

  “No! Are you insane? When’s the last time I hit someone out of anger?”

  She couldn’t remember that ever happening, so Elizabeth figured they were safe. “I was just curious. I wanted to take a video to show everyone back home, that’s all.”

  He laughed. “Thanks for that. No, I need to school him, since you’re irritatingly relaxed.”

  She moved out of his way.

  As Chris approached the cop, he motioned to Merry, who was carrying her tech kit. “Are you the one who found our victim?”

  “Yes, sir. I was.”

  “Then you’re going to hate this,” he said, turning toward Merry. “Strip him. I want his clothes, hair, and shoes. While you’re at it, take him back to the morgue and get nail scrapings, samples of saliva, and see if he has any dandruff.”

  The man looked worried. “Hey! Wait!”

  Elizabeth pointed at him. “Zip it. Don’t interrupt my ME, or I’ll kick your ass.”

  He closed his mouth.

  “After you get all that, then you’ll need to get one more sample for the testing. Since he touched her, he’s not going to mind giving us a container of semen.”

  It took everything for Elizabeth not to laugh. The look on the cop’s face was priceless.

  “Can he do that?” he asked Ethan. “Can he really make me jerk off in a cup?”

  Blackhawk was amused. It was obvious that Chris Leonard went to school at the Elizabeth Blackhawk university of spiteful behavior.

  He’d learned from the best.

  “Well, you touched his body, so yeah, he can consider you as part of the evidence. You might not want to ever touch a dead body again. ME’s tend to get nasty.”

  “But semen?”

  “I need your DNA, and that’s the most painful way I can think to get it, since my tech will be standing there. Waiting. Watching.”

  Merry wiggled her fingers in a little wave. “Yes, I will.”

  The man stared openmouthed.

  “Off you go,” Chris ordered.

  Elizabeth stopped Merry from leading him away, so she could add to the man’s torment. “Tomorrow, I will find you. We need to have a little interview. The only reason you’re escaping me is because when Merry’s done with you, the only thing not violated will be your prostate.”

  He looked horrified.

  Merry winked at her as she led him to one of the vans.

  “Well, that was fun,” stated Chris. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have a girl to take care of.”

  Callen struggled not to break out in laughter. “I can’t believe he just ordered a cop to cum in a cup.”

  Both Blackhawks looked over at him.

  “What? We’re at college. I thought alliteration would show off my brainy side. Admit it. You’re really attracted to me right now.”<
br />
  She snorted, giving her partner and husband a fist bump. “Yeah, I really am.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “Suck up.”

  Callen winked at his brother. “Any chance I can get.”

  “Let’s get to work,” Elizabeth said, following after her ME.

  Ethan Blackhawk stared up at the building. “While you take care of it down here, I’m going to head up and check in on our agents.”

  She agreed. “Tell them to lay low. I don’t like how our victim turned up in Johanna’s back yard. It makes me edgy. I’m suspicious by nature.”

  When Ethan walked off, Sheriff Rakin materialized at her side. “There’s a pissed off college student in the back of my car,” he stated. “He’s touting things about his civil rights being violated. You may want to handle that.”

  She glanced back over at Callen. “You’re calmer than I am. I may grab his dick and tie it in one hell of knot. Can you see what the hell he was doing here?”

  “Sure thing, angel,” he stated, kissing her on the forehead. “You know how the men in your life get pissy when you come in contact with other male appendages.”

  “Callen! No kissy-face on a scene!”

  He laughed, walking away.

  “Delete anything on his phone or that camera!”

  He saluted as he disappeared into the crowd.

  “You really weren’t kidding, were you? At first, I thought you were yanking my chain about being with both men, Elizabeth, but I can see that it’s the truth.”

  “Yes, it is. I rarely joke around about my relationship. I take that, and my job, very serious.”

  “You said you had four kids. Who’s the daddy?”

  She glanced over. “That’s a little personal, isn’t it? You wouldn’t ask a stranger that, so why would you go there with someone you haven’t seen in years? History only goes so far, Nick.”

  Sheriff Rakin shrugged. “It’s because we do have history. We go way back, Elizabeth. I could have been your brother-in-law,” he stated, “had you accepted Dak’s proposal.”

  Elizabeth stood over Chris as he took care of the body. She scanned the crowd, making sure her people were safe. “Two are Ethan’s and two are Callen’s. I have two girls and two boys.”

  “That’s sweet,” he said.

  “I think so.”

  Chris began cursing from the ground. “She’s got tears to her flesh and there’s grass in them. He didn't carry her, he pulled her across the grass.”

  “So, you’re even more pissed? What do you want now? You already have him jerking off into a cup in a morgue. I’m thinking the man will never get it up again after this.”

  He laughed. “I hate that you can calm me down,” he stated. “I’ll just have to do a more comprehensive exam. You’re not going to have the results by morning. I’m going to need a full day to do this one. I have to move slowly, so don’t bother asking me until Sunday.”

  She stared at him. “You realize I’m in the middle of an investigation, right? Slow isn’t a speed we move at when a killer is on the move.”

  He grinned. “Are you? I didn’t notice. Stop being a bitch and give me a little leeway on this. I need to get some sleep, and she needs to cool down. She’s been in a drain, and it was warm.”

  Elizabeth didn't let it go. “Roll her. I want to see what she’s missing.”

  He gave her a look.

  “Seriously?” he asked. “Hasn’t she picked up enough trace? If I flip her to her back, I’ll get more shit in the wounds.”

  She stared at him. “Chris. I need this for the investigation. We can do it one of two ways. You can roll her, and I’ll stop riding those expensive britches of yours, or I can hold out my hand and get a pair of gloves,” she began, doing just that. Like magic, a pair appeared from a nearby tech, “and I’ll roll her myself. She’s already compromised, so you know I’ll do it.”

  “Traitor,” he growled at his tech. “Fine.”

  “I thought you’d see it my way. Roll her, and I’ll leave you alone.”

  “Deal.”

  Motioning toward a tech, he had help gently flipping her over. The second he did, he knew it was a big mistake. Her torso was hacked up, she was about to make his boss sick.

  “Shit!” Elizabeth stated, turning fast. “Damn it!” It pissed her off that she’d had to look into the decaying holes that had once been the woman’s eyes. While dead eyes were gross, and she was getting over it, the missing orbs were just…ick.

  “I’m sorry, Lyzee,” Chris stated, knowing that was Elizabeth’s big freak out.

  She took a deep breath, trying not to let the panic overcome her. She had an audience, and Sheriff Rakin was watching her. “Is she covered?”

  Chris stood between her and the body as the tech zipped her up. “Yeah, you’re good.”

  When she turned, she was pissed—not at him—but at herself. No matter how hard she tried, that one little thing made her want to weep and hide.

  “When I drop in for a visit on Sunday morning, you need to have something for me, Chris. It’s time to work your magic, so I can work mine.”

  He hugged her. “No problem, boss lady. We’ll take care of this.”

  Sheriff Rakin stared curiously. When he opened his mouth, she cut him off.

  “I’m going to need to borrow a conference room at the station,” she stated. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “For what?”

  “I want to make the interview of Roddy Penson official.”

  “I’m sure he has nothing to do with this. He’s just a kid himself,” Nick stated. “He’s a campus cop and just doing his job. You can’t possibly think that he’s the killer.”

  She stared at him.

  “Can you?”

  She wished she could be so naïve, but that wasn’t possible. In her job, she had to make sure everything was taken care of, and that meant all the loose ends.

  And that’s exactly what Roddy was.

  A really big one.

  Upstairs in the dorm, he found Johanna’s room and softly knocked on the door. Fortunately for him, most of the students were down the other side of the hall, gawking at the body from the windows.

  When the door opened a crack, he saw her brown eyes, and then she immediately opened.

  “Director,” she stated.

  When he entered, he saw she wasn’t alone. On her bed Broderick Seaton was sitting and using her laptop.

  “Hey, boss,” he said, glancing up.

  “You’re out and about early, or did you stay the night?” he asked. “Was this protection detail?”

  He shook his head. “I was out for a run, trying to get away from the frat brothers, and I saw the mess. I snuck in to make sure Joey was safe.”

  Blackhawk took a seat at her desk chair. “Did you see anything?” he asked, hoping Johanna might give them something.

  “Sorry, sir. I was asleep.” She didn't tell him that she had been up late waiting for Brody.

  “We have a problem down there. We likely found the third victim, Poppy Gauger. Try to lay low for today. Elizabeth doesn’t like how she turned up here. We aren’t sure if it’s a coincidence or something more.”

  “There’s a party tonight. Do you want me to skip it?” Johanna asked.

  He thought about it.

  Something was making him increasingly nervous about the frat house, but he couldn’t tell if it was genuine or because he had an agent there.

  “I think that might be a good idea.”

  “Director?” she began, hoping he’d think her idea was a good one.

  “Yes?”

  “I was thinking about something,” she began, telling him about Brody having to lure another girl to his room, giving her a good deal of freedom.

  “Okay, and?”

  “While he’s with her, the frat boys will be downstairs at the party. I can get into the house through a trellis on the outside. Once there, I can dig around. We need evidence, and I might be able to get us something to use.”
<
br />   He didn't like it for a myriad of reasons. “We can’t steal evidence, Agent. You know that.”

  Brody came to her defense. “They’re drugging these women, and I know that Nels keeps a book as a record. It’s like a game. If she can get it…”

  He stopped him. “If she can get it, we still can’t use it. You know that, Agent.”

  Johanna knew that Ethan Blackhawk worked on rational thinking. If she wanted to convince him, it was going to mean she had to go with logic.

  “If I can look around, we can get a better idea of what we’re dealing with. It’s likely that one of these men is the killer. It might be all of them for all we know. If I can take a peek, I could find something like the drugs.”

  He thought about how he could get a court to accept anything she found. There was just no way they could swing it. With one of the students having a judge as a father, it would harm the case.

  “I’m sorry, but no. It’s too risky, and you digging around will get you hurt. These men are drugging and raping women. No offense, but you’re someone they’d love to get their hands on.”

  They didn't question him.

  He was the boss.

  “Now, stay in tonight. Brody, you’re going to have to show up at the party. If you go missing, you’re going to be flagged. I want you to be present and accounted for all day at the frat. Hear me?”

  He nodded.

  “That means leaving right now. I’ll get you past the sheriff’s men downstairs, but then I want you back doing your job.”

  He didn't look happy to leave Johanna alone.

  “I gave you an order.”

  Brody stood, grabbing his cell off the shelf. “Yes, sir. I understand. I’ll head back and keep you updated.” Then he looked over at Johanna. “Please stay in here and be safe.”

  She wanted to say so much to him, but here was their boss in front of her. There was no doubt in her mind that he was simply waiting for her to do something wrong. If they wanted to be partners, there was a time and a place for emotion.

  This was clearly not it.

  This was a test.

  Ethan Blackhawk was notorious for being tough, and the last thing Johanna needed was to screw up again. They’d done that once with a case, and it still haunted them.

  When she didn't move, Ethan pointed at the door, letting his agent know it was time.