“Well, he messed with the wrong woman on that one,” added Blackhawk. Deputy Mason seemed like a nice guy. He was tall and had sandy brown hair. His blue eyes sparkled as he laughed. Too bad he worked for an asshole.
“Yeah, I could tell. She’s something to watch in action. Agent Blackhawk got him all stirred up that’s for sure,” he paused, and then changed the subject. “How’s it going with the investigation,” he inquired, amicably.
Ethan quietly observed the deputy. He seemed friendly enough, but he didn’t trust the man wasn’t going to run back to his boss and pass on all the information. “It’s ongoing. You know the standard line.”
“Well if you need anything else, here’s my number,” he said, pulling a card from the counter. “Just have Agent Blackhawk call if she needs anymore paperwork, or have her swing by the office. I’ll keep her far enough away from Sheriff Pavette,” he said, winking.
“Thank you,” he answered, putting his sunglasses on and grabbing the folder. “Have a good one, Deputy Mason,” he said, strolling out of the office with his brother. Now it was time to find a healthy lunch for his wife and return back to base.
“That went smooth,” Whitefox said, surprised himself at the willingness of the deputy.
“Yeah, you aren’t kidding. Maybe it’s our lucky day.”
Elizabeth dragged the white board from her husband’s office into her own. She wanted to have plenty of space as she wrote the information down and broke it all apart. On half the board she posted the pictures of the women.
First was the partially decayed Jane Doe found in the hole. She was Native American and that was all they had on her. The ME was still trying to find a dental match out of the thousands of missing person reports that turned up yearly. It was going to take time. When the tech team finished the computer generated facial reconstruction, she would then take the woman’s picture to the dentist on the reservation and hope for a small miracle.
Second picture up on the board was fully intact victim. Thanks to the lab, they had a name and a face. In life she had been Lila Montgomery, and she had been a sweet looking girl. Almost naïve looking and it was heartbreaking that she had been the killer’s prey. She placed both pictures side by side, giving her respect in life and death. From her driver’s license picture she looked happy and sweet.
They were going to have to notify next of kin, as her family was on the reservation, according to the address. She pulled out the missing or left voluntarily list from Timothy Blackhawk, searching through the names. Sadly, she was on it, and beside her name was an explanation. Lila had left to run off with an outsider that she was seeing. Lila Montgomery hadn’t found love. All she found was a bad end to her young life. This one she would pass off to the reservation police. There was no way the family would want outsiders delivering the news, and honestly she was fine with bailing on a family notification.
The next picture was that of the dead girl found in her brother-in-law’s living room. This victim was the big bump in this assignment. The killer had dressed her up and picked a non-pregnant woman. There had to be a message in there somewhere, she just needed time to find it and figure out what he was saying. A killer didn’t switch up methodology mid-kill, unless there was a reason. Part of the entire thing felt like he was screwing with them, taunting them and just trying to make their job more difficult.
Something kept bothering her, and she had to follow up. Calling down to the ME she waited for Chris to answer his phone. When he didn’t, she just decided to head there on her own. There had to be a reason why the woman was killed. Already the pit bull tenacity was finding its way to the surface. There would be no rest until this was figured out.
Doctor Leonard wasn’t in the lab, so there could be only two other places he would be. The first would be eating in the cafeteria, or the lounge catching some downtime. Elizabeth knew eating was out, and she hoped he wasn’t sleeping, because she was going to have to wake him up to ask him questions. Despite being a hard ass to the tech team, she genuinely cared about all of them. They were the best team in her opinion, ever assembled. Knocking on the door, she placed her hand over her eyes and stepped into the lounge. “Are all the males in this room completely dressed before I open my eyes?” she asked, grinning.
Doctor Leonard laughed. “If I said I was naked, would it matter?”
“Probably not,” she answered, dropping her hand. The doctor was vertical on the couch, fully dressed and balancing files on his chest. “I learned my lesson Chris. I knock anymore.” She remembered being back at Quantico and walking into the lounge to find him passed out and in just his boxers. While that was entertaining back then, she doubted her husband would find it funny, and he was stressed enough. No point pushing him over the edge with her seeing the staff half naked.
“Where’s your shadow?” he asked, waiting for the other Blackhawk to meander in at any moment.
“Out in the field for now, but I had a question and needed an answer.”
Doctor Leonard sat up, put his glasses back on and patted the couch beside him. “What can I answer for you?”
“All the other victims were pregnant, but not this one. I don’t get why,” she said, “It’s tripping me up. He killed pregnant women, and now he goes in the other direction? It doesn’t make sense.”
“She had an IUD in and maybe she didn’t want a pregnancy like the other women did,” he added offhandedly. “As for why he killed her, only he has the answer for that right now. Maybe something triggered it. He switched it up, or maybe this woman saw something and he had to take care of her.”
“I guess.” It was still bothering her.
“I wish I could be more of assistance on the why, but really it’s not my area.” Doctor Leonard patted her on the shoulder.
“Thanks Chris.”
“So, want to tell me why the boss man keeps giving Tony and me the hairy-eyeball?”
“Now, that’s your imagination,” she answered laughing.
“I don’t believe it is.”
Elizabeth wasn’t sure how to answer that question. It wasn’t appropriate to tell her friends and co-workers that her husband was jealous. There had to be a husband law somewhere that prohibited that, so she covered for him. “He’s just more the spectator, he likes to study and observe those around him. It makes him seem chilly, but he’s really not at all. Let’s write it off as the profiler in him.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so, and now back on the topic here. Is the tox in yet for the woman found in my brother-in-law’s house?” she asked.
He handed her a file that was in the pile. “It’s back and the woman’s Chloral Hydrate levels were relatively the same as the un-decayed woman found in the hole.”
“How do you think the killer is doing it, Doc?”
“The quickest way would be by injection, but I haven’t found proof on the two bodies that were intact, so I would rule that out for now.”
“What would be next?”
“I would go with gas form like in the dentist office.”
Elizabeth made a mental note to add that to the list of questions for the dentist.
“Although, unless the person were willing to inhale it, they would fight and that would make it relatively difficult.”
“Any DNA under their nails?” she asked, hopefully.
“Nada, Lyzee. He didn’t have much contact with them. I haven’t been able to find any trace so to speak. It’s as if he knew what we’d be looking for when we found them, if we found them.”
“Okay, so then he didn’t inject or gas. What’s next?”
“Slipping it into food or drink would be the next logical choice. The only issue with that would be they’d need to drink the entire beverage or consume the entire portion of food. That would mean the victim was comfortable with him. You don’t sit down to have dinner with a stranger or a first date. Women tend to pick through their food.”
“I don’t. I always ate. For Ethan’s and my first meal
out together, we had lunch. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger covered in mayonnaise.”
“Elizabeth,” he patted her hand. “You aren’t the average woman.”
That gave her pause. Then what the hell was she? Forget it; she probably was better off not knowing. “What do we have on stomach contents?” Elizabeth was hoping they were heading to at least something viable. They needed something and soon.
“The girl found in Chief Whitefox’s home had consumed pizza and beer.”
“How about the woman that we found fully intact in the hole? What was her last meal?”
“She consumed apple juice and Chinese food. I won’t tell you the details. It may ruin your love of take out.”
Elizabeth rubbed her eyes in frustration. “Thanks, Chris. How about the other girl?”
“Stomach content was degraded due to time and decomp. Most likely it leaked from her body into the soup. Sorry, Lyzee. That’s a dead end.”
“Damn it! Okay, Chris. I appreciate it. I really do,” she stood. “I have to get back up to the white board and get to work. If I don’t work this through soon, I’m afraid we’ll have another body to add to it.”
“You look worn down, Lyzee. Get some rest if you can,” he said, watching her walk away.
“It’s on my list, Chris, right after find the killer and win the lottery.”
Elizabeth grabbed some coffee and returned to the white board. She scribbled down all the information on the board under the pictures that Doctor Leonard just relayed to her. Underneath she also wrote in the gestational age of the fetuses, because they were once alive and struggling to be born into this world too, and they shouldn’t be forgotten.
There was a knock at her door. “Come in,” she stared at the board, barely registering the visitor.
“Elizabeth, I just was checking to make sure you got the reports I left you,” said Christina, peeking into the office.
“I did Christina, thank you. How did your interviews go?” she asked, absently.
“Great! Three of the six will be perfect, and one is actually over qualified. She graduated top of her class and probably is going to be better at her job than me,” she paused realizing what she said, hoping Elizabeth missed it. “I think she’s going to be an asset to our team.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that, Christina. There’s no one quite like you.”
“Thanks boss!” Maybe Elizabeth Blackhawk wasn’t as bad as she thought. “I hear we hired a backup ME for Doctor Leonard.”
“Yeah, he found someone. Doctor Desdemona Adare. I’ve yet to meet her, so I can’t really give you any gossip on what she’s like, but I imagine she’s going to be someone Chris could get along with since they’ll be tag teaming the corpses.” Elizabeth wasn’t used to chit chat with Christina, and she didn’t quite know what to do with it, but she’d try. “Did he mention anything to you?”
“Just that she’s from Harvard and amazing. For Doc to toss that out, she has to be stellar,” she added.
“Well, Doc is amazing as is all our lab staff,” Elizabeth smiled at the woman. Christina was trying to be friendly, and she appreciated that, greatly. “You should cut out for the day. You’ve been on duty non-stop.”
“Thanks, Elizabeth! If you need anything else just text me and I’ll come back into work. I don’t mind.”
“I will, and thank you, Christina.”
The woman just nodded and headed to her car. On her way down she came to a big conclusion. Elizabeth Blackhawk was tough and bad ass, but in a really good way.
Elizabeth went back to the white boards, and on the second one, across from the victims, she wrote down the names of the suspects. Top of the list was Wyler Blackhawk. From the beginning she began breaking it down according to what she knew about the man. Her husband’s father was a hunter, accurate with a bow and arrow and proficient with a gun. He would have a grudge against his sons. Both had turned on him, and he had familiarity with his father’s practice of shamanism. Elizabeth stared at the list, and it made the man a strong suspect, but then there were the cons in his favor. Age was playing a major factor in his favor; he was too old. The tech team had done their research, and Wyler Blackhawk was fifty seven years old.
Elizabeth did the math. Wyler had walked out on one son at twenty and the other at twenty one. It was heart breaking for everyone involved. She couldn’t imagine being a parent at twenty. She was scared now, and she had more maturity under her belt. Her husband’s mother must have been terrified, when she was forced to be a single parent. It was inconceivable to her what strength it took to raise her son alone. There was so much respect for the woman and sadness, since she’d never meet her.
None of it felt right to her, regarding Wyler Blackhawk. It felt like the killer was trying to skew perception at the man. Every time she focused on her father-in-law, she had this wave of unease, as if she was missing something vital. It was a matter of time before she ferreted out the facts.
Elizabeth was curious regarding the bull that the killer drew on the dead victim, and there was a source she could tap for all the Native American information she needed. Pulling out her cell she dialed Timothy Blackhawk.
On the third ring he answered the phone. “Granddad, are you busy?”
“For you, Elizabeth? Never. I have all the time in the world to talk to you. I hear that my boy had a problem this morning at Callen’s house.”
“Yeah, the killer is screwing with the Blackhawk and Whitefox men.”
“Are you safe, Lyzee?” Timothy was genuinely worried about her and the baby she carried.
Elizabeth was touched that he was concerned about her. “I’m very safe, Granddad. Ethan has me holed up in FBI West where no one can find me.”
“I hear you saved his life this morning.”
The man was blunt and right to the point, there would be no beating around the bush with him over this.
“I did what I had to do. When I find this asshole I’m going to ass kick him to jail for taking pot shots at my husband.”
“You’re the woman that was meant to marry Ethan, and I’m glad you found him or he found you- whichever you prefer.” Timothy didn’t know how to tell her how much he appreciated her protective nature.
“I’m glad Ethan found me too, Granddad,” she paused, trying to wrangle the man back onto the topic. “I called because I have a question.”
“What can I answer for you?”
“I need a crash course in totem spirit guides,” she hoped he would give her what she was missing. Something just seemed significant about the raven, fox and now the bull.
“They’re the animals that we see frequently, or we dream about as children. They follow us through life and give us insight into ourselves, and what will be happening around us. Ethan once, as a boy, had a dream about a large black raven. It was following him down the road to school. The next day we were sitting at the table having dinner and there was a knocking on the window. When we investigated the sound, there sat a raven staring at my boy. The raven has always been seen around Ethan for as long as I remember.”
Elizabeth told him about her raven. “In Salem on the morning that we were going to face the killer, I got up early to study the information. Out on the porch was a big black raven. It was the largest bird I have ever seen in my life.”
“The raven signifies a message from the Great Spirit.”
“I opened my door expecting it to fly away, but it didn’t. In fact, it moved closer.” Elizabeth could remember that day vividly.
“And then?” asked Timothy, excitedly.
“I touched him. I ran my fingers down his side and felt the feathers, and he still didn’t fly away.”
Timothy Blackhawk was over joyed at the news. “I have long believed my boy would find one that matched his heart. My Ethan is compassionate and very gentle. I think that you two both share the same spirit guide, and that is what brought you together. That day you were meant to survive.”
“I know he’s very gentle and he ge
ts hurt easily, emotionally. That’s why I protect him.”
“My girl, you are perfect for him, and you will keep him grounded. You will also show him the path through what scares him. Essentially you are the raven guiding him.”
“I hope I can guide him through all this, Granddad. Callen is the fox?” Elizabeth furiously scribbled notes on her notepad.
“He is definitely the fox. He would hide on me and it would take me hours to find him. Many times he aged me just by making me think he wandered into the woods and was lost forever.”
“What is your spirit guide, Granddad?”
“Mine is the bear.”
“What about Wyler?”
Timothy sighed. “My son, he is the bull.”
Elizabeth nearly dropped her phone. “I’m sorry, did you say the bull?”
“Yes, the bull is fertility and rushing into things without proper preparation. I love my boy, but he is and always will be the bull. Look at the mess he created. When he married Ethan’s mother, I have to say I wasn’t the happiest man in the world.”
“Because she was an outsider like me?”
Timothy Blackhawk sighed again. “Yes, Elizabeth. I’m ashamed to say it, especially since you too are not from our tribe, and you’re perfect for Ethan. When Wyler brought her home and said that he already married her, I couldn’t do anything about it. Then before I knew it she was pregnant with Ethan. I was happy, and when she had him I was in love. He’s my grandson, half outsider or not. The minute I held him in my arms and saw that black hair my heart just knew that he was my boy.”
“I bet he was beautiful as a baby.”
“Oh he was and the eyes, they always have been blue, but then they changed.”
Elizabeth considered what he was saying. “They’re still blue, Granddad, but just a midnight blue.”
“Few see the actual color. For years I grew tired trying to insist they were blue.” Timothy was glad she saw the true color, and it meant she saw everything about his boy. “One day Ethan’s mother showed up my door. She was sobbing hysterically and holding Ethan clutched in her arms. He was maybe one, if that. She told me how Wyler came home, admitting to her he had an affair and the woman was pregnant. What was she to do? If she divorced him then she’d have to leave. After all, she was an outsider. How would she survive on her own as a single parent with a newborn? I wouldn’t let her leave. I had fallen in love with Ethan and that smile of his. He was mine, and I wasn’t going to let him go.”
Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) Page 28