All the King's Henchmen
Page 53
“God! Whoever ordered pizza gets a kiss!”
Chris raised his hand.
“Uh, that would be the dashing man in the aqua scrubs,” he said, sitting on one of the desks adjacent to hers. “Feel free to deliver on that statement.”
She headed right toward him and planted one on his mouth. When she set him free, he grinned.
“It’s triple meat with extra grease.”
Just for that, she kissed him again.
“She’s easy,” Callen stated. “Don’t be impressed.”
“Clearly,” Blackhawk said, laughing at the look on everyone’s face.
“We can eat and work,” she said, as the pizzas were opened. She didn’t know when she ate last, and this was greatly appreciated. She’d depleted herself at home during that really raunchy bout of Native sex.
When she sat beside Chris, she had two paper plates. One for her, and one for him.
“Thank you, sweetness.” He moved his mouth closer to her ear. “You smell like Callen and Ethan. I know what you did at lunch and why you didn’t have time to eat.”
She winked at him.
“It helps me relax and think.”
Oh, he was aware. They’d had a sexy nooner many times in their relationship. When she was lax and calm, she could think straight. He had never minded taking one for the team.
“Okay, let’s do this. Everyone is in from their interviews. I want to see what we have and talk it out. I found out some fascinating things about Black Magica.”
They couldn’t wait. The whole team looked to be ready to dig in and find this killer. It did her heart proud that she didn’t have to babysit them. They’d chosen well for this team, and they were an extension of her in the field.
For once, she didn’t have to control freak it to death—which was nice.
She pointed at Noah.
“You’re up. What did Alfie say when you asked her about her involvement in the whole thing? There was no way she wasn’t aware of her Secret Service guys bringing the president hookers and strippers. She turned a blind eye.”
He took a bite of a small piece of pizza.
“Well, first off, Alex and I played divide and conquer. We didn’t want her giving Tiegan a heads-up.”
“Good plan,” she stated.
Noah continued, “She wasn’t really happy to see me there. Ms. Steiner opened the door, looked pissed, and when I asked her why she didn’t do something about it, she slammed the door in my face.”
Elizabeth laughed.
“Well, that’s telling. Someone is feeling a tad bit guilty, now isn’t she?”
“Yeah, it is. There’s something not so kosher going on at the White House—and my bet is she knows what. Is she involved?” he asked. “I don’t know. The fight was her yelling at Tiegan and the president, right?”
Elizabeth nodded.
“Maybe she stumbled upon something, and she’s stuck between a rock and hard place.”
She shook her head.
“Nope. If someone is raping someone, there’s no longer a hard place. You stop it. Period. Would you if I was being raped?”
“God! I hate this example,” Callen stated.
Yeah, he wasn’t alone.
“Absolutely. I would in a heartbeat.”
“Why?”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
She let it hang there.
“I don’t disagree, boss, but we don’t know what’s in her head. You may have to take a shot at her. You’re more…”
“Violent?” Callen asked.
“Crazy?” Ethan offered.
“Dangerous?” Chris added.
“Aren’t you three the main jokesters in the chuckle patch?” she asked. Then her focus was back on Noah. “Fear not, I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” she said.
She would.
Her and Alfie would have a little meeting.
Next up was Alex. The man was fidgeting in his chair, and he looked worked up.
God!
She hoped he had good news.
“Okay, Alex, surprise me. What did you find out when you went at your suspect?” she asked.
It took him a second.
Went at?
Jesus!
That’s exactly what he did.
“Well, when I showed up at Tiegan Blackett’s home, she was really upset. She’s taking this hard.”
He tried to mentally justify what he did, all the while softening it up for when he had to tell her. He’d thought long and hard about this. There was no way he could keep her in the dark.
Elizabeth wasn’t shocked.
“Well, she should be. Someone killed the President of the United States right under her team’s nose in a hotel. Then they cleaned it up and jacked a crime scene. That’s the definition of ‘you need to be worried’.”
Oh, he was aware.
HE was worried.
“She cried a lot and insisted that she didn’t know anything about who killed him.”
She thought about it. Was that possible? Yes, maybe she knew about the rapes, but did she know who killed the man? That was going to be the big question.
“Did you buy it? Or do you think she was turning on the sob story to make you feel bad for her? You know how suspects will weep, beg, promise, and offer to blow you if they think they can get out of it.”
Oh, Jesus.
This was bad.
He really felt horrible about what he’d done. He’d slept with a suspect—on a case, and she was right. Maybe the woman was trying to snowball him.
Shit!
Shit!
Shit!
In that moment, Alex knew what he had to do. For the team, and for Elizabeth. He’d fucked up. It was time to pay the piper. While he’d rather do this privately, he didn’t have a choice.
“Boss, I have to recuse myself.”
Her pizza stopped halfway to her mouth, and she studied him.
“Pardon?”
That caught her off guard.
“Why?”
While he could pretend, it would be a million times worse if this came out. He wasn’t stupid. He’d just gotten on the team, and now it was at risk.
“I said I need to recuse myself from this case. Something has come up.”
Yeah, his dick, and he’d used it—against his better judgment.
She stared at him.
“Alex, this is not even funny. We’re running a high-profile case, possibly the largest of any of our careers, and I need everyone on the team. If you’re not yanking my chain, you had better have one hell of a reason for dropping that bomb.”
Everyone watched.
“I slept with her.”
She was actually speechless.
For one of the few times in her life, she sat there, pizza in hand, and her mouth wide-open. Even as she blinked, Elizabeth couldn’t articulate anything.
She’d never seen this one coming. Here, she’d just thought how she’d done a damn good job of picking a team, and one of them is telling her he’d slept with a suspect?
WHAT?
“Oh, blessed baby Jesus…please say you know her from ten years ago, and you slept with her in YOUR PAST!”
He shook his head.
Oh, shit.
Elizabeth dropped her pizza on her paper plate and closed her eyes. In that moment, she could see the whole case unraveling in front of her.
Rule number one of investigating—don’t shoot innocent people.
Rule two—don’t fuck anyone suspected of the crime.
Well, this sucked.
Ethan cleared his voice, trying to head this one off. There was no doubt in his mind that it was going to blow.
NO.
She was going to blow.
“Everyone out but Elizabeth, myself, and Agent Bartlett. Now.”
They all moved. The shell-shocked team hustled out of the office, Chris closing the door behind him as the last man out.
“I can explain,” Alex stated.
“When?” she asked, not knowing what to even say to him. There was such disappointment rolling around in her gut, but she was trying to be positive.
“Today when I went to interview her.”
She closed her eyes.
Yep.
Defense attorney—one.
FBI—a big fat zero.
“It just happened.”
Well, now they were boned, and she was NOT happy about it either.
“I can’t believe this,” she stated. “I really can’t even believe this. What the hell, Alex? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry.”
She shoved her plate away from her and then she stared at her husband for some sort of guidance.
Or control.
It was debatable.
“I can’t do this,” she stated. “This is the mess I don’t want to handle. This is EXACTLY why I don’t like being anyone’s boss, and I prefer to work alone! I can’t police someone’s dick on duty!”
Alex cringed.
“I said I was sorry. I could have lied, but I wanted to be upfront with you.”
He was digging the hole.
She pointed at him.
“Yeah, well, sorry may not cut it! This is a huge case, Alex! What the fuck were you thinking? Oh, never mind. I know what you were thinking with!”
That was exactly what he didn’t want to hear. He knew what he’d done. Alex hated himself for it, but that emptiness he felt was why he’d succumbed.
So, when she hit it on the first shot, he exploded in anger at her—and him.
“Oh, well, that’s fine. Maybe, Elizabeth, you should just back off of us humans! It’s not easy for everyone else to find happiness out there! Not all of us find one soulmate, then two, and finally a third!”
She knew what he was referencing.
“Hey, now, don’t you dare aim this at my life,” she began, only to be shut down.
“We all don’t get to be happy! We don’t all have that life we’re proud of, Elizabeth. At one time, you were stuck in that shithole with the rest of us. You don’t understand anymore!”
No, she didn’t.
She’d never sleep with a suspect.
EVER.
“Well, Tiegan was crying, I was trying to comfort her, and it went too far. I crossed a line, but I’m being honest, and I’m telling you now! Not later!”
He paced.
“Furthermore, some of us have to find any way we can to feel. Some of us have given up hope at ever even seeing love up close. So stop riding my ass. I said I was sorry, and I’m recusing myself. That’s all I can do!”
Yeah, he was pissed, but so was she. He’d likely jacked this up. If Tiegan was the killer, they had a whole shitstorm coming. This WOULD come out. She could see it now. Some attorney would say it was retaliation after a breakup. They’d make shit up. They’d dump it all over her team—the team she ran by the book because it mattered.
“Agent, check yourself,” Ethan stated. “She’s your boss, so use a more respectful tone.”
He was bright red, and Ethan knew it was only going to get uglier.
“That’s it. It’s done. Go home, Alex. Go home!”
He figured as much.
Only, he wasn’t done.
“I feel like an asshole, and you don’t even know how much I hate myself. You’re right. She played me. I have proof.”
That had her attention. Elizabeth stopped massaging her temples.
“She pulled a page from my notebook.”
“WHAT?”
“I showered, and in my pocket was my case notebook. When I got back here, there was a page missing. I like notes. I’ve always taken lots of notes, but there were some missing. That was the ONLY time it was out of my possession.”
She closed her eyes.
Oh, this kept getting worse. So not only had he fucked a possible suspect, but she had seen EVERYTHING they had on the case. She knew Alex. The man wrote a freaking novel in his little notebooks. He was old school, and now Tiegan had a look into their case.
It was her breaking point.
“Go home. I can’t.”
“Yeah, because you don’t have to slum to feel. It must be nice. We can’t all be Elizabeth Blackhawk. Being perfect must be exhausting.”
Then he looked at Ethan.
“I’ll expect reassignment. Email me my new job,” he said, slamming the door behind him as he left.
She took the barb because he was pissed. The truth was, she’d screwed-up plenty. She’d nearly lost the ones she loved and had lost her father and mother.
Her life was about screw-ups, but she learned from them. She tried to use them to make her better.
How the hell was this going to be helpful?
“Well, this is great.”
He let her vent.
“What the hell do I do now?” she asked.
“You decide if this indiscretion is enough to boot him off your team. I’m your boss, but that is up to you. If you want him moved, I can do it.”
She paced.
“He’s right, in a way, Lyzee.”
She stopped.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see how you spin this one, Deputy Director Blackhawk. Please tell me how he was right screwing a suspect!”
“Not about that part, baby.”
She didn’t understand.
“About what then?”
“We are lucky. Sometimes, you have to hold on for as long as you can, and when you can’t, you have to just do anything to feel.”
She listened.
“I was in his shoes at one time. I degraded myself with that flight attendant for almost ten years to move my way up the ladder. I was sick of jerking off and feeling lost. I needed to feel so I did desperate things. I was him years ago, but I got lucky.”
She let him talk.
“I was struggling to understand why I couldn’t find that connection or someone to love me. The flight attendant, Melanie, was the best I thought I’d ever get. I let her crucify my heart and soul just to appear like I wasn’t so alone.”
That broke her heart.
She hadn’t had to go there.
She’d had Chris.
“Then there was my dream of you. You were all I had to hold onto, so I understand his desperation. I made countless mistakes as my dick led the way.”
“He slept with a suspect in an ongoing murder investigation.”
“And he gave you a good heads-up. She stole a page out of the notebook. Why? If she was simply trying to feel, she wouldn’t have done it. She got him into bed, and I doubt it was because she was horny. She’s a predator.”
She sat.
“I hate being a boss. I willingly ran from FBI West to escape being a boss, and over time, look at what happened. I’m right back here.”
“Yeah, you acquired friends, family, and people you love. You didn’t invite Alex on the team because he didn’t matter. You offered him a position because he meshed, and you like working with him. You have a past.”
She closed her eyes.
“You have Chris as your ME because you love him. Tony is your anthropologist because he’s like a brother. Noah has HIV, and you wanted to give him some peace by having him back in the field. No one would work with him, but you did.”
She sighed.
“Max’s dad took a bullet that could have been yours, and you gave him a job. He’s young, and you still took him on out of duty and respect.”
She knew he was right.
“Harmony is in pieces, and you played Cupid. Brody and Johanna needed each other, and the ONLY person willing to let them work together and bend the FBI rules is you. Blue isn’t up to speed as a field agent, and you ‘supposedly’ brought her on to draw. We can contract a sketch artist. There are rules, and there are rules. You’ve broken them for the right reason
s, but you still broke them. He made a mistake.”
“I’m an idiot.”
Clearly, she needed more proof that she had a heart, and that was what he was trying to convey.
Forgiveness.
They’ve been screwed worse in other cases.
“You have Jaxon on standby so Tony can work with his wife. We don’t need two forensic artists on this team, but you do it for love, friendship, and respect. Chris was barely holding on, and despite having a very happy and fulfilling marriage, you made room for him as your ‘boyfriend’. If anything, you’re loyal.”
She sighed.
He needed to try a different route.
“Now, why is Alex on your team? He bailed on being your partner all those years ago.”
“Because he didn’t bail because of ‘The Butcher’. He bailed because he didn’t want to end up dead. That’s logical. I was a dangerous mess.”
“So, is he gone? Like I said, it’s your call. I can move him back to Cyber Crimes, but it’s on your decision, not mine.”
Yeah, she hated this.
“I need to think about it.”
Blackhawk wouldn’t push. He knew his wife. That was her way of saying no. Only, her head had to catch up to her heart—and it would.
“Goddamnit! I hate this friendship bullshit. It gets you in trouble all of the time. I never used to have friends for a reason!”
“After Livy was raped, you killed her rapist and carried that for over a decade. You also played reunion date for Gabe. So…that’s bull. You always had room for them.”
“I hate that you’re a smart man,” she stated.
He laughed.
“The burdens you carry…”
She headed for the door.
“We have to work. I need to put this on the back burner for now. I have to focus.”
Ethan was good with that.
At the door, she stuck her head out.
“IN!” she said, as they all entered the room in a single-file line.
They were quiet.
Honestly, she didn’t blame them. This wasn’t only going to reflect on her, but them too. This was the biggest case of ALL of their lives.
“In case I didn’t say it before, and it needed to be said, NO SLEEPING WITH SUSPECTS!”
No one spoke.
“Okay, let’s get back to work,” she said, sitting beside Chris again. He placed his hand on her lower back to share his support.