All the King's Henchmen

by Morgan Kelley

  “Is he gone?” Noah asked, knowing he wouldn't be able to focus without an answer.

  “Yes, he went home.”

  “No, I meant is he going to be gone for good. Are you booting him off of the team?”

  She didn’t know.

  She shrugged.

  “Honestly, Noah, I don’t know. I have to put it aside for now. In a little while, I have to find Black Magica. I’ll calm down and address it later.”

  Christ!

  It was like having kids.

  She told hers the same thing—minus the stripper part.

  “Let’s get to work, okay? So, we know that Tiegan Blackett found something in his notebook. What? We don’t know, but I’ll find out. I’ll talk to Alex later and hopefully, he knows,” she said, filling them in.

  They listened.

  “Noah had a run-in with Alfie, and she guiltily got angry. We’ve covered those two suspects. Up next in this clusterfuck are Max and Harmony. Please tell me you have something and that neither one of you are going to drop a bomb.”

  “Well, I did sleep with my suspect,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood, “but it was six years ago.”

  She pointed at her.

  “I will kick your ass, Marshal Wells. Testing me today, now, is a dangerous thing.”

  She snorted.

  “Max, go for it,” she said. “You were the neutral party,” Harmony said. “You’ll be objective.”

  He could do that.

  “Well, Scott Rogers is definitely high on the list. He’s holding deep-seated resentment toward the president. He didn’t know for sure it was him, but he suspected.”

  She listened.

  “He was a cop, and his woman worked for the president. There were only a few possible options. It was a president issue or a Secret Service issue.”

  She agreed.

  Elizabeth walked to her whiteboard and pulled out a marker.

  “Okay, well, he’s number one at the top of the list,” she said, thinking about what Chris had told her.

  If they had two killers, who was the second one?

  For now, she’d listen and mull that over too.

  “What else?”

  “He’s angry, he’s bitter, and he blames the world. He chose to walk out of his relationship, and that says a lot,” he stated. “I wouldn’t leave her if I’d been him,” he said, looking over at Harmony. “I would have held her up and stayed by her side through it all,” he said, softly. “Some men stay.”

  Her heart skipped.

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

  “Yo! Casanova! Woo the girl on your own time,” she growled. “Focus!”

  Max flushed but continued, “He is still fixated on that moment in time, and he could definitely be the killer. He had his retractable baton on him. It was hooked to his belt.”

  “Did it look like it had been used to kill anyone?” she asked hopefully.

  “Well, there wasn’t half a hooker’s face hanging from it. We would have noticed that.”

  She laughed.

  Then she pointed at Doctor Duncan.

  “And that is how you use sarcasm in my presence. The picture alone is worth it.”

  The woman understood.

  “I get it.”

  She continued, “Anything else?”

  “He belongs on the top of the list,” Max stated. “I’m going to stick close to Harmony until we solve this. I don’t like that he’s still angry.”

  She weighed her options.

  “Good idea. We don’t know how cuckoo this person is, or the exact reason they are killing.”

  Oh, she’d used ‘they’ for a damn good reason.

  “Well, if we’re talking cuckoo, it must be my turn,” Ethan stated, ready to share with the whole team. He’d had time to update the profile, and he was ready to go.

  Elizabeth focused on her husband. From the look on his face, she could tell he was ready to roll.

  “Let me guess. He fits the profile.”

  “Yes, he does.”

  Elizabeth had held back the one thing that might alter their findings. There were only so many people who knew about the multiple killers.

  Callen, Chris, Dalia, and herself.

  Why?

  Elizabeth wanted them to work in facts. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Chris, she wanted to see if they pulled multiple clues and if it would give them two different killers.

  Then it would fit.

  “I’m ready to go,” he offered.

  She stopped him.

  “We’ll save the best for last,” she stated. “Before you give me yours, let me tell you what Callen and I learned while hitting up some strip clubs.”

  Ethan knew this part, but the team didn’t.

  “Picking up dancing tips?” Chris asked.

  She gave him a look and lifted her one brow. That look said it all.

  “Asking for a friend,” he added.

  She laughed.

  “Shut up, you nut.”

  He grinned.

  A laughing Elizabeth was a safe Elizabeth. They all knew that. Plus, there was no doubt she was still stewing over the whole Alex incident.

  “What did you find out?” Noah asked.

  She started at the beginning and told them what Jonathan, the bartender, had given her. She told them about how the presidential limo trolled the clubs, brought the women in the back door, and liked them to watch him rape.

  That horrified everyone there, and it really should. That level of depravity…while she and her husbands were pretty damn kinky, and didn’t mind playing ‘force Miss Kitty’, it was role-playing. The president had been a rapist.

  “Who were they watching?” Chris asked. “Normally, this isn’t my area, but I’m fascinated.”

  She went to the board.

  “And that, Newton, is a damn good question. Let’s make two lists. Those who are suspects, and those who were victims/partners during his sexcapades. We need to find a way to make them connect.”

  Yeah, she needed two suspects, and she wanted to see if her team might be able to help her out. Hopefully, one of them had something she didn’t. If not, they were screwed.

  “Ready?” she asked

  They all got out their notebooks for later. Elizabeth didn’t ask for names on the first list. The victims were in her mind, and she would NEVER forget them.

  She wrote down any woman’s name who had been having sex or raped by the president.

  Harmony Wells

  Senator Hilda Forbes

  Melina Bowling

  Ginger Snap/Sugar Baby

  Black Magica

  Mystery woman

  She put a star by the last one.

  “We know for a fact that it won’t be his wife. She didn’t sleep with him anymore, but she was aware of his infidelities. Landry Dean walked in on him raping someone. That says it all. Turning a blind eye is the motto at the White House.”

  “I don’t get that,” Harmony stated. “If my man was boning someone else, or raping someone, I’d shoot him myself.”

  Max smiled at her.

  Yeah, she didn’t have to worry about it. Max would never hurt her. Her gut told her so.

  “Well, she was having an affair of her own.”

  Ethan sighed.

  “Tell them, but it stays in here.”

  The whole team was curious.

  “Who was she having an affair with?” Harmony asked. “I vote Gordon. He was always hovering.”

  “Yeah, I thought that too. Only, her tag team dick partner came forward. It’s Marcus Hunter.”

  Harmony gasped.

  “NO! He’s married!”

  “Yeah, I said the same thing. It’s pretty shocking since he and Marylou appear to be tight.”

  “Yeah, like you guys,” Noah stated.

  She laughed.

  “Oh, we’re tight, but we make each other insane. If your partner doesn’t drive you batshit insane on occasion, you’re married to a pod person.”
/>   Blackhawk laughed.

  “You make me insane daily.”

  Oh, she was aware.

  “Well, my sexy raven, his time is up. I need to see Marcus Hunter STAT. Get him here. Tell him if I don’t see him in thirty, I’m meeting him at his house. That’s my compromise.”

  Well, it was better than nothing. At least she was going to keep from burning down the bridge between the two agencies.

  He made the call.

  “Next, we can make a list of the suspects,” she said, “and see what we can compare.”

  Still, she didn’t give them Chris’s news. Her hope was they had two suspects that stood out.

  Elizabeth began writing names down that her team was shouting out. When she was finished, she had a mixed bag of nuts to pick from.

  Scott Rogers

  Rutherford Carter

  Marcus Hunter

  Landry Dean

  Clyde Adkins

  Alfie Steiner

  Tiegan Blackett

  She turned.

  “Okay, who did it?” she asked.

  Harmony raised her hand. “I say my ex.”

  Max agreed.

  Noah shook his head.

  “I think Tiegan is our killer. She slept with someone to get details. She has no soul.”

  Well, she agreed there.

  “Alfie had that fight with her and the president. Can we have two people?” he finally asked. “Maybe it’s Tiegan and Alfie! Maybe they’re saving their asses,” Noah stated.

  And there it was.

  Two people.

  There was no doubt in her mind Noah deserved to be on her team. Here was her proof.

  “You don’t say?” she asked, giving both ME’s a look to keep their mouths shut.

  “Yeah, that’s my guess.”

  Well, it was a good one.

  She pointed at the board.

  “I put Scott at the top since he’s still harboring resentment toward his relationship with Harmony collapsing. To me, that’s a red flag.”

  Harmony and Max agreed.

  Ethan let them talk.

  Elizabeth continued, “We also know that the killer told Suri Collins, the reporter, that the murder weapon was a retractable baton. Surprise! He has one for work.”

  She drew a checkmark beside his name.

  “He’s at the top for me.”

  Harmony raised her hand.

  “Plus, the Capitol police worked the function,” Harmony stated. “When there aren’t enough Secret Service agents, and Marshals don’t want the OT, the Capitol police fill in. He told us he was off, but he could put his uniform on and strut right by the Secret Service.”

  She had a point.

  A damn good one.

  Elizabeth pointed at the next name.

  “Next is the boyfriend of Senator Hilda Forbes. She was raped Friday, and the president was dead by Sunday. Was Rutherford Carter so irate he handled it?”

  “Was he at the party?” Noah asked.

  “He said no, but could they be covering for each other?” she asked, knowing they would be two perfect killers. “We asked for his phone to run his GPS.”

  “And?” Chris asked.

  “There’s classified intel on it. We were told to get a warrant.”

  She glanced over at her husband.

  “I’m working on it. It takes time.”

  She was good with that.

  “That will help us out. We’ll find out if he was really home all night. She could be covering for him and he could be covering for her.”

  Max looked confused.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Do we have two killers? Is that what you’re getting to with all of this? You keep saying THEY, and you keep repeating COVERING FOR EACH OTHER.”

  Ding.

  Ding.

  Ding.

  Give the youngest member of their team a prize. Maximus Chase, the homicide cop, just proved he was part of her team for a reason. The apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree. He was just like his father.

  “Christopher?”

  “Yeah, we do have two killers,” Chris said, finally cluing them all into what the four of them knew.

  Ethan looked surprised.

  “Yeah, I know. It caught me off guard too. Now, how does that play into this?”

  “Really?” Harmony asked. “You knew and didn’t tell us?” she inquired.

  “I just found out. Chris, tell them.”

  He did.

  He told them about the severity of the wounds in comparison from one body to another, and how one was a lefty, and one a righty.

  “The president’s killer was a lefty, and Ginger Snap’s was a righty.”

  “Well, holy shit. It’s a team. Pairs,” said Harmony. “That’s going to make it harder. We have to find two people.”

  She was aware.

  “But it makes sense for some of the victims. Look at the senator. Maybe she offed him, and her boyfriend is handling the rest. Maybe that wasn’t her first run-in with him. Maybe he lured Hilda Forbes there before and had the hookers watch. We only know what she’s told us. If she’s involved…she could be lying.”

  And that was where it got tricky.

  “Marcus Hunter is next because he’s having that little dick diving episode with Landry. She’s on the list because she’s a married woman and if your husband dies, you’re on the list. Oh, and they are each other’s alibis.”

  They laughed.

  Yeah, been there and done that before.

  “So, the wife is cheating and to make it even more fun, they were upstairs at the time,” Ethan stated. “They were a few doors down.”

  She laughed.

  “Oh, if there was ever a time NOT to get caught with your dick in a woman who was not your wife, it’s when a murder is happening a few doors down.”

  They agreed there.

  “I almost can’t wait to interview him,” she stated. “I have so many questions.”

  He stared at her.

  “Carefully worded questions,” she offered.

  He laughed.

  “Your interview is hightailing it here. Marcus will be here in thirty. My office.”

  “Thank you, Ethan. I’ll keep it clean for FBI and US Marshal relations.”

  He was grateful for that. What he didn’t need was the head of the marshals being spiteful. It could cost lives in the field.

  “So, we have our third set of pairs,” she stated. “Could it be the two ladies cleaning up for the Secret Service’s reputation, the violated senator and her beau, or could it be the wife and her lover? Did she snap after seeing that rape and is he cleaning up for his side piece?”

  That was the question.

  And no one knew.

  Yet.

  “Next up, we have Clyde Adkins. He was the hooker hooker-upper.”

  Callen laughed.

  Then he wrote that one down.

  “What are you doing, Callen James?” she asked.

  “That’s another one for my book of Elizabethisms. You never know when I’ll need some for my books.”

  She shook her head.

  Then focused on the name.

  “What did you do, Clyde?” she asked, rhetorically.

  No one spoke.

  “He could have brought a hooker to the party,” she stated. “What if one of our hookers killed the president, and good old Clyde is trying to cover it up? That would make them our fourth set of people. What if Black Magica goes apeshit nuts on the man, killing him when her watching the rape turns into rape? Then Clyde takes over and has to cover his ass?”

  They all stared at her.

  “I didn’t think of that,” Noah admitted.

  “It’s my job to think of all of the outlandish possibilities. I’ve found they tend to be true when I’m working a case. Aren’t I the lucky one?”

  Callen shook his head.

  “We really aren’t. Once she says them, they tend to come true. Everyone buckle up.”

  Y
eah, this was a bumpy one.

  “So, four sets of killers who potentially match Chris’s discovery of the evidence. Now, we have to figure out who is NOT the killer. If we can eliminate, we can narrow it down. Whoever is left standing is going to be it. Oh, and one will be a lefty, and one a righty.”

  They had their game plan.

  “Scott is the only single,” she stated. “While he’s the angriest—next to Rutherford, he’s had six years to stew. If we can’t find a partner for him, he’s off the list. Agreed?”

  They all did.

  “My biggest issue with all of this is that no one spoke up,” Harmony stated. “Myself included. Had I called the police and reported the rape…?”

  She stopped her.

  “You’re the victim, not the killer. Don’t let them tie you up in knots over this. Right now, we have a shitmess. We have a sex-fest going on in the White House, a dead president, and all of our jobs are on the line.”

  She told them what was happening with the new president.

  “We may be gone by this time next year. So, we drive it like we stole it, do the job, and keep our noses clean.”

  And that was why the Alex thing pissed her off. Their jobs were on the line, and she couldn’t imagine being anyone but a Fed.

  She thought about it.

  “Ethan, is our reporter still in the tank?” she asked, referring to Suri Collins.

  “Yes, you have her locked up for twenty-four hours. She’s not out until tomorrow.”

  “Good. I want to know where all of the players in this game are. Why did the killer/killers pick her? Is there a connection? Or is this just some random reporter who was picked to piss me off?”

  No one knew.

  “I love when she’s paranoid,” Callen stated, grinning at her. “It’s sexy in a wife, and also why I wouldn’t even think of cheating. She’d kill me.”

  “Oh, is that why you don’t cheat, Callen James?” she asked.

  He swallowed.

  “I meant…”

  Ethan laughed.

  “Someone is her favorite one. You say stupid shit, Chris cheated on her…there can only be one.”

  Elizabeth knew they were trying to lighten the mood, and she did feel better. If they didn’t laugh, they’d cry.

  “Okay, so, my MEs, since Chrissy isn’t here, I’m going to assume she’s buried in the trace we pulled from Ginger Snap’s pad. Can you both maybe help her out? Chris, then you can head home. Dalia, you too.”