* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Fern Yoder’s
Home
Saturday Afternoon
Sally, Fern’s domestic help, had shown up to help pack up the house. The entire time she boxed all of Fern’s precious things, Elizabeth could see the sadness in her eyes.
She genuinely liked her boss.
“What was she like?” Elizabeth asked, trying to get the woman to open up about her boss. That was the best way to learn about her.
Sally laughed. “Where do I even start? She was totally bat shit insane. Fern was certifiable, but she was the sweetest person in the world. One minute she’d be talking about art, and the next, she’d be trying to molest the pool boy.”
Elizabeth made notes.
“Whoever did this to her sucks. The poor woman just liked her art, listening to music, and singing. She was harmless, and a good soul.”
“You found her?” Elizabeth asked.
Sally wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Yes, and it was horrific. Her mouth was open, like that sick screaming man painting.”
Callen knew the one. “You mean ‘The Scream’?”
“Yes. She was tied to that bed, and she was frozen like that. The bed was burned around her throat, and her hair was melted. I’ll never forget that moment.”
Yeah, she’d seen the crime scene photos.
They weren’t pretty.
“Did anyone have any grudges against Fern?” she asked. Elizabeth was hoping for a lead.
“No. She didn’t really socialize with anyone but me on a daily basis. Well, unless you had a penis. The woman liked dick more than anyone I’ve ever known in my life.”
Yeah, they could tell. Looking around, the place could be a penis museum.
“She had some social anxiety.”
Callen made notes.
“Now that she’s dead, who gets her money?” Elizabeth asked. That was generally a good indicator of who could be behind the crime.
“I get a year’s salary until I find some other job, and the rest gets donated to her favorite organization.”
“Could you tell us who it is?” Callen asked. “We need to investigate all avenues of her life.”
She smiled brightly at him. “For you? Yes.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
Callen had that effect on the ladies. It was probably those killer cheekbones, sexy lips, or that hair.
She should know.
She was a sucker for it.
Callen waited. “Any time now.” He knew the woman was checking him out. He also knew it made Elizabeth crazy. When someone poached her men, she got handsy.
Yeah, he loved that part.
“Sorry! I was distracted. Has anyone ever told you that you have the most delicious looking eyes?” Sally said, flirting with him.
“Yeah, Callen James? Has anyone ever told you that?” Elizabeth asked, crossing her arms as she waited for him to give his reply.
Immediately, he put the Blackhawk grin away. While he loved when she’d crawl all over him, there was a limit to her magnanimous attitude.
From the look, she was close. For his sake, and Sally’s, he’d tread lightly.
“Uh, my very beautiful but deadly wife?”
She smiled at Sally Patton. “Oh, yeah. That would be me.” The little finger wave got the woman to close her mouth, and focus on her—not the hot Native beside her.
This was the cross she had to bear.
“Sally, you were about to tell me about the organization that would be getting Fern’s fortune?” Callen asked again.
“It’s the National Theater Association.”
And there was that name again.
So far, they had a man who left a fifty thousand dollar donation to the company, he turned up dead, and then they had a dead woman who left them all her money.
It was beginning to look sketchy for them.
Callen made notes.
There was no doubt in his mind that Elizabeth was going to be going at them at some point.
Once and it was a coincidence.
Twice?
It was one hell of a pattern.
“How did she associate with them?” Elizabeth asked.
“She was a lover of the fine arts. She wanted to make sure that when she was gone, music and theater went on.”
“Did she have any family? Maybe an estranged cousin? A cat?”
She shook her head.
Well, this was a dead end.
“Thank you, Sally, for your time. I appreciate it,” Elizabeth said, standing up. “If you think of anything, or you find anything in here, will you call me?”
She handed the woman her card.
“I will.”
She was checking out Callen’s ass as he walked away. Elizabeth shook her head.
“What?” he asked, once they were outside.
“You are a piece of work.”
He was confused.
“What did I do?”
She started laughing. “No, I meant you’re really a piece of work. That poor woman kept checking out your ass and those lips of yours. One of these days, I’m going to have to hurt someone, and I want you to know it’s all your fault.”
He grinned.
“You know you want to touch it,” he said, dropping his sunglasses onto his face. “Go ahead. Give it a squeeze. You’ll feel a million times better.”
Yeah, and so would he.
“I’m going to kick it if you don’t take me for lunch. I’m feeling hangry.”
“Hangry?” he asked, staring over at her.
“Yeah, that’s hungry and angry mixed together. When I get there, I get metchy.”
Callen stared at her. “What the hell is ‘metchy’?”
“You know, mean and bitchy?”
He stared laughing.
His wife was amusing at times. This was one of them. She wasn’t always serious, and here was the proof.
“Let’s go grab something to eat. I wouldn’t want you growling at me when I become hornadsy.”
That had her attention as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.
“What the hell is that?”
“Horny and handsy. Like you’re the only one who can make shit up? I am the writer. Words are my thing.”
He tucked her under his arm as they headed toward the Navigator.
Her hand found its way into his back pocket. She gave his truly fine Native derrière a squeeze.
She couldn’t help herself.
She was a little hornadsy too.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
When they got to the burger place, Elizabeth made sure she ordered something for Ethan. While he was stuck at the office babysitting the masses, he deserved to get something he liked too.
Dead cow with a side of salt-laden potatoes would make him a happy camper.
“What are you thinking about?” Callen asked as he fed her one of his fries. They were sitting on the same side of the booth, her tucked against his side.
They were crowded, but he loved when her hand found its way into his lap.
It was cathartic.
“This case. You. Ethan.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I miss him.”
“Yeah, me too,” Callen offered. “Don’t get me wrong…I love our alone time, but when the three of us are together, it’s one hell of a ride.”
She laughed. “You two are giving me one hell of a ride is more like it.”
“Yeah, that’s about right.”
Callen glanced out the window and he could see the media lurking. It pissed him off. “Are we off duty?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s lunch time. Why?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For?” she asked, genuinely confused.
He brought his mouth to hers, and his hand slid into her hair at the back of her neck. Callen controlled the kiss, and he didn’t hold anything back.
He could hear the
media going crazy, but he didn’t care. He wanted them to realize that she was also his. For the longest time, he had to pretend.
Callen didn’t want to pretend anymore.
He wanted all the same emotions, rights, and privileges as Ethan had when it came to having a wife.
Now that they were back East, it was Ethan who had to be careful when canoodling with Elizabeth. He wasn’t technically her boss, but he was above her.
Slowly, he savored the saltiness of her lips. When her hand slid further up his lap, resting on his erection, he slowly broke away.
There was a fine line.
He was at it.
“Wow! What did I do to earn that one?” she asked. Her pulse was pounding in her ears from the rush of blood.
Callen was a smart man.
He was also a husband.
There was no freaking way he was going to tell her that he did it so the media would stop asking him if he was having a relationship with Elizabeth and Ethan.
He didn’t want to be ostracized any more.
Instead, he went with the other reason.
“Because I can’t stand a single second away from you, and when my lips aren’t touching yours, I want to die from the loneliness.”
She stared at him.
“You wanted the media to get a really good shot, didn’t you?”
He started laughing. “I don’t like that you’re smarter than I am. It sucks the fun out of it.”
She patted his cheek.
Then she elbowed him.
“What the hell?”
“That was for making me a piece of sexy arm candy. You had it coming, Mr. Whitefox. Luckily for you, after that kiss, I’ll kiss your boo boo and make it better later.”
He wiggled his eyebrows as he fought to catch his breath. “You’re vicious. That turns me on.”
Before she could reply, her phone rang.
“Director Whitefox-Blackhawk.”
“Baby, it’s Ethan.”
She stared down at the number. It wasn’t his personal cell. He must be calling from an office. “What’s up, handsome? Is anything wrong?”
“We just got a call.”
“Are our kids okay?”
Of course, that was where her mind was going to go.
“They’re fine, baby. This is work related.”
“Oh, what’s up?”
“They found Roman Conley, and he’s most certainly dead. We have our third victim. Congrats. It’s officially a serial killer, and he’s nuttier than a fruitcake.”
The crazier the better—that’s how she liked it. Elizabeth knew how to deal with insane people. It was the average ones who pissed her off.
Elizabeth began cleaning up her tray. “Send me the details. I hope you’re going to be able to eat over a dead body.”
“You got me lunch?” he asked.
“Hell yeah, I did, Cowboy, and it’s your favorite.”
“I knew I loved you. I could eat a huge burger and fries over a body at this point.”
She snorted. “Yeah, don’t get hornadsy.”
“Why would I be horny and handsy over lunch?” Ethan asked. “Are you bringing it to me naked?”
She stared at Callen.
“Seriously?”
The one man laughed while the other was confused.
“Don’t blame me,” Callen stated. “We’re men. We think alike.”
Yeah, she could see that.
The Blackhawk boys were two very sexy peas in a pod.
Chapter Seven
DC Country Club
The whole team had been called out to the field. This one was going to be all hands on deck. They had their third victim, and it was time to see if Detective Boone Savage had been right about the missing man being part of this.
Not that they doubted him.
Only this was DC, and in the city, it was anyone’s game. They had quite a few killers roaming around. Whenever you had this much lying, politicians, and high priced hookers per capita, you were going to have a shit storm of trouble.
As they pulled up to the crime scene, it was sheer chaos. Right off the bat, tensions were running high. None of the crazy was from her team, thankfully. All the mayhem was from the media circling the grounds.
There were reporters everywhere.
It was a hot mess.
Apparently, someone at the hotel had spilled the beans about Elizabeth and Callen shacking up for the night. This was a disaster in the making.
It wasn’t as if she was surprised. What disappointed Elizabeth the most was a few years ago, when she’d issue a threat, people would actually fear it. Obviously, she had to get back to terrorizing the citizenry that she had sworn to protect and serve.
Well, they asked for it.
There were days when she wanted to shoot each and every freaking reporter. Today was one of those days. In fact, any day where their names were the headlines, she wanted to flip her shit. Elizabeth wished they’d focus on what mattered.
The dead.
When she hopped out of her ride, Ethan was already there, and he was with Merry and Boone.
“Where’s the other detective?” Elizabeth asked as she was pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
“She may be back, she may not,” Ethan offered. “Apparently. You steal cases and don’t get along with others, so she can’t work with you.”
“Who? Me? Imagine that. I’ve never heard that one before in my whole life.”
Boone was surprised. “But we came to you.”
“Yeah, and see how most of the BS you’ve heard about the FBI is totally rumors and lies?”
He noticed.
“She’s not too bright. DC, while a big town, isn’t that huge. The chances are, Sima Nelson is going to run into me again, and it’ll likely be on a case. She won’t like when that happens. If she thought I rode tail before, she hasn’t seen anything yet,” Elizabeth stated.
Karma was a bitch.
A pissed off Fed in DC?
It made Karma look like a kindergarten student.
Suddenly, something occurred to Boone, and he didn’t like it at all.
“Wait! Did I get pulled?” he asked. “Am I being sent back to the office?” Boone didn’t want that to happen. As long as Derek was out there, he really needed to keep tabs on his woman.
She needed him.
Their child’s life depended on him.
“No, you’re still on the case.”
He didn’t get it. “How did you pull that off?”
Ethan laughed. “Well, it’s relatively simple. Your boss knows I’m scary, and no one wants myself or Gabe running them over. Above him is the President. POTUS is a scary man.”
They were all aware.
No one could forget the Oracle debacle. The team was still missing ass on that chew out. When POTUS wasn’t happy, no one was happy.
Elizabeth was ready to get this party started.
“Enough chitchat. Where is Roman Conley?” she asked. “I need to check out the body.”
“Chris is with him. He’s already started on the preliminary examination,” Ethan offered, pointing them in the right direction. He grinned when Callen handed him a bag with his lunch in it. “Thank you my beautiful wife for the bounty you have bestowed upon me,” Ethan said, snatching a fry from the bag.
She couldn’t believe he was actually going to eat over the crime scene. He really must be hungry.
“How close is he to the country club?” she asked, trying to gauge the victim’s last few moments as he was at his vehicle.
“He’s not that far. He was found covered in mulch. It seems that the killer hid him in plain sight. The only reason the grounds crew found him was they were getting wheelbarrows full for the fall landscaping and one of the workers hit pay dirt. By pay dirt, I mean a very gruesome surprise that none of them will ever forget.”
Their ick was her gain.
She needed that body in order to do her job. It might tell her something the others didn’t.
“Great. I’m ready.”
Ethan led them the short distance into the trees to the crime scene.
When they got on the scene, Elizabeth simply stared in absolute horror.
Yeah, this couldn’t be right.
“Sweet and savory baby Jesus on a cracker. We officially have ourselves a crazy.”
That seemed to be the sentiment with the whole team. From the looks on their faces, it said it all.
“What the hell happened to him?” she asked, pointing at the mess that had once been Roman Conley.
Callen simply stared. He was grossed out by the whole thing. How could he not be?
Chris stood. “He was buried to his neck, the mulch was full of creepy crawlies, and they had a snack. Think of it as a bug picnic, where he was the interloper, and they were the hungry audience. He now has a head full of worms, centipedes, and other things that decided to make his skull their new bug condo.”
Well, Tony was going to be in his glory.
This was right up his disgusting alley.
“Please tell me he was dead before they started crawling into his noggin to play their creepy shacking up games.”
He shook his head. “Not likely.”
“That’s the vilest thing I’ve ever seen,” she stated. “I’ve seen pureed dick. I’ve seen cooked people, and I’ve seen killers do the most disgusting things to other human beings, but this, team…this is over the top for me.”
They totally got that. It was a sight to behold.
Ethan handed his bag of food to a passing tech. “Toss this,” he muttered as some centipedes crawled out of the dead man’s nostrils.
He’d lost his appetite, and fast.
Elizabeth couldn’t blame him.
“So we have someone who drowned, someone who was force fed hot coals, and then this poor man was buried up to his neck and left to suffer.”
Callen glanced over.
“Wait. What?”
She stared at him. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Repeat that.”
Apparently, this scene was doing a number on Callen too.
“I said we have had someone…”
“The hot coals part.”
“I said she was force fed hot coals.”
Act of Blood (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 16) Page 19