She listened.
“When the killer dumped the mulch all over him, the creepy crawlies in it had a field day.”
“TOD?” she asked.
Chris knew she wasn’t going to like the answer. “I can’t pin point it.”
Elizabeth looked up and lifted a brow. “You’ve had all night. Explain.”
He knew this was coming.
“You see, the mulch heated up. Not only was he a snack for the critters, but he was also partially cooked. Black mulch absorbs heat, so that transferred through his body.”
“Awesome. That’s a new level of gross. I’m betting Shakespeare didn’t think to use mulch filled with bugs.”
“He was off his game,” Tony stated.
She pointed at him. “Don’t even go there.”
Tony zipped it.
Elizabeth focused on her ME. “Back to you, Doctor Death.”
“Well, I was simply going to point out that you took this department on, and you knew these cases were going to be insane.”
Yes, yes she did.
What was she thinking?
Oh yeah…that she loved chasing crazies.
“What else?”
“I can give you TOD,” Tony tossed out. “Well, I can ballpark it for you.”
“Go for it,” she offered. “You may be my favorite lab geek if you can.”
Chris started laughing. “Ouch, and while I’m standing right here.”
She winked at him. There was no doubt who her favorite was and always would be. She loved her brother. Chris had earned that affection.
“There were blowflies. They were still in the larva stage.”
“Okay, let me have it.”
“They were about ten millimeters long.”
“You measured them?”
“Uh, yeah, and it wasn’t easy. They like to wiggle. When you hold them in your hands, they’re trying to get all comfy.”
She started laughing.
“What?” he asked.
“How the hell does your wife cuddle up to you, Tony? That’s just more information than anyone needs to know.”
He grinned. “She likes when I talk bugs to her. The foreplay is hot.”
Chris started laughing.
The look on Elizabeth’s face was priceless. Before, she’d smack the stupid out of them for talking sex in the lab, but that was when she was running FBI West. Now she was a grunt just like the rest of them.
It reminded him of their first few years.
“Just continue. I’m trying not to picture that in my damn head,” she stated.
“Anyway…they were ten millimeters long, and that stage of instar lasts about two and a half days.”
“Okay, so…?”
“The flies laid the eggs. Twelve to twenty four hours later, the eggs hatched, and the first stage of instar was about two days, so you’re looking at around five days.”
“When was he abducted?” Chris asked.
“The missing person report, which was filed by his boyfriend, states that he went missing late Monday.”
“Then Tony is probably spot on.”
“There were spiders too,” Tony stated.
She pointed at them. “Don’t eat them, play with them, or make them pets. They are NOT hanging out in the lab. They go to their death as soon as this case is over. Am I clear, Doctor Magnus?”
“But the one has an egg sac. It’s huge. In a couple of days she’s going to be a mommy, and I…”
She stared at him. “NO, TONY.”
“Please?”
“I can bring your kids in, and we can…”
“Tony, don’t make me hurt you. I don’t want spiders around my kids, in my house, or in this lab. Take them to your house. I won’t go there.”
He grinned. “Thank you.”
“You’re touched in the head, my friend. With each year, you get worse.”
Tony wiggled his eyebrows at his boss. He loved working with Elizabeth. Other investigators wouldn’t let him play in the lab. It was work, work, and more work. Elizabeth let her team have fun, as long as they found a killer.
That made coming to work the best thing in the world.
Chris laughed and continued, “Roman Conley was likely breathing shallowly. The mulch wasn’t deep in his throat, and since he wasn’t buried too deeply, he could have dug himself out.”
“So the hit on the head slowed him down a great deal.”
“Think coma-like state.”
“This killer is dramatic.”
Yeah, this was going to be a crazy one, she could tell.
Glancing over at Johanna and Broderick, she needed some more information.
“What do you have on Roman?”
“He was old money rich, and he didn’t work a day in his life,” Joey stated. “His family passed it down to him, and he liked spending it.”
She made notes. “Okay, and?”
“His family went all the way back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” Broderick stated. “We did find chatter in his social circle that might indicate that he was burning through his wealth.”
“That’s interesting. What else?”
“His boyfriend, or boy toy, as the media called him, has an interesting background that you may want to hear about,” Broderick stated.
“What?”
“He’s an actor.”
“Oh, really? That’s interesting since we have three dead people, and two of them donated money or their fortunes to the National Theater Association.”
“Well, it gets better. Jasper Mullins was one of their actors for a very brief time. He was fired.”
“For?”
“He liked to manhandle the goods, only they weren’t on his own body,” Johanna stated. “The director, Selma Roth, fired his ass for harassing the other actors. He appears to be a hornball who hasn’t a whole lot of impulse control—if you know what I mean.”
“Goodie. I love a horny male in the morning.”
Ethan and Callen walked in and neither liked the sound of that.
“Uh, what?” Callen asked. “Care to explain that to the two men in your life?”
Even Ethan was staring at her as he waited.
She started laughing. “We were just talking about horny men, manhandling their junk, and all kind of kinky things.”
They both opened their mouths.
Then closed them.
“It’s funny how you assumed we were talking about both of you,” Elizabeth said, making room for Callen and Ethan on the table beside her.
The men flushed, and it was sexier than hell. She loved getting them all stirred up, but it was time to let them in on it.
“We were discussing, Jasper Mullins, the dead man’s sex partner.”
“With you, Elizabeth, one never knows,” Ethan stated. “I fear where your mind goes when you’re in a weird mood.”
She glanced over at him, and he was in long sleeved shirt that was form fitting and jeans. Neither left much to the imagination, and she knew exactly where her mind was heading. She’d pay big money to molest him in a janitor’s closet.
It made her heart skip.
Ethan rarely dressed down. This was pretty sexy. When he wore beat up jeans, it made her wet.
In fact…
“Now who’s the pervert?” he whispered in her ear, right before running his teeth across the lobe to further exasperate her.
Oh, she definitely was when it came to these two men.
There was no doubt about that.
It took a second to regain her composure. “We’re heading to his place to interview. Please tell me, agents, that you have his address.”
They rattled it off.
Callen wrote it down.
“Ethan, can you start the profile?” she asked.
Before he could speak, the morgue door opened and in strolled the detective and Merry.
She was smiling like the cat who swallowed the Native canary.
“Well, welcome to work,
” she stated. “I thought maybe you two were taking a day off.”
She blushed.
“I’m sorry, but something came up.”
Elizabeth laughed.
Ethan gave her a look right before Callen covered her mouth for her own good. She had impulse control issues, and there was no doubt where she was going.
“HR?”
She mumbled something into Callen’s hand.
“What did she say?”
“She said you’re no fun, and you need to chill out.”
He laughed.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes when Callen set her free. Yes, Ethan might be in jeans and boots, but he still was boss beneath it all.
“Spoilsport.”
Merry figured her family should know what had happened. Her parents were dead, and these people were the only ones who would ever share in her joy.
“Boone asked me to marry him,” she blurted.
The whole room erupted in joy for their head tech. They began congratulating her, patting him on the back, and celebrating.
Elizabeth gave them a few minutes, and then she whistled. The time to celebrate was over.
“Hey! We’re thrilled for you, Merry, but let’s wrap this up and then you guys can party once we leave.”
They went back to their areas.
“What else do we have on trace?” she asked their head tech.
Merry was pulling on her lab coat and grabbing the papers to give her boss a report.
“We finished with Fern Yoder and Richard Goodwin. You’re not going to be happy.”
“Oh, I rarely am when you say that, so you might as well give me the shitty news.”
“Neither had any trace on them.”
“How about the rope and chains? Were we able to find out anything about them?”
“Oh, I found out plenty. They were common materials found in every local home improvement store, so they led me to absolutely nothing.”
“What about the coals that Fern Yoder snacked on?”
“Again, everyday things. They were BBQ briquettes that were heated to a high temperature and then shoved down her throat. The killer likely brought them with him and heated them with a portable blow torch.”
Chris spoke up, “And when they burned through the flesh, the killer added more heat to keep them red. There were char marks on the outside of her throat. The killer lit them up from the outside.”
“Well, that’s sick. This person is a nut job.”
Yeah, that was crystal clear.
“When will the trace from Roman be done?” Elizabeth asked. Her hope was because the man was buried outside, the killer wasn’t as careful, assuming the evidence would get lost in the dirt.
It was their only chance.
“Later today or possibly early tomorrow. We had to process fifty pounds of dirt and mulch. That means going through it stick by stick.”
“Plus, I need every single bug,” Tony added.
Yeah, she was glad it wasn’t her job.
“Okay, well, get back to work,” she stated, hopping down off the table. Immediately, she crossed to Merry and hugged her. “I’m happy for you both!”
She was too.
“I want you to stay inside today.”
“What if we get a new body?”
“We’ll see where it is and go from there. If it’s in the woods, we aren’t going to let you on the scene. I’m getting too old to take bullets two days in a row.”
Both men would second that. They were getting too old to watch it happen.
“Thank you.”
“Now, that being said, lunch is on us in honor of Merry’s engagement.” She tossed Chris her credit card. “Save me some Chinese or I’ll chew ass, and you don’t like that.”
He grinned.
“Maybe I’m a masochist and I do.”
She snorted.
“Christopher, I know I told you to head home, but get a nap in the office so you can babysit our team. Tony, don’t play with the bugs, and team…get me something to find a killer!”
She pointed at Madden and Seaton. If they thought they were free from her demands, they were out of their minds.
“Love birds, run that troupe and the director. I want everything you have on it. I’m going to be interviewing her tomorrow. I feel like catching a play.”
They got to work.
Meanwhile, Callen, Elizabeth, and Ethan headed out. They had an actor to shake down, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.
Somehow, she didn’t think it was going to be easy—especially when playing pretend was your damn job.
Now she had to figure out who was lying and who was acting.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Ethan opted to drive, Elizabeth was riding shotgun, and Callen was in the back seat dealing with some emails that were coming in on his smartphone.
“How was the book thing?” she asked, turning around to talk to Callen. Even though she was up to her eyeballs in the dead, she needed to make sure she fostered the relationships with her husbands.
Their issues were her issues.
“I’m worried, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m trying to remain calm.”
He told her all about it.
Elizabeth listened to him, and then patted his leg. “It’ll all work out, Callen. Like I said earlier about Karma—it will be in your favor. Trust me. This will make you even more famous.”
“Yeah, just like my upcoming sex tape.”
She took off her sunglasses when he said that and tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.
“Pardon me, my fine Native bed buddy. Sex tape? Shouldn’t your wife know about that?”
Elizabeth wouldn’t lie.
It made her heart squeeze in her chest. The idea of sharing either man freaked her right out, but they all knew that none of them had led the life of saints before coming together as a unit. If one of the two men were going to have a sex tape, it would likely be Callen.
He was the wilder brother.
Callen glanced up and met her gaze. “Um, that didn’t come out right. That’s not what I meant.”
Ethan was laughing. “Yeah, explain that one, Callen.”
“Hey! You’re the one who put the sex tape analogy in my head.”
She looked back and forth between them. “One of you had better explain, and fast. I feel a wife freak out on the horizon, and it’s going to be one where both men are paying alimony and taking masturbation to a whole new level.”
Ethan did the deed and explained his thoughts on the whole ‘stolen book’ versus a sex tape.
“No freak out needed, angel,” Callen offered.
She stared at him. “And here I was going to say let’s do it. I’ve always wanted to do one.”
“What?” Ethan said, glancing over.
Callen saw the wink and knew she was busting his ass. “Can we?” he asked, joining in.
“Sure. Think about it. We release that and you’re going to be famous. Then you both are going to be really popular and for obvious reasons. That’s so hot. Let’s do it tonight.”
“Uh, no,” stated Blackhawk. “Are you two out of your damn minds? I don’t need my dick on TV, and I certainly don’t want every man in America looking at our woman.”
“Think about it. You can both wear some feathers and war paint, and I’ll wear my birthday suit. We’ll be in the headlines for weeks.”
He stared at her.
“You’re insane.”
Callen couldn’t stop laughing from the back seat. “I’ve always wanted my dick on the big screen.”
“Well, in the dark, I can’t tell the difference. If he won’t do it, we can cut in footage and pretend it’s him.”
“Now I know you’re busting my ass,” Ethan stated. “We have very different penises.”
“You’ve checked?” Callen teased.
Ethan sputtered like a teakettle about to boil over. He was about to lose it.
�
��Please tell me you’re kidding. I feel a stroke coming on right about now.”
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, Cowboy, I am. I’m certainly not sharing my husbands with the world.”
Ethan relaxed.
“You two are evil.”
Yeah, he was probably right on that one. She had her moments.
“What did Gabe say about your requests?” she asked, changing the subject.
“He agreed to the office and time of arrival. That was the easy one.”
“And about us coming out officially as a couple to the media?”
No one spoke.
That said everything she needed to know. If a wife wanted to gauge the degree of crappiness, all she had to do was watch the reaction.
This one was very telling.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Ethan offered.
She noticed neither man would look at her. Callen was focused on his phone and Ethan was pretending to look for some insane driver coming for them.
“So, we’ve come to lying to the wife. Well, isn’t this awesome. I never saw this day coming.”
She stared out the window and wouldn’t say a word to either of them. Elizabeth knew how to break them, and it wouldn’t take much.
This was easy.
“Elizabeth.”
“No, Ethan. That’s fine. I’m not part of this. Why should I be let in on it? Oh, by the way, I’ll be bunking in a guest room or with one of the kids. I don’t sleep beside liars.”
Callen gave him a look when Ethan glanced into the rearview mirror.
It said it all.
Callen wouldn’t risk losing her in their bed. If Ethan didn’t tell her, he was going to do it.
“I’m trying to protect my family,” Ethan said, taking the heat even though it was something he and Callen had both agreed to as the men in the family.
She still stared out the window. They were close to breaking. She knew her men.
“Elizabeth, please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m more hurt than mad, Ethan.”
Neither man wanted that.
“Gabe told us to feel free, but that one of us was going to carry the brunt of it.”
“Me?” she asked, figuring it out all on her own. That would explain why the men wouldn’t talk to her about it.
Act of Blood (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 16) Page 26