Kiss of Souls

by Morgan Kelley

  Elizabeth could tell he’d been a cop.

  He went there.

  “Did you run them?”

  “I am. I’m trying to connect Sabrina Adams to Xavier Lake and Fredrick Raymond. It’ll take some time.”

  Chris spoke up, “As Elizabeth knows, the two other dead victims…they offed themselves. There was no trace, no proof of foul play, and I signed them off as suicide.”

  Beckett didn’t care. “I like to cover every angle, if you don’t mind.”

  She didn’t.

  “I say go for it. We’ll be doing interviews today, and that’s going to tie us up. Why not cover every possibility?”

  He agreed.

  “Callen and Julian are going to hit up the soldier who claims he was a wrong number, and Roger Adams. They’ll get his story.”

  “And you two?” Callen asked.

  “Tori and I are going to find Regina and we’re going to make sure she tells us all about what’s going on.”

  “How are you going to find her?” Callen asked. “The strip club isn’t open yet.”

  Oh, she was aware.

  “Callen James, did you actually think I was going to a strip club to troll for suspects? Nope. I’ve got a better plan.”

  That made him nervous.

  “What?” he and Julian asked at the same time.

  “We’re going to break back into her apartment and wait. She’s going to need her things, and if she’s left her hormones behind, she’ll be back.”

  “You’re going to break in?” Callen asked. “Uh, isn’t that…?”

  “Illegal?” she asked.

  “Dangerous,” he corrected.

  “You know me, Callen. I live for danger,” she said, holding up her casted arm.

  Yeah, he was aware.

  That was what he was afraid of with his wife.

  “We’ll be fine,” Tori admitted. She could see the look on Julian’s face. “Trust us.”

  Yeah, that was easier said than done.

  Arsen Woods raised his hand. “What about me?” he asked. “I hope you’re not going to desk me,” he offered.

  She smiled. “Soldier or stripper?” she asked.

  That was an easy one considering the stripper in question was a transsexual.

  “I’m going soldier on this one.”

  Who could blame him?

  “It looks like you’re with Callen and Julian then. You three stay out of trouble.”

  It wasn’t them they were worried about.

  Tori and Elizabeth attracted trouble.

  Elizabeth refocused on the day’s plans.

  “Let’s see if we can get anything out of these three. If not, we regroup, and we see what we come up with. Something has to shake loose, and soon,” Tori stated. “We’re running out of players.”

  And time.

  While Beau wasn’t going to jail today, he still had issues. The cops were gunning for him, and all that stood in his way was the team.

  And no more freaking leads.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Marine Base

  Friday Morning

  C aptain Marshall Wolff was an officer and a gentleman. In fact, he found the whole thing as amusing as hell. When the two men arrived on the base, they found him right at the gate standing guard. This made it easier.

  And harder.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he admitted. “The cop in your back seat came to see me last week, asking about some woman named Shelby. She’s old enough to be my damn mother. I don’t hang out with anyone that old. I told him the same thing then, and I’m going to tell you the same thing now.”

  Callen got it.

  Here was a young Marine, and they were wasting his time.

  “Can you give us an alibi?” Arsen asked. “Last week, you were in a hurry to go to drills. Maybe today you can enlighten us?” he asked. “Or am I coming back again?”

  He gave the cop a dirty look.

  There was no love lost there.

  “Sure. What day was it again?”

  They rattled it off.

  He looked at the schedule in the guard shack. “Here it is. I was here working. Ask my boss. He’s the one leaning into the car window over there.”

  When Callen headed over, the man did, indeed, corroborate the man’s alibi.

  This was a dead end.

  “We’re sorry,” Callen said, as he climbed back into Julian’s ride. “We have to cover every base, soldier.”

  He got it.

  “Hey! It’s no problem. Really. I hope you catch your person,” he stated. “I bet this has to be one hell of a case. I’ve been watching it on the news, and it sounds crazy.”

  Oh, he had no idea.

  Callen sent his wife a text, and told her the bad news.

  They had one less suspect to dig into. This soldier was in the clear.

  No sooner than he’d tucked his phone back into his blazer pocket, it rang. He’d recognize that one tone anywhere.

  “Yo! Bro! What’s up?”

  “I need you to get to the local post office. There’s a special delivery for Elizabeth. Can you pick it up?”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “My heart.”

  “Uh, yuck. That’s gross and not a good gift.”

  Ethan laughed. “You’re insane. It’s a journal. I want her to have it while she’s feeling magnanimous. Give it to her the day you get back to Salem. I want her to read it.”

  “What’s in it?” he asked.

  “My soul in writing.”

  Callen got it.

  “Okay, bro, I’ll grab it for her. It’s a good plan to give it to her in Salem. We’re neck deep in a case, and the sad thing is, I actually miss serial killers.”

  “What?”

  He laughed. “I know! They leave a trail. This guy took out one person and that’s it. The evidence is cold, the police are working against us, and we miss you. We don’t have our profiler. Our team is running without you.”

  It touched his heart that they missed him.

  He missed them too.

  “If you need a profile…”

  That was all Callen had to hear. He was all about getting Ethan involved in this.

  “If something doesn’t click soon, I’ll send everything we have over to you. As of today, we’re out of suspects.”

  He got it.

  “I’ll help out. Thank you, Callen, for taking care of her. I know this hasn’t been easy.”

  “It’s easy when you love people, Ethan. What wouldn’t I do for you or her? You’re my spouses. I’d die for you both.”

  He knew it was true.

  “I’ll see you in three weeks?” he asked.

  There was a pause.

  “Are you okay, Ethan?” he asked.

  “Does she really want me there? Did she mean everything she said last night?” Ethan knew he wouldn’t survive if he showed up and his wife only wanted to flip him off in person.

  Everything was riding on Callen and his honesty.

  “Yes, she really does.”

  He told Ethan about the channeling.

  He whistled. “I wish I was there. I would have loved to meet her mother.”

  “She is just like her,” Callen admitted. “Down to the britches and sarcasm.”

  He was sad he missed it.

  “After that, she’s changed. Her face has less stress, she’s calm, and she’s taking their advice. She wants you back, and so do I.”

  “Then I’ll be there. I want to come home. I want a couple days off to be with her. We need a vacation.”

  Oh, he agreed.

  “See you then, bro. Love you.”

  “I love you, too, Callen.”

  And he did.

  When Callen hung up, Julian was waiting.

  “So, you guys are better?” he asked.

  Callen hesitated.

  “What?”

  “We aren’t going to be better.”

  Julian had heard the conversati
on. He was surprised.

  “What? Why not?”

  “If we don’t give Elizabeth a viable suspect to beat down, we’re never getting the hell out of Delta Falls. That’s going to make her cranky and Ethan bitchy.”

  Julian got it.

  That was a bad thing.

  No one wanted a bitchy Elizabeth Blackhawk.

  NO ONE.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Regina McCann’s

  Apartment

  Since it was so early, they broke in, and took a seat on a couch. It was blocked from the door and all windows. They were going to wait it out.

  “Are you okay after last night?” Tori asked, after she noticed her friend was suspiciously silent.

  “You have a creepy gift and even creepier friends,” she teased.

  “Yeah, so do you,” she teased. “You chase killers for a living, and you like it. Plus, I’m your friend.”

  Point made.

  “I want to thank you for last night,” Elizabeth said. “It made a difference in my life. I needed to hear that from my mother and Timothy.”

  “So you believe?”

  “Let’s just say that I believe in your gift, and what happened here, but when I go back to DC, I’m going to believe that the crazies are running the sanitarium.”

  She laughed.

  “And yet, here we are, sitting in the apartment of a stripper who used to be a man, but is a woman who takes his clothes off for men. Yeah, you might not have the only sanitarium,” Tori admitted.

  “Well, when you say it that way, of course it’s going to sound crazy,” Elizabeth stated.

  She laughed.

  “I needed this. I needed this time with you. Thank you for being my friend, Victoria ‘I’m a psychic’ Littlemoon.”

  “You’re welcome, Elizabeth ‘I kill people for a living’ Blackhawk.”

  They both snorted.

  “Want to watch TV? We can put the subtitles on and read it.”

  She laughed. “You knew this was going to be the easier one, didn’t you?” Tori asked.

  “Hell yeah! Who wants to carouse with a Marine when I can hang with the Army?”

  She gave her a fist hump.

  “Amen, sister. Amen.”

  So, like two good soldiers, they bedded down to wait for their target.

  Then someone was going to get one hell of an ambush.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Roger Adams

  Tech Company

  When Detective Woods, Callen Whitefox, and Julian Littlemoon found him, he was having coffee in his private lounge, as he took his mid-morning break.

  His secretary showed them in without a single solitary argument. All it took was Callen whipping out his infamous grin, and the fact that most people knew he was Jackson James.

  One signed book later, and they were about to talk to a man who might be their killer.

  Maybe.

  Callen, Julian, and Arsen hoped that this interview would wrap it up. After all, they were now at the last suspect.

  It was him, or they were back to the drawing board. They had to be missing something, but what?

  “Sir, these three men are here to see you.”

  He looked up and his face said it all. Instead of getting angry, Roger Adams folded his paper and motioned toward the spare chairs.

  “I figured I’d be getting a visit, but I assumed it was going to be the two ladies who interviewed my wife.”

  “They had other suspects to interview,” Julian stated. “We didn’t want to make you wait. We know how busy you are, sir.”

  Julian opted to be respectful.

  You caught more flies with honey. Well, that and their wives had already raised all kinds of hell.

  He calmly sipped his coffee.

  “You think I killed that dreadful woman, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I didn’t. I knew about Sabrina’s affair.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes, I did. I suspected it a while ago. When she slept with my employee, I went to him and asked him what was going on, and he told me everything.”

  “That had to be awkward.”

  “Not really. It’s the devil you know. I paid him off to play along. Until this moment, I didn’t know he was being blackmailed. He neglected to tell me that part. I think he was afraid I’d lose it. He was right.”

  Callen made notes.

  This explained why the man’s story didn’t match up with what Sabrina Adams told the women.

  “Could your wife be involved in this?” Arsen asked.

  He laughed.

  “Honestly, gentlemen, my wife…she’s got her good points, but let’s just say she’s not good at scheming. I knew she was having sex with other men. It was pretty transparent. If she killed that woman, I imagine you’d know by now.”

  Would they?

  They weren’t so sure.

  “And you’re not furious about the whole thing? Your wife was being blackmailed, the employee was…were you?” Arsen asked.

  Callen and Julian let him run it.

  After all, this was kind of his thing.

  “Yes, I was mad, but Sabrina is in for a rude awakening. I only married her to get my tech inside the government. As her husband, I had the ability to bid jobs for the city and get the inside information. She tends to hang out with the people I need to schmooze. As for me being blackmailed, I’m not. My indiscretions are a lot quieter than hers.”

  Was he proud he was cheating on his wife?

  Really?

  “Uh, you’re really not supposed to own up to this,” Callen stated.

  “I’d rather this than murder.”

  He had a point.

  “Sabrina served her purpose. Honestly, she thinks I’m impotent. She’s just not my type. I kind of like my women less worthless and more feisty.”

  Didn’t they all?

  “When we do have sex, I do have to pop meds. I like my women less used up.”

  He looked at Callen. “How do you do it?”

  He got that a lot.

  Everyone always thought he and his brother had some incestuous relationship. He saw him naked. He didn’t actually touch him. They were too focused on their woman.

  “The devil you know,” he stated.

  He laughed. “I suppose so!”

  “We need to know where you were,” Arsen stated. “You know, for official reasons. I gave all this information to Detective Bender,” he stated.

  Yeah, well, Arsen couldn’t ask him.

  “I can forward it to you. I’ll send you my calendar.”

  Arsen rattled it off.

  He sent it.

  When it beeped, he pulled up his email.

  “That’s my work schedule. The night that horrible human being was killed, I was on my way back from DC. I had a tech conference with the FBI. I was with Ethan Blackhawk, as a matter of fact. Ironic, no?” he asked Callen.

  Yeah, and all kinds of shitty.

  And another suspect bit the dust.

  They definitely had to be missing something.

  “Well, then you’re clear. Where was your wife?” Arsen inquired.

  “Diddling someone, I’m sure.”

  Yeah, they didn’t doubt it.

  “So, can we call this a meeting? I have a lawyer to see. It seems Sabrina has lost her use to me. It’s time for me to move on. I have contracts with the FBI on the horizon. I’m going to call it a win and pack it up.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “Put in a good word for me,” Roger Adams said, as he walked away.

  When he was gone, Callen shook his head. “Over my dead body would I recommend him for anything other than a door stop. In fact, first thing I’m doing is calling my brother and telling him to pull that twisted plug.”

  Arsen laughed. “I don’t blame you. Let’s head out.”

  He was good with that.

  The team had some work to do.

  It looked
like they were going back to the drawing board. They were shit out of luck.

  And if they failed to find that killer, so was Beau Christensen.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  He was scared.

  They knew.

  God!

  They knew.

  It was now clear that he was terrible at this. He’d killed one person, and now the truth would come out.

  The news was reporting that he’d killed Fredrick Raymond and Xavier Lake.

  He didn’t even know them!

  Yes, he’d seen them around, but he didn’t end their lives. This wasn’t about anyone but Shelby.

  She was a horrible human being.

  He couldn’t believe he was going to be blamed for the other deaths.

  He didn’t do it.

  Killing her had been hard enough.

  Stealing…

  It was so unlike him.

  He wished he could give it back. He wished he could go back and undo everything he’d done. Honestly, it had all been out of anger.

  He didn’t want his family blood tainted.

  His father…

  He’d screwed up

  He was trapped.

  What the hell was he supposed to do?

  He knew.

  There was only one option left, and he had no choice but to do it.

  More blood was coming.

  He wanted to weep.

  He wished he could make this right.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Regina McCann’s

  Apartment

  It felt like they were there for hours. In reality, it wasn’t actually that long. Still, when they heard the door unlock, it was a relief. Neither woman wanted to spend the day hanging out in that apartment.

  It was a waste of time.

  When the key slid into the lock, and the bolt was moved out of place, both Tori and Elizabeth knew it was go time.

  Their suspect was back.

  Together, they moved into place. Flanking either side of the entryway, they were ready for when Regina walked in. Luckily for them, she didn’t bother to look left or right.