Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four)

by Kelley, Morgan

  “Deal!”

  Elizabeth started stripping off her gear. “I have to be out of my damn mind!”

  Whitefox took her gun and slung it over his shoulder and he was grinning. Elizabeth sucker punched him in the ribs. “That’s for enjoying this a little too much. You better not tell your brother a damn thing.”

  “My lips are sealed, Miss Kitty,” he purred in her ear, enjoying every damn second of it.

  Elizabeth trudged towards the house and out of the line of sight. She made it to land, stepping out of the boots and rolling up the bottom of her cutoffs to cover Callen’s blood. She heard snickering and pointed at the weeds.

  Un-freaking-believable.

  When Ethan found out about this, she was never going out in the field again. Elizabeth pulled out the ponytail and flipped her hair over her head to fluff it up. She dropped her vest and tried to look and smell like she didn’t just wade through the swamp. Funny, no one was snickering now.

  Whitefox watched her and felt his entire body go hot and tight. Jesus, this scene was being added to his memory for future erotic dreams. Looking around, he didn’t doubt the same was true for all the men, just from the looks on their faces.

  Walking around the side of the house, Elizabeth pretended she was coming out the back door. “Hey, Deputy!” she waved and smiled. Yeah, she had his attention. He was getting out of his car and practically rushing towards her. Damn it, she was hoping to distract him not bring her closer.

  “Wow, you look different on your day off.”

  “Yeah I do.” She pulled out her best Miss Kitty purr and smiled at him, twirling her hair around her finger. “What can I do for you? I’m just waiting for Desdemona to come back.” Now she prayed the woman would stay away just long enough.

  “How about I come around back for a drink with you and keep you company?” he winked.

  Oh hell. “Okay,” she smiled. This meant one thing. Deputy Delray was going to sleep again. “Oh, Deputy?”

  He offered her his arm. “Yeah, gorgeous lady?”

  Elizabeth hit him right on the pressure point, and he crumbled to the ground. “Clear,” she yelled over her shoulder. “Let’s put him in his car. Maybe he’ll think it was a dream.”

  Someone yelled back to her; ‘a wet one’. And Elizabeth glared over her shoulder. “I swear on everything that’s holy, I will bust you all down to mop cleaners if this gets out.”

  Whitefox helped place the body in the van and then went to help with the deputy. “Lyzee, that was very hot.” He started laughing when she shook her head. “I am so turned on right now, Miss Kitty.”

  “Cal, remember the other day in the bed and breakfast?” she asked, running her hand down his back as he shoved the deputy into the car.

  “Oh yeah I certainly do, beautiful,” and boy did he ever remember that kiss. “You can top it?” he flirted, and knew it was wrong but it was so damn funny.

  “I can give you something to make you never forget,” she whispered back, lifting the deputy’s legs in the car.

  Whitefox swallowed the lump in his throat.

  “I’m freezing cold. Can I have your shirt?” she asked, innocently. Immediately, he dropped his vest and pulled it off, handing it to her and not thinking twice.

  Elizabeth whistled and Christina and the other female tech looked up. “Hey ladies, look who else liked tattoos as a boy.”

  Whitefox went red. “Oh my God! You just threw me under the lecherous Christina bus.” Callen started laughing.

  “Yeah I did, and true to my word, you shall never forget it.”

  Elizabeth laughed harder when Christina moved closer. “Wow, Callen. Look at that heart on your back. Whose initials are they?” Now she ran, because she knew he wanted that shirt back to cover up the ink. “Get moving team!”

  They all hopped into their vehicles and pulled out. Callen Whitefox managed to toss his gear into the trunk and hop in before his partner pulled out.

  Elizabeth was still laughing, and her eyes were sparkling. Damn he loved working with her. He wondered if he could be her partner every damn day.

  * * *

  Blackhawk got the text message, they were clear and there was indeed a deputy at Desdemona’s house. He sent back one asking how they avoided and then no response.

  Odd, oh wait. No it wasn’t. He probably just wasn’t being told because it would involve his blood pressure or a stroke.

  “We need to get out of here; the team has finished their retrieval. I’ll drop you back at the bed and breakfast and you need to hang out there. I’ll get the samples of DNA for your sister later or possibly tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  “The team has this, Doctor Adare,” and that was all he said. Blackhawk’s mind was too busy pondering how a team of three techs, Christina, two doctors, his brother and Elizabeth snuck two sets of remains into the vans without anyone noticing. Oh, if she thought he was buying the no reply, she was sadly mistaken.

  Ethan’s husband intuition was screaming, and it was more than likely he was going to regret knowing about.

  All he could hope was his brother had kept it under control. Then Blackhawk realized the complete absurdity of that statement. The two of them lived to cause chaos and mayhem.

  Maybe Elizabeth needed a new babysitter. Like a priest or a very cranky nun.

  * * *

  Elizabeth and her team pulled up to the ME’s office and looked around. There weren’t any cars and it looked lifeless, just like the corpses they were transporting.

  That just seemed suspicious.

  “Lights are out in the building. I better go check the door,” she said, looking over. “Sheriff Jackwagon doesn’t get near our bodies. Drive them cross country to FBI West if you have to do it!”

  Whitefox nodded.

  Elizabeth ran across the parking lot and pulled on the door. It was locked. Now what the hell were they going to do? She grinned as she stood there staring at the shirtless man in the front of the vehicle. Running back across the lot she leaned in to talk to Callen. “Remember when you were a kid, and you and Ethan broke into places?”

  “Vaguely, do I remember anything reminiscent of that,” he said, laughing.

  “Those doors are locked. Can you get us in?”

  Whitefox nodded. Going around to the back of the vehicle he grabbed a few tools, following Elizabeth to the door. It wasn’t lost on him that she stood blocking the view of the tech team. At the audible click he pushed the door open. “We’re in.”

  Elizabeth waved the team in, helping to grab the bodies and kits. Everyone rushed the gear across the parking lot and into the building. Once inside she tossed a tech her keys. “Move all the vehicles out of sight. The sheriff didn’t stake the building out because he knew it would be locked up tight. If he drives by, I don’t want him up in our faces, so lose the vans and any memories of what you saw today.”

  “Yes ma’am,” saluted the tech, and he took off running.

  Whitefox started laughing. “Can I have my shirt back now?” he asked, noticing she had no intention to give it back. Not that he minded, it made his body warm seeing her in it and knowing what was under it.

  “Uh no.” Elizabeth dialed her husband and waited for him to answer.

  “Yeah, baby?”

  “We’re in the ME building, but to make you aware, it was locked down pretty tight.”

  “How’d you get access?”

  “Don’t ask, or you too will be going to a federal jail and wearing a bright orange jumpsuit,” she said, laughing and putting him on speaker so Whitefox could hear the freak out.

  “What the hell is going on, Elizabeth? How did you get past a deputy and then into a locked building?” Part of him wanted to laugh, because they’d made this all very Fed and spy like. It was damn funny, and he was missing out on all the fun.

  “We’ll talk when you get here, honey.”

  There was ‘honey’ again, and it wasn’t going to be good news. “I’m coming right after I drop Des
demona off at the bed and breakfast.”

  Elizabeth snickered. “Park out of sight and lose your tail first. We have Sheriff Jackwagon going off the deep end. Julian is headed back there; he’s probably in his room showering right now. I believe he’s in the Daffodil suite.”

  “Thanks baby, see you in a bit.” There was never a dull day in his life since Elizabeth rolled into his life.

  * * *

  Elizabeth sat beside a shirtless Callen on one of the unused exam tables. They watched as Doctor Leonard began the autopsy of the remains. There wasn’t a lot to work with. The wildlife had had quite the snack and it wasn’t pretty.

  After unloading the victims, they found that the second body didn’t have any scaly friends calling the woman’s hollowed out pelvic cavity home. It was a small silver lining for Elizabeth. There’d been plenty of one on one time with the first snake, and anymore, were getting shot. Elizabeth was at her max for ‘critters’.

  “I have one ovary missing, and half the uterus is gone. We’ll cut open our friendly viper and see if we can find it there. Snakes have a slow digestive process, and we may get lucky. I’m getting all the samples that are available to run tox and other reports. I’ll tell you right now, she wasn’t strangled. The hyoid is intact. It doesn’t match the first victim.”

  “Could we have two killers? Tony said that body one was twenty plus years ago.”

  Callen shrugged. “I’m not the profiler, but I will say that two bodies twenty years apart by two different killers looks odd, unless killer two stumbled on the drop spot.”

  Elizabeth told the doctors about Desdemona’s mother. “If that’s Trinity Adare, then we didn’t have random killers finding spots. We’re going to need that facial reconstruction and possibly the medical records and dental of the missing woman.”

  “Christina is calling around now from the other room,” added Tony Magnus.

  Elizabeth heard footsteps and braced. If she was lucky, it would be her husband and not the sheriff. When Ethan came through the door, her heart skipped a beat. In his suit and shiny shoes, he took her breath away every single time. God, she loved him.

  “Hey Director! Welcome to the party,” said Doctor Leonard. “I just started the autopsy a few minutes ago.”

  Blackhawk nodded at his ME and anthropologist. Then, he saw his wife. She was wearing his brother’s shirt, and he was topless. They were sitting side by side on the table, and both looked like they swallowed a canary.

  No, make that a flock of canaries.

  “Start at the top,” he said, moving towards his wife and kissing her hello. When she didn’t stop him, he knew it was big. “You just let me kiss you in autopsy in front of everyone, so I need to sit down for this,” he stated, pulling over a chair and sitting, arms crossed. “Plus you have blood on your shorts. Weren’t you were wearing a white tank top when you left? Hey, isn’t that Callen’s shirt?”

  Oh, where to even begin?

  “There was a snake and it was a water moccasin. It nearly killed me, until Callen saved me. I accidentally cut him with his knife that I had to fish out of his back pocket.”

  “Of course you did. Why didn’t you shoot it, Tex?” he asked, using the nickname they teased her with regularly.

  “Oh I have this one,” interjected Doctor Leonard. “I love the Blackhawk story game. It was in the belly of the victim, and it would have destroyed evidence.”

  “Okay, so you tangled with a water moccasin. You realize you’re a mother now and that’s a little dangerous?” For now he was calm, because they were all laughing.

  “I didn’t know there was a snake. I hate snakes and dead eyes; this was a two-fer today. So, Cal rescued me. I owe him a really big hero kiss, because he only got a little kiss in the swamp.”

  Whitefox grinned at his brother, almost daring him to say anything.

  “I’ve saved you before,” interjected Tony Magnus. “There was that pointy staple in the report. You could have got tetanus from it.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Next?”

  “He grabbed the snake and I sliced its head off, but got his wrist too.” She lifted his arm and pointed. “He’ll live, but that’s where the blood came from.”

  “Logical. How about you tell me how you evaded the deputy? We drove by and saw his car.” Now he was trying to not smile, he really loved his wife. She found trouble, and at least this time a killer wasn’t after any of them.

  No one spoke, since they all promised.

  Elizabeth sighed. Apparently, her husband was willing to wait her out. She jumped off the table and pulled off her brother-in-law’s shirt.

  Now, he started laughing, but it was that crazed laughter.

  “I swore them all to secrecy and if the photos get out, we know who did it.”

  There was more laughter as he ran his hands though his hair and shook his head in exasperation.

  Whitefox leaned forward. “Put the shirt back on! Ethan looks like he’s on the edge,” Callen whispered.

  “So, you gave her your shirt to be a gentleman?” his brother asked.

  When they started laughing, both doctors couldn’t help but join them. This was going to be fun to watch unfold.

  “Your vicious wife tricked me, and now Christina is staring at me the way she stares at you.”

  Ethan laughed even harder. He offered his wife a fist bump. “For that, I will forgive you for trying to seduce the deputy.”

  “Yeah, I also knocked him out again.”

  “I don’t want to know, Lyzee. The less I know the better off I am.” He watched as his brother dropped his arm over her shoulder and kiss the side of her head.

  The bond between them touched his heart, and his brother actually looked like he was healing from the inside out. There was life back in his eyes that had been missing for the last seven months.

  “How did you get into a locked building?”

  Elizabeth looked over at Callen and gave him a fist bump. “Cowboy, you and your brother have some pretty handy skills, and it’s very sexy Mr. Blackhawk and Mr. Whitefox.”

  Both men laughed at the reference to their bad boy days being appreciated.

  The tech ran in and looked alarmed. “Sheriff Jackwagon is rolling up, and he doesn’t look happy.”

  Blackhawk stood protectively in front of his team and took off his jacket, tossing it to his brother.

  “I was in the swamp, Ethan, your jacket will get ruined,” Whitefox said, looking at it.

  “I have twenty black jackets and only one brother. Put it on, Cal.” He turned in time to face an angry man with a gun. The sheriff looked furious, and he started yelling and carrying on like a madman.

  “You all are under arrest for breaking and entering!” He pointed at Elizabeth Blackhawk. “She assaulted my deputy, and I want her in handcuffs immediately!”

  “Well, I want her in handcuffs all the time, and I’ve yet to get my wish, so you aren’t getting yours. Let me see the security tapes proving my people broke into this facility.”

  “We don’t have security tapes!”

  “Well damn! You should lock the doors then!” Blackhawk smiled his director smile and crossed his arms.

  “I still want her arrested!”

  “Elizabeth, did you physically assault his deputy?” he asked, turning around in time to see Callen move closer to her side.

  “Ethan he was staring at my chest and walked right into a tree. I was nice enough to help him to his vehicle. Should I have left him lying in the grass where an alligator could get him?” she inquired, sweetly.

  The sheriff fumed.

  Blackhawk turned around and faced the man. “Anything else you wish to discuss? I seem to recall telling you that we were using your facility, and we get here and the door is open. I just assumed you were going to play nice with the Feds.”

  “Where were the remains found?”

  “Callen, please reintroduce yourself and tell the nice sheriff where the remains were being hidden, and whose j
urisdiction it is now?”

  “Remember me? That Indian guy? Once again, I’m Director Callen Whitefox, and I’m liaison to the Native American Community, and the tribe gave us permission for a small excavation crew. Not including white man.”

  The sheriff sputtered, “She’s not Indian, nor is he or he,” Denton pointed at the two doctors.

  “Native American,” said everyone in the room at that same time, and then they all laughed.

  The man obviously didn’t find it funny at all, and stared at them like they were crazy and the common enemy.

  “I told you what was going to happen if you tried to stonewall me,” added Elizabeth Blackhawk. “We have come upon your community like a great pestilence from the west. We shall wreak havoc upon your small town to find the truth of who killed these women.”

  “You're funny for a chest with a smart mouth.”

  Everyone in the room got exceptionally quiet, and Ethan stepped menacingly towards the man, ready to kill him.

  “I tell you what, Sheriff. You pull out yours and I’ll pull out mine. We’ll see whose are more impressive,” drawled Elizabeth.

  Sheriff Denton scowled at her.

  “Shy? Well hell, then I’ll go first just to give you an idea of what you’re up against. I graduated Dean’s honor list with a double major in Linguistics and Psychology from an Ivy League school. Cornell- maybe you heard of it. Big school up north, second to a little school called Harvard. I then went into the FBI academy and graduated first in my class of over one hundred people. Eighty of which were men that were a lot faster, smarter and better looking than you could ever hope to be. I spent ten years in the FBI working serial killer cases,” and then she hopped down and walked towards him to stand toe to toe. “In the last year I’ve killed people and not even batted an eyelash. I don’t give a flying fuck anymore. So while I may look like a chest with a smart mouth, I’ve done the time in hell to earn my stripes and become Director of FBI West. So you can back yourself off my God damn team, because while my husband, the ‘Indian’, is civilized, I sure as hell am not. Director Blackhawk will think twice before kicking your balls up into your ileocecal sphincter. I will not.” She stepped back and went back to her spot on the table. “By the way, that’s part of your intestines and colon, in case your human anatomy is a tad bit rusty from sitting on your ass all day playing desk Tzar.”