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

by Kelley, Morgan

  Both men parted for her to pass, watching her walk away; Elizabeth looked pissed and ready to kill. She might beat the hell out of anyone who was too close when the explosion went off.

  They went to follow her and the old woman walked in front of them. “If you love her, watch her. Bad things are coming for you all.”

  Ethan and Callen tensed and moved around the woman to get to Elizabeth. Nothing she said was surprising, but yet it bothered each of them for a different reason. One was a husband who wanted to protect the mother of his child, and the other a man in love with a woman who held his heart.

  Bad things always followed those who chased justice and death. It was just a matter of staying one step ahead.

  No one spoke the entire ride to the ME office. Finally, the brave one in the group broke the silence.

  “Are you okay?” asked Whitefox, as he gently touched her shoulder, drawing her attention.

  “Yeah, Cal. I am. I just really hate people that try to read my future and use it to manipulate me.” Of course she was thinking about what the woman said and knew. Now she was wondering if Morgana was talking to her granddaughter. Then on top of that, she was worried about Ethan and Callen and the woman’s words.

  Blackhawk forced a grin, despite the warning the woman gave them. “You just told off a bayou witch. This has to be a first for us. Usually you piss off the locals, the law enforcement, women, men, small animals and the people you work with, but never a witch. We’ve hit a new high on this one.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “I’m an over achiever, what can I say?”

  “I’m sorry that Desdemona is riding your ass over us being together,” added Whitefox. He knew he was going to have to say something to his ex before it was over. Hurting Elizabeth wasn’t going to be tolerated, and he needed to face his past and protect his future.

  “She can say what she wants. I wasn’t sleeping with you when she was engaged to you. I was cuddling up with my husband and him alone.”

  “You realize how funny that sounds when you say it out loud, right?” Blackhawk said, genuinely finding it entertaining.

  “I found you telling her to put on her ‘big girl panties’ pretty damn hilarious personally. I bet no one’s told Desdemona that before.” Whitefox leaned forward and kissed her on the side of the face. “You're so bad ass,” he whispered. “I thought it was hot when you told off Ethan’s ex, Kaya Cheek, but now that I’ve seen you tell off one of mine, it’s even hotter.”

  Elizabeth snorted. “Ok, I get it; you're both trying to cheer me up. So here’s what’ll make me a happy girl. We drop off the DNA for comparison, and we get something to eat. I’m depleted from being used and abused and when I don’t eat, I get really mean. You both don’t like me when I’m mean.” She gave them the serious look over the top of her sunglasses.

  “If you keep reminding us about last night, it’s destined to repeat itself.” Blackhawk warned. Thinking about it warmed his body, making him want to take her over and over again.

  Need ripped through Callen’s body at mere mention that they could be doing it again. It still felt like a dream. Trying to entertain her, he tried out his best mocking gypsy voice. “I see two men accosting you tonight, and while you want to say no, you will have no power to resist their charm and infamous grins.”

  Now she laughed, because the grin and charm part were probably accurate.

  “I really like that reading,” added his brother. “I don’t mind you completely helpless and at our every whim.”

  Elizabeth knew how to handle her husband. “Don’t make me break out the cheerleading outfit, Ethan,” she warned, and enjoyed the look on his face and the gasp from behind her. “Who was helpless then?”

  “Are you being serious?” asked Whitefox. “You have a cheerleading outfit? Seriously, a genuine cheerleader outfit that you wear in the bedroom for him?”

  “Elizabeth was a cheerleader in high school, Cal. It still fits perfectly. The tiny skirt is my favorite part.”

  “Oh holy shit! Now how am I supposed to work with that bouncing around in there?” he asked, pointing at his brain and staring at Elizabeth as he visualized it.

  “Boys, you both are too easy. All it takes is a few well-placed words and you both go blank.”

  The men grinned, as she hopped out of the Escalade. “Really, you wouldn’t lie to me. Lyzee was a cheerleader?” he asked his brother in a whisper, as they followed her into the building.

  “Oh yeah, and it’s hot. The skirt’s about this big,” and he held up his hands demonstrating. “And it has a letter on the front across the chest.” It was on the bucket list of every hormone ridden teenage boy. Who didn’t want to do it with a sexy cheerleader?

  “I can’t wait to see it.”

  Ethan patted his brother on the back. “When we get home maybe she’ll bring it out.” Blackhawk may have made light of it all on the outside, but the entire time, the bayou witch’s words bounced around in his head. He needed to be extra protective of the people he loved. No one was touching Elizabeth or Callen.

  Elizabeth strode into the ME office that they were ‘borrowing’ and found both doctors staring at the bodies. Victim number one was bones, and victim two was still covered in bits and pieces of flesh and being housed in a glass box. There were bugs crawling all over the remains, having a mid-morning snack.

  “I see your creepy crawlies arrived,” said Elizabeth, looking at the creatures having a love fest with the remains. “Do me a favor, and let’s not bring this up in front of Doctor Adare if she sees the remains. That’s just damn gross.”

  “Circle of life, Lyzee,” said Doctor Magnus. “I’m glad you popped in after your little terror session this morning. The techs are still worked into a tizzy.”

  Ethan and Callen strolled in, taking off their sunglasses and looked into the plexi-glass box.

  “Yuck,” Whitefox said, glancing over at Blackhawk. “That doesn’t creep you out?” he asked, pointing.

  “A little bit, but that’s not my first viewing of a victim becoming a beetle snack.” In truth, it probably wasn’t his hundredth either. He lost count a long time ago.

  “We need to talk, boys,” she said, moving to stand beside Doctor Magnus. “About this morning, you two know better than to let the tech team start gossiping about the leads of the investigation.”

  Chris Leonard laughed. “Oh, you think it’s easy to stop speculation, Lyzee? Please, they have minds of their own. You shouldn’t have put out the sign if you didn’t want to stir the pot.”

  Elizabeth stared at them and shrugged. “Who I sleep with shouldn’t even be an issue. This is work and not a high school locker room.”

  Now, her anthropologist laughed. “Then just tell them you aren’t sleeping with him,” he nodded towards the second brother and then inspected a bone. “And they’ll know you don’t lie. If anything you’re blunt, but you always tell the truth.”

  Elizabeth didn’t want to say anything, but she didn’t want to hurt Callen or her husband either. Damn, this was a tricky situation.

  “I don’t see what you’re worried about regardless. anthropologically speaking, fraternal polyandry isn't all that uncommon. Brothers sharing a wife is rather normal in certain circles. Even when it comes down to children, a brother is more likely to rear a child that he has genetic ties to than one that he doesn’t. Tibet to this day still practices polyandry with extreme success. I once spent a year there researching it.”

  Elizabeth glanced over at her husband, noticing that he was fighting a grin.

  “I would love to study you. In fact, it would make a fascinating paper on polyandry in the United States and the Native American community. Again, it’s not uncommon among certain tribes too. When one warrior would go off to battle, there was one to stay and protect the family. I do believe that again it was fraternal.”

  “You want to study us?” Now the doctor had Elizabeth’s full attention. “First, we’re not lab rats, so that’s out of the question. Secondly, I
haven’t admitted to anything, so you have no idea if there’s anything to study.”

  Both doctors laughed. “Then just tell everyone you're not in a committed relationship with both men.”

  “Nice try, boys. You think this is my first damn day at the boss rodeo? See the big guy back there?” She pointed at her husband who was quietly observing. “He’s slicker than you two combined, and he can’t pull that shit over on me. You aren’t getting a thing out of me regarding our personal life.”

  Ethan and Callen relaxed. If anything, Blackhawk firmly believed private life was just that. No one outside their home should know anything about what happened behind locked doors, and no one was using them as guinea pigs to study.

  “How about we do something novel and talk about work, not who is sharing my bed?” stated Elizabeth. “This is the workplace and not some relationship free-for-all. Friendship will only get you so far, boys.”

  “Yes, let’s do some work. I do have some information for you, Lyzee. The skeleton has been ID’d, as per your demands this morning. We can say without a doubt that she is Trinity Adare. She was around your age when she went missing. We matched dentals and also medical records. We thought it would be harder, but the dentist is a seventy year old man that kept all his records from every damn patient he ever had seen in his entire career.”

  “Great,” said Blackhawk. “That leaves us one down and one to go. What do we have on victim two?”

  “Unfortunately, not much.”

  “Awesome. What the hell is the hold up? I get that the team is used to working on equipment that’s much more sophisticated, but come on! The basics are about the same,” stated Elizabeth.

  “Sorry Lyzee. I can’t give you more until the tests come back. I’m a scientist. Not Houdini,” answered Doctor Leonard. “Hey can we get a magician for the staff? It may make the slow days more fun,” he quipped.

  Elizabeth gave him the look, but before she could chew his face off with a reply, her husband stepped in to deflect.

  “Where’s Christina,” asked Blackhawk. They needed something and fast, and he was going to implement a technique that he seldom used. The pressure was about to be put on from him, not his wife.

  “Next room working on something, I believe.”

  Ethan Blackhawk walked to the door and stuck his head in to call for her, and then he returned to stand by his wife.

  “Yeah, boss?” she asked, her usual chipper happy face in place, as she bounded into the room.

  “I need that woman’s identity, and I need it by this afternoon. We’re going to grab lunch and come back here. If I don’t have it, someone is getting shipped back to FBI West, and a new tech will be coming in her place. Am I clear?” he asked, calmly. The ‘her’ he was referring to was his favorite head tech, and Blackhawk knew she understood.

  Christina was surprised at the demand. “Yes Director Blackhawk.”

  “Here’s the DNA for Cordelia Adare. I want it kept quiet; we haven’t notified Doctor Adare that the bones are her mother. Keep it zipped up and the first one that slips and spills it is fired.”

  Who was this man? It was hard to believe that her boss was issuing demands like this. It was the first time in over six years. Generally, Ethan was the calm one.

  “I’m not kidding on this. None of us would want to be hit with the reality of this ‘accidentally’ getting out, and the tech that can’t be professional will be the unemployed one.”

  “I understand and promise you that I’ll speak to the techs, relaying how utterly important it is to keep this confidential.”

  Elizabeth smiled. “I know you will, Christina, because you're the best damn head tech in the whole FBI realm.”

  Christina smiled and flicked her eyes over at Director Whitefox before she took off out of the room. The man was just as sexy as her boss and covered with tattoos. Elizabeth was pissed about the door sign, but it was also the tattoo that had the team talking. Here he was wearing her initials in a heart. That had to mean something monumental.

  Blackhawk started laughing, because he recognized the look the tech had given his brother. At one time Christina had been madly in lust with him, but apparently she’d found a new object to stare at longingly.

  “Shut up,” muttered his brother. “This is all her damn fault!” Callen pointed at Elizabeth accusingly. “If she wouldn’t have tricked me with the t-shirt thing yesterday, I wouldn’t be the lust monkey in question. It would still be you.”

  Elizabeth snickered and this time fist bumped her husband. It was rare that when it involved Christina, that it wasn’t Ethan Blackhawk being tormented. “Oh Cal, darlin’, you just coined your own phrase. I like ‘lust monkey’ a lot.”

  “Me too,” added Blackhawk. “It’s awesome to be on the other side of this for a change.”

  “Wow!” Doctor Magnus exclaimed, looking at the bones and drawing their attention. “I think I can explain all the fractures to her bones.”

  “Great job, what do you have Doc?” asked Elizabeth.

  “They all happened at once.”

  That got all their attention, and they all moved to look at the bone in his hand under the magnifying glass.

  “I wish I had the skull here. Look at the tiny micro fissures on the shoulder blades. It’s on both of them.”

  “Okay, and that means?” inquired Elizabeth.

  Doctor Magnus pointed at the table. “Hop up. I like show and tell for all the bone newbies,” he said, grinning. Elizabeth Blackhawk was his favorite agent, because she tolerated his little demonstrations. Plus she was fast to understand what he was trying to convey.

  “Hell no! There was a body there!”

  “It’s the table or floor. I need to show you so you get it,” he answered, pointing.

  “Christ almighty,” she sighed. “Okay, but really, you need a new test dummy. This creeps me out. Can’t you use one of them?” she asked.

  “Nope, they’re too big for me.”

  Whitefox didn’t like the sound of that.

  Ethan thought back to a time when she was laying on a slab in Salem, getting stitches. He’d been madly in love with her then too. Nothing had changed with how he felt, except maybe the love was deeper and more encompassing of his entire life.

  Lying on the table, she placed her arms behind her head. “Okay Doc, now what?”

  He was dragging a chair over and standing on it to climb onto the table.

  “Hold on, Doc!” interjected Blackhawk. “What are you planning? I don’t like the visual this is building in my head! It looks like you plan on climbing on top of my wife.”

  “Hell no! He’s certainly not!” interjected Whitefox

  Elizabeth laughed. “If this becomes a rumor too, I’m going to be pissed.”

  Doctor Magnus glanced over at Doctor Leonard. “Can you pull up the pictures of the skull? The fractures were to a minimum but in combination to the hyoid I think I can rationalize the last moments in this woman’s life.”

  “Here you go.” Chris pulled them up.

  Tony Magnus straddled the woman on the table. “Just trust me on this for just a moment. I still believe the woman was strangled, but I can give you insight on the last day of her life.”

  Elizabeth was willing to humor him, but both men looked a little less entertained over the visual. In fact they looked proprietarily pissed off, and that made her grin more.

  “The victim was on her back on a hard surface. A floor most likely, as the killer did this,” he placed his hands around her throat, just not squeezing. “He choked her, and repeatedly her head hit the floor.”

  “And the shoulder blades?” asked Blackhawk.

  “Stress fractures. He must have had his arms here,” he laid his arms on Elizabeth’s chest. “Then he leaned into her like this,” he put pressure on the woman beneath him.

  “Watch her shoulder, Doc!” warned her husband, concerned for her old injuries.

  “Oh sorry! I forgot Lyzee, did I hurt you?” It didn’t occur to hi
m to think about the healed bullet wounds.

  “I’m good Tony,” she answered, as he climbed off her.

  Callen had been watching the entire thing and something felt off to him, and he wasn’t talking about the man straddling her body and sitting intimately on top of her. “I have a question,” asked Whitefox.

  “Shoot.”

  Elizabeth sat up and hopped off the table.

  “That feels uncomfortable for me, even if he was trying to hold her down. Could our victim have been standing? Like against a wall?” Callen led Elizabeth to the wall by the hand and positioned her body, as he was seeing it in his mind. Now he stood in front of her and mimicked the same position that the Doctor had just had with Elizabeth, but this time she was vertical.

  “In theory I guess that’s a possibility, but it still looks off to me,” said Doctor Leonard.

  Ethan stepped over. “You couldn’t get the force you’d need with your body.”

  “The killer could slam her head off the wall, but my shoulder blades aren’t feeling the pressure,” admitted Elizabeth. “It’s all in my lower back and ass.”

  Then it hit Ethan Blackhawk and he grinned. “What if we altered the position a little?” He’d done the same thing many times himself with his wife. Specifically in the shower when they were making love.

  “What are you thinking Ethan?” asked his wife, curiously.

  “Callen, pick her up. Elizabeth, wrap your legs around his waist,” he suggested.

  “What?” They both proclaimed at the same time.

  “Trust me. I think I can explain every one of the minimal fractures with one explanation.”

  Elizabeth shrugged; anything to solve a crime and get the victim justice. She moved against Callen, and he grinned down at her. Obviously this was going to be fun for him, but then again she didn’t mind being wrapped around either man. The previous night flooded back, and she felt herself getting warm.