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

by Kelley, Morgan

  Whitefox pulled out his phone and started dialing the woman he loved. His calls went to voice mail too. “I have a message from her,” he said, following his brother to the Denali. When he hit play, her voice came over the phone, and she was calm and precise.

  “Cal, darlin’, I called the sheriff. Jonathan Delray can’t be the killer. He was here on the days the Denali was blown up outside your house and the day you and Desdemona found the rose on her porch. I think we have the wrong brother. I’m on my way to Morgana Adare’s house. Now that Jefferson Delray is dead, Vincent is going to tie up the last loose end. I need to get Desdemona and keep her safe. I love you both.” The call ended.

  “I think I’m going to make her retire from the FBI as soon as I get my damn hands on her,” muttered Blackhawk, as he hit the lights and flew through the streets of Cypress Grove to get to the woman who was his life.

  “You? I think we both need to sit her down and tell her that she’s fired. No damn self-preservation at all in her body. You’d think she’d have some now that she’s given birth, but ironically that has made her more insane!” Whitefox was feeling sick to his stomach. The woman he was hopelessly in love with was about to trudge into the swamp to save a woman he’d asked her to protect. This all just weighed heavily on his heart. Crossing his fingers he prayed that she’d be safe. He thought about his grandfather and sent a silent message to him, wherever he was, to watch over Elizabeth for them until they could get to her side.

  “She’s going to be the death of me yet,” muttered Ethan, as he thought about his son, and the how the hell he’d raise him without her.

  “I may be joining you in dying. I think I’m having a heart attack.”

  “Welcome to my damn world.”

  * * *

  It all came crashing back to her, as Desdemona Adare followed her brother through the swamp. They’d all grown up there and played in its mire often as kids. Yeah there were snakes and gators, but there were also frogs, butterflies and so many species of birds. It wasn’t all ugly. Some of it was a mystery, and as a kid she loved being in the midst of it all.

  As they arrived at the location, he stopped and turned towards his sister.

  It was time.

  “Where’s everyone, Vinny?” she asked, looking around and confused by the surroundings. Then suddenly, she was feeling anxious.

  Something was off.

  How did her brother know where her mother and sister were left by the killer, unless…

  Oh holy shit! What had she just done? Elizabeth wouldn’t have told a suspect or family member where they found the bodies. If Vincent Delray could take her right to where they were discovered, it meant he’d been there before and knew about it.

  “They aren’t coming, Desdemona. This party is all about us.” Now he took a step closer. “We had sex for the first time in the swamp, remember it?” he asked, looking at her carefully.

  Everything in her demanded she run for her life. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget, especially now Vinny. I didn’t know you were my brother.” Desdemona was completely embarrassed by the situation, but it wasn’t either of their faults it happened. If she known, things would be different, but right then this was a secondary issue. He was the killer, and she needed to get him distracted and escape. Why the bloody hell didn’t she take that call from Elizabeth?

  “I knew.”

  She stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “I saw our father kill your mother. Trinity came to our house while my mother was working at the church bake sale. They had a fight, and then they had makeup sex.”

  “Vinny,” she said, stepping back.

  “Apparently, my old man like rough sex, but then again your mother did too. She wasn’t screaming in pain, if you know what I mean. Are you a screamer like your mother, Desdemona?”

  “Please stop,” she whispered in horror.

  “So, I watched them, and then when they were done, she told him that you girls asked about your father, and she was going to spill it all. Dad was furious that she was going to ruin all their lives. Before the old man deteriorated, he was pretty strong. He picked her right off the ground and choked the life from her body. I watched him do it, and then I watched him slam her against the wall and floor a few times too. ”

  “Oh my God!” Desdemona was sick over the words coming from his mouth.

  “I followed him into the swamp to see what he was planning on doing with her body. He carried her and placed her right up there, and walked away like nothing ever happened. My father was a Godly man, but the one downfall was your mother. She caused him to sin and in the process started an entire life of lies and incest.”

  “You knew I was your sister and you still…?” Desdemona couldn’t finish until she caught her breath. “Why did you do this to us?” Desdemona demanded. “You propagated this. You could have just told us the truth. If we all knew the truth then Jonathan wouldn’t have slept with Cordelia, and she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant.”

  “That was fixable.”

  Now she was going to throw up. “Fixable?” Desdemona was horrified at how blasé Vinny made that sound. “You killed your own flesh and blood.”

  “I did kill her. I admit it Des, because Cordelia found out the truth. The journal she mailed to you was the reason she died. I ran into her that morning, and Cordelia informed me that she needed to see us all. She told me about dad, and she was appalled. Cordelia actually had the audacity to blame my father, when it was clearly all about your mother, the whore. Trinity knew he was a man of God and married. It was her evil ways that seduced him and stole him away from our family.”

  “Oh my God!” Her brother honestly believed his father was innocent in all this?

  “So, I brought her here and placed her with your mother. It seemed fitting, but right before, I cut her open and pulled out whatever I thought was the baby.”

  “You took the fetus?” She was confused, as far as Desdemona knew, Elizabeth had it for DNA.

  “I did. It wasn’t hard. I cut into her and scooped her out. Then the gators had a snack.”

  Desdemona felt the bile building that Vinny said it so casually, as he admitted something so vile and atrocious.

  He looked around. “It’s peaceful here at least. This is where they’ll find you too. Once I kill you, then the blight on our family will be gone.”

  Now, she was panicked. Desdemona may have been smart, but coming here was the dumbest thing she’d ever done, and it was about to cost her everything.

  “I followed you around the country, watching you and tormenting you. Just like the torment I’ve felt since I found out the truth. Since the day I slept with you, I’ve been tormented Desdemona, because I actually enjoyed it. It was something so vulgar and taboo, but you came onto me and once again an Adare woman seduced a man she had no business being with at all.”

  Everything in her wanted to retch and she held it in.

  “Come here Desdemona,” Vinny grabbed her, pulling her back against the front of his body, wrapping his arm across her chest. Out came the wicked looking knife, and he pressed it to her throat. “I promise it’ll be fast,” Vinny whispered in her ear.

  When he licked her earlobe and bit it with his teeth, she shuddered, and not in a good way. “Please let me go, Vinny.”

  “I can’t Desdemona, because like my father, a woman was my ultimate downfall. For years I’ve been trying to wash that sin away. Today, I’m finally going to do it. Today, I’m going to get you out of my head and be free of your wicked ways.”

  “Oh God!”

  Vincent kissed down her neck to her collarbone. “Don’t call his name. You’re an abomination. You slept with your own brother, because you pursued him. You enjoyed every second of it too, Des. We slept together a full year.”

  “I didn’t know!” she demanded.

  Vincent Delray’s hands slid across her body, and Desdemona fought the urge to be sick.

  “We could be each other’s first and last, Des,” he
said, as she shook against his body. “Then it could all go full circle. I think you’d enjoy that.”

  Enough was enough!

  “I wouldn’t bet on that,” drawled Elizabeth, walking out of the trees and through the deepening water, her gun trained on the man the best she could while the doctor was between them.

  At her voice, Desdemona glanced over at the woman who was once her friend, and the only one who now stood between her and dying. Suddenly, she felt bad for trash talking her and the men in her life.

  “I heard it all, Vincent. Now let her go, and you’ll only go to jail for one murder and not two.”

  He laughed as he kissed her on the side of the throat, while holding the knife in place. “Already it’s cutting her, Agent. You can kill me after I end her life. I plan on doing it anyway.”

  “Yeah, how about we change that up a bit and I kill you first, and then you can come back and haunt her for the rest of her life? You know, creaking doors and rattling chains.”

  “Try not to enjoy this too much, Elizabeth,” Desdemona hissed, as the knife cut into her skin.

  Elizabeth was just buying time and hoping she’d get a clear shot. If the window opened, she’d take it. “Hey Doc, you mind if I take the shot through your shoulder and into his heart?”

  Desdemona didn’t know if she minded or not. Those were her choices? Getting shot by a woman she just trashed or the possibility of dying by her brother. What the hell had her life come to?

  “As I see it, Vincent, I have the Glock and you have the bowie knife. In the time it takes you to slice her throat wide open from ear to ear, I will pull the trigger and end your miserable life.”

  “You won’t risk her. You're an FBI agent and your job is to save her life. I’ll take my chances that you're just some sappy woman that won’t have the guts to let her die.”

  Elizabeth grinned. “No one’s ever called me sappy, Vincent. I do declare that’s a first for me.” Now the southern draw was out.

  Desdemona rolled her eyes. “Well bad news there, Vinny, she’s a stone cold heartless bitch that stole my fiancé, so I’m betting that shooting me and calling it ‘necessary’ wouldn’t really ruin her day.”

  “I always knew you were a smart woman, Desdemona.”

  This was all making him nervous. “I have a better idea. Turn your gun to face you, hold it by the nose and hand it to Desdemona. Give her your gun agent and maybe I won’t make her bleed right now.”

  “Oh Vincent, I don’t give up my gun easily.”

  He pulled the knife across her throat and Desdemona started to cry at the pain.

  “Okay, you win Vincent. You’re a smarter man that I could ever hope to be,” Elizabeth knew she needed to think fast and come up with and alternative. Then it hit her. Tucked into her back was Desdemona’s gun.

  “I told you. You’re a big sap that hasn’t the balls to stand up to me.” He insulted her, and couldn’t figure out why she was still smiling.

  “Thank you, Elizabeth,” whispered Desdemona.

  Elizabeth laughed. “Don’t thank me yet. Remember the shit you said in your room at the bed and breakfast, Desdemona?”

  Yeah, she was well aware.

  “Remember what I said before I walked out of the door and what you handed me?” asked Elizabeth, replaying the conversation in her mind.

  Desdemona thought about it. The last things were about compassion, helping her and then never dealing with her again, as she took her gun and badge. “Yeah, vaguely. Right after I commented on Ethan and Callen’s Indian heritage.” She needed to make sure she was right. Elizabeth was trying to tell her something, and Desdemona needed to get it right.

  “Yeah, how Indians never leave their guns unloaded, and would take a bullet for the ones they had compassion for in life.” Elizabeth purposely told her the wrong thing to point out what she needed to know. Their lives were going to come down to the Glock she had hidden being loaded and ready to go. It was going to be one shot and a small window of opportunity.

  “Callen always made sure my gun was loaded. He was a raving lunatic if it wasn’t.”

  Elizabeth winked at her. “Thank you, darlin.”

  Desdemona’s eyes were filled with panic as a line of blood started down her throat from his very sharp knife.

  “Hand her the gun! Do you think I’m kidding?” he asked, pressing harder.

  She started weeping. “Please don’t let him kill me, Elizabeth!”

  On a sigh, she flipped the gun and started towards them.

  “If you try anything, I will end her life.”

  Looking into Desdemona’s eyes, she watched the woman who was scared shitless.

  “Since you are in the FBI, Desdemona, I imagine you know how to use that gun,” stated Vincent Delray.

  She nodded and dropping her hand to her side. Now, she didn’t know what her ex-friend wanted her to do.

  Elizabeth knew what was going to happen, and she slowly started backing up. If Vincent was going to demand that Desdemona was going to shoot her, she needed to be far enough away for the vest to stop the bullet. Too close and she was dead and the ceramic plates were going to be completely useless. All she could pray for was it wasn’t a head shot.

  “Shoot her Desdemona! Then I won’t be accused of murdering a Federal agent. That one’s going to be all yours. You know, the family that kills together, dies together,” Vincent quipped, digging the knife into her flesh.

  Elizabeth looked at the woman and stared into her eyes. “You might as well shoot me in the heart, Desdemona. Aim for the only thing that matters.” Now she pointed at the center of her chest over the ceramic plate and prayed the woman got a damn clue. Please not a head shot.

  “I don’t want to do this.”

  “DO IT!” Vincent Delray roared, sticking the tip of the bowie knife into her jugular to emphasize how serious he was about it.

  Elizabeth braced herself. “Come on Desdemona, are you the spider or the fly?” she said, reminding her of the quote she once shared with her. “Shoot the spider in the heart and get your revenge. I stole your damn man, and you were right. Callen’s really good in bed, and now he’s mine!” Elizabeth taunted, trying to give her a reason to take the shot.

  It meant her life or death.

  Desdemona hoped the woman knew what she was doing, and that she could actually aim the gun while scared shitless. It wasn’t lost on her that Elizabeth was provoking her, so she must want her to do it.

  “I’m sorry, Elizabeth.”

  Somehow, she didn’t think she really was all that remorseful. Who wouldn’t like to shoot the woman that was now sleeping with the man you once loved? Elizabeth prayed the vest held up, or she just gambled away her life and the hearts of the two men she loved. There wasn’t much time, and she knew it.

  Desdemona closed her eyes.

  “Look at me, Desdemona!” She needed her to aim. “If you’re going to shoot someone, you look them in the God damned eyes!” she yelled.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Then time stood still as the sound echoed through the swamp, scaring everything in it that was alive.

  * * *

  The four of them arrived in time to watch Elizabeth hand her gun over to Desdemona, and that sick feeling overwhelmed each one of them. An agent or officer of the law never handed over their gun unless it was last case scenario. It likely meant one thing.

  Death.

  “It’s okay, Desdemona won’t shoot her,” said Christensen, sure of herself. “Now, she can turn the gun on him and save herself.”

  All three men looked over at her like she hadn’t a clue.

  Elizabeth started talking and they all went silent. Each one had a look of horror on their face, as they listened to the woman taunt Doctor Adare.

  “Oh Jesus,” muttered Whitefox, when he heard the ‘good in bed part’.

  “I’m killing my wife myself, if I get her back alive,” Blackhawk stated, emphatically.

  “Oh shit, Desdemona’s raising the gun
,” whispered Whitefox. “She really wouldn’t shoot her, right? I mean Desdemona is smart enough to know that Elizabeth only gave her the gun to kill her brother.”

  When the gunshot filled the air, and Elizabeth Blackhawk’s body rocked backwards, the men lunged forward to save the woman they loved.

  Obviously, Desdemona didn’t quite understand the plan, and she actually took the shot.

  “Elizabeth!” both men screamed.

  But they knew it was probably too late to save the woman they loved.

  * * *

  Desdemona stared at her and pulled the trigger. The horrible sound reverberated through the woods and hurt her ears. She watched the shock at the way Elizabeth’s body jerked sickly backwards into the water in slow motion. Just before the woman was completely submerged in the water, she heard the scream of her name.

  Vincent Delray lurched at the sound from the shadows, momentarily releasing his grasp on his sister, in surprise. Desdemona stumbled, as the gun fell from her hand into the mire.

  Before Vincent could get his bearings and grab Desdemona again to use as a shield, Elizabeth popped up from her watery grave and fired the gun in her hand. Thankfully, she had taken Doctor Adare’s gun earlier and wasn’t submerged long. One shot was all she had, and it was straight and true, despite the pain she was feeling.

  The gun and vest may have just spared her life, but it meant the end to Desdemona’s brother.

  Vincent Delray fell backwards into the water and to his death. Bullet met head, and death happened instantly. The bullet did the same thing that his father’s had done. A spray of brains and blood hit the rock cliff behind him.

  Elizabeth staggered forward to the rocky ground, as the men ran from the trees behind her. When she went to her knees, she was having a hard time taking a breath. The bullet hit the vest and the wind was knocked out of her.

  “Holy shit,” she muttered, struggling to yank the pullover off of her body and trying to breathe again under the suddenly oppressive weight of the Kevlar.