Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6)

by Kelley, Morgan

  “I’m the luckiest man in the world,” whispered Callen in Elizabeth’s ear. “I have two gorgeous women in my life, a son on the way, and a terrific brother and nephew on top of it all. I’m complete.”

  Elizabeth leaned into him and cuddled against him with the baby in her arms. “Yeah, we’re pretty lucky.”

  Callen enjoyed the scent of Elizabeth’s shampoo as she rested against him. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Cal.” It was probably time to discuss the obvious. “Want to talk about Desdemona’s death? I can see it’s hurting you.”

  Whitefox simply sighed. “I feel off balance. I’m so angry with her, but I feel guilty. I got her pregnant and she died because of it. I feel like I not only destroyed her life, but I ended it now too.”

  Elizabeth knew the ache was swallowing him alive. Out of the three of them, Callen was the more sensitive. The pain was still very evident in his eyes. “You didn’t cause her death, Cal. You wouldn’t blame Cat would you?”

  He looked horrified. “Never!”

  Elizabeth kissed him. “Then how can you blame yourself? Fate had a plan and this was what was meant to be. You didn’t kill her and neither did the baby. It simply was her time. In the big ol’ book of fate, her exit from life was childbirth.”

  “I didn't think people died that way anymore. It’s not like the middle ages,” he stated, running his hand over her baby bump.

  “It still happens. When you give birth, it’s always a possibility that you’ll bleed to death.”

  His hand suddenly stopped moving, as the idea of the same fate happening to her scared the hell out of him. It was one more thing to worry about now.

  “I’ll be fine,” she reassured. “I’ve already survived one baby, what’s one more?” Elizabeth wasn’t worried. In the back of her head, there was the lingering dream she’d had of Timothy Blackhawk. He assured her that he wouldn’t see her for a long time. Elizabeth was holding onto that.

  Callen nodded. “I know you’re right in here,” he tapped his head. “But in here,” he touched his heart, “I feel out of control.”

  He wasn’t telling her anything she didn't already know. “You know that you can mourn her. She was part of your life, and you wanted to marry her? If you need to be sad and upset about her dying you’re entitled to it. Don’t hide it because of me.”

  He closed his eyes. “I know.”

  “When it’s time, I’m here for you.”

  Callen knew she always would be. Elizabeth was more than his rock in the storm. She was his stability and the one person in the world that could look at him and just know.

  “Always, Cal.”

  And for that he was forever grateful.

  Ethan Blackhawk considered himself a very patient man. To be head of the second largest FBI hub in the United States, you had to have a decent amount of control. Too many lives depended on his decisions and the effectiveness of his teams. What he’d found he didn’t have patience for was jackassery.

  Before even sitting down, he had company knocking on the door frame. The man standing there looked downright pissed off, and ready to strike like an angry viper.

  “Chief Longtree, what can I do for you?” he asked, sitting and brushing lint from the sleeve of his suit jacket.

  “What the hell went on at the council building yesterday? I had three angry emails and a call from Shaman Tallman and Chief Soaring Eagle, instructing me to boot the FBI from this office.”

  Blackhawk laughed. “Yeah, you can tell us to leave, but honestly we don’t have to comply. You have three dead bodies and possibly more victims.”

  That stopped him in his tracks. “Pardon?”

  “I need a case file on a past murder. It’s been brought to my attention that when Julian’s father died over two decades ago, when his body was found there was a white feather.”

  The man looked dumbfounded and immediately, his temper cooled. “Really?”

  Ethan shrugged. “Apparently. Now, if that’s the case, I can trace the path of this killer back almost twenty five years. As of this moment, the council has a bigger issue to worry about than my wife being a bit rambunctious.”

  “Today is getting worse and worse by the minute,” he stated, shaking his head. “I already have a pounding headache and on top of that, I’m to tell you that your team goes nowhere on the Rez without one of the officers.”

  Blackhawk laughed. “You’re so damn lucky that my wife isn’t here. She’d tell you exactly what to tell them, and in your native tongue.”

  Longtree looked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. “Did she really tell them off just like she did officer Yazzie?”

  He nodded. “Yep. She loves when people assume she’s some back woods hick. The clothes are all just a show. Elizabeth dresses like that to mess with people. It’s a little known fact, but my wife is incredibly smart and intuitive.”

  “The council was pissed.”

  “Yeah, well she did apologize to the shaman.”

  He frowned. “Really? He didn’t tell the chief. Shaman Tallman said he wanted an apology from the outsider.”

  Blackhawk laughed. “He already got one. He’s not getting another. I wouldn’t have given him one to begin with if it were up to me.”

  “Me either.”

  There was another knock at the door. “Director?” came the chipper voice of their head tech.

  Blackhawk held up his hand to stop her. “Chief Longtree. I really need that file on Blake Littlemoon if you wouldn’t mind retrieving it for me. I need to talk DNA with Christina, and then we can continue our discussion.”

  The man nodded, excusing himself.

  “Come in Christina.”

  She grinned, looking around for Elizabeth before she began her naked fanaticizing of her boss. “I ran into Julian and Tori in the lab, and they said you’d be up here.”

  “I was heading there next. Unfortunately, I was sidelined by the chief of police as I walked in here. You look all happy, what did you find?”

  “I analyzed the two blood samples and the rock you dropped off last night, and we have a little problem,” she said, immediately.

  After Callen’s use of that term that morning, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “Is it going to make me weep?”

  She looked at him funny. “Uh no. Do you want me to make you cry?”

  Blackhawk laughed. “Thanks for that, Christina. What’s the issue?” He might as well get it all out in the open.

  “Well the issue is one of the blood samples isn’t from the dead victims.”

  That piqued his interest. “You think we have the killer’s DNA?”

  She grinned. “I believe we do, but I can’t say definitively. I’d like to go back out where Julian found this and look around. We searched the clearing and the cave, but didn’t go too deep into the tree line. I may find us more.”

  Ethan thought about it. This would be the perfect use of Longtree’s staff and get them off his back if they needed to go out. “Okay, you can head there, but you’ll have to take the Rez officers with you. The council isn’t feeling too magnanimous with us having free reign on the lands. Apparently, we’re untrustworthy.”

  “Okay, I can handle that.”

  “Christina, what about the rock and the tree? Do we have a match on them?”

  She nodded. “Victim two. There were epithelial cells in the bark, and since he was skinned, that means that they were post dermis removal. I’ll guess and say he fell forward and scraped a part of his body on the tree trunk before hitting the ground.”

  “I wish we knew if this was the killer’s blood and not just some random person’s.”

  Christina bounced. “I can tell you that it’s from a full blooded Native American. The ethnicity testing showed that he’s got all the indigenous markers.”

  Blackhawk added that tidbit to his mental file to begin plotting out the profile Elizabeth was going to need soon. “Anything else?”

  “We have a male, and other th
an that, nada. It was a tiny sample. Plus we’re in the field, and I don’t have all my fancy equipment here.”

  “Good work, Christina.”

  She grinned and backed out of the room, checking out her boss and how sexy he looked in his suit. “I’ll get out to the scene fast, Director Blackhawk.” She spun around and ran right into the janitor who was mopping the floor.

  “I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, helping him up. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

  He grinned at her. “It’s okay. I don’t mind being knocked over by a pretty girl. It’s the highlight to my day.”

  She giggled, starting to blush. There was something about Native men that just got her all excited. She was pretty sure it was the tan skin and the hair. “Again, I’m sorry,” Christina stated, and then bounced off in a hurry.

  “Are you okay?” inquired Ethan from the doorway, grinning. “She’s really enthusiastic about her job.”

  “I can see that,” he answered. “No harm done. It was just a bump.”

  “Director!” called the Chief of police, as he moved towards him down the hall. “I have your file right here. I don’t know what a twenty five year cold case is going to do for you, but here’s the file on Blake Littlemoon. If you need any help, I’ll be in my office. I’ll do whatever I can to assist.”

  He nodded, taking the file. “The tech team has to go back out to the original scene to sweep outside the perimeter where we found evidence.”

  “Before you fight me on this, they need to take my officers. Council demanded it and my hands are tied.”

  “Okay.”

  Longtree looked suspicious. “Really? It was that easy?”

  He grinned. “Well there’s one condition to this little bargain, and since we’re FBI the council can’t force us to do anything. If you agree to it, then I’ll play nice.”

  “I knew it.”

  “Not Officer Yazzie. I don’t trust him as far as I can toss him. I’m not sending him out into the field with my people.”

  “Deal. I’ll have the other two meet them out by the cars. We have Officer Kane Redwolf and Officer Melanie Freeman. She’s green but super eager. They can follow them over.”

  Blackhawk nodded, beginning to flip through the file. “I’ll text my team that they’ll have company.”

  Sometimes it was too damn easy.

  Callen drifted in the blissful pleasure of sleep. There was a warm body lying pressed against him and the scent was lulling him in and out of deep relaxation. It was familiar, and he almost wanted to pull her further up his body, but then he remembered she was cradling their child. Slowly opening his eyes, he listened to the slow easy breathing of Elizabeth and the baby.

  All in all, it was a pretty damn good way to spend the morning, and Callen couldn’t wait until he got them both home. This may be his new favorite weekend hobby.

  It was as if Elizabeth knew he was thinking about her.

  Opening her eyes, she glanced up at him. “You make a really great pillow.”

  “Want to go upstairs and fluff me?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

  She laughed and accepted his kiss. That was her Callen; lecherous, funny and loving. As his lips moved over hers, they were warm, sinful and heated her blood as always. When there was a crunch of gravel, she pulled away. “I think dad’s here with CJ and Bly.”

  He nodded. “You stay. I’ll go let them in.”

  Elizabeth spoke to the sleeping little girl. “You’re about to meet your granddad and let me tell you little Cat, he’s pretty darn awesome.”

  Callen opened the door and took CJ from Bly’s arms.

  Wyler rushed in, looking harried. “What’s going on? We got here as fast as we could.”

  “Elizabeth’s in the living room,” he said, simply.

  Wyler almost ran, and when he saw her sitting on the couch holding a newborn in pink he looked confused. “We were having a boy weren’t we?”

  Elizabeth started laughing and moved the baby to show him she was still pregnant. “No worries Dad. EJ isn’t quite done cooking yet, and he’s still swimming around in there.”

  He sat beside her and stared down at the little girl. “Did you find a baby?”

  “Remember your dream about the three eggs in the nest?” she asked, touching his arm.

  His father had come to him in a dream and told him Elizabeth had been pregnant again, and there would be three birds in the nest. “Yes.”

  She grinned. “This is your granddaughter. I’d like you to meet Catherine Naomi Whitefox.”

  Wyler looked over at his son, expecting some sort of explanation on how he had another grandchild.

  “Desdemona was pregnant and never told me.” He explained the entire thing, as Elizabeth handed him Catherine.

  “Oh Callen my boy, are you okay?” There was concern in his voice and his eyes for his son. The family had circled around him after his return from Cypress Grove to help heal the emotional wounds. Wyler hoped he could weather this blow and survive another strike to his heart.

  Whitefox smiled. “I am now.”

  He stared down into her face. “I have a granddaughter?” Then suddenly it hit him. “How do you raise a girl?”

  Elizabeth laughed. “We’re on this adventure together. Boys I get, but now we have a little princess.”

  Wyler kissed her on the forehead. “I love her name. You picked the perfect one.” He cuddled the baby. “She’s beautiful, Callen.”

  “We love her,” he said, as Elizabeth crossed to him and she grabbed her son and began kissing him like crazy.

  “Oh chubba mommy missed you so much! Do you want to meet your new little sister?” she asked, bringing him closer. CJ reached for one of Wyler’s braids and ignored the little girl. “Well, he approves. He didn’t scream or try to eat her. We’re in good shape so far.”

  “I’m sorry about Desdemona, Callen,” added his father. “I know this has to be a hard day for you.”

  “It is Dad, but I’ll be okay.” The only reason he made it through was the love of his family.

  Bly took that moment to make herself known. “This is what happens when men run around. In my day it just didn’t happen. Commitment meant something.”

  Callen flinched; his guard had been down and wasn’t expecting it and couldn’t cover it.

  Elizabeth walked towards him and handed him CJ. “I’ll be right back. Bly and I need to have an employer to employee talk in the kitchen.”

  Even Wyler glared at her angrily. He damaged his boys enough when they were children, and he wasn’t allowing them to be wounded anymore, even if they were strong grown men.

  “Okay Angel,” he said, kissing CJ lovingly, trying to ignore the pain that was resurfacing. He’d live forever with the knowledge that he’d wanted a woman to be his so badly, that he’d rushed into a relationship that wasn’t right. It had been built on lies and had been a lesson he’d never forget. Now he was struggling past the mistakes to make sure he raised his daughter and son to believe in love, and not take anything for granted.

  “Bly, please join me in the kitchen.” Elizabeth led the way. When they both stood in there, she turned on the woman. “I get that you’re opinionated and feel like you’re just adding your two cents, but knock it off. You want to trash my mothering skills, or how I go to work every day instead of staying home to be a mother to my kids, fine. If you want to tell me that I’m scandalous because of the underthings I wear, okay. But if you make one more comment about this little girl or Callen, I swear I will fire your ass on the spot.”

  The woman looked ready to object.

  “Zip it. You’re our employee. I would love to make you part of our family for dad’s sake, but I will not tolerate under any circumstance you making shitty comments that are meant to ‘school’ anyone in this household. Callen is feeling down enough as it is. The woman that died was his fiancée at one time, and she damaged a part of his soul. He doesn’t need our housekeeper to kick him while he’s picking up the pie
ces. In our family we lift each other up, not judge and make comments to break the spirit. Hold your damn tongue or I’ll hold it for you.”

  She crossed her arms.

  “I don’t care what you think of me, but I will fire you and send you packing. I’ll tolerate a great deal in my life, but I will not stand idly by while you hurt one of the men I love. Are we clear, Ms. Cocheta?”

  The woman nodded and was bright red.

  “I suggest you unpack CJ’s things, and let me worry about the status of my family. Because that’s exactly what it is- MY family. You raised your kids and now I’ll raise mine.”

  Elizabeth walked out to her father-in-law. “I’m sorry Dad, but I will not have it happen anymore,” she knew he heard everything. The kitchen was one room away.

  Wyler stood and pulled her under his arm and kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry about it, protective Raven.” When her eyes filled with tears, he hugged her more. “I get two beautiful women in our family. It’s a damn good day to be a Blackhawk man!”

  Sniffling, she regained her composure. “This baby is going to be cursing in preschool.”

  He grinned. “Callen, can you carry in the things from the car? I wish to speak to Elizabeth.”

  Whitefox placed CJ on the baby blanket with some toys, before strolling over to her and pulled her against him. His intent was clear, and he kissed her roughly. All the love he felt for her was evident in that simple action. When she told off Bly, he wanted to recite sonnets to the woman that was the champion of his heart.

  Wyler slapped him. “Really son? You don’t have enough babies now? Stop mauling her in front of your daughter. She’ll think that it’s okay and let boys kiss her like that in preschool.”

  Callen looked horrified at the mere idea of his daughter making out with some boy. “I feel sick. I better get some air.”

  Elizabeth laughed uproariously, slapping him on the ass as he walked away. He simply turned and winked at her.

  When he was gone, Wyler took her hand and led her to the couch. “How are you handling all this?”

  She placed her head on his shoulder. “I was hurt at first, but she’s damn precious. I’m in love with her.”