The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1))

by Kelley, Morgan

  Elizabeth went into his kitchen, took his truck keys and hid them in the back of the refrigerator.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Assuring he doesn’t kill anyone driving drunk. I have enough senseless killing going on right now,” she said, following him out, and locking the door behind them.

  When they pulled into the station, it was busier than hell. People were everywhere and they were yelling and pushing. It looked like a general brawl was going to start at any second. There were members of Dansforth’s church, and then concerned citizens, followed up by her three deputies, trying desperately to keep the peace.

  “Sheriff LaRue! Sheriff LaRue!” came the shouts as the pushing continued. When someone slammed right into her arm, and she saw stars, Elizabeth knew she needed to put an end to it.

  “That’s it!” she yelled, jumping up on one of the benches, and whistling loudly. Immediately, silence fell. “What the hell is going on here?”

  Dansforth yelled out. “It is hell! Armageddon is upon us fellow citizens of Salem. These women were being killed because they disobeyed God’s will! We are being judged!”

  It stirred the pot again and more noise ensued.

  Elizabeth pointed at Dansforth and signaled to Chris Santana. “Bring him in and put him on ice until he cools down,” she shouted over the crowd. It gave her an iota of satisfaction to watch him being dragged away.

  “You can’t do this!” screamed his wife. “Freedom of speech prevents you from doing this to him! This is America! We have rights!”

  Now the woman was stirring it up more, and Elizabeth had just about enough. Pulling out her gun she fired once into the air, a warning shot. That was the beauty of no longer being in the FBI. No paperwork for discharging her firearm. People dropped to the ground, and she re-holstered her weapon.

  “Now that I have your complete attention, you do not have a permit to protest here. Move along and head home. The minister will be released when this all clears up, and not a minute sooner. Am I crystal clear?”

  Slowly the crowd disbursed, and backed away, shocked and worried that the sheriff had lost her mind.

  “That was an interesting technique, Sheriff LaRue,” Blackhawk said, laughing. His heart almost stopped when she pulled her gun, he thought Elizabeth had seen something threatening her. She was lucky; he almost dove on her to protect her from whatever invisible enemy was coming.

  “Desperate times,” she replied, walking towards her building.

  “My team is in route,” he knew he needed to have this conversation and soon, before they stormed the building and took over. “I need to talk to you for a few minutes- just the two of us, alone.”

  Elizabeth saw his nervousness, and nodded. She wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it.

  “Martha, release the minister when the crowd is completely gone. If he gives you any shit, tell him you’re getting me.” Elizabeth led the way to her office, sitting in her chair, and placing the evidence bag with the diary in it on her desk. She dropped her booted feet on the corner of her desk, and took the water he held out to her, her eyes never leaving his. “I’m ready. Go ahead, Ethan.”

  “I want to call a press conference.”

  “Okay, so call one,” she answered easily, sipping the water and watching him carefully. In the short time that she had known him, she had learned to recognize when he was tense, and right now Ethan was beyond tense. The Cowboy was tied in knots, so this was going to be big.

  “I also want you to officially announce that you are handing over all control directly to Lily and me,” he waited a beat, watching her face.

  “Not happening, Ethan.”

  Here came the battle, like he knew it would. “I need to have complete control, so I can bury the Tony issue. If you remain in charge, then it’s going to get out, and cost you your job and Tony his. I’m doing this to protect you and keep you safe. Let me protect you, Lyzee. You can run it behind the scenes; I won’t take over your control,” he pleaded his case.

  “Ethan, this has nothing to do with me or you running it. I know you’re the best FBI agent I have ever worked with, and I will gladly turn it over to you. I just can’t turn it over to your partner,” Elizabeth dropped her feet and sat forward.

  He looked confused that she was going to hold back, and risk her job because Lily had pissed her off.

  Elizabeth had a question for him, “Do you trust me?” Putting down the water bottle, she looked into his eyes. “I mean really trust me and my judgment and know that I wouldn’t put you in a position of compromise, or do anything to make your job harder?”

  “Yes, of course I do,” he knelt in front of her, so they could be eye to eye. “What’s bothering you, Lyzee? Talk to me.”

  “Ethan, I trust my team. I know they wouldn’t intentionally toss me to the wolves. What Tony did was pretty boneheaded, but it wasn’t to hurt me. I trust my team completely and the more I think about it, the more the leak bothers me.”

  “Lyzee, tell me and let me help you with this. You don’t have to carry it by yourself,” and he meant it.

  “I don’t trust your partner.”

  Blackhawk wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

  Elizabeth continued, “This has been bothering me now for two days, and I told you once I get a scent of something, I’m like a dog to a bone.” All she could hope for was it wouldn’t damage what they just started building. “The minute you arrived in town, Ethan, hell has started breaking loose. Someone leaked we had a serial killer, and now we have the minister spouting these women were killed because they disobeyed God. These are things only seven of us were privy to, information wise.”

  He didn’t know what to say. “You're accusing my partner of being the leak?” he almost felt sick just saying it out loud. In the time he had known the sheriff, he learned a few things about her. She wasn’t one to miss little details, or not tell it exactly how she saw it. Had he missed something? Thinking back and analyzing what she was saying, he tried to see her thread of thought, and his mind spun as he was trying to find the merit in it and find the truth.

  “I’m not asking you to do, or say anything, Ethan. I’m just explaining what’s bothering me, and why I can’t put my trust in her to take care of my town. What you choose to do with it is up to you. I trust you completely. I will go out there right now and hand it all over to you, but I won’t hand it over to her. I don’t trust her. This is my home, my town and my job. I need to protect all three and most importantly the people in it. I believe your partner is betraying you by compromising this investigation with leaks.” There, she said it, and she felt like shit for having to do it. “I’m sorry.”

  Suddenly, the entire room went red with anger. Blackhawk stood, backing away from her as he shook his head. Leaving the room, he slammed the door with such force the glass cracked in the window.

  Well hell, that didn’t go well at all. Elizabeth sat back in her chair and closed her eyes her heart being squeezed in her chest. Everything in her went cold the minute he slammed the door. Her heart felt like the frosted glass in her door that was now split in two. She held the information for as long as she could. Somehow, she knew this was going to happen. The room seemed colder without him in it.

  Damn him for making her fall in love with him, only to have it fall apart like this.

  Elizabeth opened her eyes, as her intercom buzzed, forcing her to pick it up. “Yeah, Martha what’s up?”

  “I sent the minister home and there are two young ladies here. They said they are friends of Melissa Martin.”

  “Martha, there seems to be a crack in my glass. Can you get that fixed for me?”

  The woman had heard the door slam and knew her boss and the agent had been in some sort of squabble. “I can, boss. Are you going to be okay?”

  “Yeah, I will be. I’ll be right out,” she replied, trying to find some composure. She just needed a minute to get over Ethan Blackhawk’s res
ponse to her and her intense feeling of loss.

  Who was she kidding? Unlike the glass, her heart wasn’t going to ever be repaired.

  Both young women sat on the bench outside her office, and looked scared. When the door opened they jumped, staring up at her with large eyes.

  “Ladies, how are you?” she asked, smiling gently. Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice they were but children. If they were a day over eighteen, she would be surprised.

  “Are you Sheriff LaRue?” The one girl asked, nervously.

  “I am and I hear you need to talk to me.”

  They both looked around apprehensively, speaking in hushed whispers, “Can we go somewhere else? If my mom hears I was here, she’ll shit herself and think I did something wrong.”

  Elizabeth grabbed her hat from the hook in her office, and walked back out to them. “How about we grab a drink from ‘The Barrel’,” she suggested, leading them to the door. “I could use a break from here myself.” She held the door open and walked out into the cooling air. “What seems to be bothering you?” she asked, trying to keep it light.

  “What if we know something that might help solve her murder?”

  “Well, then you should tell me, so I can bring the guilty party to justice,” she answered, opening the door to her brother’s place and enjoying the blast of cool air. She led them over to a table and sat down. “Tell you what, why don’t you ladies order whatever you want, and then we can talk.”

  “Can I get fries?” asked the second girl.

  “Anything you want,” she motioned to her brother, that they were ready to order.

  Blackhawk could feel the anger fill him to the point he was ready to explode. The words he just heard from the sheriff reverberated through his body. It made sense and he didn’t want to believe it, but really the only person who didn’t like the sheriff was his own partner.

  Before they came, anyone on her team could have leaked the serial killer part, but they didn’t. It had to be her, and it pissed him off. She was the damn FBI and this was dangerous. Lily risked someone’s life playing this game. Worse yet, she had risked the sheriff by tossing her in front of the killer like she was a loss she was willing to accept.

  If there was one thing he knew, he trusted Elizabeth LaRue’s instinct. She was smarter than Lily gave her credit, and that’s why she probably saw through it all. There was this icy chill that went through his body, at the mere idea that his own partner had betrayed him. Betrayal was something he couldn’t forgive, ever.

  When he entered the conference room, she sat there alone working on some files. “Lily, I need to speak to you,” he tried to push the anger down out of his voice.

  “Oh, you have time for your partner today?” she commented, sarcastically. “Not too busy rolling around in the sheriff’s bed to see if I still exist?”

  The anger clawed its way back up and was ready to explode from him in torrents. “What have you done, Lily?” he seethed, astounded at the hatred in her voice for both him and Sheriff LaRue.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied, looking back down at her file and wondering what approach to take.

  The words erupted from him, “You leaked the information about the serial killer and the religious aspect, why?”

  “Oh please! Elizabeth is some small town hick who hasn’t got a clue, and now we finally have control of the assignment. You let her run it, and look where it got us. One big circle.”

  “That small town hick has a degree from Cornell, and over ten years in the FBI. You need to give respect where it’s due,” he wanted to shake some sense into his partner.

  Lily laughed. “And yet she was taken down by sleeping with her partner. Yeah, that screams smart.”

  So, the sheriff had been right, and now he didn’t know what to say.

  “Think of it as me doing this assignment a big favor.”

  “She figured out the connection to Salem witch killings, not me. She found all the key information not us. I can’t believe this. All this hate stemming from what?”

  Lily shrugged. “You won’t understand, you're sleeping with her, but when she tosses your ass aside don’t be shocked. She’s ruined enough lives. Take a look at where it got Ray. He’s dead, and his wife is a widow because of Elizabeth LaRue.”

  “I don’t know what to even do with this,” he said, pacing. “You sabotaged an assignment because of Ray? This is a personal vendetta?”

  “No, I swayed it to get the FBI in control, and that’s how I’ll play it, and it’ll be seen. The FBI wanted control, and I just handed it to you. You can’t vilify me for my actions on this one. When we’re called in, our main directive is to control the situation, and I did just that. The only reason you're pissed is you’re sleeping with her.”

  “I’m pissed because you betrayed me!”

  “That’s perspective. I think I’m saving the assignment. Once again Ethan, you’re playing with the rules. There’s nothing you can do.”

  “Lily, there’s one last thing I can do. I can get you pulled out of here,” he snapped, pulling out his phone and calling his boss. Once Gabe heard about this there would be hell to pay, and then he’d help him save the assignment and the sheriff’s reputation.

  Elizabeth sat with the two girls, enjoying their company. She remembered what it was like to be young and have a good group of girlfriends. She sadly let them fall away when she went into the FBI. When she saw the girls were starting to get nervous again, she knew they were thinking about their dead friend, and past the fried food.

  “Now, what do you know about Melissa?”

  “Melissa was having sex with a much older guy,” said the one girl.

  The other added, “Much older, as in OLD. He had to be forty-five at least.”

  Elizabeth took out her pen and paper and lifted a brow. She remembered being their age. Forty did seem old then and now... not so much. “Okay, can you give me a name?”

  Both girls looked at her, and then each other and then spoke, “Are you sure you won’t tell anyone we came to you?”

  She nodded and made the vow.

  “He made her promise, and she made us swear. She said the only reason she was doing it was because he bought her nice things.”

  Elizabeth leaned forward, and looked into the eyes of the two teenagers. They were so young and innocent. It was an innocence she once remembered. “I need to know, so I can get Melissa justice.”

  “It was the mayor,” the one girl whispered and continued, “She said he liked them young.”

  The outrage filled her, and she wanted to walk over to Argot’s office and kick the shit out of him for touching a girl so young. Elizabeth took a calming breath, and she knew she had to stay calm and keep this under wraps. As soon as she got back to the office, she would tell Blackhawk…

  And then she remembered the situation. He was very angry at her for accusing his partner of betraying him and may never speak to her again. No, he would still handle official business; he was all about the FBI and the assignment. He might not want to deal with her, but surely he would follow through on the assignment.

  They both stood and the one said, “Can we head home now?”

  “Want me to drive you?” she stood herself, tossing her money on the table. “It’s not really safe out there for wandering girls.”

  “Can you?” The girls looked relieved at the offer.

  “Come on ladies, I can bring you home.” Elizabeth nodded at her brother, and walked the girls out to her Jeep, parked down the street. They laughed and giggled the entire way back to their homes.

  When their parents came out, as she dropped them off, they looked nervous. Elizabeth covered for them, telling them she didn’t want them walking home alone. It seemed to mollify the suspicious adults.

  After all, it was her job to serve and protect even young eighteen year olds.

  Blackhawk dialed his boss’s private number, the one he was instructed to use after hours and in a case of emergency. T
he line rang twice before he picked it up. “Gabe, I have a big problem,” he blurted into the phone, waiting for the response.

  “Is Lyzee okay?” He knew it had to be bad for his agent to call him on this line. Ethan Blackhawk was very self-sufficient as an agent.

  He replied, “Yes, and no.” He went into details at great length, told him about his partner’s confession, and also what the sheriff had told him to make him see the truth. He told Gabe about Tony’s screw up, and how they were trying to keep it under wraps to protect both of their jobs.

  “What am I supposed to do?” he inquired, “If Lily keeps this up, and gets that one piece of information she’ll leak it to bury Lyzee, and I can’t let that happen.”

  “You’ll do nothing, Ethan. Your team is on the ground. You get that organized and you manage that situation. Leave your partner to me. I’ll call her and yank her out of there. Lily Sanderson is leaving Salem tonight to come back here.”

  “Are we going to be able to do anything?” he hoped there would be karma at least. Something to pay her back for the wounds she tried to inflict on Elizabeth.

  “She’s right about how the FBI would view it, but what she forgot is how I’ll view it. I’ve been playing this game at Quantico for quite a while. I know how to handle agents that cause shit and try to make it a political game.”

  “I have no doubt. You’re a vicious SOB, Gabe.”

  “Take care of Elizabeth, and you’ll stay on my good side. If you make her upset, she’ll tell my wife. My wife then cuts off sex and before you know it, Cowboy, I have a nice new doorstop made of your testicles. I will have them bronzed for posterity.”

  Blackhawk believed him completely, and couldn’t help but laugh at the imagery, even if it was his testicles in question.

  “Go meet your team,” and with that, he ended the call.

  Blackhawk laughed all the way back to the front of the station. He stopped at Martha’s desk, and waited for her to hang up the phone. “Martha, can you call the local press, and have them here in thirty minutes for a press conference?”