“I don’t know if I want to do this anymore, Ethan,” she said, her voice wavering as the pain filled her. “I just don’t have the desire anymore.”
He looked at her and didn’t know what to say. This was his fear. That she’d walk away and prove he wasn’t the marrying type, and that he wasn’t worthy of a family.
Or love.
In that moment his worst fear was realized; he was just like his father. Hadn’t he just proved that with his behavior?
“After we find this killer, I think I’m done.”
His carefully guarded heart broke into a million pieces. Now he knew how she must have felt when he said those words to her earlier. Maybe there was still a chance and with time, he could repair what he damaged. He reminded himself, he said the words, built the wall, and he earned this.
He prayed for one last chance and for one more miracle to get his wife back, and to have her love him once again.
~ Chapter Sixteen ~
Thursday Morning
“If this is really what you want, Lyzee, I’ll sign the papers and set you free.” It took everything in him to string that sentence together and spit it out.
It was all lies.
He would crawl on glass at that moment to have her look at him like she used to or give up anything to have her love him once more. He might retreat, but he’d always love her and try to find a way to earn her forgiveness. Even if it took the rest of his life.
Elizabeth was caught off guard and confused. “Ethan, what are you talking about?” She faced him, looking concerned. “What papers?”
“The divorce papers. You don’t want to do this anymore with me.”
Her eyes changed and they were filled with love again. “Are you insane? Because we had a fight you think I’m going to leave you?” She didn’t want him to hurt like this.
“Yes.” Isn’t that what always happened? In his life, people left. That’s how it had always had been. First there was his father, his mother, other women and now the love of his life.
“Don’t be insane! I didn’t marry you because I thought it would be easy. I married you because I love you. I meant this, as in my job. I don’t want to get shot at anymore, have to hold my hand over a wound to save a life, or wonder which of us isn’t coming home at night. I just want some peace.”
“You still love me, and want to be married to me?”
She looked at him like he had grown antenna and a third eye. “Did you hit your head while I was gone? Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because I said I didn’t want to be near you.” The flash of hurt was there, and then she hid it again but not before he saw it.
“Ethan, you were mad, I understand.”
He rushed to her, unable to stop himself. The stress of the last few hours apart broke, and he needed to feel her against his body. Ethan clung to her, afraid she would escape again. Then he felt the body armor, and he loved her even more, if that was possible. In the midst of an angry fight, she didn’t go out without it to spite him. “When I couldn’t find you, I was terrified. I went looking for you, I found your old Kevlar with the bullet holes.”
“Yeah, it’s a reminder to suit up. That’s why I keep it. That and to show the deputies what can happen. They don’t always like to wear theirs.”
“Then you left without the FBI vest, and I heard the phone call with Tony. I was scared shitless. I thought you were going to die and leave me.”
She stroked his cheek with her hand, offering reassurance.
“Martha called me and I rushed down here as fast as I could, and you were sitting here with your ring off, and I thought we were done.”
“I caught the ring on the corner of the desk earlier, Ethan. I was checking to make sure the stones didn’t get damaged. I love my ring and don’t want to break it on day three.”
He made a sound somewhere between a strangled laugh and a cry, and then dropped his forehead to hers.
“You did hurt me, Ethan, but that’s not enough to make me walk away. I’m not a quitter.”
“I’m sorry, Lyzee. Go ahead. Call me names if you want or punch me. Do whatever will make you feel better.”
Just the pain in his voice ate at her heart. Elizabeth forced him to look into her eyes. “I won’t ever call you names. I’m not the flight attendant, Ethan, and I won’t hurt you like that. You’re my husband, not someone I get to kick around when I’m in a mood. I don’t fight dirty when it comes to our marriage.”
She knew every weakness in his armor, and yet she didn’t use it against him. Not even when he hurt her. No, she wasn’t like the others, and he was damn lucky.
“If you ever say those words to me again, I will take you up on the punching offer though.” Elizabeth smiled and continued, “Just you coming for me and saying sorry is more than enough. We’re going to fight and argue, but I took vows and I meant them.”
“I did too.”
Elizabeth brought her lips to his in a slow luxurious kiss. She could feel how badly he needed to feel the connection to her in that moment. Elizabeth wanted to reassure him and give Ethan peace.
Then like a bolt of lightning, it struck.
Blackhawk wasn’t in Kevlar.
“Are you insane?” Elizabeth hissed, pulling away like his lips burned hers.
“What?” Ethan looked alarmed, as she caught him off guard.
Elizabeth tapped him on his chest. “Where the hell is your vest? Are you out of your mind?”
The spitfire with the temper was back, and he thanked God for that. “I was a little busy looking for my wife to suit up.”
“Newsflash Cowboy. Everyone in this town knows we’re married by now. How do you think the killer would hurt me most? Killing me won’t hurt me, it’d hurt you. Now killing you, that would destroy me.”
“I’m aware. Tony and I had this exact conversation, as I was planning on running out and tearing Salem apart looking for you. I just needed to get to you.”
Elizabeth went to her closet to pull out a vest. She reached for the one with the double plating, just to be safe. “We take them off to shower and at home. That’s it.”
“How about sex?” he asked, strapping in and grinning.
She snorted. “And sex.”
Elizabeth sat in her office, working beside her husband on the couch. They had files all over the place. Both were determined to find out where the killer was finding his victims. They pulled all the information that her deputies had found and started searching through it, extensively.
“Something has to be here, Ethan. I feel like we’re missing something,” she said, tapping her pen.
“How about we divide the victims up and talk it out? Sometimes when I hear the evidence out loud, it pops for me.”
What did they have to lose?
“Okay, you first.” Elizabeth sat back and listened, hoping he was right.
“I have Tara Scott. She went out with a few friends for some fun,” stated Blackhawk. “We also have the same information for Melissa Martin. Neither woman knew each other, so wherever he saw them it was together. It would have to be someplace easy to lure them out. He then placed them in a building before lighting it on fire. They were sedated with what we now know was digitalis.”
“Okay, that’s our first two victims. I have Melody Howe, and she was found hanging in the park from a tree. It was evident she didn’t commit suicide. Her hyoid wasn’t broken and more likely she was strangled and then hoisted up. We at first thought the mayor, but he’s at Quantico and with the killer still out there, he’s cleared. Her friends say that she also went out with some friends to have fun. They started at a bar and ended up getting food. She then left to walk home.”
Blackhawk continued so she wouldn’t have to with the next victim. “Sheriff Charlie LaRue was found slumped over his desk. He was having dinner, and then died of a heart attack. You later found his laptop and found the message. The killer by omission owned the murder.”
“What was his last meal?”
Blackhawk flipped. “Salad, diet coke, and it looks like a sandwich with no bites taken out. That’s it.” He showed her the photo of the desk, minus her dad’s body.
Elizabeth felt that nagging feeling again.
“Who’s next?” he asked.
“Patricia Parker and Corrine Gilbride were both retrieved from the lake. Chlorinated water was found in their lungs. We later found that Corrine was killed out of really bad timing. She was visiting her roommate and the killer took them both. It was either out of necessity or want. Both girls were out dancing and drinking.”
“Kathy Cory was found pressed under rocks on the mayor’s property. Her father said she was dating someone. We can assume Kathy was seeing two men. Tony, and then the killer, since we haven’t been able to find anyone else and no one came forward. Her father has no idea what she was out doing that night.”
“Where’s her diary?”
“At our house,” she answered, looking at the log list. “We had the techs read it, but they were looking for a person of interest, not what she was planning on doing if she was going out.”
“We need to revisit it tonight when we get home.”
“For the last victim, we have Deputy Sara Bishop. She was a name on the list, but she was more to spite me. I think that the killer would have taken me instead if the opportunity was there. I believe that these women, with the exception of Sara and Corrine follow a pattern.”
“What are you thinking?”
It seemed he was right, it was beginning to pop.
“Ethan, maybe we’re being too literal. Witches in the bible were necromancers, fortune tellers, and even considered women of whorish tendencies. If you think back to it, in 1692, it was all about finger pointing. You looked at my husband, and I called you a witch. You screwed my husband and I say I saw you flying on a broomstick.”
“So you think these women were of loose morals?”
“I think with the exception of Sara and Corrine, yes. I think that maybe I was meant to be next, then I got married, and screwed it up. Now I’ve pissed the killer off and am probably back on the list.”
“Great.”
Elizabeth patted his leg. “Not one of those women were screwing a husband. The first- a minister’s son, the next two- the mayor, the following two- were college girls out partying. Maybe they said or did something, drawing the killer’s attention. Kathy was sleeping with a deputy, and then she switched to someone else. Easy women were the women most likely accused of witchcraft, and they were asked to speak their sins, or be cleansed of them forcefully. Maybe the killer is thinking he is cleansing them, like the people that died in 1692.”
Blackhawk smiled at her.
“What?
“Do you know how sexy your mind is?” he asked, leaning over to kiss her.
“Do you know that we’re in my workplace and kissy-face is prohibited?” she said, laughing, as he ignored her and then began nibbling on her neck.
“Mmmmm hmmmmm,” he muttered.
There was a knock to their door and to Elizabeth’s horror, her husband didn’t seem to care.
Martha walked in and paused. “Oh, so sorry, boss!” She began backing out of the office, embarrassed that she interrupted what was going on between the sheriff and her husband.
“Wait Martha, ignore him.” Elizabeth slapped him, and he started laughing.
“Sorry, technically it’s our honeymoon,” he winked at his wife’s secretary.
“What’s up, Martha?” she asked, trying not to giggle as her husband was whispering suggestive things in her ear.
“Boss, you’re going to be pissed. But keep in mind, it’s not as bad as it looks, and after all you are married to each other.”
Elizabeth felt her husband tense and she must have looked confused. “What are we going to be pissed at, Martha?” she asked, perplexed.
Martha handed her the paper and stepped back, waiting for the explosion.
Elizabeth opened it and on the front page there were a series of pictures staring back at her. The first was her making out with her husband as they were getting out of the passenger seat of his car. Her in his arms at the cemetery while her father was being exhumed, and her in the morgue laying on the metal table getting her stitches done with him leaning down as if to kiss her. “That weasel-y, miserable, bastard! I’ll cut his balls off and make earrings out of them,” she threatened, handing her husband the paper.
“Oh shit,” he said, trying to not laugh. “All of them are innocent except the first one. I do believe you were assaulting me with a deadly weapon,” he pointed to her mouth. “A very deadly weapon, if I remember correctly, Sheriff.”
“I’m glad you’re taking this so well, because you should be sitting there completely freaked out. The only way he got those pictures of us in Georgetown, was if someone was stalking us.”
Immediately, it wasn’t as funny anymore, and he exploded. “I’m going to kick his ass, and then I’m going after hers!” He knew exactly who was stalking them, and his old partner was going to be incredibly sorry.
As Special Agent Ethan Blackhawk stormed from the office in a visible rage, Elizabeth followed. She was unsure if he was going to remain in control or completely lose it. It was going to be interesting, one way or another.
Blackhawk strode across the street and pushed open the door to the newspaper, seeking the enemy. He was going to scare the man shitless or kill him. He’d yet to decide which one.
“Forbes, where the hell are you?”
Everyone pointed and stared. Really, Elizabeth couldn’t blame them. Here was a large FBI agent, angry, carrying a gun, and looking for their co-worker. To her it was very amusing, but they all seemed terrified.
“You think you're funny? Those pictures crossed a line!” Blackhawk threw down the paper. “This middle one is when her father’s grave is being exhumed, and I’m holding her while she is crying. This one,” he raged as he pointed to the one of her on morgue table, “is where she is getting stitches because the killer threw a brick through a window at her. This one is of us on our wedding night taken by some mentally deranged stalker.”
Now Forbes looked nervous at the mention of the word stalker.
“You accepted photos, these two, taken by a stalker, and printed them in your newspaper. I want everything you have for fingerprinting, or ISP. Today I’m shutting you down to investigate how you promoted stalking across state lines.”
Everyone gasped, knowing he absolutely could do it if the pictures came by internet.
“You can’t do that!” he yelled, aghast.
“Did you get those pictures in an email?” Blackhawk demanded.
“Yes, they came to me yesterday,” and now he looked downright sick.
“That falls under cyber stalking, and that’s a federal crime.” He took his badge out and slapped it on the desk, making the man jump. “That’s where they get the F in FBI, asshole.” He picked up his phone and called his techs. “I need five of you over to the Centennial paper across from the sheriff’s office. It seems that my wife has a cyber-stalker, and the newspaper just printed them. Shut them down,” he ordered, growling into the phone.
Elizabeth stood in the doorway in awe, watching her very angry husband. He was the sexiest man in that moment. His black eyes were blazing, his hair sweeping back and forth, because he forgot to tie it back.
She would have jumped him right there, if it wouldn’t have ended up in the paper…again.
“I want all those pictures, and anything else you printed out from your little helper in Georgetown. Believe me when I say I’m going to push the FBI to send you to jail for aiding in the cyber stalking of my wife.”
“I’m sorry!” Forbes tried to apologize.
“All the times you hid behind trees and popped out, that’s going to come up too. You putting your hands on her, don’t forget that! Before I’m done with you, you’ll be sitting in a federal jail for a long time, and having to register as a sex offender!”
“I’m really sorry, Agent Blackhawk.”
“Sorry?” he roared. “You posted pictures in your paper while a serial killer is loose in town killing women! You think you didn’t just make my wife a shiny target?”
“I didn’t realize it. I was just writing a story on your wife, the sheriff. She wouldn’t give me an interview, and I tried to get information on her, but this is all I could get in the moment. Look, I called her ‘Sheriff Sexy’…”
Everyone in the room stopped moving.
“You think that makes me happy that you called her sexy? I damn well know she’s sexy! I’m the one married to her!” Blackhawk was vibrating in rage. Immediately, he dialed Gabe. He waited three rings until he answered, then he exploded. “Guess who ended up on the front page of the paper today?”
“I’m guessing you or Lyzee?” Gabe answered, calmly.
“It seems that Lily has struck again and this time she crossed the line. She was stalking us in Georgetown, and the asshole here posted them in the newspaper.”
“Did she email them?”
“Yes!” Ethan jerked Forbes from his chair roughly. He opened his email and clicked on them, one at a time, until he found what he needed.
“Then we can step in and pursue it. Send me the emails, and I’ll get the cyber-crimes unit to investigate. I’ll handle her, immediately.”
“I want justice, Gabe.” He sent them to his boss, right from the man’s email. “I want her taken care of or I’ll handle her. She wants to hate me fine. But my wife is off limits to this jackassery. They just threw my wife to a serial killer, and I want her job and head on a silver platter.”
“Ethan, breathe. I’ll take care of her, I promise.”
Elizabeth stepped out of the way as the FBI van pulled up, and techs began pouring into the office.
“I want every computer searched. This one has the cyber stalking pictures. I want everyone checked, and if you even smell anything fishy, bolt the doors and arrest them all.”
The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) Page 39