Consumed by Wrath: An FBI/Romance Thriller (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 8) (33 page)

“This town will miss that man. He was an icon,” stated Denton Kline.

Yeah, he was also snacked on by some wackadoo with a hunger for flesh, but
Elizabeth kept that fact hidden for now. They didn't need gossipy council members throwing that tidbit out. It would start a rampage in Salem.

“What can you
tell us about Jefferson Harris?” Ethan asked, trying to get the conversation off the topic of Doc.

The men looked confused at the question.

“What does this have to do with Doc’s murder?” Denton Kline asked, staring at Elizabeth. “Surely, you don’t think his disappearance a year ago has anything to do with our ME dying.”

Elizabeth was watching Chris Santana’s face, curiously. Deep down, she believed th
at if you were ever a cop, that chances were, you were born to be one. While she understood the reasoning behind Chris leaving, she didn't buy that his instinct was gone.

“We do.”

Both men reacted the way she assumed, but her old co-worker just drank his coffee.

“
This is horrible!” Terry Carney said. “Poor Jefferson! He was a damn fine man. I feel for Mrs. Harris.”

Ethan spoke up, “We haven’t confirmed that he is one of the sets of remains, but we’re going to speak
to his wife this morning.”

The two council members looked over at Chris Santana. “You’re in charge of the sheriff’s office, Mayor. You need to make sure that this stays low key, especially now. The Spring Fling is right around the corner, and we need it to go off without a hitch. This is how Salem gets its funds to pay for things like new deputy uniforms and vests,” Denton Kline, added. “We want this done without it being a mar on our fine town.”

Terry Carney glanced over at Elizabeth. “Your daddy was a good man and knew everyone in Salem. We know you did a lot for us too, when we had that other issue. Please make sure we don’t become the laughing stock of the state.”

Elizabeth nodded, since opening her mouth would just lead to terrorizing both men. If they only knew what was stalking their town, they might not give a rat’s ass about the damn Spring Fling
or purchasing equipment.

Getting up, both men shook hands
, and then left the room. Once gone, Elizabeth stared over at the mayor.

“Well, you look like you want to say something.”

He shook his head. “I’m just thinking about Jefferson Harris. When you came in and brought it up, I immediately flashed back to something that happened not long before he went missing.”

That piqued her interest. “Spill it, Chris.”

“I was at a town hall meeting, and there was a dispute between two people. One of them was Jefferson Harris.”

That most definitely had them both sitting forwards. “What about?”

“Someone brought up the misappropriation of town funds for the Spring Fling, I believe.” Chris sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers as he thought back to the incident. “Yeah, that was it.”

“Who?” Ethan asked.

Again, Chris paused contemplatively, as if weighing and measuring his options.

Elizabeth prayed
that he wasn’t planning on playing politician on this one, so she offered him a bit more. “Chris, you know I’m a straight shooter on pretty much everything. I’m going to give you the details that I didn't share with your council buddies, but you have to keep it quiet.”

Ethan added, “You’re going to want to keep this
discreet. If this gets out, hell is going to break loose.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“The killer is eating parts of the victims. The bones have been checked by our anthropologist, and he confirmed it.”

That alone was enough to loosen Chris’s lips.

“That’s disgusting,” he stated. “This is why I got out of the cop field. I was sick of all the death. I don’t know how you keep doing it, Elizabeth.”

Yeah, she didn't either, honestly.

“Okay, I’ll drop what I know and keep your information to myself. The fight was between Jefferson Harris and Denton Kline.”

Both Blackhawks found that curious.

“Really? They were going at it on the council?” Elizabeth asked.

Chris shook his head. “No, Denton wasn’t on council at that time. When Jefferson Harris went missing, he took his place and seat on the dais.”

Elizabeth whistled. “So, we have a man disappear and the person who accused him of stealing money took his place?”

Chris Santana shrugged
, and then reminded her, “It’s merely speculation.”

That made her laugh. “Bullshit! You know better than that, even if you’re sitting up in this fancy office. You wer
e one of us in the trenches. I know you’re looking at this the same way we are and see what we see.”

That he did.

Blackhawk was a little mystified over the entire Spring Fling thing. “Maybe this little carnival should be put on hold until after we get this situation under control. I don’t know if having a buffet of victims wandering aimlessly all over the place, in one central location, is a prudent choice.” The visual in his head even turned his stomach.

It was like leading lambs to the slaughter.

“The Spring Fling must go on,” Chris said. “It’s important to our town. We crown a Miss Salem, and she gets scholarship money. In fact, Elizabeth was one of the winners her senior year in high school.”

That
sentence alone had Ethan’s attention. “Seriously? Are you yanking my chain?”

“Chris you bastard,”
she said, laughing.

The man grinned.

“You just sicked the mother of all Feds on me. Now, he’s going to want to see pictures and do research to find out more.”

The mayor found that entertaining. “If he wants them, they’re in the library archives.”

“Chris! Shut the hell up!” she warned, laughing.

Blackhawk rubbed his hands together manically. “Hot damn! I’m going to see my girl dressed up
in pink like some debutant and wearing a purty crown,” he drawled, mimicking some backwoods accent.

That made her snort. “I believe the dress was black and blue, and it matched the bruises
that I’m going to put on Chris’s ass for even bringing this up. This is like dangling a juicy mouse in front of a slippery snake.”

There was now a side mission, and Ethan couldn’t wait to get one of the techs to head over there and do the deed for him. He wasn’t stupid
. Elizabeth would definitely kick his ass for disappearing, but she would have to catch him in that act.

“Come on, Cowboy. We have an interview to do yet today.”

Blackhawk followed and winked at Chris. “Have a good day, Mayor.”

Despite her threats, Ethan knew his was looking up
.

When they pulled up to the pig farm, the smell was outrageous. As much as Cyra considered herself to have a strong constitution,
even this made her gag.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Harper Stanton. “This place smells worse than you’d think it
would. Bacon smells too damn good to come from this travesty!”

Cyra was with her partner there.

Getting out of the Denali, she glanced over at the newbie. “Harper, under NO circumstance are you to mention to this woman that her husband may have been eaten by a cannibal. Okay? If we let that cat out of the bag, you and I will be on Elizabeth Blackhawk’s dinner plate ourselves. She won’t think twice about having an agent snack.”

She understood. “I have a question. Is Director Blackhawk
really this tough to work with? She scares the shit out of me,” Harper admitted.

Cyra crossed her arms. “Elizabeth Blackhawk is an enigma. As a new agent, you’re going to have to take your lumps when it comes to her. I know she can be scary, but once you work under her a while, you see that she’s just trying to train you to be a good
at your job.”

Thank God that she didn't have to go through that initiation phase with the boss. For that
one blessing alone, she would kiss Chris Leonard, while standing naked in a swamp full of poisonous vipers.

“Okay, if you say so.”

They headed towards the house. Once there, they didn't even have to knock on the door. It flew open and a woman with a twelve gauge shotgun stood there, pointing it at them.

Neither
agent moved.

“Who are you?” the woman said, pointing from agent to agent.

Cyra swallowed and prayed that they could talk themselves out of this. Yeah, she expected a grieving woman, not one ready to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Ma’am, I’m with the FBI. We’re here to investigate your husband’s disappearance and ask some questions,” Cyra said calmly. “I’m going to reach for my badge and show you,” she offered, praying that the woman wasn’t trigger happy
, or this was bound to end badly for her. Cyra’s life began flashing before her eyes, as she continued to focus on the woman’s trigger finger.

Standing in the doorway,
the gun toting woman watched the blonde reach for her pocket. When she pulled out a leather case and flipped it over, she scanned the information.

As quickly as the anger appeared, it was gone.

“I’m sorry that I pointed my gun at you both,” said the woman. “Please forgive me, but since my husband disappeared, people have been harassing me.”

Cyra
could feel her pulse throbbing in her neck. Shit, that was scary. Yeah, when she had been a detective, she had been shot at, but that was all pre-Chris Leonard.

It was before she knew what love was
and had a reason to hold onto it for dear life.

“It’s okay, ma’am,” she replied. “Can we come in and talk to you?”

The woman quickly opened the door and ushered them inside.

“Who has been harassing you, Mrs. Williams?” asked Harper. Her boss told her to ask questions, and it was a miracle she could do that after facing down a double barrel shotgun.

“The town council is guilty as sin. They took my Duke and killed him, I know it! They wanted him to shut down our farm and move.”

Cyra made notes. “Why did they want that, Mrs. Williams?” she inquired.

“They said it was because of the smell. They told him that the stink was distracting to the town folks. Well, we’re far enough away and don’t have many neighbors out here. No one’s come to us to complain.”

Cyra figured the loaded gun was a good reason why.
If it wasn’t, it should be. This woman wasn’t playing with a full deck.

“Duke wouldn’t give up. He told them to kiss his ass. This farm
has been in his family for three generations. There was no way he was walking away from this.”

“How long after they threatened him did he go missing?” Cyra asked, pausing as the woman thought about it.

“Maybe it was a few weeks. They started coming out here often to put pressure on him. Then one day, poof! He was gone, and they stopped coming around.”

“Then why the gun, ma’am?” asked Cyra. “If they stopped harassing you, why are you toting around a
twelve gauge?”

“We had another issue with some Injun.”

Cyra made a mental note to warn Ethan and Callen to not head out here. Not because they couldn’t handle a little racial slur, but because Elizabeth would lose her mind and possibly be in jail for murder.

“Tell us about the Injun,” stated Harper.

Cyra gave her a scathing look. God help her partner if she ever said that word in front of Elizabeth. She’d be working out of some satellite office in Alaska, or a pine box.

“His name is Maxwell Steppapaw. He lives on the next property over. He and Duke got into a fist fight a while back. Our pigs got out and went on
to his land. They tromped through his garden and destroyed his
‘herbs’
.”

Making notes, Cyra urged her to continue. “What else, ma’am?”

“The man approached Duke, and they got into a fight. I called the cops and the sheriff came out and took the Injun away.”

Funny, to Cyra’s knowledge, the sheriff never brought that up. She
was sure that Elizabeth would have told them in advance had she known.

“He tried to sue us for money to repair his land
, but Duke disappeared first, and he couldn’t get a penny out of us. You want to meet someone who could have taken my husband? Then you should head there after you talk to the council. They both had it in for us!”

The women both stood and shook the woman’s hand.

“Ma’am, we may need to come back here and ask more questions, okay? So, if we do, take it easy with the shotgun. It’s illegal to pull a weapon on a Federal officer. You could hurt someone,” she added. “The next time, I’ll have to arrest you.”

The woman nodded. “Now
that I see what vehicles you’re drivin’, I’ll know you’re a Fed.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”