Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) (37 page)

As she watched
them leave and close the door, she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. Her eyes filled despite her will to stop it. She accepted the kiss, because she knew it could be the last moment she had with her husband.

If the kille
r was out there waiting for him that could have been her goodbye. Letting him go without her was the hardest thing she ever had to do, but she knew it was his job, and she couldn’t put him in a box to keep him safe. There had to be trust that he’d stay alive. When her door opened and Callen Whitefox walked in, she wiped her eyes on the back of her hand.

“
Hey are you okay?” Whitefox looked concerned, placing his hand on her shoulder and dropping to his knees beside her. “You can talk to me, Lyzee. I have your back too and I’ll protect your secrets as well.”

Elizabeth would have blown it off if the man hadn’t caught her mid-cry fest in her office. All she could do was go with the truth. “Please keep him safe,
Callen. I need him to come back to me,” she whispered, as her voice filled with emotion and the tears started to spill over. “I don’t want to do this without him. Please get him back here safe, and I’ll owe you for the rest of my life.” Elizabeth stared into his eyes and shared all the fear inside her willingly. There was no doubt she could trust the man with her worries. Callen was as honorable as her husband.

“I’ll bring him back,
Lyzee. I promise.” He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb, offering her a candy bar. “Ethan wanted you to have a snack.” Whitefox put it on the desk and leaned down to kiss away her tears. “Please don’t cry, beautiful. I’ll make sure he stays safe.” A part of him ached for her sadness. A woman as tough as Elizabeth Blackhawk didn’t sit around crying. Just that morning, she ran headfirst into danger, and now she was breaking down, alone in her office. It was a defining moment to him. She wasn’t as tough as they all thought, and right then he took a vow. He’d protect her heart, like she did for all of them.

Elizabeth
watched him leave, hoping and praying it all would end soon; it was a rollercoaster of emotions, and she just wanted them all to survive in one piece. 

~ Chapter
Eleven ~

Ethan Blackhawk sat in the front seat of the shiny FBI vehicle, and he felt despondent over the loss of his beloved mustang. The tech crew had taken his car to the repair shop for him after cutting apart the door to remove the bullet.  It was going to be in the shop for a while, and until then he was going to be stuck in the company car. As his brother climbed into the Denali, he knew immediately something was bothering him.

“What’s bugging you? I’ve seen this look before and you look worried.”

Whitefox just shrugged. “Can I be honest with you?”

He didn’t like that question from a stranger, but from his own brother? It made him feel off balanced.
That was a loaded question and usually meant one thing; the listener was going to be pissed. “I think that depends.” Blackhawk was hoping it had nothing to do with Elizabeth.

“I didn’t expect that answer,” he said
, laughing.

“If you're going to tell me you’re in love with my wife and thinking about having sex with her every time you see her, let me warn you now. I’m going to pull my gun and sho
ot you. I won’t kill you, but I will shoot you.”

Callen Whitefox looked over at his brother surprised.
Granted he was always thinking about his sister-in-law, but this time she wasn’t the reason he was bothered. “This had nothing to do with Elizabeth, but since you brought it up,” he paused, “I’ll admit to you that I’ve found myself hopelessly in love with her.” When his brother’s eyebrow went up and he reached for his gun, he continued and started laughing, “As is granddad. She’s pretty darn lovable” he paused shaking his head when his brother pulled his suit jacket back over the gun. “She rolls right over you and makes you fall in love with her. You would think her bossiness and brashness would turn a man off, but oddly it doesn’t.”

God, he hoped that sounded innocent, not desperate.

“I thought the same thing when I first met her.”

“
I love my new sister, and have to say that the prospect of being an uncle is pretty thrilling too.”

Blackhawk felt relief that his brother
was fond of Elizabeth. It meant one more person willing to keep her and their child safe, and that they would all be a happy family. “I think Baby Blackhawk is going to be pretty lucky to have you as an uncle.”

“I’m not saying I wouldn’t chase down one of her sisters,” he added
, hopefully.

“No sisters. Y
ou're out of luck.”

“Damn it
!” He looked right into his brother’s eyes. “I told you, Ethan. I won’t betray you ever again. The lesson was learned the hard way. I won’t cross that line with your wife.”

“
I believe you,” he replied, pulling out of the garage.  “Now tell me what you needed to be honest with me about,” he headed to Black Fall’s sheriff’s station.

“I left the reservation to be a deputy
, but after a while I didn’t want to be away from granddad, so I came home. I took the job as reservation police chief to keep busy, and because I like to eat.”

Blackhawk grinned.
“Okay, so far I’m with you.”

“Then you came back from the outside world
, and I’ve realized that I hate my job, the lack of a serious relationship, and my life in general.”

Blackhawk didn’t know where this was going. “You want my job and life? That kind of sounds like you
’re thinking about my wife,” he said laughing.

Whitefox punched him in the arm.
“No, I’m just saying I’m envious and proud that you took that chance and got away from it all. I wish I’d have been as strong and tough as you.”

“You can leave at any time, Callen. It’s a big world out there, and it’s not all as bad as we heard growing up. Yeah, people can be major assholes on a daily basis. Like I told Lyzee back in Salem
, assholes keep us in a job. If I didn’t leave here I wouldn’t have met her, and without her I wouldn’t be happy right now. I dated women before her, but it just wasn’t right. You’ll find her, and you’ll know because it’ll knock you on your ass and make you do stupid things. I’ll give my younger brother one piece of advice. Look for a woman that will challenge you, respect you, and make you laugh. Then marry her and do whatever she tells you to do.”

Callen laughed. “So Lyzee is the boss?”

“Hell yeah, she is,” he said grinning. “If you want to have sex on a regular basis, you let your wife be in charge.”

Whitefox shook his head and grinned at his brother. If he was married to
Elizabeth, he’d wear a shirt declaring she was queen of the universe, so he understood what his brother was saying.

“Gabe once gave me similar advice and he
was completely right.”

“I’l
l keep that in mind,” he paused. “I think after this, I need to get off the reservation and take some time off to just figure it all out. Since you’re back, you can take care of granddad. It’s your turn.”

“
Deal,” he said. “We have a summer home in Salem, and you’re welcome to head there with us on our next vacation, or you're welcome to just hide out there and relax for a while.”

“I think I might do just that,” he said smiling. “Thanks, Ethan,” he was definitely feeling better.

“That’s what the older brother is here for daily. Guidance and to keep you from screwing up as badly as I did,” he pulled into the sheriff’s station. “Shall we go see the welcoming committee? I’m glad we wore Kevlar after how angry the sheriff was with Elizabeth.” Who was he kidding? He loved watching her stir the pot with the inept.

“Expecting trouble?”

“No, but Lyzee poked the hornet’s nest the other day, and that’s another reason I didn’t want her coming with us. If the sheriff or his men are holding a grudge, then he’s going to be a bitch to deal with today.”

Whitefox stayed close to his brother, scanning the area. He planned on keeping the promise he made to Elizabeth. Nothing was going to happen to his brother. Once inside the sheriff’s department they noticed it was extremely quiet. They must not get a great deal of crime in the town, and that would probably explain why they had little crime scene experience. Immediately, they were greeted by the deputy on duty.

“Director Special Agent Blackhawk,” he pulled out his ID and placed it on the counter. “This is Chief of Police, Callen Whitefox, and we’re here to pick up the missing person reports that Director Special Agent Elizabeth Blackhawk called regarding yesterday.”

“Good morning guys, I’m Deputy Thomas Mason. I spoke to the other Agent Blackhawk on the phone yesterday. I have them pulled and ready to go for you
.” The deputy walked back to his desk.

Blackhawk was pleasantly surprised. He was truly expecting hell for the fallout the other day between the sheriff and his wife. “I appreciate your help, Deputy Mason. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting cooperation.”

“Hey, not a problem,” he answered back, handing the folder back. “I’m sorry about the other day,” he said apologetically as he leaned forward, lowering his voice. “The sheriff is a real good guy; he’s just not big on strong women. If it were up to him we’d all be living back in the fifties,” he grinned. “Sheriff Pavette is more the ‘barefoot and pregnant’ kind of man, if you know what I mean,” he winked.

“Well, he messed with the wrong woman on that one,” added Blackhawk. Deputy Mason seemed like a nice guy. He was tall and had sandy brown hair. His blu
e eyes sparkled as he laughed. Too bad he worked for an asshole.

“Yeah, I could tell. She’s something to watch in action. Agent Blackhawk got him all stirred up that’s for sure,” he paused
, and then changed the subject. “How’s it going with the investigation,” he inquired, amicably.

Ethan quietly observed the deputy
. He seemed friendly enough, but he didn’t trust the man wasn’t going to run back to his boss and pass on all the information. “It’s ongoing. You know the standard line.”

“Well if you need anything else, here’s my number,” he
said, pulling a card from the counter. “Just have Agent Blackhawk call if she needs anymore paperwork, or have her swing by the office. I’ll keep her far enough away from Sheriff Pavette,” he said, winking.

“Thank you,” he
answered, putting his sunglasses on and grabbing the folder. “Have a good one, Deputy Mason,” he said, strolling out of the office with his brother. Now it was time to find a healthy lunch for his wife and return back to base.

“That went smooth,” Whitefox said
, surprised himself at the willingness of the deputy.

“Yeah, you aren’t kidding. Maybe it’s our lucky day.”

Elizabeth dragged the white board from her husband’s office into her own. She wanted to have plenty of space as she wrote the information down and broke it all apart. On half the board she posted the pictures of the women.

First was the partially dec
ayed Jane Doe found in the hole. She was Native American and that was all they had on her. The ME was still trying to find a dental match out of the thousands of missing person reports that turned up yearly. It was going to take time. When the tech team finished the computer generated facial reconstruction, she would then take the woman’s picture to the dentist on the reservation and hope for a small miracle. 

Second picture up on the board was fully intact victim. Thanks to the lab, they had a name and a face. In life she had been Lila Montgomery, and she had been a sweet looking girl. Almost naïve looking and it was heartbreaking that she had been the killer’s prey. She placed both pictures side by side, giving her respect in life and death. From her driver’s license picture she looked happy and sweet.

They were going to have to notify next of kin, as her family was on the reservation, according to the address. She pulled out the missing or left voluntarily list from Timothy Blackhawk, searching through the names. Sadly, she was on it, and beside her name was an explanation. Lila had left to run off with an outsider that she was seeing. Lila Montgomery hadn’t found love. All she found was a bad end to her young life. This one she would pass off to the reservation police. There was no way the family would want outsiders delivering the news, and honestly she was fine with bailing on a family notification.

The next picture was that of the dead girl found in her brother-in-law
’s living room. This victim was the big bump in this assignment. The killer had dressed her up and picked a non-pregnant woman. There had to be a message in there somewhere, she just needed time to find it and figure out what he was saying. A killer didn’t switch up methodology mid-kill, unless there was a reason. Part of the entire thing felt like he was screwing with them, taunting them and just trying to make their job more difficult.