Slay Bells Ring (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 12) (55 page)

“I do. The alarm wasn’t on, there was no sign of breaking and entering, and we all know Karma is a bitch.”

Ethan agreed. “Bonnie and Clyde are watchers. They would have studied their prey. They’d know he was a skirt chaser, and they’d use that to their advantage.”

“Clyde would let Bonnie use sex to get them in?” Chris asked, a little grossed out. He’d never share his wife.

Never.

“Well, look at the evidence. Sex to them is something primal and about control. We have Clyde sexually assaulting these women, and then taking his woman. It’s not going to be about love. It’s going to be about need.”

Elizabeth hopped up on a table. “He’s an animal, and he’s acting like one.”

Merry got it. “You think that Bonnie used sex with all of them.”

“I’m beginning to think that’s a possibility. We have all this infidelity. Lily Schneider was cheating on her husband. It distracted us. What if Maximillian was cheating too?”

They listened.

“We had Christian Bourdain bouncing on every woman in town before he got married. If Bonnie and Clyde had been here for the last year, since the other killings, they’d see that. It would be easy for Bonnie to get his attention.”

Ethan grinned. “She’d definitely use sex. That would explain her distaste for the penis. She uses them, feels dirty, and makes them pay. She lops their dicks off and destroys them. She’s not drinking them. She’s ruining them.”

“Because cutting it off isn't bad enough?” Brody asked. “You gotta blend it in to a dick shake?”

Johanna understood. “She hates them. She wants them to hurt, and that’s a way to emasculate them. You take the one thing they love most, their penises—their brains, and you destroy them to the point they’re nothing.”

“It is,” Ethan agreed.

“We have Salvatore Boone. He was paying rent for his chippy on the side. Maybe he was shelling out dough to someone else too. He collects mistresses, and the deputy might not be the only one.”

They all flipped through their notes.

“Cooper was shagging someone, and the second we find out who, we can tie this all up.”

Ethan spoke up, “They’re going to bail early. By now, they’re getting nervous. Clyde will want to continue, but Bonnie will want to run. She’s going to feel the heat more.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to venture and say because it’s likely that she’s the bait. When she can’t lure more in, she’s going to want to do something rash, like escaping. Clyde is the one out of control. He’s raping, pillaging, and getting lost in it.”

“So, you’re telling us that he’s the submissive?” Elizabeth asked.

He shook his head. “No, he’s dominant, but so is she. What’s one of the things that give a woman power?” Ethan asked.

“Sex,” stated Johanna. “She can wield it, use it, or withhold it.”

Elizabeth agreed.

“If she’s using it to get victims, she’s going to eventually use it on Clyde—if she isn’t already.”

Hopping off the table, she grabbed a marker and headed to the board on the wall.

“Tox?” she asked, thinking everything through in her head.

Merry took over. “Just Viagra in the men, nothing else.”

Elizabeth thought about it. “Every single one had Viagra in them?”

Merry rechecked. “Yes.”

Ethan got where she was going with this. “If he’s raping the women, maybe Bonnie is raping the men.”

All the men in the room had that look on their faces. Elizabeth knew what they were thinking. “This is all about control. She’s getting off on this too.”

Chris thought about it. “If she’s slipping them Viagra, knocking them out, and then manually stimulating their victims, they will get hard.”

“This woman is sick,” stated Tony.

Yeah, they were well aware.

“Men, Viagra is not your friend,” she stated. “Johanna, go back over Merry’s crime scene pictures. Find me a list of medications they were taking. They’d be in the bathrooms closest to the boudoir. When your woman is in the mood, you want to have access.”

She got to work.

“Was there any vaginal fluid on the pureed penises?” she asked.

Merry shook her head. “There wouldn’t be if she used a condom.”

“Yet she didn't with Clyde. Why?” asked Elizabeth.

“The penis you know,” Ethan said. “She trusts him. He’s going to be safe for her. Bonnie isn’t out of control. She’s going to want to be safe. She’d bag them up so not to catch anything.”

Elizabeth had so much swirling around in her head, but she knew there was more. 

“Broderick, what did you find on your searches?”

“We ran Juliet Singer. She’s originally from New York. There, she opened up a travel agency.”

She thought back to the details of the last killing sprees. “Can you tie her to California?”

He shook his head. “No. She was born and raised in New York.”

“What about Alessandra Savage?”

“She’s got a police record, but we can’t tie her to California at the time of the murders. As for New York, she was there, but never when the killings were happening.”

“We know she’s a thief, but is she a killer?”

The whole team knew that was rhetorical.

Ethan watched his wife, she was processing the information. He could tell by the way she paced.

“I need more details on some of the people we’ve come across,” she stated. “I want to know everything about the mayor’s secretary. She’s too perfect—offended by obscenity, freaked out by sex, and under a man’s thumb. Is it an act, or is she really that gentle lamb?”

Brody got to work.

“I also need the two hairdressers checked out. They were incredibly forthcoming, and when someone does that, it makes me curious. They gave everything, including that Cooper Douglas was rocking the marital boat.”

He made a note.

“Merry, recheck everything. Take the samples you found in Cooper’s bed, and cross match it. My gut is screaming. That’s going to be important.”

She didn't know how Elizabeth came to that premise, but she’d seen her do it many times before. Merry wasn’t an investigator. She was a lab geek.

It was time to do her job.

“I need to go check on Callen and get some food. I’ll check in later.”

“How is he?” Tony asked.

“He’s so much better. He’s in the drugged up phase right now. I can’t wait to get him out of there.”

They were all relieved.

“Tell him we miss him.”

“I will. As for my team’s tasks, I want something. I mean it. I’ve been easy on you up to this point. From here on out, I’m riding ass, and not in a way you’ll talk about with fond memories. We have to get something. Christmas is here shortly, and Bonnie and Clyde will be going under again. If that happens, we’ll have over thirty victims and jack squat to show for it.  Does anyone want to work this same case next year?”

They all shook their heads.

“Exactly. Get me something. Anything.”

She grabbed her coat and headed toward the door.

Ethan pulled cash out and handed it to Chris. “Order pizza. We’re all pulling a late one.”

They weren’t surprised.

It was going to be a long night.

            
* * *  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

He was on her last nerve.

All he kept yapping about was the fucking FBI. She was well aware that they were on their ass. They were getting closer, and something had to be done.

“Just stay calm,” she stated.

He looked enraged. When he gabbed and shook her, Bonnie could feel her brain rattling in her head.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” he hissed, shoving her against the wall. The crack to her skull made her vision waver.

“We need to get rid of them,” he stated. “I didn't enjoy this one at all. I couldn’t get off.”

She hoped he wasn’t contemplating touching her. If he did, she was going to kill him. She’d had enough of him.

The game was one thing.

The rush of wearing the blood of another was exciting, but sex with him was on her last nerve.

“What do you want to do?” she asked, rubbing her head with the palm of her hand. She swore he was going to pay for that one.

It was a matter of time, but she’d make sure he suffered.

As he raged around the room, she simply watched him.

“I can’t think. I’m so damn confused.”

Yeah, he was losing it.

Bonnie saw it coming.

Before long, he’d be the reason they were caught. At the beginning, he’d been a good partner. She’d let him play leader, but now it was over.

He was a liability.

“I have a plan, if you want to hear it. It’s not as good as anything you could come up with, but it could still work.”

Clyde contemplated it.

“What is it?”

She told him what she carefully had created for the next kill. In her opinion, it was pure genius. It deviated from their normal plotting, but that might throw the FBI off long enough for her to escape.

That was her endgame.

She didn't give a shit what Clyde did.

In fact, she needed to make sure the man didn't talk. That was also in her plan, but for now, she needed him.

Then…he was expendable.

As she laid it out in laymen’s terms, his eyes got that familiar shine.

“We can do that! I’m so glad I thought of it.”

She let it go.

If anything, Bonnie was accustomed to letting men get their way. She was accustomed to being nothing more than the fluff brained female who obeyed.

Oh, if they only knew the truth.

If they could only see beneath the veneer to the real her, they would be horrified.

Clyde was a menace.

But she was a serial killer.

To her, there was a huge difference. Clyde could take a life and move on. She couldn’t. She had to make them pay. They were all horrible, and she longed to destroy them.

In the end, he’d join their victims.

When it was all said and done, she’d have the last laugh. All this time, she was invisible. Well, the doll was about to come to live.

She was about to hurt him and the ones who chased her.

They, too, had to die.

PAINFULLY.

Chapter Eighteen

Sunday Afternoon

Hospital

When they strolled into Callen’s room, he was sitting in bed and flipping through the channels. The second he saw them, his face lit up.

“Shit! I missed you both.”

They felt the same way.

“How are you, my love?” she asked.

“In pain. My right side hurts like a bitch. It’s like someone shoved hot pokers into my flesh and are twisting them.”

She went to his side and leaned down to kiss him. The second their lips touched, the pain ebbed away.

When she set him free, he was focused on her eyes. “God, I love you. Plus you broke out the sexy hair for me. Where’s the leather and cuffs, Mistress?”

She snorted.

Elizabeth felt a little better being near him. “I happen to be head over heels in love with you, Mr. Whitefox. I’m glad you opted to stick around. As for the bondage gear, we’ll make an appointment for that when you’re healed and back on your feet. It’s no fun to abuse you when someone else already has.”

He grinned despite the pain.

“How’s the assignment going? Did you find the asshole who did this yet?”

Ethan laughed. “We’re trying. It’s not going as smoothly as we hoped.

“Need help?”

“No,” she stated. “What I really need is to have something to eat. I’m feeling lightheaded, and someone’s child is making their presence known.”

Callen used his good arm to drag himself over to the side of the bed. “Have a seat.”

She didn't mind if she did.

Climbing onto the bed, she leaned against the hospital sheets, trying not to touch his bad shoulder. “Can I hold your hand?” she asked.

He grinned. “Angel, you can hold whatever you want.” Callen wiggled his eyebrows lecherously.

It took some of the weight off her heart.

He was still himself.

When she took his hand in hers, she noticed that he didn't close his fingers. Instead of pointing that out, she opted to let it go. They were just lucky to have him back. She’d worry about the small details later.

As if timed, Wyler came in talking on his phone. When he saw them, he smiled. “I’ll tell them,” he said to someone on the other end before hanging up.

“Gabe?” she asked.

“Yes. He was giving me an update on the kids. It seems they’re watching a movie. All of them. As in together.”

Ethan shook his head. “Why am I not surprised? Gabe is a glorified babysitter. Of course he’s running the place like Quantico.”

Wyler gave his son a hug and kissed Elizabeth. “We didn't expect you. I was about to go find food for the patient.”

Ethan knew Callen needed a little TLC. Elizabeth was going to mother him a little bit.

“I’ll head out with you. You can be my backup. We don’t need to make the little woman worry about me now too. Apparently, some of us can’t keep from getting hurt.”

“Hey! I haven’t been shot before. I’m a newbie. You two are the ones who get a card stamped when you head to the hospital.”

Elizabeth grinned. “Food would be amazing.”

Ethan leaned down and dropped a kiss to his brother’s forehead. “Love you, Cal,” he said, heading toward the door. “I’ll get you something you can eat with one hand.”

“Bless you,” he said.

When they were gone, Callen focused on his woman. “Are you feeling okay? Is the baby fine?”

Yeah, he was off the meds. Here was her normally worried man. It was good to see he was back.

“I’m good and so is the swimmer.” She patted her stomach. “I did miss you.”

“Do you think you can make out with me a little?” he asked. “You’re the only drug I need.”

Elizabeth would never say no. She’d nearly lost him, and this mattered.

Callen mattered.

She turned, using both her hands to pull his mouth down to hers. Gently, she kissed him.

When she became more forceful with the kiss, he fell into it.

Callen was starving.

Just not for food.

As he hungrily devoured her mouth, he wasn’t quite sure he could stop. What he wanted was to immerse himself in the feeling of his woman.

She helped him forget.

As his mouth drank from hers, he pictured her naked and riding him in the hospital bed.

It turned him right on.

While his arm was wounded, his lower anatomy was doing just fine.

In fact, he was as horny as hell.

Maybe it was coming so close to dying, or that his wife had straightened her hair. Then again, it was likely both. He was dying to touch her, letting the ebony silk glide across his skin like it always did.

“I love your hair like this,” he muttered as she kept kissing him. Someone else was hungry too, and she was trying to show him.

This was heaven and hell.

He was well enough to fornicate, but not strong enough.

Well shit!

“Angel,” he whispered, pulling free from her mouth. “While the lower body is willing, I can’t. Oh, I want you in the worst way, but I can’t move around.”

She licked her lips.

“So, you want me, huh?”

He laughed like a mad man. “When don’t I?”

He used his left hand to pick hers up and place it over his erection. It was tenting the sheets and hospital gown. “I think that says it all.”

Immediately, the heat in the room went up.

It always amazed her how much these two sexy men wanted her. She was middle aged and a mother, and with each passing day, they loved her more and more.

She was blessed.

Callen moaned as he dropped his head back and closed his eyes. Putting her hand on his dick was probably a bad idea. She was stroking him through the material. Unlike jeans, the thin fabric didn't dull the sensation.

“Do you like it, Cal?” she asked, moving slowly.

“Christ, yes. I never want it to end. When you touch me, I don’t hurt.”

She didn't think he just meant the gunshot.

He moaned more, his body getting hard and taut.

“I’ll stop if you want me to.”

He opened his eyes. “I’ll die if you do.”

Elizabeth loved him so much. With these two men, they could turn her to a puddle of mush in seconds.

“What do you want?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

He couldn’t think. His thoughts were scrambled and wouldn’t leave his brain. It was a combination of meds and his woman.

“I know how to cheer you up,” she offered.

“Please,” he begged.

Slowly, she pulled the sheet from his body. When she tugged the hospital gown up, she grinned at him. “I like easy access.”

“I’ll wear it home,” he muttered as her fingers lightly brushed his erection. While he didn't mind her touching and stroking him, there was something more enticing he craved.

“Please use your mouth on me.”

She grinned. “Why, Cal, darlin’, I never thought you’d ask.”

When she drawled, it made him crazy. There was nothing like hearing her southern twanged speech show up to the party. That Southern good ol’ girl turned him to mush.

“First, I need to make a call.”

He stared at her. “Are you serious?”

She dialed. When he answered the phone, she spoke, “Chris, you’re not on speaker, are you?”

Callen couldn’t believe this. He gawked.

“No, why?”

“I’m here with Callen, and I had a medical question. I really wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.”

“Sure, honey, shoot.”

“If I give him a blow job, is it going to kill him?”

There was laughter from the other end. In fact, it was hysterical laughter.

Callen closed his eyes. Well, he’d get his ass rode about this one when he was back at work.

Then he stared down at her hand still touching him.

Did it matter?

She was going to put her mouth all over him, and then he could cross this off his bucket list.

“Are you serious, Lyzee?” Chris asked.

“Do you think I phone random people, who I call family, to ask them questions like this if I’m not serious? I don’t know if I should be making his day, since he just had an artery fixed. I don’t need to explain how he had a sudden chest bleed to the doctor on call.”

Chris was amused. “As long as he’s not bouncing around, you’re good. The artery won’t pump more blood in his chest. It’s going to drain lower. If you know what I mean.”

“I appreciate it, Doc.”

He laughed. “Glad I can help. The bill will be in the mail. Wait until you see how I write that one up.”

She hung up.

“Seriously?” Callen asked. “You had to call him?”

“Did you want me to ask the nurse?”

He thought about that. “No, I think we’re good. I’ll survive.”

She kissed him again. This time, it was soft and gentle. At the same time, her fingers gently stroked him. Elizabeth wanted to ease him into it.

When he was breathless again, she hopped off the bed. As she lowered her head, it occurred to him that the door wasn’t locked.

Oh shit!

They were screwed. Here he was, his woman’s head in his lap, and he was still connected to the heart monitor. Already, his blood pressure was on the rise. Yeah, the blow job wouldn’t kill him, but the cranky woman in scrubs, who would be rushing in, just might.

If that alarm went off, they were going to have company. The nurse didn't want him eating greasy food, so he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like that he’d been given head in a hospital bed.

Jesus!

Elizabeth worked him in and out of her mouth. The wet sliding of lips on Callen’s erection was music to her ears. She was grateful to have this opportunity.

She knew he was struggling to stay calm. She could feel his body tense.

Glancing up, she popped the heart monitor off his finger and stuck it on hers. He immediately looked relieved.

“You’re good,” she said, taking a brief break.

“Do your worse,” he said, leaning back.

It was hot to watch his woman working him in and out of her mouth. He was rock hard, and it probably had something to do with the peek he was getting down her shirt.

Well, that and she was devouring him to the base.

While he wanted to beg her to be rougher, Callen opted to let her control this. His breathing was even, his heart was thumping, and his body was on autopilot.

Callen was going to ride this one out.

When she stopped to tease the tip of his erection, his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. She was running her tongue over him like she was licking a lollipop.

She could suck him like that any day.

It was hot.

“More,” he begged, forgetting where he was. The pain was dissipating, and all he could think of was that they could get caught.

He didn't even care.

If they did, he was going to make her continue. He needed this. Callen needed to feel this bliss.

When he moaned, Elizabeth added teeth. She knew he liked that kiss of pain. When they scraped up his erection, he shook.

“You’re killing me,” he whispered, as the long silky strands of her hair stroked over his heated flesh.

Elizabeth gave him all she had. When she fervently stroked and sucked him, she could see his balls react.

Oh, he was close.

It was time to push him over the edge.

“Jesus,” he muttered as he felt the end coming. She was going to be swallowing all his need.

When she squeezed the most sensitive part of his body, Callen closed his eyes and waited for the eruption.

He was on the edge.

There was that delicious kiss of pain, and it set him off. He exploded, pouring down her throat. He just kept coming and coming, until he was spent.

She swallowed, glancing up at the man she loved. He was resting back, eyes closed, but had that sexy smirk on his face.

Yeah, he was back to his normal self.

When she pulled away, she licked her lips and fixed him. Covering Callen back up, she crawled back onto the bed. When his eyes flickered open, he looked exhausted.

“I didn't hurt you, did I?”

He shook his head. “No way. I feel like I’m floating.”

She cuddled beside him, resting her head on his lap. “Is your heart still pounding?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“Then you better put this on,” she offered, lifting her finger to replace the monitor.

Then they rested there.

Together.

“Cal?”

“Hmmm?” he answered.