The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (10 page)

“I’ve been known to tolerate a few specific people calling me Lyzee.”

He grinned, putting his coffee cup down, and holding out his hand. “I hope I’m not being too forward, but it’s very nice to meet you, Lyzee.”

“I
don’t have a problem with anyone being forward, Ethan, as long as you don’t mind if it’s reciprocated.” she stood, leaning across her desk to take his hand, wondering if she’d feel the shock of awareness again or if it was a fluke.

Nope
, there it was again.

Just watching her smile staggered him. He kept the well trained composure, and his eyes never left hers, as they shook hands again. He was profoundly grateful she called the FBI for help.

Elizabeth had one thought in her head. Calling in the FBI was going to be a huge mistake. She could already tell, and this man was going to be the reason why. Ethan Blackhawk was going to take her to her knees.

She already
knew it in her heart.

Thursday Mid-morning

The ride in the car had been a quiet one. Blackhawk’s partner was nowhere to be found, so he opted to ride with the sheriff in her Jeep. Not that he minded, he was enjoying being near her. She smelled incredible, just as she did in his dreams. After they left her office, she introduced him to all her deputies and staff. Instructing them to assist him in any way possible, giving him full access to anything he needed, and to comply with any orders Ethan gave. It was a big change from their usual run in with law enforcement. Usually, they were seen as the invading army or the enemy, and he was pretty sure the reason she didn’t feel that way was she worked the other side too. Being there in the capacity of a consultant only for now, he had to defer to her, but she made his opinion feel welcome and not those of an outsider. She had once been FBI, and he was betting she had been good at her job.

“So, your dad was sheriff?” he asked softly, watching her shift gears and look over at him with eyes hidden by her sunglasses. 

“Yes, since I was ten. My mom was killed in a car accident, and he moved us from DC to Salem. Before coming here, he worked for the Capitol police.”

“
Salem’s a nice town,” he said, watching the houses pass outside the window.

Elizabeth laughed, and continued, “Thank you, I think.”

Ethan gave her the famous Blackhawk grin. It was his secret weapon in catching women. “I mean it. I grew up in a town similar to this one,” he paused. “Okay, it was more a reservation than a town,” he teased, pointing out the obvious, that he had Native blood. “But when you say reservation, it tends to make people very uncomfortable and twitchy.”

Yeah, she’d noticed
the Native ethnicity in him. It made him really sexy. She lifted her sunglasses to have eye contact with him. “I have to say, I don’t see why it would make me or anyone uncomfortable. I don’t have an issue with you being Native American. In fact, I have a few good jokes if you're bored…”

He laughed, not expecting her easy manner and teasing
. Blackhawk was already feeling relaxed at her side.

“I have to ask
why you didn’t work for the reservation police,” she inquired, making small talk, one eye on him and one on driving.

Ethan Blackhawk
was pretty sure no one ever asked him that before. Most people weren’t aware reservations had their own police, let alone cared to ask him about his origins. Sheriff LaRue continually surprised him, keeping him on his toes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” she added, thinking she offended him.

He lifted his own sunglasses, smiling at her. “You didn’t. I just don’t think anyone ever asked me why I didn’t. I guess it would be logical assumption.” Unless you grew up on a reservation and saw how bad the conditions were there. Then you’d know why he ran for his life.

Elizabeth smiled back
. The man was certainly easy to like. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“I had a reputation back home
. I burned that bridge down and had no way to get back across,” he answered, being completely honest. He never shared that with anyone before. “I spent my youth being a bit too wild and out of control.” It was like his mouth was on autopilot, and he had no control. He didn’t know what made him tell her all that. Ethan had spent years hiding the past behind a perfectly built facade.

“Oh, a
bad boy and trouble maker, huh?” Her laughter filled the Jeep. “Well then Ethan Blackhawk, that brings me to my next question.”

“Well then shoot, Lyzee
LaRue,” he replied warily. He was unsure where she was heading with it. Part of him disliked the idea of her thinking of him as a bad boy and not seeing the real him.

“What did you do to get sent down here?” she
inquired, glancing over at him. She knew when she hit it right on the mark when the serious face was gone, and in its place was a grin.

“
How did you know?” The wicked smile said it all. She was very observant.

Elizabeth hung her sunglasses on her shirt; she didn’t feel the need to hide behind them anymore. “I worked with Gabe, for quit
e a few years. When I called he was more than eager to send you to me, and that just screams suspicious.”

“
Gabe’s a sadistic son of a bitch,” Blackhawk began laughing. He had to remember to thank him when he got back for helping him find her. Then Ethan hoped he hadn’t offended her, since Gabriel Rothschild was her friend.

Elizabeth pulled the Jeep into the parking lot and found her space, before she replied. H
er eyes were bright with laughter as she stared into his soul.

“Hell yeah he is, Ethan.”

Morgue

Elizabeth led the way to the basement of the Medical Examiner’s building. She knew Doctor Trudeaux would be expecting their arrival.

Off
in a side office, the mother of Patricia Parker would be waiting to see her daughter. This had to be the worst part of any job, being the one who had to tell a mother her child was never coming home. After she introduced him to the doctor, Elizabeth nodded towards the room.

“Is her daughter ready?”

“She is, Lyzee my girl. You go do your thing, and I’ll get my part taken care of too,” he said, nodding to the FBI agent. “Have a seat, Mr. Blackhawk. This won’t take long.” 

Elizabeth took a deep breath, and nodded at both men before entering the room. Inside sat a pale woman, with red hair that matched her daughter
’s. Both she and the victim were tiny, especially in comparison to her, but just the beaten down pose she took, made her look almost childlike. “Ms. Parker?”

“Sheriff,” she
began and immediately the tears started. “You found my baby?”

“Yes,
ma’am, we did and I’m sorry.” Elizabeth took a seat beside her, taking her hand in hers and offering her as much reassurance and peace as she could.

“I want to see her.”

“I imagine you do, but we need to talk first. I need your help, so I can bring her justice.”

The woman looked at her with almost dead eyes, as if all the life had been sucked out of them and her body as well. “Okay, Sheriff.”

“Can you tell me where your daughter was the night she disappeared?” Her eyes darted to the camera in the corner of the room, she knew they were being videotaped and watched. It made it easier, and made the victim’s families feel more comfortable.

“She said she was going out with a girlfriend
. I never asked where.”

“What was the girlfriend’s name?”

“Corinne Gilbride. She isn’t from around here. My daughter and she were roommates in college. Patty was home for summer break, and she is… was going back in two weeks.” And then the damn burst at the knowledge the young girl’s life was over. There would be no college diploma; there would be no marriage, and no children.

The woman fell out of her chair and Elizabeth went to her, sitting beside her and pulling her into her arms. She just held her, rocking her and offering her whatever comfort she could at a time like this. When the storm passed, she handed her some tissues.

“I want to see my baby.”

Elizabeth stood, offering the woman her hand. “I’ll stay with you while we
view Patty.”

Ms. Parker nodded, as she was led to the table holding her daughter. “Maybe it isn’t
her,” she said hopefully, trying to find some chance to cling to at the last moment.

Elizabeth’s eyes met Blackh
awk’s. Both knew what was coming. This wasn’t the first time in the morgue for either of them. Once the sheet was pulled back, this woman’s life would be forever changed. This was the finality of life. It was the end for those who were once living, breathing beings. The morgue slab was one step before the grave.

Patricia’s mom gasped and
sobbed uncontrollably, as she recognized the woman lying before her, and it was indeed her daughter. She nodded as the sheet was placed back over her body. Immediately, she turned into Elizabeth and clung as she sobbed.

“Ms. Parker, I hate to ask you to do this, but can you look at the girl
we found with Patty and let me know if it’s Corrine?” asked Elizabeth, handing her a tissue.

“I guess so,” she replied, watching as the sheet was pulled back from the second body. “Yes, that
’s her college roommate, Corrine.” The sobbing intensified, as she thought about having to tell the other girl’s parents she was dead too.

Elizabeth
’s eyes met Doc’s and she nodded. “Thank you, Ms. Parker,” she hugged the woman.

“Please Sheriff, find who did this to her,” she whispered in between
gasps of air, as the sobs came harder.

“I promise
I’ll get her justice. If it’s the last thing I do.”

Blackhawk understood the dream now. The blood, the part where she put down her badge and gun, and now th
e name she continually told him.

Justice.

He knew he was meant to be here with her. Together, they would find justice for this woman and her child.

H
e accepted it, Elizabeth LaRue was his destiny.

Now
Blackhawk needed to figure out how to make her see it too.

Elizabeth sat silently outside the morgue o
n the stone wall, overlooking the parking lot. Agent Blackhawk had a phone call, and she was giving him some privacy to take it. There was no doubt in her mind that it would be his partner. When she looked up, he was walking towards her with two bottles of water in his hands. His face was void of all expression, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the call or what they just had to do.

“You look like you could use a drink,” he said, sitting beside her
and opening his own bottle as he handed her one of her own.

“Yeah, I wasn’t thinking water though,” she m
uttered. “I was thinking a beer or five.”

“Me too
. That never gets easier to do or see.”

Elizabeth took a sip of water, not really in the mood to talk.

“That was my partner on the phone,” he began.

“Great, looks like I will definitely need to up that count to at least six to eight beers
now,” she drawled, her voice showing no animosity, even though she felt it deep inside. “Before round two commences.”

“She wants to know if she can
still assist us.”

She looked over at him. “It’s not my choice,” she said, softly. “If you're the lead agent
while you’re here, then that’s all up to you. I don’t have a say in her being here. After all, I’m just the backwoods sheriff, remember?”

Blackhawk listened to the tone of her voice, and just the hurt in it
, troubled him. It angered him that his partner did this, and it bothered him that he had to be in the middle of the two women. He didn’t want to choose between the one who was his partner, and one who had been in his dreams begging for his help. He was beyond torn. He was just about to tell her that his hands were tied, throwing out the standard line when she spoke, breaking the silence.

“Tell her to meet us at the sheriff’s station, we can brief her and go from there.” Her hand touched his wrist
just below the cuff of his expensively tailored shirt, reassuring him it was fine. Elizabeth would make it easy for him, and she would take one for the team, and for the town.

When
Elizabeth jumped off the wall and walked to her Jeep, he watched her leave. His wrist still felt warm where she touched him, and he had respect for the woman. She understood the position he was in, and she could have made it hard on him.

I
nstead, the sheriff bore the weight alone.