The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (48 page)

“Trust me
Sheriff; I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you naked…” Blackhawk went to continue and she stopped him.

“Sorry, Cowboy, but we’re on the clock, and while we are, I’m not the wife
. I’m the woman who probably could kick your ass, if she had to,” Elizabeth laughed as she tapped her badge.

Ethan was smug as he
pulled his own badge. “It seems that you handed over this investigation to me, so technically my badge outranks yours. I can talk about your nakedness.” Blackhawk watched her shake her head and roll her eyes, as she tried not to laugh.

“Well then b
oss man, where do we go from here?” she asked, tapping her pen against her knee.

“I think
we need to revisit the minister and recheck the church angle. If it’s connected to the witch trials, then it’s probably religious. “I think we’ll shake his tree and find out what falls out.”

“Works for me.”

“I have to say that I noticed something.”

Elizabeth lifted a brow, “About?”

“We left town, and our killer hasn’t made a move. I’m not saying that’s not a good thing, but I am thinking this also has a personal angle. The killer took your father’s life, and now you’ve replaced him. That has to come across as a challenge, almost like a game.” The mere idea that she was in the killer’s crosshairs made him feel sick to his stomach.

“I’ve already considered that,” she said, honestly. “Before you go
all husband on me, keep in mind that I was once an FBI agent. I do have some redeemable skills. I’m not easy to take out, Ethan.”

“Your dad was a cop too,” he reminded her.

“Yes he was, but he wasn’t expecting to be a target. I’m assuming that I will be, and that gives me a step up on the killer.”

Blackhawk felt his heart
skip at her words. “Do I have to even tell you how those words scare me shitless, and how if you utter them again, or think them out loud, we will be having our first married fight? It will be epic too.”

Elizabeth got up from her seat and crossed to him
. As she sat in his lap, she caressed his cheek. “Ethan, it’s who we are. We can’t change that.”

“I know, but it can still scare me out of my mind, especially when you say
the words like they’re nothing.”

She kissed him softly. “I’m not worried. I happen to trust my partner enough to know he has my back,”
Elizabeth stared him in the eyes. “We’re going to beat him, solve this, and then we have bigger problems to worry about.”

“Bigger
, huh?” Blackhawk mumbled, kissing her neck wondering how much she’d object to fooling around on the FBI jet.

“Yeah, we happen to have two homes almost six hundred miles apart, and two very important careers we both love
. We have to figure that out, before we can start having kids and living our lives. One way or another, one of us is looking at a career change, or this marriage won’t work.” Elizabeth rested her forehead against his. “I don’t want a long distance marriage where I only see you when an assignment is over.”

“We’ll make this work, Lyzee. I
t’s meant to be, and it’ll fall into place.” He said the words, but still had that slight inkling that it may be the thing that breaks them both. His whole life had been built around being an FBI agent, he wasn’t sure he could let it go and not resent it. Living without her wasn’t an option either. Now that he just began living again, she had to stay with him.

“Whatever happens, Ethan, I love you and I understand,” she hugged him tight.

Blackhawk only hoped she meant those words and was willing to hang in as long as it took them to figure it out.

Elizabeth drove back into Salem, and couldn’t wait to get back into her office
. But first, Blackhawk was desperate to get to his team, check in, and relay what they had found. She figured as soon as they did both they would be back on the road to get to the minister and his wife for a follow up.

“Do you mind checking in first?” he asked, looking over at her as she drove.

“Not in the least. I had a call from Doc while we were away, and I need to follow up and see how he is, and then I need to swing by the office. I’m sure I have a stack of messages waiting for me.”

Suddenly
, it occurred to him that their teams would be waiting for them. “Are you going to tell them?” Ethan inquired as a wave of tension gripped him. Was she going to keep LaRue, or take his name?

Elizabeth stopped behind the parked FBI van. “Tell who what?”
she asked, confused.

“
Our teams that we got married yesterday.”

She saw the tension on his face, and knew he was somehow worried that she would want to hide it
, as if she could ever be embarrassed by him. “Ethan, I’m not going in there and announcing it to the entire room, but if they notice our spiffy matching rings, I’ll spill it,” she patted his cheek.

“Okay,” he said, still feeling off balance.

“Come on, we have work to do.” Elizabeth hopped out of her Jeep and dropped her cowboy hat on her head. There was still tension gripping his body, and that made her want to find a way to fix it. It boggled her mind how he thought she could ever be less than proud of her husband.

As they walked in
to their house together, and stood side by side, they were both horrified. The house was in complete chaos. “Holy shit,” she muttered, taking in the mess. There were cups and papers strewn haphazardly through the place. Chip bags, and apple cores were everywhere. It looked like a college frat house, just minus the beer keg and half naked women passed out on the couches.

“What the hell went on in here
?” Blackhawk roared, angrily. The entire room stopped. All motion and all sound ceased at the anger in his voice. “We come back and the house looks like no one had the common sense to pick up after themselves. You don’t live here, so why would you abuse it?”

Still no one moved
, shocked that their boss had raised his voice in anger. That never happened.

“I think you all best
stop what you’re doing and take the next five minutes to de-liter this house, and then carry on with the work.”

Elizabeth watched her deputies walk out of her office. Each one looked guilty. “You four,” she said, pointing, “
Here, now!”

“Sheriff, we ah…”

“Zip it. I left you all in charge of the situation here. What the hell happened? Did you all lose your damn minds?”

“Sheriff LaRue,” interjected s
ome brunette tech, “My name is Christina. I work for Special Agent Blackhawk, and I take full responsibility for not staying on top of it.”

“First off, thank you for the owning of the mess, but you didn’t
do this all alone, you had help. Second off, don’t cover for them, they know better, and lastly,” she added winking at her husband. “It’s Sheriff Blackhawk, not LaRue.”

Everyone looked at Blackhawk. “You quit the FB
I?” inquired Christina in surprise, staring at her boss. He was going to leave them? That just sucked.

“You aren’t the
sheriff anymore?” asked Tony. “He is?”

Elizabeth stared at her husband
and just shook her head as he started laughing. “Ethan, really? This is the crack team we left behind to work on this? This makes us look very bad.” They both laughed and she winked again, feeling him relax as all tension slipped from his body at her acknowledgement.

Everyone still looked confused.

“Okay people, let’s review. He’s Special Agent Ethan Blackhawk,” she said pointing at her husband. “I would be Sheriff Elizabeth Blackhawk,” she said, pointing at herself. “I know it’s confusing, the same initials, but trust me… think it through.”

Blackhawk took her hand, touched that she would use his last name,
signifying to them all she was his wife. He just assumed she’d remain LaRue, and he didn’t think he could convince her otherwise. This was like a giant present he didn’t expect to get, and he loved it.

Then it dawned
on the team.

“
Oh my God! You got married?” Tony looked beyond shocked and horrified. “To the FBI guy?”

“Who is standing right here, Tony,”
Blackhawk retorted, kissing his wife on the cheek, and taking the glare she sent him for kissy-face on duty. He laughed and patted her on the ass, pushing his luck. “I’m going to deal with my team, as they put your house back together, baby.”

“Ours,” she said, correcting him. “
This is our house.”

He winked and walked away with Christina, giving her time with her team.

“My office, now!” Elizabeth knew they were following, she could hear them mumbling between themselves, unsure if she was kidding them or dead serious. Elizabeth dropped her hat onto the desk and put her feet up and waited. She knew it was coming. “Close the door, Ethan has excellent hearing and when people insult my husband I get bitchy.”

“Are you serious o
r yanking our chains?” asked Tony, his voice held a great deal of animosity.

“Dead serious
. I married Ethan yesterday.”

“You went off and married him! A
re you insane?” raged Tony, angrily. “No rational person does that kind of thing!”

The other three looked at him like he’d lost his mind to talk to her like that.

Elizabeth pointed at her other three deputies. “Do any of you think that me getting married has anything to do with my ability to do my job, be your boss, or kick your ass?”

“No,
ma’am,” they all said looking her right in the eyes and meaning it.

“Then you three are dismissed for now. Go clean up that mess
out there.”

Sara came around the desk and hugged her boss. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered in her ear, “and completely jealous,
because he’s smokin’ hot!”

Elizabeth laughed. “Thank you, Sara,” she stood, and accepted hugs from Tyrell and Christopher.

“We didn’t get to have the bachelor party,” they said, laughing.

“Out, we’ll discuss it later.” When they were gone, she faced Tony
. His arms were crossed, and he looked angry. “Spill it, this is going to be your one chance, and then from here on out it’s not going to be talked about or discussed ever again.”

“You barely know him! Y
ou go to exhume your father, and then you marry him. Obviously in a moment of weakness, and now what are you going to do?” Tony paced back and forth.

“Have some kids, live my
life, and then get old with him?” she said. “That was my plan, should I rethink it?” she asked, sarcastically.

“One week and you marry him
! You are letting this death of your father thing cloud your judgment.”

Elizabeth leaned over her des
k, and pointed at him, angrily, “Let’s get this perfectly straight and clear. The murder of my father, or any of the women had nothing to do with me marrying that man. Don’t you dare cheapen it! I married him because I love him, and he’s a good guy, who is kind and generous. In fact, the man you're dissing is the same man that saved your job, and your ass. Show some respect, Tony.”

“Screw my job
! I don’t care about it. I care about you and you’ve lost your mind and gone crazy.”

“And you're being insubordinate and dangerously close to crossing a line, Tony.
Don’t push your luck by insulting my husband.”

“I don’t care
if I insult your husband. I’m your friend or I was at one time.”

Elizabeth stood perfectly straight
, the line was just drawn. “That’s priceless, because you aren’t acting like one now. You’re acting like a jealous high school boy that didn’t get the girl. Since you don’t care if you insult my husband let me just say this, you were my friend. As far as I’m concerned now, that can be over.” Elizabeth watched the anger and surprise wash across his face.

“You’d choose a man you’ve know a week over one you’ve known for twenty six years?”

“You’re asking me to choose between you or Ethan, so I choose my husband.”

“That’s low.”

“Sometimes the truth hurts. Now, if you don’t mind, get out of our home and go calm the hell down. I don’t want to talk to you right now. I have a killer to find and don’t need this petty bullshit from one of my team and someone who was supposed to be my friend.”

Tony stormed out of the office, slamming the door open, and then slamming the front door closed.

Elizabeth sat at her desk and started clearing it off. As she was tossing water bottles in the trash and putting her pens away, the awareness of him watching overcame her. When she glanced up, her sexy husband was indeed standing in the doorway.

“So, how did that go
?” he asked, no emotion on his face. He had heard almost every word, since it was screaming. Come to think of it, everyone in the house heard it too.

“You want a recap
or did you hear enough?”