The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (55 page)

She snorted. “And sex.”

Elizabeth sat in her office, working beside her husband on the couch. They had files all over the place. Both were determined to find out where the killer was finding his victims. They pulled all the information that her deputies had found and started searching through it, extensively.

“Something has to be here, Ethan. I feel like we’re missing s
omething,” she said, tapping her pen.

“How about we divide the victims
up and talk it out? Sometimes when I hear the evidence out loud, it pops for me.”

What did they have to lose?

“Okay, you first.” Elizabeth sat back and listened, hoping he was right.

“I have Tara Scott. She
went out with a few friends for some fun,” stated Blackhawk. “We also have the same information for Melissa Martin. Neither woman knew each other, so wherever he saw them it was together. It would have to be someplace easy to lure them out. He then placed them in a building before lighting it on fire. They were sedated with what we now know was digitalis.”

“Okay, that’s our first two victims
. I have Melody Howe, and she was found hanging in the park from a tree. It was evident she didn’t commit suicide. Her hyoid wasn’t broken and more likely she was strangled and then hoisted up. We at first thought the mayor, but he’s at Quantico and with the killer still out there, he’s cleared. Her friends say that she also went out with some friends to have fun. They started at a bar and ended up getting food. She then left to walk home.”

Blackhawk continued so she wouldn’t have to with the next victim. “Sheriff Charlie LaR
ue was found slumped over his desk. He was having dinner, and then died of a heart attack. You later found his laptop and found the message. The killer by omission owned the murder.”

“What was his last meal?”

Blackhawk flipped. “Salad, diet coke, and it looks like a sandwich with no bites taken out. That’s it.” He showed her the photo of the desk, minus her dad’s body.

Elizabeth felt that nagging feeling again.

“Who’s next?” he asked.

“Patricia Parker and Corrine
Gilbride were both retrieved from the lake. Chlorinated water was found in their lungs. We later found that Corrine was killed out of really bad timing. She was visiting her roommate and the killer took them both. It was either out of necessity or want. Both girls were out dancing and drinking.”

“Kathy Cory was found pressed under rocks on the mayor’s property. Her father said she was dating someone
. We can assume Kathy was seeing two men. Tony, and then the killer, since we haven’t been able to find anyone else and no one came forward. Her father has no idea what she was out doing that night.”

“Where’s her diary?”

“At our house,” she answered, looking at the log list. “We had the techs read it, but they were looking for a person of interest, not what she was planning on doing if she was going out.”

“We need to revisit it tonight when we get home.”

“For the last victim, we have Deputy Sara Bishop. She was a name on the list, but she was more to spite me. I think that the killer would have taken me instead if the opportunity was there. I believe that these women, with the exception of Sara and Corrine follow a pattern.”

“What are you thinking?”

It seemed he was right, it was beginning to pop.

“
Ethan, maybe we’re being too literal. Witches in the bible were necromancers, fortune tellers, and even considered women of whorish tendencies. If you think back to it, in 1692, it was all about finger pointing. You looked at my husband, and I called you a witch. You screwed my husband and I say I saw you flying on a broomstick.”

“So you think these women were of loose morals?”

“I think with the exception of Sara and Corrine, yes. I think that maybe I was meant to be next, then I got married, and screwed it up. Now I’ve pissed the killer off and am probably back on the list.”

“Great.”

Elizabeth patted his leg. “Not one of those women were screwing a husband. The first- a minister’s son, the next two- the mayor, the following two- were college girls out partying. Maybe they said or did something, drawing the killer’s attention. Kathy was sleeping with a deputy, and then she switched to someone else. Easy women were the women most likely accused of witchcraft, and they were asked to speak their sins, or be cleansed of them forcefully. Maybe the killer is thinking he is cleansing them, like the people that died in 1692.”

Blackhawk smiled at her.

“What?

“Do you know how sexy your mind is?” he asked, leaning
over to kiss her.

“Do you know that we’re in my workplace and kissy-face is prohibited?” she said, laughing, as
he ignored her and then began nibbling on her neck.

“Mmmmm hmmmmm,” he muttered.

There was a knock to their door and to Elizabeth’s horror, her husband didn’t seem to care.

Martha walked in and
paused. “Oh, so sorry, boss!” She began backing out of the office, embarrassed that she interrupted what was going on between the sheriff and her husband.

“
Wait Martha, ignore him.” Elizabeth slapped him, and he started laughing.

“Sorry, technically it’s our honeymoon,” he winked at his wife’s secretary
.

“
What’s up, Martha?” she asked, trying not to giggle as her husband was whispering suggestive things in her ear.

“Boss, you’re going to be pissed. But keep in mind, it’s not as bad as it looks, and after all you are married
to each other.”

Elizabeth felt
her husband tense and she must have looked confused. “What are we going to be pissed at, Martha?” she asked, perplexed.

Martha handed her the paper and stepped back
, waiting for the explosion.

Elizabeth opened it and on the front page
there were a series of pictures staring back at her. The first was her making out with her husband as they were getting out of the passenger seat of his car. Her in his arms at the cemetery while her father was being exhumed, and her in the morgue laying on the metal table getting her stitches done with him leaning down as if to kiss her. “That weasel-y, miserable, bastard! I’ll cut his balls off and make earrings out of them,” she threatened, handing her husband the paper.

“Oh shit,” he said, trying to not laugh. “All of them are
innocent except the first one. I do believe you were assaulting me with a deadly weapon,” he pointed to her mouth. “A very deadly weapon, if I remember correctly, Sheriff.”

“
I’m glad you’re taking this so well, because you should be sitting there completely freaked out. The only way he got those pictures of us in Georgetown, was if someone was stalking us.”

Immediately, it wasn’t as funny
anymore, and he exploded. “I’m going to kick his ass, and then I’m going after hers!” He knew exactly who was stalking them, and his old partner was going to be incredibly sorry.

As
Special Agent Ethan Blackhawk stormed from the office in a visible rage, Elizabeth followed. She was unsure if he was going to remain in control or completely lose it. It was going to be interesting, one way or another.

Blackhawk strode across the street and pushed open the door to the newspaper, seeking the enemy. He was
going to scare the man shitless or kill him. He’d yet to decide which one.

“Forbes, where the hell are you?”

Everyone pointed and stared. Really, Elizabeth couldn’t blame them. Here was a large FBI agent, angry, carrying a gun, and looking for their co-worker. To her it was very amusing, but they all seemed terrified.

“You think you're funny? Those pictures crossed a line
!” Blackhawk threw down the paper. “This middle one is when her father’s grave is being exhumed, and I’m holding her while she is crying. This one,” he raged as he pointed to the one of her on morgue table, “is where she is getting stitches because the killer threw a brick through a window at her. This one is of us on our wedding night taken by some mentally deranged stalker.”

Now
Forbes looked nervous at the mention of the word stalker.

“You accepted photos, these two, taken by a stalker, and printed them in your newspaper. I want everything you have for fingerprinting, or ISP. Today I
’m shutting you down to investigate how you promoted stalking across state lines.”

Everyone gasped, kn
owing he absolutely could do it if the pictures came by internet.

“You can’t do that!” he yelled, aghast.

“Did you get those pictures in an email?” Blackhawk demanded.

“Yes, they came to me yesterday,” and now he looked downright sick.

“That falls under cyber stalking, and that’s a federal crime.” He took his badge out and slapped it on the desk, making the man jump. “That’s where they get the F in FBI, asshole.” He picked up his phone and called his techs. “I need five of you over to the Centennial paper across from the sheriff’s office. It seems that my wife has a cyber-stalker, and the newspaper just printed them. Shut them down,” he ordered, growling into the phone.

Elizabeth stood in the doorway in awe, watching her very angry husband. He was the sexiest man in that moment.
His black eyes were blazing, his hair sweeping back and forth, because he forgot to tie it back.

She
would have jumped him right there, if it wouldn’t have ended up in the paper…again.

“I want all those pictures, and anything else you printed out from your little helper in Georget
own. Believe me when I say I’m going to push the FBI to send you to jail for aiding in the cyber stalking of my wife.”

“I’m sorry
!” Forbes tried to apologize.

“All the times you hid behind trees and popped out, that’s going to come up too
. You putting your hands on her, don’t forget that! Before I’m done with you, you’ll be sitting in a federal jail for a long time, and having to register as a sex offender!”

Elizabeth started laughing. She couldn’t help it. Just the sheer fear on the weasel’s face was entertainment enough.

“I’m really sorry, Agent Blackhawk.”

“Sorry?
” he roared. “You posted pictures in your paper while a serial killer is loose in town killing women! You think you didn’t just make my wife a shiny target?”

“I didn’t realize it.
I was just writing a story on your wife, the sheriff. She wouldn’t give me an interview, and I tried to get information on her, but this is all I could get in the moment. Look, I called her ‘Sheriff Sexy’…”

Everyone in the room stopped moving.

“You think that makes me happy that you called her sexy? I damn well know she’s sexy! I’m the one married to her!” Blackhawk was vibrating in rage. Immediately, he dialed Gabe. He waited three rings until he answered, then he exploded. “Guess who ended up on the front page of the paper today?”

“I’m guessing you
or Lyzee?” Gabe answered, calmly.

“It seems that
Lily has struck again and this time she crossed the line. She was stalking us in Georgetown, and the asshole here posted them in the newspaper.”

“Did she email them?”

“Yes!” Ethan jerked Forbes from his chair roughly. He opened his email and clicked on them, one at a time, until he found what he needed.

“Then we can step in
and pursue it. Send me the emails, and I’ll get the cyber-crimes unit to investigate. I’ll handle her, immediately.”

“I want justice, Gabe.” He sent them to his boss, right from the man’s email. “I want her
taken care of or I’ll handle her. She wants to hate me fine. But my wife is off limits to this jackassery. They just threw my wife to a serial killer, and I want her job and head on a silver platter.”

“
Ethan, breathe. I’ll take care of her, I promise.”

Elizabeth stepped out of the way as the FBI van pulled up
, and techs began pouring into the office.

“I want every computer searched. T
his one has the cyber stalking pictures. I want everyone checked, and if you even smell anything fishy, bolt the doors and arrest them all.”

Now Forbes looked ill, e
specially since everyone who worked there was giving him the evil eye. He just committed work suicide. His career was officially over.

Blackhawk held out his hand to his wife
, and they walked out together as the anger subsided.

“I have to say, Cowboy,
that was the most amazing, sexiest display of anger and hostility I have ever seen. If you think my mouth was a deadly weapon that night, you wait until tonight when we get home,” she grinned wickedly.  

Blackhawk grinned back. “Too bad I have to wait until I get home.”

Elizabeth Blackhawk did something so unexpected that it caught them both off guard. She stopped in the middle of the busy street, practically stopping traffic and grabbed the front of his vest. “Nah, you don’t have to wait, Cowboy,” she said, and then kissed him.