True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (12 page)

Completely inappropriate.

Assignments were work and the last thing he needed to be doing is flirting with the woman sitting next to him. She was his partner, not a date. “On second thought here’s the phone, Desi,” he said, thinking about his brother and Elizabeth. If they knew he was acting like this, his ass would be kicked. No kissy-face on duty!

Desdemona grabbed his phone, and clicked on the text message.
She was profoundly grateful he didn’t make her explain the difference because she didn’t have a chance in hell of explaining it without sounding like a moron.

“It’s from Director Blackhawk. He
’s instructed us to head to the sheriff’s office first. They’re an hour behind us and will meet us there.”

“Okay, then I guess we better start prepping for the meeting.
Do you want to start with the photos the Sheriff’s department took of the bodies and give me any information you can on them? I know it’s not the same thing as seeing them up close and personal, but it’ll have to do for now.”

“I’ve worked with photos before
, and I don’t mind,” she answered, as she pulled out the tablet that she used in the lab and pulled up the photos one by one. Studying them, she stopped seeing the person, and in her mind they became something of science only. It was how she coped with the death every day and didn’t go insane. They could never be people to her, but instead they were just a puzzle that needed solving.

“Before you start we should call my brother or sister, so they can hear your initial assessment.”

She wondered if he noticed he referred to Elizabeth as his sister and not sister-in-law. They obviously had a very tight bond. “Okay.” Desdemona was nervous knowing Elizabeth would be listening to the call.

“Speed dial one is Elizabeth and speed dial two is my brother.”

Of course Elizabeth was number one,
she thought, feeling envy, jealousy and so many things that she didn’t have a right to feel. Obviously, he called her frequently, if he made her one on his phone list. On her list, it was her grand-mère.

Desdemona Adare nodded and pushed past the sick feeling in her stomach and made the call. She placed it on speaker phone and allowed him to take control of the call. Or hoped he would.

“What’s up Cal?” Blackhawk answered on the second ring.

“Doctor Adare is about to assess the pictures you sent, and she thought you’d like to know what she sees as her initial impression.”

Desdemona looked worried.

“Great, thank you Doctor Adare,” Ethan Blackhawk said. “I’ll put you on speakerphone.”

“Elizabeth, you there,” he asked, waiting.

“
I sure am Callen. Hello Doctor Adare. We’re ready when you are. Please proceed when you’re ready,” she answered, trying to be as easy going as she could be. The doctor and she were on shaky ground as it was, and she didn’t need to exacerbate the situation.

Desdemona Adare forgot her nerves and did what she did best. She looked at the dead and told their story.

“We have five victims. All male and by looking at them, I can tell that they appear to be anywhere from twenties to possibly forties. Victim one,” she paused to blow up the picture and isolate the wounds. “He is missing his feet. Both left and right were severed at the malleolus. In this picture I can’t ascertain whether the cut went from the lateral malleolus to the medial malleolus or vice versa. Once I get him on the table I’ll be able to tell when I see the cut marks.”

It was Elizabeth that spoke. “Doctor Adare, we need you to do us a favor.”

“Yes?” she paused.

“Look at Callen’s face, what does it tell you?” she asked and hoped it was the same look that was on her husband’s face.

“I don’t know, he looks confused, I guess.”

“Okay, here’s the deal, and a little rule we go by here in FBI West. Dumb it down for us non-medical personnel. I know that you were discussing the ankle, only because I spent a lot of time with Chris Leonard and Tony Magnus.
But you lost Ethan at malleolus, and I’m betting Callen too. If you keep it simple for us that aren’t your caliber, you’ll save yourself time having to repeat the basics.”

“I’m sorry Director
Blackhawk; I’m just used to doing my initial assessments into a microphone and not to you both. I convert it to layman’s terms for the reports you both receive.” Desdemona felt her skin flush, and then glanced down to see Callen taking her hand in his and squeezing it reassuringly. Something about the simple action touched her and made her heart skip a beat.

“No need to apologize Doctor. We love that we hired the smartest and the best. It’s us that are sub-par, so break us in easy please,” she said
, gently. “And the other hard and fast rule is you can call me Elizabeth, the Director moniker is for the minions. You’re pretty high up on the employee list that we’re equals. When people call me Director, I think Ethan is standing right behind me. He’s more the boss, and I’m the muscle.”

Both men laughed. Wasn’t that the truth?

Whitefox mouthed the word ‘see’, and was happy when she relaxed visibly. He made a mental note to kiss his sister-in-law again for just knowing when a light hand was needed. It was obvious to him and probably his brother that she was walking on eggshells for the woman. Elizabeth never did that for anyone.

“Okay, Elizabeth,” she said, and looked back down at the picture, but kept holding Whitefox’s ha
nd for support. “Victim one had one of his feet removed at the ankle. From the pictures I can see staining of the bone and marrow, so that means that he was likely alive when the cuts were made.”

“Great
to know,” Blackhawk said. “What else do you have?”

“Until I get access to his body under the clothing not much, but I can tell you that he’s fully dressed, and he isn't bruised on any part his visible flesh,” she paused and enlarged the screen. “Wait,” she looked closer. “I see some red mark
s over his mouth in a square like pattern. I could guess and say it’s tape marks, but just don’t tell Doctor Leonard. It bugs the shit out of him when I make unsubstantiated guesses,” she said deep in thought, as she stared at the man.

Elizabeth started laughing.
It entertained her that the woman used the word ‘bugs’ and ‘unsubstantiated’ in the same sentence. This woman was a puzzle.
              “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that,” she began to apologize, and Whitefox squeezed her hand again.

“No apology needed. We know exactly how tough Chris is when you’re trying to dig for information. It’s nice to have it offered for a change and less draining mentally,” she laughed some more.
“Frankly, I’m getting tired of manhandling the ME staff to get information from them.”

Again Whitefox grinned and mouthed ‘go on’.

“That’s all I have on victim one,” she said, flipping the screen to the next picture.

“We’re ready,” said Elizabeth, as she furiously entered notes on her tablet in her lap. Anything they had before the scene was going to help them out when they arrived at base.

“Victim two appears to be quite young,” she stated, looking at the picture.  “I’d say early twenties to late twenties. The killer has removed his hands at the wrists. Again, once I get him into autopsy I can give you more.”

“Can you tell if he too had tape over his mouth,”
inquired Blackhawk.

Desdemona zoomed into the photo and studied it. “I can’t tell. The quality of the picture is too grainy
.” She studied the rest of his face. “I can tell you that he suffocated to death.”

“How Doctor?” asked Elizabeth, surprised. Chris Leonard would never have told her that just by looking at the picture.

She zoomed into the picture around the eyes. “Our second victim has petechial hemorrhaging in the whites of his eyes
.” Then she paused realizing she used big words. Certainly directors in the FBI knew the basics. “Do you need that dumbed down?” She was being serious and all three laughed.

“No Doctor, that one we got,” answered Blackhawk. “But thank you
for offering. I’m not as smart as my wife, but even that one I knew.”

“Okay, just making sure,” she replied and then continued. “Again, I see blood staining on the bones where they’re severed.”

“He was alive?” asked Elizabeth.

“He was
very much alive,” she replied, enlarging the picture and drawing arrows on the tablet and then sending it to her boss. “See where I’ve indicated?” she asked, waiting.

“I do,” answered Elizabeth Blackhawk.

“Those are staining of the porous parts of the bone. It likely means that his heart was still pumping when the cuts were made. Heartbeat means life- for the most part.”

“Oh good,” said Ethan Blackhawk. “I see that we have another person that likes technology and know how to use it. Now I really feel antiquated.”

Desdemona didn’t know if that was a cue to something she wasn’t picking up or not. Panic started that she just insulted her one boss.

Callen Whitefox squeezed her hand and nodded, signaling it was okay for her to continue. Something about the woman piqued his interest. Here she was super smart, and yet like a wounded
small child. Doctor Adare touched his heart, and he felt the overwhelming need to protect her and keep her safe. Someone had to, and he suspected no one in her past ever had before. Just the way she nervously interacted with Elizabeth, always apologized, and was timid proved to him that she was delicately balanced between being okay, and toppling over the edge into sheer terror.

“Victim number three is male
and appears to be approximately around his mid-thirties, but I’m not seeing any visible wounds. There is staining across his dress shirt, so my assessment on his wounds is going to have to wait until I get him undressed. All his limbs appear to be intact and his face shows no sign of trauma.”

Desdemona flipped the picture and studied it.

“What do you see?” asked Whitefox curiously, as she studied the picture.

“Elizabeth, did the sheriff mention if there was any blood on the scene?” she asked as she looked closely at the staining on his shirt. It was centrally located.

“No blood, just bodies. Why?”

“This blood pattern on his shirt is in one spot. Let’s say, if you're standing and you're shot, the blood is going to run down your body.
”

“I’ve been shot
a few times, so I can attest to that conjecture,” she said, easily. “Blood definitely runs downhill, and that I learned from Newton’s law of gravity.”

Desdemona didn’t know what to say to that, so she continued. “His
doesn’t. So, I’m going to say he was restrained on his back for most of the time, and then died in that position. There isn't any blood anywhere else,” and then she thought about it. “Once he coagulated then he wouldn’t bleed out either.”

“So, our victims were restrained on their backs?”

“This one was, but as for the others,” she paused. “I need to get them into exam and then figure that out.”

“Ah, and here I thought we finally had an ME that liked to live dangerously on the edge and make wild assumptions and unfounded guesses,” teased Elizabeth. “Do they teach you to hold out in ME school?”

Desdemona took a chance and opted to joke back. “There’s actually a class that teaches us how to frustrate and irritate the lead investigators. It’s mandatory to get our licenses.” There was that moment of silence and she thought she crossed a line.

Elizabeth
snickered. “Great, now we know what we’re up against. I wish someone told me sooner, because this explains a lot.” There was more laughter from her. The ME’s were tough when they were asked to hand out information that wasn’t founded. Getting anything out of Dr. Chris Leonard was almost impossible, but Dr. Adare was a bit more forthcoming with her assessments, and that she greatly appreciated.

Whitefox grinned over at her,
noticing she looked more relaxed. Since he didn’t get to warn his sister-in-law about the situation, he had to assume she figured it out on her own. Elizabeth was playing nice and being exceptionally gentle and that so wasn’t like her at all. It was just more proof that she understood people and was good at reading the situation. It was probably why she was a really good agent and even better human being.

“Victim four, he too looks to be in his thirties,” she
said, zooming into his face. “He’s missing his tongue.”

“Can you die when the tongue is removed?” asked Blackhawk, as he shuddered. His wife had a thing about dead eyes, and his big yuck was a missing tongue
. The gaping wound left behind freaked him right out. The whole premise just screamed horror movie death to him. To see mouths agape with a bloody void, it gave him the chills and goose bumps

“Yes
you can, Director. There’s a main artery in the tongue. The lingual artery, and once it’s severed there would be blood loss and the person would exsanguinate.”

“And if that person was lying on their back?” asked Elizabeth, trying to put the pieces together.
“With tape over their mouth?”

“They could choke to death, if that’s wher
e your train of thought is heading, Elizabeth,” she tried out the name again, and when there was no protest she continued. “It’s a painful way to go, and then to drown in your own blood no less. You couldn’t swallow that volume of blood.”