True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (25 page)

When his phone rang, he seriously contemplated not answering it, but then duty won out and he figured it couldn’t possibly get any worse.

Then he realized how wrong he’d been. It went from
bad to absolutely horrible in the matter of minutes.

It was the hospital. His deputy had told them he needed to pee an
d escaped out a window. No one thought to monitor a deputy, because he was the law.

He had to be asleep, and at any moment he was going to wake up and find out that this had all been a big nightmare.

Duffy rattled around in his desk until he found the bottle of pills. As he popped two pills to dull the ache in his brain, he tried to mentally prepare himself to tell the FBI agents that the man they wanted arrested was gone.

The shit was going to hit the fan.

That should go over real well. He was picturing Ethan Blackhawk losing his damn mind. Now he needed to do something proactive to counter act the hospital’s stupidity.

“Sheila,” he
bellowed.

The woman
came running at the tone of his voice. It wasn’t like him to raise his voice. Sheriff Duffy was pretty laid back. “Yeah, Jimmy?” she was frazzled over what had gone on at the station. She was pretty sure the women deserved the scare, and they were just bullying a small town deputy.

“Call in Julian
Littlemoon. I have a special assignment for him,” he said, swallowing two more pills. “Tell him it’s going to involve tracking and to dress warm.”

“Yes Boss,” she said, backing out of the room.

Good. Now if Julian did what he did best it might appease two angry FBI agents. If not, he might luck out and Blackhawk wouldn’t kick the shit out of him in lieu of his deputy.

Although his
wife was the wild card and just might.

Callen was stressed. The text message he received from Desdemona made everything in him go stone cold. Now that she was beside him and
was safe, he felt a little better, but he could still see she was nervous and that disturbed him. He was trying to comfort her the best he could, but he was trying to keep from crossing the invisible line. They weren’t a couple, and he didn’t know how she’d react if he acted like they were.

Something in him warmed at the thought. Yeah, he wouldn’t mind being a couple with her. Desdem
ona Adare would be an adventure. Callen thought it through, and Doctor Adare could be a good partner through life. Next to Elizabeth, she was a sound choice.

“Still want that
bourbon?” he asked, running his hand up and down her back, reassuringly. 

Desdemona was trying to relax, but the man beside her was making her completely insane, and running his fingertips up and down the most sensitive part of her back
. Callen Whitefox was giving her the mother of all hot flashes. She was flushing red, she was sure of it. “No, no bourbon. Thank you,” she answered finally. That’s all she needed to do. Get buzzed and do something incredibly stupid like jumping the man and kissing him until she got it out of her system.

Crap, more heat crept up her body.

“Let’s order lunch,” suggested Blackhawk, as he waved to a waitress and waited for her to meander on over.

“Yeah sugar,” she said, snapp
ing her gum and smiling at him while she fluffed her bleached blonde hair.

“We’re ready to order.”

“Okay, whatcha gonna have handsome?” she inquired, winking at him. “There’s waitress on the menu today if you’re interested.”

Automatically
he placed his hand on his wife’s leg, in case she tried to jump up and kill the woman. Even if he was single, after his ex-girlfriend, blondes turned him right off. He liked out of control, raven haired hellions that kept him on his toes.

“Three cheese burgers, bacon on all of them and for one of them extra mayo,” he looked over at Desdemona.

“I’ll have a veggie burger please, no mayo just plain. Whole wheat bun please,” she smiled at the woman sweetly, feeling bad for the woman. Elizabeth was glaring at her like she was right. She was on the menu- dead waitress, with a side of kicked ass and her body to never be found again.

“Sounds good
.” She walked around the counter and the sweaty bald man behind the counter slapped her on the ass. She didn’t protest, even though it grated on her last nerve. She needed the job and she refrained from hitting the man.

“I would have broken his arm off and beat him to death with it,” added
Elizabeth, taking a sip of her iced tea. “Although, she hit on my husband, so she’s on her own and my sympathy is all dried up.”

“A
h I love a violent woman,” said her husband. “A violent, vindictive woman with a wicked temper that likes to hurt people and carries a gun.”

“
Lookee here cowboy, that describes me. How do you feel about fat and wobbly?” she asked, laughing.

“I happen to find fat and wobbly very sexy.” Blackhawk leaned over and kissed his wife lightly on the lips.

“Good answer to avoid the violent, vindictive woman with a gun.”

Everyone at the table laughed.

Desdemona watched her bosses and smiled. It was amazing how different they were once you got to know them. She was surprised they were the same people. In the office they seemed aloof and distant, but when they were off duty they were really normal people. Apparently, they were a very happy couple.

“Are you done with the
autopsies?” Blackhawk asked pulling Desdemona out of her private thoughts. .

“Unfortunately no, I have victim five to complete yet, and then I can call it a night,” she answered. “After lunch I’ll get him done. I
’ve noticed that all the victims have one single wound and that’s it. The killer has intent to remove one part and discard the rest. Nothing else is damaged on the bodies.”

“You’re seriously going to autopsy after you eat?” Elizabeth was horrified. “Count me out. I want to keep my burger down. One of the men will have to pony up and ride that rodeo with you.
If I wasn’t pregnant I could pull it off, but Baby Blackhawk doesn’t like autopsy post feeding.”

Both men laughed
already aware of what was coming.

“That’s why I don’t eat meat,” she answered, and Elizabeth almost dropped her iced tea.

Blackhawk caught the glass and placed it back on the table, as the laughter ensued. Elizabeth simply stared at her blankly, like Desdemona Adare was talking a foreign language.

“Are you okay?” asked her husband
, still grinning. Eating meat was his wife’s holy grail. People who didn’t were foreign to her and possibly alien and not of this planet.

“Maybe the deputy did hit me, my hearing must be going.
Maybe I should see a doctor. Did Desdemona just say she doesn’t eat meat?” Her face was dead serious, as she looked over at the men.

“Yes, she’s very serious and told
us last night.”

“
Not even bacon?” she whispered, horrified at the thought.

“Nope.”
Desdemona laughed at the look on her friend’s face. It wasn’t one of judgment, but one of genuine disbelief. “They do make a really good tofu bacon that I like.”

Now she looked completely horrified. “Tofu bacon?”

Desdemona found the look on her face funny as hell.

Callen patted Elizabeth’s leg and laughed. “Breathe deep. You can do it beautiful.”

Desdemona ignored the nickname Callen had for her boss, or the jealousy would take over. “Elizabeth, I’ve been an ME for ten years. At three autopsies a day, that’s nine thousand bodies I’ve had to cut into and wade around in to find the grossest things. To me, the human body is like meat. I just can’t do it.”

“Well when you put it that way, it kind of grosses me out now too,” she said, as the waitress put the big greasy burger in front of her. Elizabeth looked at it and thought about it
.

Both men grinned at Elizabeth.

“No meat huh?” she asked, eyeing the veggie burger in front of her friend, and then the meat burger sitting in front of her. One was bland and stuffed with things it shouldn’t be, and the other had cheese and bacon sitting on it, calling to her.

“No meat,” she answered, dipping a french fry in ketchup. “Not to mention if I ate the way you do, I’d weigh four hundred pounds. I’m not blessed with your metabolism.
Even pregnant you’re still thin”

Elizabeth
began weighing the pros and cons.

Ethan Blackhawk watched his wife and was entertained. She
was genuinely contemplating the options on eating the burger in front of the doctor.

Finally hunger won out. “What’s that baby?” she asked her belly, and garnering laughter from the three others at the table. “Uh huh. Okay, I agree.”
She shrugged, picking it up to take a bite. “We’re over it,” she answered and smiled as her husband started laughing. “Sorry Doc. Blackhawk bossiness wins out once again.”

Sheriff James Duffy was waiting for his deputy when he knocked on the door. The man was full Native, and one of his big
talents was tracking. If they had a missing person, call in Julian Littlemoon. The man just had mad skills when it came to finding the lost. He was either very lucky or the powers that be had granted him a genuine gift. Once when a child had wandered away, Julian Littlemoon had found him in less than four hours.

“You needed me, Boss?” he asked, dropping down into the chair in front of the desk.

“While you were off, we had a little incident,” he told the man what happened with Bobby Lee and the female agent. He expected amusement, but what he didn’t expect was the full-blown uproarious laughter.

“She beat him down, huh? I’d like to feel bad for him, but every racist bigot has his day
, and he deserved it. I think I may like to shake her hand,” he said still laughing. “It’s pretty sad when a pregnant woman can kick your ass. He should retire and contemplate not tossing around the word ‘Indian’.”

Well that answered his question. Elizabeth Blackhawk had apparently been correct. Natives didn’t like the word ‘Indian’.
“He’s going to jail if I don’t talk the FBI agents down from the cliff.”

Littlemoon shrugged. “If some knife wielding wacko came at my woman, I’d kill him or want him in jail too. I can’t blame the FBI agent.”

Sheriff Duffy sighed. “I have a problem that needs your finesse.”

“You want me to hold him down while they beat the hell out of Bobby lee? Sold. Sign me up and I’m ready.
I’ll do it without pay too.”

“
No, I need you to find him. When they transported him to the hospital to be patched up, he made a break for it. Once I tell Director Blackhawk he’s going to kick my ass instead.”

“You’re telling me the pregnant FBI agent beat him up that bad
that he needed hospital care?” Now he was laughing hysterically again.

“Julian, listen. He escaped and the FBI agents are going to be downright pissed when they get her
e. I need you to track him, find him, and bring him in for arrest.”

Julian would do it, because his boss was in a bind, and because he really disliked the deputy. It would give him pleasure to track him and drag him in to get arrested. “I’ll handle it, Boss,” he said leaving
, but he didn’t plan on wiping the smile off his face. This was like a late Christmas present. The biggest staff bigot was on the lam.

Priceless.

James Duffy sat there rubbing his temples as his deputy left his office. The headache wasn’t easing in the least. If he were lucky Bobby Lee would turn himself in, or Julian would find him. Then it just might appease the FBI agents.

“What do we know for sure
? Let’s recap it before we head back into the office. I want to make sure we can update the sheriff with as much information as possible. I don’t need him crying to Gabe that I was uncooperative after his deputy tried to assault two of our team.” Blackhawk had calmed down, and was now willing to play nice, as long as Tills was going to be handled by the sheriff.

Desdemona went first. “As I said, all the bodies had one injury and each one had a role to play in their death. The victims with the missing hands and feet-the cuts were from a saw that was manually controlled. Not a power one.”

“How can you tell?” asked Whitefox.

“Uneven strokes. It was like the killer started and stopped, and then started and stopped numerous times. I can also tell you the bodies were definitely on their backs restrained. I found ligature
cuff marks on the men with hands and feet, and the bodies without the appendages, I found strap marks running across their torsos.” Desdemona drew an imaginary line across Callen Whitefox’s chest to demonstrate.

“So they weren’t dead;
they weren’t able to escape and they were alive.”