Tony tried to picture it. “I know it’s likely a Native thing, but how do you do it?”
Callen took a bite of pizza, pleased that Tony was doing the same. “We both love her and each other. When you care about someone with your whole heart, you’d die for them. Along with our children and my father, I’d lay down my life right now for either Ethan or Lyzee. That’s how you know it’s true love.”
Tony thought about earlier that day, when he thought she was dead. He would have traded places with Jaxon in a heartbeat. “I love her.”
“Then if she runs, you find and chase her. If you let her go, and she was the one, no other woman will ever fill that void. Trust me. I saw Elizabeth, and before I knew she was my brother’s wife, I was ready to propose. All it took was one minute and I knew.”
He felt better.
“Ask yourself, what would you give up for love? I’d walk away from my job for Elizabeth and Ethan. Now, you have to answer that question.”
Tony thought about it, and already knew what he’d do.
Anything he had to…
* * *
After setting up the whiteboard in the small living room, Elizabeth and Ethan decided to get down to work. She was itching to fill the board with all the information bouncing around in her brain.
She was beginning to believe that rolling around with Ethan was cathartic and helped her think. Laughing, she stared up at him when he lifted an eyebrow.
“I was thinking about sex,” she stated, like he didn't already know that.
“Yeah, I’m not shocked. I’ll let you crawl all over me once you get this all out, and we discuss a profile.”
“You go first, love bug. Lay that profile on me.”
Ethan got that nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was normal since the abduction. There was a part of him that feared failing her.
“I’m going with a male who is going to be in his late thirties to late forties. For a crime this elaborate, there’s a more mature mastermind behind it. It takes planning and work to find that hiding spot, trying to mummify his prey, and then burying them. This isn't some spontaneous kid on a thrill kill.”
Elizabeth scribbled the information on the board.
“He’s going to be a resident of this town, because he knows it too well. He’s moving around easily, all the while staying hidden. After going after Jaxon, he escaped unseen in front of a grounds crew, and that tells me he’s average. He’s not going to be handsome or anyone who stands out. If anything, he may be plain.”
She continued to write it down.
“At some point in his life, he lost someone important. He’s so focused on death, that it likely means that a controlling force was taken away from him. If I were to guess, with what we know now, I’d say a mother figure. The male child tends to gravitate toward the opposite sex parent. There is a bond between mothers and sons, and daughters and fathers.”
She wrote it down.
“From his obsession with death, he’s either trying to prove something, or he’s trying to appease this person.”
Stopping, she looked over at him. “Like, ‘Hey mom! Look at me from the great beyond. I’m going to make you proud’?”
“Precisely. He may be trying to prove that he didn't fail like predicted. If that is the case, it’s likely he’s living in someone’s shadow. So, our killer may have a brother or sister who outshined him. Now, he’s proving a point by being God’s right hand.”
“Great. We have a wackadoo playing make believe in a quest to vanquish sin, all in the name of religion. I’ll sleep so much better now.”
He paused before continuing, “You believe in God. I heard you in Salem praying for us to have a girl.” Why he blurted it out, he didn't know.
Elizabeth stared at him. “I do believe in God. What I don’t believe in is how he lets good get swallowed up by evil. When that happens, we write it off as his will and none of our business. Yes, there’s a higher power. No, I don’t worship him anymore. After doing this job for as long as we have, how can I? Dead mothers, babies, children, soulless killers, and there’s me trying to hold it all together.”
“Then why the prayer?”
“I did it because I love you, and if it meant covering all my bases, I’d do it. I really thought I was going to lose you. I would have offered up anything to keep you from walking away. If praying to God was what it took, so be it. I’d swallow my feelings for you.”
He was touched.
“Next?” she asked, changing the subject.
“He’s going to be arrogant at some point. After all, he’s God’s angel.”
She snorted. “Yeah, he’s no angel. He’s more like God’s bitch. He’s convoluted in thinking that the Almighty would give him the time of day. He’ll smite him right off this big blue marble.”
Ethan smiled. “Likely.”
“What’s he going to be like now that we jacked with him? How pissed is he really going to be?”
Thinking about it, he tucked a pen behind his ear. “Well, we’ll know at the next victim. We stripped him of his ‘temple’, his tools, and his methods. He’s either going to regroup and find more things to use, or go one hundred percent the other way.”
“As in?”
“Crackers.”
Awesome.
Now, she was sorry she asked. Sometimes it was best not to know.
“He’ll likely keep the victims as planned, since he’s spent time watching and preying on them, but now he’s going to be out for a vengeance, against us and them. He’ll sanction it as something God deemed.”
“Yep, crackers was a good word.”
“It’s more like a break from sanity. He lives in death, because he’s familiar with it. A part of him is dead, and he’s trying to numb that.”
“Okay, how about we go down the suspect list.”
He was ready.
“Let’s start at the church, since this all seems to move around that one entity. We have Father Dowell. By all accounts, he’s laid back and not easily riled up. Is it an act? Who better to enact God’s judgment but a priest?”
“You have a good point. Plus, he’s been there over a decade. He’s going to know his way around that church. How could he not?”
“Then, there’s Sister Francine. Just from one interview, she comes across holier than thou.”
Ethan thought about it. Other than his belief that it was a male doing the killing, he had other reasons to exclude her. “I lean toward no with the sister. She’s not going to be strong enough to strangle a person, plus, she’s pretty plump. She might not fit down that passageway. You’re half her size and barely managed.”
“You’re being very kind. That would be like stuffing an entire loaf of bread in the toaster at one time.”
He stared at her. “You are so going to hell. I know I tell you that a lot, but this may have been the deciding comment.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Yeah, preaching to the choir.”
Rolling his eyes, he continued, “How do you feel about Dustin Sims?”
She thought about it. “I think it’s weird that an eighteen year old is playing altar attendant. I knew kids who were ten and didn't want any part of it.”
“Maybe he just loves God.”
She wrote his name on the board. “Well, that gets him a one way ticket to the whiteboard. Despite your age thing, he’s on my list, plus he’s my size and could fit. Could you be off on that little detail?”
“Yes, because it’s just a generalization. He might be mature for his age. There have been killers who started young and did it their entire lives before being caught.”
Elizabeth stared at the board. “Who else?”
“Elsa Baily,” Ethan offered.
“Pass. She’s a nosey woman, but I doubt she could choke out a person. Elsa is half my size and wouldn’t be able to reach the back of anyone’s head with a hammer, unless she brought a step stool. Plus, she’s female.”
“Good point.”
�
�Yeah, thanks. I’m observant like that,” she teased. “How about Miles Copeland?”
Ethan weighed it in his mind. “He was right outside the crypt when Jaxon was grabbed, and he works maintenance on the church. He could know about the passageway. He would blend in too because everyone would be accustomed to him wandering around. Who’d question him milling around a crypt or coming out of the coal bin?”
“He’s bigger than me, but he could get through if he had to. His shoulders are nowhere near as wide and delicious as yours,” she offered, getting him to wiggle his eyebrows lecherously in response.
“Maybe you can use them to rest your legs on later,” he teased back.
The heat flushed through her.
Yeah, if she was lucky she would.
“That’s all for the church,” she got out, hoping she wasn’t bright red. “Is it hot in here?”
Blackhawk began laughing. “Yeah, I think it is.”
“Since I have Native on the brain, let’s go with Brian Brewster. He was jumping in the sack with an STD ridden victim. Maybe he found out and lost it.”
“I don’t know,” Ethan began, weighing the suspect in his mind. “If he was angry, she would have been hacked apart. While removing her genitalia was nasty, it wasn’t done in rage. Then, you can toss in that he was using her services, so that would mean he was pretty much sinning too.”
“Is our guy going to be impotent?”
He had to think about it. “He’s either going to be unable to perform in bed, or need to be a sexual deviant to get off. That may be another reason why he’s doing this.”
She stared at him, not understanding.
Ethan clued her in. “You’re a good Catholic girl. Think of the abstinence as penance.”
“I’m shacked up with two sexy men who like lots of rolling around. That’s my penance. I’ve been a naughty girl.”
He laughed. “Keep it up, and you’ll be punished again, Elizabeth.”
She wasn’t going there. If she did, she’d be naked and in his lap. This needed to come first. “What about Anna Tunica?”
Oh, Ethan would rank her right up there on the list, despite her gender. “I think she’s strong enough and angry enough, but my real issue is that she’s Native. If she’s never been to the church, she wouldn’t know that much about the cemetery.”
“It’s right by the Rez. Maybe she played in it as a kid. I know when I was younger, Jacob and I used to meet in the one outside town to make out under this one tree. You could get hot and heavy, and who was going to catch you?”
“One, I don’t like picturing my wife naked with anyone but myself and Callen, and two, you’re a freak.”
She snorted. “Point taken, love bug.”
“You can put her on the list, Lyzee, but I think one thing is going to eliminate her, other than the religion thing.”
“What?”
“While we think the killer will go over the edge now, he was careful and calculated before. Anna Tunica has no control or filter, as you saw. She’s a loose cannon waiting to go off all the time.”
She had to agree. “Okay, how about Wade Dixon?”
Ethan weighed everything he knew about the man before speaking. “I need another interview with him. I want to watch him in action before I make up my mind, but I’m leaning toward suspect.”
Elizabeth wrote him on the board. “Talk me through it, Ethan.”
“Well, his family was killed. Is this revenge, or some sick way to pay penance? Again, that could be the theme here. He was dicking around on his family, and in exchange God took the ones he loved away.”
“Or Emelia Southland could have dumped his ass, and she was all he had left. I know if I gave you everything and you dumped me, I’d be pissed too.”
“Enough to cut out my heart?”
“Nah, I’d go for the junk,” she said, pointing down.
He cringed a little bit since he’d seen a victim that week turned into a eunuch. “You’re a vicious woman, Lyzee, my love.”
She winked at him. “Honestly, I feel the same as you do about Wade Dixon.”
“How about Toni Michelle?” he asked, changing the subject. “What’s your gut instinct on her?”
“I need to talk to her again, but this time about her almost marrying God and becoming a sister. From nun, to sex selling vixen is quite the stretch. What if she’s hiding in plain sight? We said that our killer is a watcher and likes to study people. Well, what better way to do that than sell sex? It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. For all we know, every one of our victims shopped there.”
“I agree with you there. So, we re-interview those two, and then revisit this conversation,” he stated. “When I was in her store, I kept getting this off feeling, but I didn't know why.”
Elizabeth moved toward him to sit in his lap. “I know what you mean. I felt like I was missing something important.”
Ethan wrapped his arms around her waist. “It seems we’ve finished work for the night. We’re all out of suspects. What do you want to do?” he asked, as he slowly kissed her.
“Maybe you and I could go call Callen and have a rousing game of ‘dirty talk’,” she suggested.
“Then when it’s over?” he asked, nuzzling her neck. The scent of her perfume was offering him so much peace and calm. Blackhawk wanted to wrap himself in it.
“Then, you and I can go to bed, and by that, I don’t mean sleep.”
That suggestion had merit.
Yeah, there was definitely a God.
Who else handed out all these sex hormones?
* * *
He watched the next sinner and waited until just the right moment. While the FBI may have stripped him of his place to do his duty and all his tools, they wouldn’t stop him from completing his work.
He was going to do the job that he was meant to do.
For now, he was off balance, but with a new victim under his belt, it would all be better.
In his hand, he clutched his rosary, and he began praying to his Lord. There was no way he would fail.
He had God behind him.
As the Lord’s angel, he was destined to succeed.
There was no doubt in his mind, since he trusted the Almighty with all his heart.
As the woman moved around inside, he watched through the window. It was just about time to get it done.
Heading from the shadows to where she waited, he greeted her with faux warmth. He was well aware that she was so riddled with sin that she was rotting from the inside out.
He could see it.
God knew it.
And soon the world would be privy to it too.
The only one who wasn’t aware was her, but soon that would change.
That’s what made her perfect for this.
When she approached unsuspectingly, he struck out, slamming his fist into her face. Her body flew back, hitting the wall with a sick thud. From just that, her head left a hole in the plaster.
To him, it looked like a halo, sitting above her lolling head.
It made him mad.
How dare she claim to be an angel! He was the only one who was worthy of that title.
No one could use it but him.
This was the devil testing him. He could feel it. Locking the door, he pulled the blinds. As he grabbed her by the ankle, dragging her across the floor, he began singing a song of praise. It was dedicated to God in all his glory.
As he laid her flat, he straddled her body. His hands wrapped around the slim column of her throat, and he squeezed with all his might. As her eyes opened and bulged, he stared down into them.
“You’ve seen too much,” he stated. “It’s time.”
With that, he stole her life and proved one thing.
He was unstoppable.
~ Chapter Sixteen ~
Friday Morning
Jaxon was the first one to wake. It was the soft rhythmic breathing of the man beside her that pulled her from sleep. Carefully rolling over, she watched h
im.
There were little crow’s feet etched around the corner of his eyes, even in rest. Somehow, she believed them to be her fault. When she met him, he was so full of energy and life, and now he just seemed exhausted.
Her heart ached.
This wasn’t what she wanted to give him. Doctor Magnus deserved to be happy, and Jaxon didn't believe she was making his life easier.
It’s part of the reason she never got attached. Her whole existence had been fraught with stress and difficulty, from her father’s choices in life, to her mother’s death. Even the imposed distance between her and Jagger was making her heavy with sadness.
How could she torture this amazing man by sticking around?
Part of her wanted to call Gabe right then and run for it.
The other half of her wanted to believe that Tony Magnus would keep her safe. She was torn.
Logic or her heart?
Which was she supposed to listen to?
Jaxon’s whole life, she had the propensity to run.
When people found out that her father was a crime boss, she’d make a break for it.
The day her mother died, she and Jagger had escaped.
Burying herself in her work, Jaxon hid her heart and soul, and now there was someone in front of her who made her want to stay.
How long could she hold on?
With delicate fingers, she did something she probably shouldn’t have. Jaxon touched his cheek. She couldn’t help herself. It was rough from his five o’clock shadow. There was that need to just touch him, just in case it was the last time.
She would steal the memory away, taking that moment for herself. When she did run, and she knew she would, that single touch would be her memory to carry forever.
God, she was so in love with him.
Maybe it was the tousled black hair, or the incredibly full lips, which called to her. Possibly, it was his intelligence and near decade of being older that Jaxon found alluring. He was wise enough to keep her safe, and offer her a better path in life. All that she knew was that she was trapped.
Redemption is Here (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 9) Page 39
