“No way in hell,” Emma said, shaking her head. “If I bring this up, she’s going to want to have girl talk and tell me about it. Do you really want me hearing about Curtis’s performance in the shower?”
Croft thought about it. “On second thought, I think I’ll just forget this all happened.”
The entire ride to the station, Emma sat without saying a word. Her mind was a vortex of so many swirling thoughts. Some were good, but most centered on the killer and what was coming.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked, looking straight ahead.
Emma snickered.
“We’re going to find him, honey. He won’t beat us.” Croft placed his hand on her leg, and immediately she reached for him.
“I’m just worried about who’s going to be next.” She took a deep breath. “You know that he’s going to make an attempt at me, Grey.”
“I’m aware, and it’s not going to happen, Emma. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Greyson,” she said, as he came to a stop at a stop sign. “I’m not worried about me. I’m afraid of what he’ll do to you to get to me.” Her hand touched his jaw, and she could feel how tight the muscle was under her hand.
“Let him try. He’s not touching you, Emma.” Croft felt his anger and fear mounting in the pit of his stomach. The chill began crawling up his spine. He pictured all the crime scenes and knew what this animal was capable of doing.
It wasn’t happening to his woman.
Not as long as he was alive.
While he pulled into the intersection and headed to the office, Emma tried to take calming breaths. She didn’t want to think of Croft standing between her and the killer. Another loved one lost, just like her brother. She watched him die in her lap, coated in his blood. The thought of going through that again with this man made her incredibly sick and angry. She had to catch this animal, and soon.
Arriving at work, Emma strode past the deputies. She must have looked like she wanted to chew nails because no one said a word as she went into her office to sit behind her desk.
They watched Croft follow behind her, and instead head into the conference room. They all looked around, wondering if the lovebirds had a fight.
Reese was feeling brave and made his way toward Emma’s office. He knocked on the door. “Hey, Em, you okay?” She was sitting at her desk and looking out the window. “Emma? Hello?”
“Oh, sorry, Reese. I was thinking about something. As soon as Agent Briggs gets in, we’ll head to Billy’s to do the search. When Lila gets here, send her into my office please.”
It was obvious to Reese that she had no desire to have any more of a conversation, and it probably wasn’t a good time to see if she was aware of his and Croft’s discussion that morning.
“Can we talk later?” she asked, staring back at the window.
Yep, he’d been dismissed. “Sure thing, Emma.” Then he closed the door and returned to his desk. Something was definitely wrong.
It was twenty minutes later when Lila rushed into the office, looking frazzled.
“Hey, Lila. You’re never late. Did you have car troubles?” called out Deputy Marshall.
“No, Tommy, I’m just running late.” She looked like a tornado blowing through a small town. Only when she was in her seat did she begin to relax.
“Lila, the sheriff wants you in her office. She asked to see you when you got in.”
Crap!
“Oh, okay. Did she say what she wanted?” Lila started to get nervous. She had a feeling it had to do with this morning’s little scene in the shower, and she wondered if being caught with the agent was a mistake.
“Got me,” he replied. “She seemed worked up about something when she got in this morning.”
Briggs stopped at Lila’s desk. “Do you want me to go in there with you?” he asked, nodding toward the door. “I will, if you need me too.” Curtis watched the young woman chew on her lower lip and look back and forth from him to the sheriff’s door.
“I don’t know, Curtis. Do you think she’s mad?” Lila asked, getting more nervous. She had no chance to discuss it any further.
The sheriff opened her office door and stood there with a cup of coffee in her hand. “Morning, Curtis. Lila, I need to see you for a moment, that is, if you have a second.” Emma stepped back, waiting for the woman to follow.
“Sheriff…” it was all Agent Briggs could get out of his mouth before he received a look from her. Immediately, he zipped it.
Lila entered the office, closing the door. “Good morning, Sheriff.”
Emma took a sip of her coffee before answering her. “Yes, it is. Now, I need you to do a few things for me today. I’ll be out at Billy’s house doing the search, and I want you to call me when the lab gets the DNA on Connie Hart and Maggie Wilson. I seem to have fallen behind on my weekly reports that I give to your father, so if you could go over them, type them up and fax them over to his office, I’d appreciate it.”
Lila looked relieved that the talk was all about work. “I thought you were going to yell at me because of this morning.”
“Why would I?” she asked. “It’s none of my business. The only time it becomes my problem is if it affects my office.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“But, Lila, we do need to have a little talk. It’s not about you and Agent Briggs, it’s about you and your hours. Pick a specific time and stick with it. Okay?” Emma figured she’d hit the woman with it while she was a nervous wreck. This conversation almost made up for Lila startling her every day.
Almost.
Lila nodded enthusiastically and hopped up from her chair. “Anything else, Sheriff?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, there is. It seems that your father used you as an alibi for a few nights, and I need to discuss them with you,” added Emma, as she pulled out her phone to make notes.
“I already went over this with the agents.”
“We talked it over, and we need to cover it again,” insisted Emma, a little more forcefully as she pointed at the chair.
For the next twenty minutes, Emma and Lila went over the dates and times of the murders. It was pretty much what Emma expected. Lila was able to corroborate the alibi on Megan Landry and Connie Hart, but not on Betty Kline. Lila was either telling the truth or a terrific actress covering for dear old dad. It looked like she was with him for almost every crime.
Damn it.
Emma tried another route. “Lila, when is the last time your father went to Philadelphia?” she carefully observed the girl’s face as she tried to think about it.
“Gee, Sheriff, it’s been a while. I really can’t even remember when. Dad was never real big on Philadelphia. Sorry.”
“No problem, Lila, How about these two names? Do they sound familiar--Maggie Wilson or Bekka Drake? Ever hear your father mention them?”
“No, sorry. He never talks about women with me. That would be awkward,” Lila stated. “I wish I could be of more help.”
“That’s okay. Thanks, Lila. That’ll be all. We’re heading out to Billy’s house to do the search.” Emma pushed away from the desk. Now that this was over, she needed to find the FBI agents and get on with the search.
When she walked into the conference room both Briggs and Croft looked up from their laptops. “Ready to go?” she asked smiling.
“Everything okay?” inquired Croft.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” She looked back and forth to both men. Then it hit her. “Oh please. You don’t think I yelled at that poor girl because she got caught naked in the shower with Curtis, do you?”
Briggs shrugged, focusing back down at the laptop as he blushed a deep crimson shade of red.
“I gave her a list of things that needed to get done today while we were at Billy’s house, and I also asked her to corroborate her father’s alibis. I do believe that was on our agenda for the day.” She made a big check mark in the air with her finger, and then rolled her eyes.
Greyson began laughi
ng. “I told you that there was nothing to stress, Curtis.”
She moved to stand beside the man she loved. “I don’t care who the FBI sleeps with, but you… you’re another story. I’m all over where you rest that sexy body at night.”
He winked at her. “You should have called Curtis this morning. He would have blushed at least, unlike my brother.”
“What?” Briggs said, obviously missing something.
“Emma was calling people about sex this morning,” he said, right before she gut checked him with her fist.
“Are we going or am I doing this by myself, Agents?”
Briggs just gawked as he tried to figure out what they were talking about. Emma and sex in the same sentence would always have his full attention.
“We’re ready. I just called the lab for the ETA on the DNA on Maggie Wilson and Connie Hart. It should be here by the time we finish searching the house.” Croft leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I don’t mind you taking your aggression out on me,” he admitted wickedly. “I like it rough. We can take turns.”
Emma ignored him, but it was damn hard. She really wanted to laugh at his teasing.
“Which deputies are we taking?”
Emma glanced out to the bull pen. “I think that we should take those two,” she said, pointing at his least favorite men. “Reese is excellent with details, and Marshall is quick on his feet and rarely lets anything past him.” Emma knew that would stir the man up. It was part of a new game that she’d recently discovered that she loved.
‘Torment Greyson’ was an entertaining sport.
“I’ll ride with Emma. Curtis, you ride out with the deputies and brief them as to what specifically we’re looking for on the scene.”
“Okay, just let me pack up the laptop and lock these drawers. I’ll grab Marshall and Reese and meet you at Billy’s house,” he answered.
“Fine,” said Emma, as she grabbed her jacket. “I’ll help you load up.”
After everything was packed away and the lab techs were ready to roll, Croft again opted to drive them to the house. Finally, she broke the silence when she couldn’t take it anymore. “Well?”
“Well what, honey?”
“Grey, want to explain what that was back at the office?” she asked. “Did you really believe I’d be pissed at Lila taking a tumble with Curtis?”
“I didn’t but he did,” he replied.
She wasn’t getting it. “Can you possibly elaborate?”
Greyson sighed. “Well, it’s just that Briggs has a crush on you, and he’s mortified that you saw him naked and in the shower.”
She stared at him as if he had three eyes. “Okay, I can see that this whole situation is going to be way beyond the realm of my understanding.”
“Which part aren’t you getting?”
Emma would have laughed if she understood any of it. “Please feel free to break it down into simple terms because right now, it just sounds like craziness. Why would he care what I think?”
“The boy has it bad for you, and when you caught him in the act, it mortified him.”
“Good Lord.”
He laughed at the look on her face. “He’s just lucky that I was calm this morning because Curtis even thinking about you like that makes me edgy.”
“I suppose that I should be flattered. Curtis is a sweet kid, but he isn’t my type.”
“So, I shouldn’t be jealous of all the men around you?” he asked, trying to be serious. “I know that it’s stupid, but when I think about any testosterone floating around you, I get the urge to beat something to a pulp. I can’t help it, since you bring something out in me.”
“Did you just blame me for your childish, caveman, moronic behavior?”
Croft shrugged and grinned. “It’s part of the package.”
Emma knew that deep down she should have been irritated by his antics. Yet, she knew how hard it was for him to not be jealous or possessive. Besides, after not having anyone to want to take care of her, it was kind of nice. Okay, she’d never admit it out loud or the man would be impossible to live with, but Emma enjoyed his crazy dominant behavior.
“I am who I am, sweet stuff,” he retorted, grinning.
She reached down to link her fingers together with his as she stared over at him. “Grey, you know how I feel about you. Can we move past the jealousy issue or at least try? What can I do to prove that I’m dedicated to you?”
Marry me.
Yeah, it was pretty damn effortless to say it in your head, but out loud? It wasn’t nearly as easy. He wanted to marry her, and knew he could say it, but the timing never seemed right.
Damn it!
“We’ll discuss this later. We need to be thinking murder, not our relationship. When we get to the house, I want you to stick with someone. Okay?” He put up a hand before she could vehemently object. “We don’t need our attention divided right now. Please, Emma?”
Maybe it was something in his voice, but she just sighed and gave his fingers a squeeze again. “Sure, but do I get to pick who I get to stick close to?”
He glanced over at her, unsure if she was kidding.
Emma started laughing at the look on his face. Yeah, there was something about being in a relationship with a sexy caveman.
“Let me rephrase that--you stick real close to me.”
“Come on! I did get to see Curtis buck naked in the shower this morning,” she teased.
Croft lifted his glasses as he pulled into the driveway. “Poor kid, now I have to hurt him,” he said, with a serious face. “Here I liked having him as a partner too.”
She snorted, knowing he wouldn’t ever hurt the younger man. In fact, Emma believed he was incredibly fond of him. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
He turned off the engine, forcing his focus away from Emma and their relationship and onto the assignment. “Let’s get this done.”
“Anything you say, babe.”
It was quite possibly the longest morning of her life. Between her, two deputies, and four FBI agents, it still took them over five hours to go through the entire site. By the time they were finished, she was hot, sweaty, and would really kill for a shower. The most depressing part of the five hours was that they had nothing.
Nada.
Squat.
Zilch.
In fact, it was infuriating. Emma stood up and placed her hand on her lower back to work out the kink as she surveyed the room. She was lost in her own world when Croft’s fingers stroked her arm.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Just that there has to be a spot we missed in this house. These old places always have a hidey-hole of some sort. This house is over a century old, they didn’t always put their money in banks back then.”
“We thought that already, but none of the floorboards are loose, and there aren’t any secret spots in the closets. We checked all the logical locations. Let’s face it. If Billy was our man, he didn’t leave anything behind to prove it.” Croft wiped a sweaty arm across an even sweatier forehead.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” she replied, walking to the fireplace to lean against it, feet crossed at the ankles. “Still, he was harassing the first victim and possibly knew the fourth victim was her sister. That’s too much of a coincidence for me.”
Her facial expression suddenly changed.
“What?” he asked suddenly.
Emma uncrossed her legs and stood up straight, getting really excited. “Croft, I think I found it!”
“Where?” He rushed over to her with Briggs right behind him.
Emma turned around, dropping to her knees. “I stepped down, and the grate felt like it was giving under my boot.”
Croft joined her as she began knocking on the floor near the inside of the fireplace.
“I think your right, Emma. I think you found his secret hiding spot,” said Briggs, photographing everything for court.
Both Emma and Croft reached down and slid a square piece of metal from the i
nside of the fireplace. On top of it sat ashes of paper and old wood. When they had it far enough out, Croft leaned into the fireplace. “Flashlight please.”
Emma handed him hers, as Greyson remained on his stomach in the soot and dirt. He reached into the two-foot opening with a gloved hand and felt around.
Then he hit pay dirt.
He glanced over at Emma with this devilish grin and winked. “Well, Sheriff, I do believe we have found a knife which could be our murder weapon,” he stated, pulling out a carved buck knife.
Emma delicately took it from his hand and placed it in a clear bag. “Our killer was nice enough to even leave us some blood on the handle.”
“Honey, I think we found our killer.”
~ Chapter Sixteen ~
Monday Afternoon
When the team returned to the station, there was an overwhelming sense of relief. Emma felt she needed to sit down with all her deputies and bring them back to reality. Both she and Agent Croft believed the celebration was a little too premature. Once everyone was gathered together, they decided to get refocused.
“Guys, you’re all doing a great job. I know that we found what we suspect is the murder weapon, but until it gets back from the lab, and we cross check it with every victim’s DNA, it’s only a buck knife that we found in the floor of a century old house.” She stared around at all their faces and watched the reality of her words sink in. “Once we confirm or deny the DNA on the knife, we’ll go from there. Until then, we still work all our leads, and we keep our eyes open and ready.”
“Sheriff, do you think it’s him?” asked Deputy Carlisle.
“Let’s just say, I know that the FBI and myself hope that it is. It’ll make it all easier for us if we can indeed put a face to the killer.” She looked around and watched all her deputies nod in agreement. Emma dismissed them and headed into her office to get a cup of coffee and look at some of her notes.
“Can I come in?”
Emma looked up to see Greyson standing in her doorway.
Celestia is Falling (A Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 1) Page 40
