“Thank you for clearing it with my boss.”
He nodded.
Elizabeth waited patiently. While it wasn’t her strong suit, she was giving Ethan what he wanted.
Well, what that douchebag president wanted.
Dakota was in.
God save his soul. She prayed he made good choices.
“Elizabeth, I’m done.”
She got back to work.
“Okay, so we know that Sister Margaret was hit in the head, tied to a chair in her bathtub, burned, torched, and then bleed out for their shits and giggles. We also know that because of her new partner, her MO has changed. Ethan, is that why?” she asked.
“Yes. Bonnie is taking her partner for a test drive. That will explain the bodies, the ax, and the scenes. They are out for blood.”
“What can you tell me about this Bonnie and Lizzie combo? Nice touch on picking someone with my nickname,” she added.
He went into profiler mode to help his wife.
“That’s going to be done on purpose. She’s going to use that as a big screw you. She has a Lizzie now too.”
That was good to know.
“Everything Bonnie does is with a purpose. While Lottie would be the softer side, the actress, the wealthy woman, Bonnie is going to be the killer.”
They knew that.
“What else?” she asked.
“We know that Bonnie needs to be the boss,” he stated. “She’s going to need to be the one who controls the situation. When she was partnered with Clyde, he tried to control her. We all know how that ended,” he offered.
“Whoever would pair with her is bat shit insane. They have to see this train derailing at some point.”
“Unless they’re just as insane,” he added.
The team listened to them work it out. Amir was fascinated.
“So, anyway,” Ethan said, continuing, “Bonnie would need a partner to play up to. She’s going to work better with someone to cause mayhem than alone.”
“But Lizzie?” Elizabeth asked.
“Who else do we know the second we hear an ax murderer?” Ethan stated.
Callen went to open his mouth.
She pointed at him. “I will kill your sex life with one shot, and then his, too, just because you’re brothers.”
He shut it.
Ethan laughed. “Thank you for not saying anything.”
Elizabeth focused. “So, she just happened to go out and pick an ax murderer?”
“No, she probably knew people call you ‘Lyzee’, and that played into it too. Remember what I’ve told you. Bonnie does NOTHING without a reason.”
“What is she trying to tell me?” Elizabeth asked.
“There’s a new ‘Lyzee’ in town, and this one is a killer and helping Bonnie do her thing.”
“They are both jacked up,” Callen stated.
Oh, they were all aware.
“So, we have Bonnie and Clyde two point oh, and a Lizzie Borden wannabe. Only in my world.”
Tony laughed. “It makes it more fun. It’s like those novels that take two stories and mash them up. We have a roaring twenties woman on a bender with an ax wielding woman who hacked her family apart for shits and giggles. We can call it ‘So I Hooked Up with an Ax Murderer’.”
“Yeah, it makes for a good movie,” she stated, “if you’re deranged, have no social life, and like this kind of jackassery.”
Tony snorted. “Don’t we all? That’s why we do what we do,” he admitted.
Yeah, he was probably right.
Still, the crazies were making her work for it.
“Chris, did you find the medallion?” she asked.
“Yes, and it was right where you thought it would be. They shoved it far up there. It was actually in her womb.”
Elizabeth cringed.
That didn’t sound…pleasant.
“I’m going to guess it had help getting up there, right?”
He held the glass circle up with the medallion sitting in it. “Oh, yeah. Think her ax.”
“They raped an old nun with an ax?” Sarah stated. “Well, someone’s definitely going to Hell when this is all over.”
Yeah, if there was a place.
To Elizabeth, that pretty much sounded like it was Hell already.
“Do we have confirmation on the that being their weapon of choice?” she asked.
Amir spoke up, “Yes, ma’am. It was. I found varnish in the trace that Doctor Leonard swabbed, and even some wood splinters. We checked the scene, and there was nothing else there that would work.”
He thought about it.
“Well, her cane would but Doctor Leonard said there was massive destruction. The cane isn’t as thick. It wouldn’t have…”
She stopped Amir.
This was one picture she didn’t need painting.
She got it.
“Did we run the cane just to be sure?” Chris asked. He liked to cover his bases.
Amir nodded. “It was clean. The only prints on it were the dead woman’s and her nurse’s, Tammy Beard.”
Well, that made sense.
The nurse would be all over the place in that house.
“How do we know it’s hers?” Elizabeth asked. “Did we gather samples?”
Amir owned it. “Yes, ma’am. I thought you’d want me to eliminate her from the mess. While she was waiting to talk to the Directors, I got some hair and prints.”
“Good job, Amir,” Chris stated.
Honestly, he was surprised. Finally, the man took the initiative. All it took was promising him the job as an agent.
Who knew?
“So, she was raped,” she began.
Chris stopped her.
“She was also sodomized like the dead attorney,” Chris said, unable to say his name. If he kept Cannon as just a body, he would be able to get through this.
He hoped.
“She was violated,” she rephrased. “She was tortured, she was bled out, and her eyes?”
Chris flipped through the report. “They were removed before she was dead, as was her tongue. We found them floating in the blood.”
And that was why she made Amir bring it back to the morgue. They had to chase every single thread. This was Bonnie. She would be careful.
Next, Elizabeth wanted to check out the medallion.
“I’ll give whoever can name that saint a gold star for today,” she stated, as she checked out the medallion.
They put it under the magnifier and transferred the image to the screen.
“That’s Saint Therese of Lisieux,” Amir stated. “My mother had that same medallion,” he offered.
“Tony, hook a girl up,” she said, pointing at the tablet in front of him.
He did the research.
When it beeped, he sent it right to the big screen.
“Saint Therese of Lisieux is the patron saint of the suffering and those who go on missions. I guess that’s a nun, right?” Tony asked.
“Yeah, it is,” Callen stated. “It’s also ironic considering Sister Margaret Peace suffered a whole hell of a lot last night.”
Yeah, he could say that again.
“Anything else?” she asked Amir. “I don’t know, like a hair?” she asked.
He grinned at her from behind his glasses. “I knew that was next, and, yes, I did run it. First, I cross-compared it with other DNA that I pulled from Tammy Beard. I was hoping to cut back on some time for you. DNA matches in the system can take days.”
She was aware.
“And?” she asked.
“It comes back with a match.”
That made her day.
Maybe they’d be able to figure out who Lizzie was, and then they could track them both. If Bonnie wasn’t using her resources to hide, she’d bet she was using her partners.
“Who?”
“Miss Tamera Beard—or as you know her, Tammy Beard, the nurse.”
Well, shit.
That sucked seven ways to Sunday.
&nbs
p; “I’m sorry, ma’am. All the hairs I found are from the nurse. She is all over that house. We found her fingerprints on the door to the fridge, and to the front and back doors. We even dusted the nun’s car. She was there too.”
Shit!
Ethan sighed. “Well, there goes that lead.”
She was aware.
“Tell me about her.”
Ethan did just that. He broke down the whole interview as he relayed it back to her.
Callen too.
“So, the last time she saw her was Tuesday? Well, that gives us a timeline. We know Bonnie and her new buddy weren’t here then. They were in Damascus killing Cannon Austin.”
Chris flinched.
“I’m sorry, Newton.”
“It’s okay, honey.”
“So, we have nothing,” Callen stated.
That about summed it up.
Again, she focused on Dakota and Sarah. “You still want to help?”
He was still shocked that she was going to let him.
“Yes, we’re in.”
“I need to know who owns that house. I normally have two agents to run searches for me,” she stated. “They can’t work this case. They have some family emergency.”
He wanted to help in the worst way.
“We can do research.”
Good.
“You’re in.”
She scanned the room. Her gaze landed on her anthropologist. “Tony, pull the note up.”
He sent the picture of the message to the screen.
“We know that Bonnie was a stalker, so she likely watched that house. We can get a timeline if we cross compare it to Tammy Beard’s work schedule.”
Ethan and Callen already had it.
“She worked Monday through Wednesday. Then she was murdered and Tammy was off on Wednesday and popped in today to make up for it.”
She did the math.
“We know when Bonnie hit Dulles. TOD?” she asked Chris.
“About four hours before we got to her.”
Okay, so, they weren’t that far behind her. This would help. If they’d killed the woman prior to Cannon, that would change things.
“We have to stay focused,” she offered.
They all got it.
“Chris, can you keep digging around in Sister Margaret?”
“Autopsy is done, but I can go back with a pair of tweezers and go inch by inch. I might find a speck of something.”
It was a long shot, but she’d take it.
“Go for it. I need DNA from Lizzie. We already have Lottie’s. WE need an ID, and then we can deal with the finer details.”
“Where are you heading?” Chris asked.
“I’m going back to my office. I need to grab some files.”
“Are you going home then?” Chris asked. Truth be told, he didn’t want her wandering the streets.
He had a bad feeling.
“Yeah, I am, and when you’re ready, I want you to have Igor bring you home.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She pointed at the dead woman on the table. Well, the chopped-up pieces of her.
“She thought sleeping in her locked house would be fine. Is that your idea too?”
He heard it in her voice.
She was worried.
“Elizabeth.”
“Okay, you win. I’ll drive back, alone, and get you when you’re done. Give me your keys.”
He stared at her.
“Are you out of your mind?” he asked. “That’s exactly what Bonnie would want.”
Ethan spoke up, “And you leaving here alone is the same thing. That’s her point. I’ll make this easy. You’re coming home with Ivan. End of discussion.”
She smiled at her husband. “Thank you for being bossy.”
Chris laughed. “Okay, you win.”
She was glad.
“Your point is made. I don’t mind hanging out with Ivan. He’s actually a lot like…”
He smiled at her.
“If you go there, I see a divorce in your future. I may have to break up with you if you don’t stop being like that.”
He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Just be safe. I’ll see you at home.”
Elizabeth needed to talk to her husband. He was profiling this. She could see it on his face.
“Outside,” she stated.
Both men followed her.
“I need your help.”
“Doing?” he asked.
“I need to make Bonnie bat shit insane. The only way to do that is to suck the media spotlight off her, and put it on yours truly.”
Callen DID NOT like that.
“Elizabeth.”
She touched his cheek. “Cal, we have to take her down. We don’t have a choice.”
He got it.
He didn’t have to like it.
“Ethan, am I right?”
“Unfortunately, yes. To really push her over the edge, you’ll want yourself on the news and you’ll want to dismiss her like she’s nothing. It will drive her insane. That will call to Lottie, since she’s the media whore.”
She smiled.
“It will also up her killing. So anyone she takes will suffer because of it.”
“Will it trip her up?”
“Yes.”
What choice did she have then?
If she didn’t do something, someone was going to die anyway. Look at the nun. She tore the woman apart and destroyed her.
“What can I do to make her freak out?”
Ethan wouldn’t normally recommend baiting a nut bag, but this was really the only way. Had she not mentioned it, he was going to offer that up as an option by way of a press conference.
This was easier.
“I may have a way.”
“Again, I don’t like this one bit,” Callen stated. “The idea makes me want to freak out.”
The basement was deserted, so she opted for some kissy-face. Going against his body, she rested her head on his shoulder.
“My love, I need your trust.”
He sighed as he gave her a kiss on the top of her head. She had a point.
“Fine. Do it.”
Ethan had the go ahead.
“There’s one way to really mess with her. I happen to have a party tonight.”
He did?
When was he going to bring that up?
“I didn’t know you were going out,” she stated. It wasn’t like him not to tell her. Then again, maybe they were still a little rocky.
“I wasn’t going. I declined the invitation when I received it. I had planned on being in Salem, wooing my wife back into my life.”
That warmed her heart. “Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“What kind of function is it?” she asked.
“A black-tie event at the Marquis Ballroom. It’s a high-profile shindig, as you would call it.”
“I need in.”
Callen shook his head. “Well, I know who isn’t getting you into that one—not my circle.”
Ethan patted him on the shoulder. “You get to hang out with your adoring fans. Your parties are more fun. This is just networking under the guise of an evening of schmoozing. Trust me. It’s never fun.”
“Can we go?” Elizabeth asked.
Ethan smiled. “I can have Ginny call and fix that for us, if you’d like to use tonight’s venue as a way to bait her.”
Honestly, it was more.
She wanted a night out with him. During a case, it was always so hard, but what could be better than this?
She was killing two birds with one stone.
“I would love to do it.”
“Then consider yourself my date to some stuffy, obnoxious party that we’ll both hate.”
Elizabeth kissed him. “I could jump you right here, you sexy power player, you.”
“Hey!” Callen stated. “Seriously? I’m right here. Have some mercy on my poor broken heart.”
She winked at him. “I want to jump you when you pour a
bowl of cereal, and maybe I will tomorrow morning.”
He snorted. “I’m easy. Works for me. I’ll be the one holding the milk.”
She snorted. “Weirdo.”
He slapped her on the ass.
Instead of fighting it, she focused on her spiffy husband. Finally, his job was going to be an asset to her.
“So we’re really doing it?” she asked.
Ethan looked at his watch to gauge their time. Getting back on the invite was easy. Getting ready…?
Yeah, that was harder.
“I suggest you get ready to head home. Like I said, it’s black-tie, and you’re more casual Friday.”
She stared at him.
“Seriously?”
He simply lifted a brow and pointed at her boots.
Two could play that game.
“Callen, want to have really dirty, raunchy sex in a closet with me right now?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“Hell yes!”
Ethan laughed. “You’re mean when people insult your clothes. That’s not nice, Elizabeth.”
She was well aware, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do. She could pull it off.
“I have some tricks up my sleeve, Director Blackhawk. You just get that invite handled. I’m going to grab my file, and I’ll meet you at the car. We have a crazy to bait.”
He didn’t doubt it at all.
“So, just a twosome, huh?” Callen asked.
“I’m sorry, Cal, but it was for me and a guest. I can’t…” Ethan began, trying to not hurt his brother.
“It’s okay. I’ll be working on reports and Chris and I will get a pizza and play ‘discuss our sex lives with Lyzee’. I can’t wait to hear all about the nubile young Fed with the rocking body.”
She looked horrified.
“You wouldn’t.”
He laughed as he walked toward the elevator. When he turned, he was grinning like a fool.
“Yeah, angel, that doesn’t sound like me at all. You know…curious and questioning some man who was screwing my wife.”
She stood there with her mouth open.
“Well, that should be…revealing,” Ethan teased.
“No closet sex for either of you!” she called.
They laughed.
It wasn’t easy to frustrate her.
They’d won this round.
For once.
Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 31
