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

by Kelley, Morgan

  She studied the pictures closely, and then with a blood red nail pointed to the third picture. “I waited on him, flirted a little too, because he was a fine specimen too,” she paused, “but not as sexy as you handsome,” she tapped Ethan Blackhawk on the cheek “Or your friend here.”

  Callen wanted to snicker, but he knew his brother was in the middle of building a rapport with the woman. He was just infinitely glad Elizabeth was busy, or he could picture her dragging the blonde outside and punching her bloody.

  “Did he say anything about what he was planning or if he was meeting someone?” Blackhawk kept asking the questions before his wife came back out, or he lost the woman’s interest.

  “Hiking or maybe camping? He ordered a large coffee to keep warm,” she tapped her chin. “Yeah, tipped well, and was really nice. Sometimes you get serious assholes in here that treat you like shit because you’re just a waitress.”

  Blackhawk smiled. “Wilma May, I’m betting you see everything, and you don’t miss a thing. That’s a valuable skill for a waitress or anyone else.”

  “I like you sugar,” she said, grinning. She was about to offer her number until there was a horrible crash.

  Both FBI agents stood, watching Elizabeth walk around the corner, carrying her jacket. Behind her out hobbled Joe Lemar. He was bent over and covered in something red.

  “What the hell?” Wilma May muttered and stepped back to let the woman pass.

  “Hi baby,” said Blackhawk. “I see it went about as well as expected.”

  Elizabeth kissed him on the cheek and let him pull the chair out for her as she read the woman’s name tag. “Wilma May, can you get Mr. Lemar an ice pack for his groin? Oh and I apologize for the state of his office.”

  “What did he do?” asked Blackhawk.

  “Well, the groin kick was for slapping me on the ass and the cherry pie filling,” she shrugged. “That was for calling me chubby. Baby Blackhawk was greatly offended at being referred to as chub.”

  Blackhawk was ready to kill the man.

  Elizabeth touched his arm, and then stood back up. Glaring over at the hunched over man, she pointed and he backed around the corner and left for cover. Then she sat again.

  Whitefox began laughing as Wilma May brought over their drinks.

  “Can you teach me how to do that?” asked the woman in awe. “He’s always slapping all of us on the ass.”

  Elizabeth pulled out one of her cards. “Next time he touches anyone that isn't attached to his own dick, you call me and put him on the phone. I think the sound of my voice will bring back the fond memories we had together. I know I’ll never forget the look on his face.”

  Wilma May walked away with the card.

  Ethan started laughing. “Come here!” He pulled his wife in for a kiss, and took his time. “I have never loved you more, Mrs. Blackhawk,” he said when he broke the kiss.

  Elizabeth laid her head on his shoulder. “The feeling is completely mutual,” and then she saw lunch coming. “Is that a cheeseburger with bacon?”

  “That it is,” he grinned.

  “Now I’ve never loved you more, Mr. Blackhawk.”

  “I told you Cal, she’s just after me for the food I buy her,” he laughed.

  “Do you really care why she loves you? Because if that’s the way to her heart, I’ll claim buying her lunch to ease your conscience on this one.”

  “I’m ignoring you both again,” she said, biting into her burger. “How did it go with blondie?” she asked, nodding towards the woman standing behind the counter. It wasn’t lost on Elizabeth that the woman was staring at her husband and brother-in-law. With one look back, she had the woman glancing away. These men were off limits.

  “She waited on him. He got a coffee, large to go and mentioned that he was going hiking or camping.”

  Elizabeth took a sip of her water. “Baldy said the same thing. Minus the chit chat with the victim, he wasn’t privy to that. He was probably too busy slapping someone on the ass.”

  Whitefox ate one of her fries. “I’m betting you cured him of that affliction.”

  “Let’s just say he won’t be afflicting anyone anytime soon,” she answered, grinning.

  Whitefox gave her a fist bump and Blackhawk started laughing. “You realize you have all the fun, right Elizabeth? What if I wanted to kick him in the groin and dump cherry pie filling all over him for manhandling my pregnant wife?”

  “That’s not your style, Cowboy. Besides, it gets you all hot and bothered when I screw with the locals. I do it for you. It’s a labor of love.”

  Both men snickered.

  “Gets me all hot too,” interjected Whitefox, and then he took a punch to the arm from his brother. “Hey! No fair!”

  Blackhawk lifted an eyebrow and then gave his brother the look while Elizabeth laughed uproariously.

  “Down boys, you both can be all hot and bothered, and return to your perspective sexual partners.”

  “Elizabeth, you’re too much,” her husband said, laughing.

  Wasn’t it the truth?

  * * *

  Desdemona stood above the deputy and made the last stitch in the Y incision. She had just tied the knot when she felt someone in the room with her. Looking up and putting down her scissors, she saw Sheila Court standing in the doorway. Immediately she threw the sheet back over the dead man’s face and body. No one would want to see what the killer and the carrion birds left behind.

  “I want to see my friend,” she said, as she moved towards Desdemona and the table.

  “I really think that is a bad idea, until after he’s seen by the mortuary and cleaned up.” Death was never pretty, but this death was exceptionally gruesome. A face without eyes was a creepy thing that one would never get out of their minds.

  “I don’t care what you think,” she snapped, ripping back the sheet.

  Desdemona took a step back, and felt bad for the woman. The sight waiting her was beyond horrific. The woman may be a bitch, but no one should be seeing what she just had her arms in up to her elbows.

  “This is your fault,” she snapped bitterly, as she turned on Desdemona. “You put him there on that table!” Sheila Court pointed at her friend, and then angrily swept her arm across the table, knocking all the tools to the floor.

  Desdemona took another step back. It was ironic because just two hours ago she was demanding Callen Whitefox respect her ability to protect herself, and here she was wishing he would walk through the door and come to her rescue. Man, did she owe him an apology on this one. She wasn’t close to being as bad ass as Elizabeth.

  “It was a stupid joke, and you and your bitch boss got him killed!” She pushed the cart over with the samples waiting to go off to tox on them. “It was a damn joke!” The distraught woman threw a bottle of solution at the wall and it splashed everywhere.

  “He made his choices, Sheila. He chose to scare us and then swing at Elizabeth Blackhawk, and then he chose to try and abduct me. I didn’t make him do any of that, and you’re right, it was a stupid joke, and he paid a high price. A price that no one should have to pay.”

  The woman began throwing and breaking things, and then she turned back to Desdemona. “I hate you, and I hope you die for this,” she screamed and then charged at her.

  Desdemona braced for being hit, and then she heard her tech’s voice and would have kissed him if Whitefox wouldn’t have lost his mind.

  “Hey!” shouted Derek Williams, as he stepped between the two women. The tech tried to restrain the blonde her from touching the doctor. Man, she put up one hell of a fight.

  “Let me go!” Sheila struggled and then started breaking down and weeping over her deceased co-worker.

  “Take her upstairs, Derek to the sheriff. Tell him what happened. I’ll start cleaning up the mess, and redo the samples from the autopsy.”

  “Yes Doctor.” He walked the wailing woman out of the room.

  Christina came into the room, rushing to the woman’s side. “Are you
okay, Doctor?” she asked, and began helping pick up the mess.

  “Yeah, but the samples are destroyed, so I have to reopen the deputy and start again,” she said sighing.

  “You do the autopsy, I’ll get a few techs in here and we’ll clean up the mess,” she offered.

  “Thank you. I’ll re-sterilize the tools. Who knows what trace is all over this floor. Back to the drawing board,” she muttered, collecting all her tools from the floor.

  This was going to be one hell of a long day.

  * * *

  The three agents walked back into the sheriff’s station, only to find the woman crying hysterically, their tech standing off to the side and the sheriff looking out of sorts.

  “Derek, what happened?” asked Blackhawk, motioning his lab tech over to them.

  “I was down working in the lab going over trace, and we heard these yells and screams. I went to go check on the doctor and the woman was destroying the lab, and almost got to Doctor Adare.”

  That’s all Whitefox needed to hear. He went running down the stairs and to Desdemona. He found her standing on the stool and cutting the stitches in the Y incision. “Are you okay?” he crossed to her, and touched her cheek. “Did she hurt you?” he asked angrily.

  “No, Derek grabbed her before she could get to me, but she destroyed all the samples. Once they hit the floor, I can’t use them. Now I have to redo them over.”

  “Can I help you?” he asked, watching all the techs move through the room like ants, cleaning up all the wrecked supplies.

  Desdemona considered it. “Okay, glove up, if you have the stomach for it,” she said, and then noticed the bag in his hand. “Did you bring me lunch?” she asked smiling at him.

  “I did.”

  Desdemona leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. “Thank you,” she said. “That was incredibly sweet of you.”

  “Well, that’s me. Mr. Sweet.”

  Wednesday evening

  Whitefox stared blankly at the whiteboard. He was pretty sure that nothing was going to come to him now, or twenty minutes from now. They’d worked everything that they could, visited a few local shops and no one but Wilma May remembered seeing any of the victims. It just seemed like the end to a very long and unproductive day. What he’d love to do now, is take Desdemona back to the house and get her all alone. Then he remembered they wouldn’t be alone. Something just felt odd about it. Having sex with a woman he was having a relationship with, while the woman he was crazy in love with was in the next room. Why the hell couldn’t his life be simple, cut and dried?

  Ethan Blackhawk had plans for the evening and they didn’t involve anyone but his wife. Back to the house, dinner and maybe some good old fashioned sex in their room. Honestly, he didn’t care if his brother and the doctor knew what he was doing. He was a married man, and once this baby came, he was sure the sex would slow down. Then he looked over at his wife and she was lecherously staring at him. So, maybe not. He wiggled his eyebrows and she winked. Yeah, they were on the same page, he just needed to figure out how to get her alone.

  Elizabeth watched her very sexy husband sitting not far from her. He had unbuttoned his shirt down two buttons, and she could see portions of his tattoos on his chest. She licked her lips, and watched the vein in her husband’s throat throb. Oh what she wouldn’t do for a few hours alone with the man. When she had his attention, she knew exactly what he was thinking. She mouthed the word ‘Sex’, and when he nodded her heart started pounding.

  “So what’s left on the agenda for tonight?” asked Callen Whitefox. Doctor Adare had just wandered into the room, and took the seat beside him.

  “We need to see if the killer is picking up men in the bar,” Ethan Blackhawk set it up, glancing over at his wife, and they shared a look.

  “As much as I’d like a night of drinking and debauchery, I’m pregnant and the last place I should be is out drinking,” Elizabeth patted her belly. “Unless you want your first beer, Baby Blackhawk.”

  Callen looked over at Desdemona. It would be interesting to see her out of the work element and get to spend some time alone with her. “I’ll go and watch the locals.”

  “You can’t go alone, Callen,” objected Elizabeth. “The killer is hunting men.”

  Desdemona wouldn’t mind a few drinks and some down time. Besides, Callen might be fun to watch getting drunk. “I’ll go; I could use a drink or three. Especially after being shot at, and had a woman try and kick my ass.”

  Blackhawk felt his pulse start to pound.

  “But I need a shower first. I’ve been playing in death all day,” she added.

  Elizabeth pulled her keys out of her pocket and tossed them at her brother-in-law. “Don’t drive drunk, and at your age you don’t have a curfew,” she winked at him. “Go and have a good time. Director Blackhawk here is giving you a night off, just observe, relax and enjoy your date.”

  “Really? A full night off?”

  Blackhawk grinned. “Yes, enjoy.”

  “Maybe we could get something for dinner.” Whitefox started formulating a plan. “Would you have dinner with me?”

  “That sounds perfect.”

  They both stood and left the room. Ethan started laughing at what they just managed to do.

  “And this, Cowboy, is why we run FBI West.”

  “You, me, and wild out of control sex with a side of takeout, baby?”

  “Just for the record you had me at wild and out of control.”

  “Always good to know, does that mean you don’t want takeout? We can cut a good twenty minutes off the food foreplay and hop right into bed.”

  Elizabeth shook her head and slipped into her coat. “No way, Cowboy. I’m not that easy of a date. You still have to buy me dinner to get me to put out.”

  “Good thing I don’t mind easy women or buying them dinner,” he said, grinning, and dodging her swing, as she chased him out to the Denali.

  Whitefox drove them back to the house, and was incredibly excited at the prospect of spending some down time with Desdemona. Just the idea of them getting to be themselves and hang out without his brother and Elizabeth watching them, gave him hope the woman would let her hair down.

  “Give me about an hour, and I’ll be ready,” she said smiling. “What are we having for dinner?”

  He probably should take her somewhere nice, but it was Red River, and that meant casual. “Well, if we were home there are a myriad of places I would love to take you, but we’re in Red River, so I think they have one Italian restaurant.”

  “Perfect, I love Italian,” she smiled. “See you in an hour?”

  “Yes. I can’t wait,” he answered, grinning like an idiot, as she ran up the stairs. Then it hit him, he didn’t bring the correct attire for a date. He pulled out his phone and dialed his brother. Mr. Suit and Tie was about to become very handy, and when he answered on the third ring, he was eternally grateful.

  “I need a favor.”

  Blackhawk would have given him his kidney to have him out of the house and some time alone with his wife- his very sexy, hormone ridden wife. “Shoot.”

  “I’m taking Desdemona to dinner, I need something more formal.”

  “I have plenty of black dress shirts, and pants. You can take anything you want. They’re all hanging in the closet in our room.”

  Whitefox heard the desperation in his brother’s voice. “Hey! You’re trying to get us out of the house! You want to have sex with Elizabeth!”

  “In the worst possible way, so wear what you want, grab the doctor and give me at least three hours alone to have sex with my very turned on wife.”

  “Wow, you’re desperate,” he said, laughing.

  “You have no idea.”

  Whitefox laughed. “Thanks Ethan.”

  “No, Callen. Thank you!”

  Desdemona was a serial packer. When she travelled it was never light, and she tended to bring the most insane things with her that she never needed, but swore she might need in an emergency.
Right now nothing thrilled her more than the way she’d packed. Desdemona was going to have a date with the sexiest man she’d ever seen, and only hoped she could grab his attention the way he had hers. Getting him away from Elizabeth was going to be a big victory for her.

  As Desdemona stood in the bathroom blow drying her hair straight, she began to worry. What if she didn’t pick out the right thing to wear? Or worse yet, what if Callen Whitefox wasn’t thinking this was a date. Oh crap. What did she do now?

  Elizabeth and her husband walked into the house, and they were well aware that both the doctor and Whitefox were still home. Keeping her hands off her husband the entire time home was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. When she climbed into the back seat of the Denali because she didn’t want to climb all over him, he laughed at her. Then she told him what she was thinking about doing in the FBI vehicle, and he stopped laughing and told her to stay in the back and not move.

  The directors of FBI West didn’t need to be caught having sex in the company vehicle paid for by the taxpayers.

  “They’re still here, behave,” he warned her, as he put the Chinese food down on the counter.

  “Trust me, I’m trying to not think about sex,” she muttered, not looking at her husband. “If you loved me, you’d tie your hair back right now, it’s really distracting.”

  “Yeah, well you smell really good, so can you stand over there?” he laughed.

  Elizabeth’s phone chimed. “Oh Christ,” pulling it out she crossed her fingers.

  “Please tell me that’s not work related, because if I have to go back to work, I’m going to quit my job and jump you in the Denali, because I just don’t care.”

  Elizabeth snorted. “Desdemona has a girl issue and she needs my help.”

  “Why is she messaging you?” he said, laughing.

  Elizabeth would show him. She walked over to him, and slid her hands up his torso, making sure to have as much bodily contact against him and then she whispered in his ear what she wanted to do with him on the couch, then the chair, the kitchen counter, and finally in their room in front of the fireplace.