“She’s sweet, but she’s tough. She’s gentle, and when she’s mad, it’s fiery. It’s one of the things I fell in love with when I met your mother. I see it in Elizabeth too. We Blackhawk men have one chink in the armor, and it’s that type of woman. Look at me and my boys.”
“I see.”
“I shouldn’t be saying this to you. I don’t want to hurt you or your mother’s memory. I damaged this family enough.”
Ethan sat on the edge of his bed and patted it.
They needed to have a talk.
“Dad, I’ll be honest. I don’t really remember Mom anymore. I can see her face, and I can recall her sweetness, but I can’t pull much out of my memory regarding her. She’s been gone a really long time—over thirty years.”
“Time heals all wounds.”
“I guess.”
“I will never forget that I hurt her,” Wyler said. “It’s something that will chase me my whole life. I just want to believe that maybe this is my redemption. Maybe Catherine has finally forgiven me. When I cross, she’ll be there. We’ll be there together.”
“So, you’re not looking for your true love, Dad?”
“I meant what I said before. I’ve already found her, Ethan. Now I’m just looking for someone to love until my time here is over. I know I said I’d never…”
He stopped.
This was a tough topic.
“Go on.”
“I know I said I’d never find anyone to replace your mother, and I won’t, but I like Maeve. She’s a good person, and believe it or not, I’m lonely.”
He totally got that. Even with all the chaos, his father had needs, too, and watching kids all day wasn’t going to fulfill them. They had to be realistic.
He patted his father on the back. “Do me one favor, Dad? On second thought, make that two.”
“What?”
“Let yourself be happy. Callen and I forgive you. Really. It’s time to move on from our mothers and find someone to share the next twenty years with—or as long as you have on the Earth.”
Tears filled his eyes.
He needed to hear this in the worst way. His sons’ opinions mattered a great deal.
He didn’t want to hurt or lose them.
Wyler already traveled that route once, and it was a long twenty years filled with pain.
He liked this better.
He loved his family.
“And what was the second thing?” he asked, curious as to what he’d say.
“Use protection because I’m too old to have a baby brother.”
Wyler started laughing. “You’ve been hanging around Elizabeth way too much. You’re getting silly like her. That’s something she’d say to me.”
He hugged his father. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too.”
Chapter Three
New Orleans
Morgue
Late Afternoon
When they headed inside, all eyes were on them. It wasn’t shocking or unexpected. As Elizabeth strolled into the new territory, she expected the staff there to be unhappy or at least on edge. After all, she was bringing in a new ME and lab techs to run everything they had already done.
It was like a slap to the face after you flipped them the bird.
Still, she didn’t care.
Call her crazy, but honestly, Elizabeth didn’t trust people she didn’t know. They’d been down that road before, and it had bit them in the ass.
She wasn’t taking any chances.
The team behind her was handpicked from the FBI West staff to be the best of the best. They’d each proved their worth in one way or another, and that spoke volumes to her as a boss.
Plus, they were loyal.
To do their jobs, you needed that in staff.
Before Elizabeth could say anything, Detective Savage was making the introductions. Apparently, he wanted everyone to play nice. He certainly wanted in on this case in the worst way. She didn’t know if it was because he was a cop, or there was some pretty tech candy on her team.
She’d have to keep an eye on him. Her techs were like her kids. She hovered over them.
“Director Whitefox-Blackhawk, this is our parish ME, Doctor Theodore Perette.”
The man shook her hand and was cordial, but he didn’t look happy.
Elizabeth got that.
No big shocker. Apparently, he read the writing on the wall.
When the man started talking to the detective in Creole French, excluding her from the conversation as she stood there, she lifted a brow.
It looked like the games were about to begin.
She was going to lay down the law.
“For the record, Doctor, I speak French, and I know what you just said. You might want to pick a different language. As a heads up, I also speak Spanish and Italian, but my German is rusty as hell. Go with that one if you want to talk about the ‘bitch who’s taking over’,” she suggested.
Obviously, she nailed it.
The man flushed.
Callen moved closer to his partner so she could do the introductions, and also so he could add some intimidation into the mix. He was the muscle, and that was fine by him. It kept the local law from getting any ideas.
Oh, he wasn’t afraid they’d steal his woman.
He was more worried they’d try to kick her ass in a dark alley. Elizabeth brought out the worst in people.
“This is Director Whitefox, and he’s my partner in the field.”
“He’s also your husband and brother-in-law, right?” the parish ME asked.
“Normally, I say don’t believe everything you see on television, but in this case, Doctor, it’s true.”
They shook hands.
Elizabeth continued, “Now, Theo,” she began, only getting cut off.
“It’s Theodore or Doctor Perette,” he corrected.
“You say Theo-mato and I say Theo-matoe. Whatever floats your boat.”
He didn’t get it, but her techs did.
There were hushed snickers.
“Anyway, here’s my ME, Doctor Christopher Leonard, and he needs to get his hands on the bodies.”
The man smirked.
She caught it, and Elizabeth hoped he wasn’t going to jack with her. She was in a damn good mood on their maiden voyage out as a team.
Why ruin it?
The criminals did that on most days.
“They’re over there,” he said, pointing at the glass cases across the room. The second she saw them, Elizabeth knew Chris was going to flip his shit all over the man.
There was going to be a homicide, and the city employees should probably start running.
“Oh, shit!” muttered Chris. “Tell me that’s not what I think it is,” he practically begged, heading toward the cases. His face said it all. He knew what he was going to find inside.
Unfortunately, he was right.
“SHIT!”
Inside, he found the remains of the victims. What freaked him out was that the remains weren’t alone. Crawling all over them were flesh-eating beetles.
Somehow, no one thought it was by mistake either.
This screamed spite to everyone in the FBI.
Chris stared down into the cases as he shook his head in anger and disbelief. “You may have just thrown away the entire case,” he stated. “To teach me a lesson, you could have given a killer a free ticket from paying for this.”
The man still looked smug.
Well, that had to end.
The look on his face made Elizabeth want to punch someone in theirs. The ME really should start running.
Chris jumped into action.
“Merry, get the vacuums ready. We have very little time to preserve what’s left of the remains,” Chris ordered. “Team, start pulling the beetles out as fast as you can. Save them all. We’re going to have to make one hell of a beetle slurry.”
The team and Merry got to work, listening to their boss. They needed to stop the feeding process and hope for
the best.
“Who gave you authorization to strip the bones?” Elizabeth asked, pointing at the glass cases.
“That’s the process. I needed cause of death, and I wanted a look at their bones.”
There was the snap of latex gloves.
Some profanity.
Chris was muttering to himself as he began lifting chunks of flesh that the beetles had pulled free from the bones out of the cases.
It was rare for Doctor Leonard to drop the F bomb, but he’d used it as a noun, verb, and a very colorful adjective.
Then he creatively added it to the other ME’s name.
That took skill.
“Let me translate for you, Doctor Perette. My ME is not happy. Right now, he wants to take that cane of his and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.”
The man didn’t look worried.
Again, no big shocker. He knew they couldn’t touch him, and proving he did it on purpose would be damn near impossible.
Detective Savage cleared his throat, hoping to keep everyone calm. “I’m sure there was a misunderstanding, Director. I know I told them to hold up for the FBI to see the remains. I must not have been clear enough.”
“So they knew we were coming?” she asked, never looking away from the smirking ME.
“I sent an email.”
“Oh, I didn’t check it. I’ve been busy,” he stated. “You know how it is with this many bodies.”
Elizabeth knew there was nothing she could do. Well, there was nothing she could do about the bodies. She was definitely going to make the man in front of her bleed.
A lot too.
“This ain’t over, Doctor. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he likes to dig into the bodies without anyone jacking with them,” she said, pointing at Chris.
“Doctor Perette,” Detective Savage warned, shaking his head. He knew the man had just made this case a million times more difficult.
The ME wasn’t happy.
He wasn’t even trying to hide it.
“Son, we don’t have to listen to the FBI. We have jurisdiction.”
Before he could say anything, Elizabeth was all over it.
“Detective, I wasn’t aware that the ME was your father. You should have introduced him as such.”
The man looked confused, the Native man…not so much. He got it. A lot of the older white males called him that. It was a way to put him in his place and remind him who was in charge.
He didn’t let it bother him.
It happened every day.
“We aren’t. He’s Indian, and I’m clearly not.”
“Native American,” the techs all said, none of them looking up from their work.
Yeah, her team knew how she rolled.
She pointed at the older ME. “Then I hope that he’s not calling you son in an attempt to make some racial commentary on your ethnicity. If he is, I may tap dance all over his colon—after I remove it from his body.”
He glared at her.
“And from what I’ve seen, I question if you could find the colon since you jacked this simple job of handing off a case. I, on the other hand, can.”
Callen grinned at his wife. She may look all pretty in her suit and heels, but get her out of them, and she was a cobra full of FBI venom.
It was hot.
Callen figured he’d warn the man. “P.S—she really hates when people make comments about Natives. Oh, and calling us Indian makes her do painful shit.”
“It was nothing more than what it was,” Doctor Perette stated. “She’s reading into it.”
“I hope so because if you use the term ‘son’ in Director Whitefox’s or the detective’s direction again, while I’m here, it won’t be pretty.”
“Lyzee,” Chris said, getting her attention.
“Yeah, Doc?”
“The first two victims are nearly fleshless. I need an anthropologist. I’ve got nothing more than bones on this one.”
That pissed her off.
“I’ll get Tony on the next flight.”
“We have an anthro…” began Doctor Perette.
Chris nearly lost his mind.
Elizabeth didn’t even have to say a single word.
“HELL NO! I will not let anyone touch these bodies other than our team. They’ve already made my life a million times more difficult. Our team has to work backwards now.”
Elizabeth would let her ME call the shots in the morgue. This was his area, and she had hers.
When Doctor Perette glanced over, Elizabeth made it crystal clear.
“Yeah, it’s not happening. You heard my partner in crime. He wants our anthropologist, and he’s getting him. I have a team I can trust. I’ll use them.”
Yeah, and try to explain to her husband, but mostly Gabe on why she was incurring an expense.
Oh well.
It wasn’t the first time she’d had to break the rules a little to solve a case. As long as they caught a killer, he’d let her ass out of the sling.
Elizabeth glanced over at the detective, and he’d moved from his position to hold a container open for Merry as she dumped beetles into it.
“I’m really sorry, Director,” the detective said. “I take full responsibility for this screw-up. Had I known, I would have headed here to babysit.”
It was clear from the inflection in his voice that heads were going to roll when he got the ME alone.
Good.
This time, it wasn’t the FBI stepping on toes. That meant she was off to a good start. Elizabeth liked to cause her mayhem later in the game when people weren’t expecting it. The first hour was way too obvious.
“This isn’t your fault,” she offered. “You sent the email. I’m sure going forward, this won’t continue.”
That was her only warning to the parish ME.
The detective still looked worried.
Elizabeth understood where he was coming from with this. When a team made an error, the person running it was the one taking the fall. She was in charge of this mess, and she wasn’t going to let him deal with it—especially since she didn’t doubt that the reason it happened was a pissing match aimed at her.
“I need to see your boss,” she stated.
“The mayor is overseeing this one. The captain is away on his honeymoon, and he’s given the control over to him. Mayor LaCroix is a control freak. He has his hands all over this one.”
She pointed at her one agent. “Johanna, get me an appointment with the Mayor, ASAP. When I say ASAP, I mean today. I want to have a conversation with the man in charge, and I don’t want it at his nearest convenience. I want it NOW!”
The agent pulled out her gear and got to work, getting her boss the meeting.
“Broderick, I want you to run everyone in this lab, get their DNA on file, and help Merry begin unloading the rest of our gear, in no specific order. Normally, I’d have you go with their records, but we’re running this one by the freaking book. Retest them all. Clear?”
“On it, boss lady.” He saluted and got to work.
“Now, Doctor, we’re going to be borrowing this morgue. We’ll turn it over as soon as we’re done.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think so. This is my house, and you’re company. I’ll keep my eyes on the good silver. No offense, but I’ve heard about you.”
She narrowed her eyes and moved toward him. When she was toe to toe with the smaller, older man, she lowered her voice. “Since you’ve heard about me and how I react, do you really think it’s a good idea to push me? You’ve read the stories, seen the news, and know I’m a fucking loose cannon. Do you really want me going off in your direction?”
At that exact moment, Merry slammed a metal tray down, and the ME jumped.
Elizabeth had to fight not to laugh. Her team amused the hell out of her.
“Point taken, but still…”
Elizabeth was going to have to work for this one.
Okay.
She shrugged noncommittally. “Where exactly were the
four bodies stolen from?” she asked, starting her investigation. If the man wanted to play, she could do that.
“Here,” he said, after a little lapse in conversation.
“So, you have security that lax, that four bodies went missing from beneath your nose, and you want me to let you babysit my team?”
He closed his mouth.
It was probably a damn good idea.
“No offense, Doctor, but you lost four corpses. Yeah, that’s not good. In fact, it’s not FBI worthy. Hell! It’s not cop worthy either.”
He got red.
“Did anyone pull the security tapes?” she asked.
Detective Savage pulled a zip drive from his pocket. “It was the first thing I did.”
Elizabeth took the drive from him and passed it off to Callen. She couldn’t wait to see what was on it. Glancing over at the ME’s staff, Elizabeth wanted them out of her hair.
“You can head out. It’s nearly four. We’re going to be working late. Take your ME with you. This lab is commandeered. Callen, make a note to tell the mayor that I want any more victims, not associated with this case rerouted to another ME. This lab facility is closed until I figure out how someone snuck in and jacked four bodies without anyone having a freaking clue.”
Callen made a note.
“I also want to commandeer the two detectives who were working this case. We’re going to have an escort while we’re here in ‘The Big Easy’,” she stated. “You know…in case any of the city staff thinks we’re difficult to work with. We’ll call it covering my ass.”
He made more notes.
“Is that okay with you, Detective?” she asked.
“I can still help?”
Honestly, she didn’t need him. Truthfully, she hated working with the locals, but this was a decent cop. She could tell. He owned his team’s mistake, he came to them at the airport and asked to be let in, and when he found out the bodies were covered in flesh eating beetles, he jumped in to help save them.
Detective Savage deserved a shot. Until he pissed her off, he could help.
Besides, his name amused her.
It was damn funny.
“Yeah, you can. I don’t need two detectives following me around, so how about you take the day shift and your partner can handle the nights? We’ll have eyes on both shifts, and that makes me feel a little more secure with a body snatcher roaming around. Maybe he can swing by here and make sure no one else goes missing from this facility. People might start to talk.”
Blood Shall Run (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 15) Page 9
