Dead Shall Speak (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 10)

by Morgan Kelley

  Literally.

  “Jaxon,” he muttered, her mouth devouring him in greedy bites. Her hands were in his hair, she was climbing up his torso, and his body was on fire.

  “Tony,” she barely replied, too lost in the man against her. “Hurry,” she pleaded, trying to get through his clothes. “I need you.”

  Jaxon was melting inside. The sight of her fiancé kissing another woman was one thing, but the feeling of being placed over his knee and spanked turned her right on.

  God help them both.

  Tony couldn’t get his buttons undone fast enough. When he was taking too much time, she took over.

  All that was heard was the rendering of fabric, her breathy gasps, and his moan of pleasure at wandering hands. His soul was on fire for this woman.

  He’d die for her.

  Tony would give anything to be with her.

  He had to have her.

  When he grabbed the hem of her shirt, roughly yanking it over her head, they stopped kissing. Her eyes were glazed with lust, his with need.

  Nothing was said as they moved back at each other, and then tumbled onto the bed. Tony Magnus had to have her.

  As they rolled back and forth, struggling to tear off the remainder of their clothes, the temperature in the room rose.

  Tony knew he was on the cusp of going insane.

  Jaxon managed to get naked first. When she ended up on top, she paused only momentarily to get her bearings. Beneath her was the sexiest man she’d ever met in her life. His black hair stood up in sexy peaks from her wandering hands, he was breathing heavily as she perched across his body.

  “I want you, Tony.” She’d surely die without him—from the need bubbling in her belly, to the flickering heat consuming her heart.

  “Take what you need,” he offered, knowing that she longed to be in charge this time. Because he loved her so much, Tony would lie back and let her find what she sought from his body.

  Jaxon wasted no time. Diving in, she trailed her mouth down his body, starting at the pulse in his throat. She tormented and teased him, until it jumped beneath her lips. Sliding lower, she let her hands wander through the light splattering of chest hair.

  God, it was one of her favorite things. It called to her, teasing her with a glimpse of the wonderful form beneath.

  “Oh, Jaxy,” he murmured, as she glided down his torso. When she reached his navel, her fingers dipped even lower. Taking him in her hand, she stroked.

  Slowly.

  Lovingly.

  Longingly.

  His body bowed with the touch. It lit him up, threatening to burn him to the ground. What lust didn't light aflame, love did.

  When her mouth found him, she worked him hard. She was so brutal, that his gasps and moans made her want more.

  Need more.

  Crave more.

  Take more.

  She had to have everything. After today, she wanted nothing less than all of the man beneath her.

  He couldn’t last much longer. Her mouth was tearing him down. The stroke of heated fingers, hot tongue, and wisps of warm breath drove him mad.

  It was taking every ounce of his control not to roll and take what he wanted. Jaxon was unraveling him with her desire.

  She couldn’t stop.

  In her mind, all she saw was the woman touching her man. The way Doctor Seston had her mouth on his, her hands around his neck, and her body pressed to what she owned, drove her insane.

  This man was hers and if she had to reassure herself by reclaiming him, so be it. Releasing him from her mouth, she quickly moved up his body. The way he was breathing like a marathon runner pleased her.

  She brought this out in him.

  It called to her.

  While Tony may be the more dominant in their relationship, her submissiveness had power. She had power over what they were when they came together.

  She was in control.

  Taking him in her hand, she prepared to sheath him.

  “Tell me you love me,” she demanded.

  He laughed. “Jaxon, what I feel for you is so much more than love. There aren’t words for it.”

  That gave her more strength. “Say it.”

  “I love and adore you with all of me.”

  She slid him home.

  When his body bowed and his eyes closed, she began her ride. It was punishing, hard, and demanding. “Look at me, Tony. See me.”

  Oh, he absolutely did.

  She was radiant, beautiful, and remarkably his. From the fire red hair, to the lean smooth lines, this woman would always live in his heart and soul.

  She rode and rode, refusing to offer him any reprieve. Until he begged, she would tear him down, breaking his control. All Jaxon wanted was to see him melt, like she always did when he did this to her.

  Tony knew she was in control, and he didn't care. As long as she stayed, loved him, and knew what lived in his heart for her, she could be as powerful as she wanted.

  Love held them together.

  The closer she pushed him to the edge, the more vocal he became.

  “Please, Jaxy!”

  She wanted him to fall.

  It was her deepest need at that moment. “Promise me that you’ll never touch another woman again.”

  He could give her that. “I swear, sweetheart. I only want you.”

  It was all she needed. The punishment continued, as the only sounds in the room were his gasps for breath and the wet slide of his body joining hers.

  “Promise me you’re mine.”

  He gave her that too.

  “Promise me that you’ll never leave me.”

  His eyes opened, and he stared deep into hers. “I swear on my life, I’ll stay until the day I die.”

  This victory was hers. With one last punishing stroke, she slammed herself down on him, burying Tony so deep in her body that he may never get free.

  He moaned, slipping out of control. Everything around him exploded, taking them both off the edge and into the pleasure.

  He couldn’t feel much, but he knew she was with him. Her steady breath was on his throat. As he fought to surface, his arms finally obeyed and wrapped around her. Still buried in her body, he rolled, tucking her close.

  “I love you, Jaxon,” he murmured, leaving kisses across her cheek and lips.

  “I love you too, but I’m still mad at you.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I get that, but you have other problems to worry about right now.”

  She opened her eyes to find his face so close to hers. Effortlessly, she found his mouth to offer him a kiss. “What?”

  Tony laughed. “You punched a civilian in the face, knocked her out, and still have to tell your boss.”

  Horror filled her. “Oh shit! Elizabeth.”

  He grinned. “Yeah, and while seducing me in bed made me less angry, it’s not going to work on her. You’re definitely not her type. You’re not male or Native enough to distract her.”

  Jaxon closed her eyes. Her biggest fear had been losing Tony, but right behind it was coming in second. There was a new terror on her ‘scared shitless’ list.

  At the top was Elizabeth Blackhawk.

  “She’s going to kick my ass.”

  Tony was well aware. Now, he only hoped he could stop it.

  * * *

  When her tablet finally beeped, she was so damn excited. They’d been trying to match the woman’s reconstructed skull for the last day, and now they finally had a match.

  Pulling it up, Johanna and Broderick stared at the face looking back at them.

  “She did good work. It’s nearly perfect,” Brody Seaton stated, admiring Jaxon’s work. They now had their third fleshy victim’s name.

  “She did! Elizabeth is going to be happy!” Johanna stated, jumping up. She was so thrilled that for a brief moment, she lost her mind.

  Grabbing her partner, she kissed him firmly on the mouth.

  Then, she realized what the hell she just did.

  “Oh, shit! Bro
dy…”

  He blew it off. He knew her well enough to know that Johanna would freak out if he busted her ass over it. If he had a snowball’s chance in hell at building something with her, he had to let it go.

  “We better go tell the boss. She’ll need this information to get the investigation going.”

  She could have kissed him again, if she wasn’t so hell bent on keeping their relationship professional.

  “Good idea.”

  Even as she headed out to find the boss, Johanna Madden knew one thing.

  This was going to be very hard. Her partner tasted damn good.

  * * *

  Autopsy

  As Chris Leonard stood over his newest ‘patient’, he knew this was going to be one hell of an autopsy. From her body, he could tell that this woman suffered a great deal before her death.

  “What do we have, Doc?” Elizabeth asked, hopping up onto a metal table with a cup of coffee.

  He shook his head. “It’s like that movie where the man wakes up every day, and it’s the same shit over and over again.”

  She laughed at his not-so-slightly veiled comment about her pushing for information. Elizabeth had news for him. That was never going to change.

  “Well, at least you’re not shocked. I need something, Chris. I have to head to see her parents, and soon. I can’t show up there with ‘we have your daughter and she’s a hot mess’. That’s not going to fly.”

  Elizabeth had a point.

  Glancing over at Meredith, he gave her the okay.

  She approached, carrying a clear evidence bag. “I’m checking for the killer’s DNA. This was around her neck, or so the other ME claims.”

  Elizabeth took it and stared in disgust. “A dog collar and chain? That’s horrifying.”

  No one disagreed there.

  Ethan made notes. This would help him with the profile at some point. “He was using it to train her,” he stated.

  Again, there were more looks of disgust.

  Chris continued, “Yes, and it was definitely around her neck, and for a while.”

  Meredith held up a second smaller bag. “It was padlocked on. They cut through the leather to get it off her.”

  Elizabeth wanted to scream and vomit at the same time. Their victim was kept like some pet for the killer’s amusement. “Please tell me that you have trace DNA.”

  Meredith nodded. “She was repeatedly sexually assaulted. We have trace from him. Now, most will have been compromised from the water, but I should be able to get you something from the DNA under her nails.”

  “How about her clothes?” Elizabeth asked.

  “She’s the first victim to have them on her,” Chris began. “All the other victims were buried naked.”

  That made Blackhawk think. “That’s curious.”

  It certainly was.

  “Chris, give me a preliminary. Ethan needs more to help me pinpoint who this psycho is.”

  “She was strangled, but this time, I’m going to say that the animal who did this didn't use his hands. If you look closely at the bruising, it appears that he used the chain.”

  Of course he did. Why not use what was handy?

  “And?”

  “I haven’t opened her yet, but I can tell you that he beat on her. I’m not a profiler, but I can tell you that he wasn’t happy when he did it. This girl was a punching bag for him. Her face, upper body, and ribs are a mess.”

  Elizabeth glanced over at her husband. “Well?”

  “He’s escalating. The last woman was pregnant, but he killed her. This one he didn't have long. We might be wrong about him wanting children. Maybe the last victim was just better at keeping him appeased.” The clothing thing was bugging him. “Why was she dressed?”

  They thought about it.

  Elizabeth began pacing. “Maybe he was transporting her. What if she tried to make a break for it? She was dressed, but didn't have shoes.”

  They just didn't have answers for that.

  She hated not having a direction.

  “I did tox, ma’am. It’ll be back in the morning,” Merry offered. “I also have the information you requested on the mineral trace for the last victim’s teeth.”

  Well, that was a positive at least.

  “What do you have?”

  “She was from Indiana. I can’t pinpoint more of a location, but it looked to be somewhere in the center of the state. The trace elements are distinctive.”

  Elizabeth glanced over at Ethan. She could tell he was thinking the same damn thing. That was where Tony’s mother had gone missing. Was the killer using the same hunting grounds as his mentor?

  This set off alarms in both of their heads. Yet, neither said anything, trying to keep the tech team out of Tony’s business.

  Callen spoke up, “Did we search the data system for foster kids? Maybe she was a run away,” he offered.

  That was a good possibility.

  “Go for it, Cal,” she stated. “At this point, we have to eliminate everything until we find her. I want her to have a name, not fleshy victim three. Search where Meredith is pointing. That’s going to be our jumping off point.”

  Just then, the doors opened and an exuberant but flushed Johanna rushed in. “You’ll be happy to know that Doctor Armstrong is a genius!”

  Elizabeth lifted a brow. “How so?”

  Agent Seaton held up the picture of the clay remodeling of the victim’s face.

  “Yes, we’ve met. Now, what’s the point?” she asked.

  He then held up the other picture. “We found her. She was a run away from a group foster home. She had some disabilities, and was in the state’s care.”

  Elizabeth hopped down. “That’s damn good work from not only our genius doctor, but our dedicated team.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” they said.

  Blackhawk grinned. “She nailed it.”

  “Where is our illustrious doctor?” Elizabeth asked, looking around. In fact, it just hit her that Tony was MIA too. “Are they at the dig site?”

  Chris spoke up, “Tony was headed there earlier. He wanted to check on the team. I thought it was best he go.” He stared right at Elizabeth, hoping she would get the point. They didn't want him anywhere near the other skull. “I do believe that his fiancée was headed there to have lunch with him. Maybe they got tied up with something.”

  Elizabeth was okay with that.

  “Perfect. When you see Doctor Armstrong, give her a fist bump for me.”

  That they could do.

  “Now, tell me more about our victim. What’s her name?” she asked.

  “We have April Belmont. She was seventeen when he took her.”

  Ethan made notes. “When did she go missing?”

  Johanna was excited. “She’s been missing a while. It looks like our killer took her and kept her locked up. She was reported as a runaway seven months ago.”

  Elizabeth thought about it. “How far along was she, Doc?”

  “No more than two months,” he replied.

  They all knew what that meant. They just got their clarification on whether or not the person who held her was the baby daddy. He absolutely was.

  It looked like he was searching for breeding stock after all. They were on the right track, despite not having a hell of a lot to work on.

  “Is there anything else you need us to work on, boss?” Johanna asked.

  She thought about it.

  “As a matter of fact, I do. I need you to be sneaky.”

  Both agents looked surprised, and Elizabeth didn't think it was for the same reason as she meant. “What I mean is, I want one of you to call the sheriff’s office and pretend to be the media. I want all the information you can dig out of them on the location where Magdalene was found.”

  They both relaxed.

  From the look on Ethan’s face, Elizabeth could tell that it wasn’t her imagination. He caught it too. Yeah, something was up with her two agents.

  “We can do that.”

&n
bsp; “Great. I want to know where she was pulled out of the water. Then, we need to track it back to find out where she went in. Then we can start searching for where she was killed.”

  They all knew that was a long shot, but worth it if they could find anything out.

  “Okay, boss.”

  As they headed out, Ethan spoke up, “I called the media. You’ll have your media circus in the morning at the sheriff’s office.”

  Elizabeth grinned wickedly. “Perfect. I’m going to do what I don’t usually do.”

  Chris looked up from his autopsy. “Be pleasant to the media and local law? Buy us all lunch? Smile and pretend you’re Susie Sunshine?”

  She snorted. “I’m pregnant, not insane. I’m going to give the media enough to warn any black haired, blue eyed victims, and make the sheriff’s job a little harder. He’s going to be so busy handling the scared townsfolk that he won’t have time to be on our asses. It’s a win-win any way you look at it.”

  Ethan’s hand went to her arm where one of the bandages was located. “You realize that’s poking the big local bear, right?” He couldn’t help but feel edgy. They had a shooter. Someone was going to be gunning for them.

  Literally.

  If it was the local law, she was wearing a bull’s-eye.

  She was well aware. “Yes, but I have my two strong men to keep me safe.”

  Callen wasn’t amused. “Yeah, that didn't feel sincere at all. I think you threw that in to appease us.”

  “Hell yeah, I did.”

  Both men stared at her, a little shocked that she’d admit it outright.

  Ethan’s cheek twitched and Callen didn't speak.

  “Really, boys. This isn't my first day. I think I can manage to keep everything under control for a little while. Seriously, chill out.”

  This wouldn’t be the first time she’d said something like that. In all honesty, it scared them. Elizabeth was notoriously a magnet for trouble, and Belleville appeared to have plenty of that.

  * * *

  He watched her.

  She was going to be his wife.

  When it was all said and done, he would have her as his own. She would be perfect. Where the last one didn't quite work out, he was willing to let that go. After all, sometimes you had to make mistakes.