Dead are Forgotten

by Morgan Kelley

  Callen watched his woman. This was EXACTLY why she was a damn good mother. She was feeling what the young man was feeling, and she was trying to heal him.

  “I get my lady skills from him,” Max said proudly.

  That made her laugh.

  “Son, Levi lied. He was cheesy, silly, and he put all the wrong moves on me. It was comical, but after he died, I realized something.”

  “What?”

  “There’s a time to be silly, and a time to fight. I carry that with me each day. With each case, you learn something. If you pay attention, you take it with you—all the good investigators do. With that case, I learned that you can be a good cop and be funny. I use that life lesson every day with my work. In our world, you can’t be serious all the time.”

  “It’s a good thing to hold onto. Thank you for that card and your cross.”

  “It was my mother’s cross. She was killed when I was ten, and I thought that since your father was religious, you should have it.”

  Callen knew why she’d given it away. It was to show she was giving up on religion, but he knew that wasn’t true. Elizabeth, under it all, still believed.

  She didn’t lie.

  She didn’t steal.

  She didn’t commit adultery.

  Those lessons were part of the fabric of her being, and she respected them to that day.

  There was still some faith left in her but on her terms.

  “Do you want it back since it’s your mother’s?” he asked, willing to let it go.

  “No, she’d want you to have it. My mother, Catherine, would want you to hold onto that.”

  He was glad.

  “Thank you. I’m attached to it, even if it wasn’t my dad’s cross. I at least know it was equally important.”

  Which reminded her.

  “I have something else for you,” she said.

  Reaching into her desk, she pulled out a small cardboard box that she’d had forever. It traveled with her from the FBI to Salem, then Damascus, and now back to the Hoover building.

  It was her little keepsake box.

  “This is your dad’s lucky coin. He would flip it before going through a door. He told me he was holding it the second he found out about you.”

  That touched him.

  “He really loved me, didn’t he?”

  “Yes. He really did, Max. He loved that you were named after him.”

  He laughed.

  That was funny.

  “Yeah, my mom said the same thing. She did it to annoy him, but now it breaks her heart whenever she says my name. I can see it in her eyes.”

  It was clear that Max was good at reading people.

  “I bet,” she admitted, handing him the coin she’d pulled out of the box.

  Callen was curious about the box. When she put it down, he saw something familiar that caught his eye. At first, he couldn’t believe it. At first…yeah, it caught him way off guard.

  Pulling the box closer, he got a better look.

  His heart skipped.

  What?

  Callen saw the necklace inside, and he couldn’t believe it. That took him back all those years ago.

  What the hell?

  How did it end up in her box?

  “Uh, where did you get the Native beaded necklace?” he asked, holding his breath.

  It took her a second to switch gears.

  “Pardon?”

  “This?” Callen asked, pulling it from the box.

  “I found it in my desk after some deputy used it as a place to park his ass. I was on that case in Boston. He left that for me as a thank you.”

  His heart began thumping.

  The desk.

  The smart-ass woman who left him notes—Elizabeth had been the one who saved his life back then.

  Jesus.

  He had just missed her.

  Before Callen could tell her that, Max broke the silence. He flipped the coin, and then looked up at her.

  “I want in.”

  She laughed.

  “I’m serious.”

  She stopped laughing.

  “What? Are you insane? Do you know the uphill battle we’re fighting on this one? Even if I find the mass grave, there’s no way I even know if I can tie him to it. It’s a waste of time.”

  “And yet, you’re still doing it. Why?” he asked.

  Well, that was easy.

  “Justice.”

  “For?” he asked.

  Well, shit.

  “Touché, Maximus Chase. Touché.”

  Oh, well, he wasn’t done.

  “O’Banion was the reason my dad died. I want in, and this,” he said, pointing at the card and necklace were proof. “This circle isn’t finished,” he said. “My dad’s job isn’t done, and I want to make sure I finish what he started. He was heading the mob task force against O’Banion, and I am going to finish it for him. Then he can rest in peace.”

  Elizabeth didn’t have anything for him to work on at that moment. They were missing the big piece.

  O’Banion.

  “Callen, do you have your copy of the file?” she asked, as she glanced over at him.

  He was staring at the necklace in his hands.

  “Callen James?”

  She broke his concentration.

  “What?”

  “Do you have a copy of this file?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Can I have it?” she asked.

  He gave it to her.

  Elizabeth turned her focus to the young detective. He was green, he was out of his mind, and she liked him.

  A lot.

  “This is all I have, but you’re welcome to look over it. Maybe you’ll see something I’m not.”

  “Does this mean I’m in?” he asked.

  It looked like that was exactly what she meant.

  Damn her and her overwhelming need to mother the hell out of broken birds!

  “Yes. When I get something, I’ll call you. Why not get someone closure, right?” she asked.

  “Really?”

  “For Max, yeah. The circle has to be closed. I’m all about finishing what I started.”

  The man was clearly relieved.

  Only, Callen wasn’t. He had that unsettled feeling, and he wanted to know what the hell was going on.

  “Uh, can you give us a few?” Callen asked. “I hate to cut this short, but it’s important.”

  “Yeah, I’ll head to the hotel. Please don’t push me out. Let me help. Deputy Director Blackhawk gave me one shot to talk to you about it, and I need this.”

  “I’ll call,” she promised. “If anything, I always keep my word, and you have it, Maximus.”

  For that, he was grateful.

  He grabbed the card, the cross, and the file. In his hand, he placed the gold necklace with the coin.

  “Thank you.”

  “I haven’t found him yet.”

  “You will. I have a good feeling about all of this. I’d put my money on you, Elizabeth.”

  Yeah, no pressure there.

  After he was gone, Callen opened his mouth to speak, but she shut him down. She knew what he was going to say. Letting someone who was out for vengeance on their team was a bad idea.

  “I know I shouldn’t have done that, Callen James, but it was his father.”

  “It’s not about this.”

  “Uh, then what?”

  Gently, he held the turquoise necklace in his big hands. “You found it in your drawer, inside a note, and beside your pencil sharpener.”

  She stared at him.

  Uh, that was exactly right.

  But how?

  “That was creepy shit when Timothy did it, but now I have the willies. Are you trying to freak me the hell out?” she asked, staring at him.

  Only, he was dead serious.

  “I left you that necklace all those years ago, Elizabeth. This was from me.”

  She stared at it in his fingers.

  How the hell was that possible? What
he was saying made no sense to her.

  If he did…

  “What? Did you? How?”

  She couldn’t wait to hear him explain all of this.

  Callen was shaken by this.

  All this time, he’d forgotten about it. That was a dark day in his life, and the only light had been the mystery woman.

  He began, sharing what had happened to him.

  “I was here for a symposium held by Ethan on profiling. We were still estranged, but I was here from the rez to learn about more cop techniques from the master. At the last minute, I didn’t want to do it. I was still hurting from Ethan’s response to me.”

  She held his hand.

  Elizabeth knew it likely hadn’t been good.

  Ethan back then…from what she’d learned, had been hard to get through to on a good day.

  On a bad one…

  Yeah, no.

  Callen continued, “So, Gabe gave me a shit job to keep me busy. He put me at this agent’s desk and told me to go through a few cold case files.”

  She listened.

  “I found notes all over the place. The woman was a hot mess when it came to a file.”

  She laughed.

  It was true.

  That was why Ethan had always kept the file and submitted it to Gabe, and now Callen did the same. She was habitually a mess when it came to them.

  It was ironic since she was super organized in everything else in her life.

  She just didn’t give a shit about paperwork.

  “I see you haven’t changed,” he teased.

  She laughed.

  Then she recalled all of it.

  “Jesus in tap shoes! Are you the desk farter?” she asked, not really shocked. The universe had wanted them together.

  What fate wanted, fate generally got.

  “I’ll have you know you were weird back then too,” he answered.

  She did remember.

  “We almost met.”

  That was…insane.

  Callen pulled out his messenger bag from the bottom drawer of his desk, and out of it, he pulled the journal he always carried with him. Now it was full of notes, plots, and his thoughts. Back then, it had been brand new.

  He handed it to her.

  “Open it at the first page. Timothy gave me that and it was my little journal that I scribbled my thoughts in over the years.”

  She opened it and notes fell out.

  Her notes.

  To the stranger.

  Immediately, she recognized them.

  “Callen James.”

  He continued, “Gabe tried to get me to stay so I could meet you. I told him I couldn’t. You weren’t Native. I almost met the woman of my dreams, but I’d turned down the opportunity. I was an idiot.”

  She touched his cheek and stared into his eyes.

  They’d come so close.

  “I told you that you were always meant to be mine. You were my soulmate searching for me. You didn’t miss out on anything. We are together.”

  Her words touched him.

  “My love, I’ll die your soulmate. Turn to the fourth page,” Callen offered.

  She did.

  “It looks like your cabin back on the rez.”

  Oh, it was.

  It was her cabin.

  He’d built it for the woman he fell for all those years ago. She didn’t just save his life, but she gave him purpose.

  “You saved me. After facing Ethan, I wanted to die. I wanted to give up, forget everything, and leave the Earth. I was so broken, damaged, and in pieces. Ethan had told me to crawl back into the hellhole I’d come from and die, and I was there. God! I was there. Had I done it, I would have lost all of this. You saved me, Elizabeth.”

  She held his hand.

  Elizabeth was horrified that Ethan had told him that. They were both lucky that fate intervened.

  “Oh, Callen James. I’m so sorry. I wish I found you sooner.”

  He gave her a soft kiss.

  “I don’t. This is right. We’re meant to be. That’s you on the porch,” he offered, as he pointed at it.

  She giggled.

  “That’s a horrible drawing of a stick figure with a rat’s nest on her head.”

  He was aware.

  “I’m a poet, not an artist. I need to know why you kept those notes. They were nothing to you. I was a stranger.”

  He knew why he’d kept them, but her reasoning was a mystery.

  She laughed.

  Then she offered him the truth.

  “They saved me too. I came back angry, hurt, and just starting a relationship. I was all kinds of confused. Your notes and that necklace became good luck to me. I’ve kept them in my desk for years. Every desk becomes their home. Some people have rabbit’s feet. I have Native beads.”

  He offered up the truth behind them.

  Not about him.

  About who made them.

  “Timothy knew. He knew you were going to be here. He was setting it all in motion. He made them for you. Even then, he was claiming you. Turquoise is used to calm, direct, and love. He was laying the groundwork.”

  Yes, yes, he was.

  God!

  She missed him.

  To soothe her husband, she gave him a kiss. It was warm, full of love, and connected them. He’d been hers from the moment she was born.

  She knew it.

  “The old man knew,” Callen stated. “He saved me to make sure you found me. It’s a circle.”

  And there it was.

  “That’s why I have to let Max in. I have to give him the chance to take this full circle. It’s all connected, Callen. Everything in my life is a circle linking to another moment. It’s a chain. All of it—Chris and I being a couple for ten years, and then my nearly dying and running. That brought me Ethan, and with Ethan came you and Timothy. Chris came back into my life, and Wyler followed. One more link in the chain of our lives. Maximus Chase is part of this. He deserves to tell his story.”

  Well, she had a damn good point.

  How could he argue with that?

  “I say let him in. Let him find the man who was behind his father’s death.”

  She agreed.

  “We should go talk to Ethan. Someone has to have a way to get the US Marshals to deal with us. We have to have a way to get them to leak something. He and Marcus Hunter are buddies. I’m not above bribing the man.”

  He was aware.

  “We’ll find it.”

  She hoped so.

  As they headed toward Ethan’s office, she wanted to get to Carl ‘The Knife’ Fitzpatrick and get someone to tell her where all those bodies were hidden. If they couldn’t find O’Banion, he was the next way to get it handled.

  If she striked out with the mob man, she’d hit up his second string. Hopefully, he’d spill his guts.

  In fact, she’d make him.

  If the US Marshals thought they could stop her, they had another thing coming. They might have O’Banion protected, but his luck was running out.

  Soon.

  At his office, Ginny was sitting there and working on some papers.

  The woman could sign her husband’s name better than she could, and here was the proof.

  Even Elizabeth couldn’t tell the difference.

  “Uh oh. He’s busy if you’re signing his papers. In your next life, you have a career as a master forger.”

  She laughed.

  That was one of the things she prided herself in at work. It sucked to have to bother Ethan for supply signatures. He was a busy man.

  “Well, he’s in a meeting, and the reason I’m helping him is that I’m kissing Native ass, so I can have two weeks off for my honeymoon.”

  “Like you have to do that. You know he’s lost without his work wife.”

  Wasn’t that the truth?

  Ginny had been with him a while. She loved her job and the Blackhawks. She’d come back East to be with them, and in the process, she met her fiancé.

  They w
ere good luck.

  “How’s the wedding planning?” Elizabeth asked.

  “There’s something to be said to be marrying a rich man,” she stated. “I have a planner.”

  Elizabeth totally understood that.

  She glanced over at her husband as if to confirm that statement.

  “You don’t say?” she teased.

  He lifted a brow.

  “Now, you accept me being wealthy?” he asked. “Just yesterday, it was a burden. No, twenty minutes ago, it was a travesty when I bought you a coffee.”

  “Well, that was when you wanted to buy me shit. I hate planning things like a wedding. For that, I’ll kiss your feet and sing your praises.”

  Ginny gave her a fist bump.

  “To the men who can buy us wedding planners,” she teased.

  “I’ll remember that on our wedding day,” Callen stated, “when the planner yells at you.”

  He was probably right.

  “I can’t wait to be there,” Ginny stated. “The Blackhawks know how to throw a party.”

  They sure did.

  “Is he in with Gabe?” she asked, hoping he’d be done soon. There was business to handle, and she only hoped that he didn’t flip his lid when she told him there was a Boston Detective on their team now too.

  Then again, he let him into the building, and Ethan Blackhawk didn’t do anything without a backup plan.

  “No, he’s in with two detectives.”

  She flipped through her papers and kept signing.

  That piqued her interest.

  “Really? Who?” she asked.

  “Detectives Redwolf and Gaines. They had an emergency and needed to see him. Chris was in before that.”

  Wow.

  Someone was busy.

  Apparently, there was a local issue if he was talking to the two cops. She hoped it wasn’t going to be a case. Right now, she was all O’Banion, all the time.

  Elizabeth was about to sit down when Ethan’s door opened.

  His face said it all.

  “Uh, do I have another case?” she asked, knowing she’d jinxed it. She could feel it.

  He nodded.

  Well, fuckity fuck.

  This would suck. She wanted to focus on O’Banion and that garbage. Elizabeth hated to say it, but she didn’t want to handle a run of the mill serial killer. She wanted the mob man’s head on a pike, so she could square dance around it.

  “Yes, but I need to see you first,” he admitted, knowing he’d given Chris all the time he could. If he didn’t tell Elizabeth what had happened and now, she’d skin him alive and chew ass for lunch.