Callen did. “It’s so worth it.”
His brother dropped his arm around his shoulder. “Oh yeah it is.”
The lab was a twitter in activity. The techs were hustling and the doctors were busy with the bodies. One was stripped of its muscle and organs, while the other was still intact. The team was still trying to find what the mystery substance was that coated the bodies along with the carbon.
Both doctors were working their asses off to get Elizabeth the results.
“We can’t figure it out,” he finally said, frustrated.
Elizabeth had never seen Chris look so stirred up over anything. “Doc, did you give it to Christina to run? She’s generally really good at little obscurities like this.”
“We’ve run all the standard tests on it, and now we’re going into the ambiguous substances category.”
As the three men walked in and everyone glanced over, all conversation paused.
Tori wanted to rush to him and hold him in her arms. Her poor Julian looked like hell. Someone went on a bender last night. She almost wanted to smile. Obviously, he was feeling bad about what he did.
When Julian stood in the lab, the noise was making his head throb. Then he noticed Tori was watching him with her beautiful smoky blue eyes. Lifting his sunglasses off his face, he stared back at her. He let all the pain show. Julian wanted her to know he was hurting for what he did.
There was hurt present in her features too.
Tori might be exceptionally good at keeping her emotions in check, but her eyes spoke to him. Hope began to blossom. Maybe there was a chance to get her back after all.
“We’re going to run the mystery material all over again,” continued Chris. “We’ll figure it out. It appears the substance was placed in the fire and the smoke carried it onto the victims as the killer skinned them.”
“What do we know about it?” inquired Blackhawk.
“It had high concentration levels. It had to be put into the fire for a reason. We just have no idea why.”
Julian listened to the doctors. “Did you check Peyote?”
Everyone looked over at him.
“You’re on a reservation. What do you think it’s going to be?” he muttered. “The killer was getting high as a kite as he was skinning his victims.”
Chris ran to his tablet and began furiously typing. “We never checked Lophophora williamsii. The common mescal button could be it!”
Everyone waited while the doctor played with this chemical analysis, comparing it.
“It’s a match. We didn’t run plant based analysis, since it originated in the fire.”
Julian spoke, pushing past the pounding headache. “It’s common here in ritual. Next to booze, Peyote is a big problem. Talk to the chief of police, and I’m sure he’ll confirm it.”
Elizabeth grinned. “You should get shit faced drunk more often Julian. It’s been incredibly useful.”
“Thanks,” he muttered, staring at Tori. What he wouldn’t give to just hold her against his body.
Chris was excited and grateful to the Native. His entire mood was lifted. “We ran the DNA that you brought in against our victims. Number one, Andrew Sumner, is the more decomposed victim. We stripped his body since he was in pretty rough shape. You can do the notify to the wife, but explain he’s not looking quite like himself.”
“Okay, so we’re one for one. How about number two?” asked Callen, scribbling down notes.
“Victim two is definitely Jeffrey Hopper. When I opened his skull I found skull fractures. He bled a little into the brain. It wasn’t fatal immediately, but it would have eventually led to skull pressure and death.” Chris pulled back the sheet on him.
Elizabeth ignored the man’s face and eyes. “What do we have?”
Chris pointed to the area of the chest, and everyone gathered around the table. “With victims one and two, they were clean strikes. The knife went in, and did its job effectively. With victim three, I believe he fought. The strike was one here,” he tapped Julian’s chest. “And then one here.”
Julian fought hard to not flinch and didn’t think he pulled it off. The man’s fingers hit right on the sorest part of the tattoo.
Tori was watching Julian and something was definitely wrong. He looked to be in pain. She hoped he didn't do something stupid like a barroom brawl while intoxicated.
“Now we go back to victim three, William Boyd. I can now confirm that it was the same killer. The knife cuts and removal of the skin were methodical and identical. I’ll even venture to say the same knife was used on all three victims.”
“I’d need a shitload of peyote to do this to another human being,” added Tori. “The killer had to be high.”
“The bodies have a heavy concentration of the drug covering them. The killer had them relatively close to the smoke.”
Tony Magnus spoke up. “Peyote is very common in Native American rituals.”
All three natives in the room laughed, thinking about the absurdity of the sentence. On the Rez, you could call pulling weeds a ritual, just to get stoned.
Elizabeth lifted her eyebrow. “I know the men in my life are very aware that peyote is illegal and banned in the United States.”
Again they laughed.
Julian finally spoke up. “It doesn’t grow here indigenously. But natives take a little trip to other southern reservations, get some plants and grow them in their homes. It’s Indian pot.”
Ethan grinned and said nothing. “Hey, when on the Rez,” he stated, laughing.
She pointed at him. “I expect that from him,” She pointed at Callen, “but not you.”
Whitefox started laughing. “I refuse to implicate myself in any way. But I will say this, Julian is absolutely correct. For twenty bucks and a car ride, you can get a clipping of Peyote and grow your own.” When she pointed at their unborn child, he continued. “Or so I read online.”
Ethan snickered, continuing for his brother. “Most peyote takes up to ten years to mature, but there are hybrid versions that only take three. You can get different aged plants and have at it.” Then he saw the look his wife was giving him too. “Or so Callen told me when he read that article.”
The doctors began laughing. The Blackhawk/Whitefox story game was funny as hell to watch happen. The three of them made it enjoyable to come to work.
Julian wished he had some peyote to kill the wicked ache behind his eyes. “I’d like to take another look at the original site. There were two paths into the clearing, and I need to check it out in the daylight.”
Elizabeth grinned. “Oh, well you have another job today. You get to go to Sheriff Duffy’s fine office and help Agent Christensen do the notifies. That is unless you want to ride with the men and further discuss peyote. I don’t mind handing Duffy his ass when he hits on women.” Elizabeth let that hang there until Julian got the meaning.
“Hell no! I’m going with Tori.” She may hate him, but he wasn’t letting that womanizing asshole anywhere near her. Duffy liked to pick up the opposite sex, use them like tissues and toss them aside. The last thing he wanted was that scumbag near the woman he loved.
“Chris, when Christina rolls into the lab today, tell her I need something on those feathers by end of night. I want to know the species before I go to bed or I’m going to go all crazy up in the lab. Do any of you want a wacked out pregnant woman losing her damn mind?”
Tony snickered and then cleared his throat. “We’ll pass that along to her. She was working late last night. I’m sure she’ll be in soon.”
Everyone walked out of the building, standing in the cool breeze to have their discussion. It was time to divide and conquer.
“Cal, can you give them the keys to your Denali?”
He pulled them out and tossed them to Julian. “You break her, you bought her.”
Tori took the keys from Julian’s hand. “Then I better drive. He looks like he won’t pass a breathalyzer.”
When her hand touched his, immediately his fin
gers tried to hold onto hers as long as possible. The familiarity warmed a part of his heart, and hope continued growing as she didn’t pull away as if burned.
“Remember,” Elizabeth warned. “You head to the sheriff’s, you do the notifies, and after that if you go into the reservation land to look at the site you text us. I don’t want the killer taking shots at you.”
Tori nodded. “Come on, Julian,” she stated, walking towards the vehicle.
Elizabeth grinned. “Ahhhh, they’ll be fine by tonight. You can tell she’s ready to forgive him. Julian showing up looking like hell worked in his favor.”
“Mercy huh?” Ethan said grinning, then realizing that Elizabeth had yet to tell them exactly what their part of the day was going to entail. “I do have a big question for you, Lyzee,” he said, getting that nervous feeling.
“Yeah?”
“You said that we’re tracking the feathers, but we don’t exactly have any information on them. So, what exactly are we doing today?”
Elizabeth grinned wickedly.
“Oh shit,” muttered Callen. “She’s got something planned that’s going to make us cringe. That’s her ‘trouble’ smile.”
She simply shrugged. “We have peyote and eagle feathers. That screams ritual to me. What about you two?”
Both men simply stared, knowing it wasn’t going to be good.
“I’m thinking that I want to hit up the Shaman and council all at once. I’m curious to see how they’ll react when confronted with what’s going on here.”
Ethan stared openmouthed. “You can’t go in front of the council. You’re not Native, Elizabeth. You know that.”
When she began laughing Callen shook his head. “I knew it. This is where the evil look came in. She’s going to stir the entire pot just to watch it boil over all of us.”
“I think you’re forgetting a few things, boys. One, I’m FBI and I don’t give a shit about the council rules. Two, I’m riding up with my Native partners, and three- I’m bearing a native boy child. Have faith in me. This will go over just fine.”
As she climbed up into the second Denali, they glanced over at each other.
“Clusterfuck?” asked Callen.
“Yep, a really big one.”
~ Chapter Nine ~
Tori drove towards the sheriff’s station in Red River, not speaking to the man beside her. The entire drive she could feel his eyes on her, and Tori knew once they came to a stop, Julian was going to want to talk.
Pulling in, she put the Denali in park and waited for it.
“Do you despise me now?” he asked, softly. “Hate me so much that we’re unfixable?”
Tori shook her head. “No Julian, I don’t hate you. I’ll never feel any of that about you. I just can’t be with a man that doesn’t trust me or one that accuses me of using him when I was simply leaning on him when I was broken. Believe it or not, there’s a huge difference. When you love someone you trust them enough to hold you up when you’re not strong. I’m sorry you viewed my weakness and needing you as using you.”
“Tori, I was so wrong. I was so afraid that you were in the process of leaving me, that I let my past cloud my judgment. Please forgive me for everything I accused you of yesterday.”
She finally looked over at him. “I’ll die loving you, Julian, but it doesn’t mean I’ll stay with you. You screwed up and you need to fix it. This is about work now, and not us. If you want to talk about this later, we can. Now isn’t the time. I have a job to do, and fortunately I didn't quit. Now I at least have my career.”
He nodded and closed his eyes, his heart aching desperately to have her love him and want him again. When this assignment was over, he truly believed she’d be gone. Julian had no one to blame but himself.
There was nothing worse than beating a person when they were down. Offering him a chance to find his way back, Tori took the high road. Leaning over, she gently gave him a kiss on the side of his face, allowing her fingers to run down his cheek.
His eyes opened and they were filled with so much emotion. “I’ll prove I’m worthy of your love again, Tori. I promise that I’ll fix this. Just give me a chance.”
She dropped on her sunglasses, exiting the vehicle. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Inside the building, they came face to face with Sheila Court, as she guarded the door to the kingdom. Immediately, they were faced with opposition and hostility.
“Oh look, Julian Littlemoon’s in our little building. I honestly never thought I’d see the great Indian tracker grace our presence. I guess this is our lucky day.”
Julian ignored her hostility. If anything, he was accustomed to it from working in the office with her. “We need to see Jimmy, so just buzz him and we can cut out the chit chat. I’ve had a lifetime of hearing you drone on and on.”
“You don’t get to boss me around. You betrayed your friends here for the FBI. You’re a traitor and no one here that wants to deal with you. Obviously, Indians have no loyalty.”
The way she said it, it was derogatory and meant to wound. Tori had enough. “You have five seconds to buzz your boss before I lose my temper and do something you’ll regret.”
Sheila laughed at the smaller woman. “Yeah, okay.” Now that the other bitch wasn’t around, she could manage the redhead just fine.
“Four.”
The woman didn’t even look worried as she pulled out her nail file and went to work.
“Three.”
Still nothing showed on her face.
“Two.”
Sheila smirked at her and gave her a dirty look.
“One.”
“Now what Ms. FBI?” she taunted, pushing her luck. “Go ahead and teach me a lesson.” Then the secretary went all in and flipped her off.
Julian was about to intervene.
Tori walked towards the desk and with a sweep of her arm moved everything onto the floor, including the phone, lamp and vase of flowers. It shattered and made a mess all over the papers she was working on earlier.
“Are you out of your mind?” Sheila yelled angrily, jumping up and pointing in horror.
Tori was about to really rip into the woman for calling Julian ‘Indian’, when Sheriff Duffy ran from his room to see what was happening. “Oh look, I guess I don’t need you to buzz him now. I’ll have to remember that the next time I come in here.”
“Look what she did to my desk,” the woman whined to her boss.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be such a bitch, and refer to him as Indian like it’s something bad. I know he’s Native and he knows his ethnicity, but seriously? It’s rude to point it out in conversation. It’s like me telling you that sitting at a desk all day has made your ass fat. See? It’s rude as hell to point out the obvious.”
Julian started laughing at the look on Sheila’s face. He was pretty sure no one ever dared to tell her she was less than beautiful, out of fear of her temper.
Sheila moved towards her menacingly.
“Let me warn you now. I served two tours in the Middle East; I was trained and worked with men that were Rangers. I can and will hurt you if you come near me. I’m crazy like that.”
Sheriff Duffy intervened quickly. It was just like the last time the FBI was here, only it was a different woman causing the chaos. “Okay, point taken. Sheila, clean up this mess. FBI in the office, let’s go!”
Julian followed Tori in, and was touched and amused that the woman he loved had defended him. So, this was what it felt like to be Ethan and Callen when Elizabeth lost it. Now he got why they were always smiling about it. It should have emasculated him to be defended by her, but instead it turned him on big time.
“What can I do for you both today,” Duffy said, crossing his arms across his chest as he stared down the man who used to work for him.
“We came to tell you that we have positively ID’d the victims on the Rez,” Tori said, taking a seat as Julian closely took one by her side.
“Well Sweetheart?” he said,
waiting for her to continue.
Julian wasn’t amused. Casually he dropped his arm behind the back of her chair, almost possessively.
Tori could feel his arm against her back, and she understood that the two dogs in the room were about to have a pissing match. The only good thing was Julian tended to be very levelheaded. Then she remembered his meltdown the previous day, and all hope for calm was shot to hell.
“We’re simply giving you a courtesy of notifying you. Since the victims are residents of Red River, we wanted you to know,” Tori stood, unwilling to entertain the man.
“Sit on down, Sweetheart. We’re not done talking,” he ordered, pointing.
Tori didn’t like his tone, but she’d suck it up for the sake of the job. When she crossed her arms across her chest and mimicked his body language he got the point.
“Please have a seat, Agent.”
When she did, he started laughing. “I bet you’re a wildcat in bed,” he added, winking at Julian.
His whole body tensed, and he was ready to beat the man into a bloody pulp. “You’ll never know,” he muttered, lifting his sunglasses.
Tori dropped her hand on his leg and offered him comfort. Sheriff Duffy was trying to provoke Julian, and it appeared she was going to be the bait. Under her hand, his body relaxed marginally.
“Was it the missing persons we had on file?” he asked, getting down to business.
“Yes,” she answered. “We’re on our way there to give the families the news. We can’t release the bodies until the investigation is complete, but as soon as we have this wrapped up, they’re free for burial.”
Duffy played it over in his mind. If he joined the case, he could look like the hero in time for the election. This would be awesome free publicity. “I’ll be joining you.”
Julian didn’t think that was a good idea. This particular man near his woman meant his control would be fraying fast. It was probably a good thing that not only could he track, but he could hide a body too, if need be.
“Director Blackhawk assumed you’d want to be attached to the notifies,” Tori acknowledged, standing.
Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) Page 23
