Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6)

by Kelley, Morgan

  “When Jimmy hears about this, he’s going to run you lousy FBI agents out of our town, or at least back onto that shitty Indian reservation.”

  If she’d been the only one in the room, Elizabeth would have dropped it on her with little mercy, but because there were other people with feelings, she opted to just swallow it. “When did you last see James Duffy?”

  Sheila Court crossed her arms and pinched her lips closed, much like a disgruntled child.

  “I saw him about five last night, Ma’am,” stated Max Kelly. “I was heading out of work, and he asked me if I wanted to get a beer. I had a date and couldn’t join him.”

  The officer that they recognized from their last Red River run in spoke next. “I didn’t see him yesterday,” Deputy Christian Anderson replied. “He’s usually here part of the day on Saturdays. Is something wrong?”

  Elizabeth had to give the man credit, since he was the only one that suspected something and was asking questions. If she’d been in their place, the inquisition would be happening.

  Callen took over. “We’re jointly working on an assignment and sometime last night, James Duffy was abducted and became the next victim.”

  No one spoke, as they allowed it to soak in and absorb.

  “You think it’s funny to come here and screw with us?” demanded Sheila. “You have some sick sense of humor to tell us Jimmy’s dead!”

  “Have you called him today?” Elizabeth asked, lifting a brow.

  “Yes, but he likes to go out of Friday nights. When he does, he doesn’t always come in on Saturdays.”

  Max Kelly offered some more information. “He liked to get drunk at the end of the work week, and Jimmy’s probably sleeping the hangover off, Ma’am.”

  Elizabeth stood and leaned forward on the conference table. “What I don’t think you are getting is, that we’ve already made a positive ID or we wouldn’t be here. Sheriff James Duffy is deceased, and we at the FBI are sorry for your loss. We’ve just called the mayor of your fine town, and he will address the situation as soon as he arrives.”

  Deputy Anderson stared at the two agents. “I don’t think they’re screwing with us, Sheila.”

  “We’re not,” Callen confirmed.

  Sheila began bawling. “Jimmy’s dead?”

  “We’re sorry for the loss of your co-worker and friend,” Elizabeth reiterated. “Where would Jimmy hang out to drink on a Friday night?” she questioned, ignoring the woman’s wailing. Now they had a job to do and justice to find for the sheriff.

  Max handed Sheila a handful of tissues as she sobbed. “He preferred Sal’s over on prospect. The woman he liked to hang out with goes there.”

  “Carly Kester?” asked Whitefox.

  Both men nodded, patting the woman on the back. Her sobs were racking her body, and Elizabeth swore she was going to make herself sick.

  “Are you going to be okay, Ms. Court?” asked Callen.

  The woman looked up and glared at him. “No, I’m not going to be alright! Our boss is dead, but you shouldn’t be surprised. Last time you assholes came to Red River we lost another friend too.”

  Yeah, here came the anger.

  “It’s probably some Indian that hates us town folk! They wanted to teach us a lesson.”

  “I seriously doubt…” started Christian Anderson, before being cut off by the woman.

  “It was nice here without Julian Littlemoon and your kind making our lives miserable,” she stated, pointing at Callen. “Go back to your damn reservations where you belong!”

  Elizabeth had enough. “I get that you’re grief stricken, Ms. Court, but you need to mind your manners a bit more. We have no evidence it’s a Native American perpetrating these crimes. As to my partner here, we don’t live on a reservation. We have a home in a really nice development and let me assure you, that we would very much like to get back to it. That’s where WE belong.”

  Sheila glared at her.

  “I can guaren-damn-tee that we’ll be out of your hair as soon as we find the killer. Until then, you’ll have to deal with us being here. I’ll let the ignorant Native comments go for now, because you lost a friend, but the next time you point at Director Whitefox, you’ll be losing that hand.”

  Just then the door opened with Mayor Grant walking in to handle the situation.

  “I’ll take it from here,” he said, shaking their hands.

  “We’re going over to James Duffy’s home. Please keep your staff from charging over there like a bunch of loose cannons. We haven’t ascertained as to where their friend went missing yet.” Elizabeth said, simply.

  “I will, Directors.”

  The three left the room. Blackhawk glanced over at his wife and brother. “Fun huh?”

  “Yeah, it was an awesome time. Remind me to come back here yearly on our vacation,” Callen stated.

  Elizabeth laughed. “We get a vacation?”

  “Supposedly,” added Blackhawk.

  “I say we do something completely crazy,” she suggested. “We pack up and we actually take one this year.”

  “Works for me,” Ethan said.

  Callen tapped his watch. “Can we go right now?”

  No one laughed, knowing where they were heading and what still had to be done in Red River.

  Julian had been here many times when he worked for the sheriff’s department. Sometimes it was to just have a beer and sometimes to check on his drunken boss. Many times he’d been called out to retrieve the man that he once called friend.

  James Duffy had two loves in his life- loose women and copious amounts of booze. His friends made it their mission to make sure he wasn’t driving home drunk, or dying in a car accident. Everyone knew he’d never change, so they checked up on him and looked the other way. All in all, the man wasn’t a bad guy, just a bored man in a tiny town, wanting to forget it all. Wasn’t that pretty much just like his life prior to finding the woman standing beside him?

  Before Tori, he’d been alone and afraid to have another serious relationship. Yeah, he’d shacked up with women and had fun but anything more than temporary wasn’t his thing. Glancing over, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

  “You don’t have to do this, Julian,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “Jimmy was you friend at one time.”

  He shook his head. “We ended our friendship. If anything I feel sorry for him and nothing more. How he died was an ugly way to end one’s life, but when you live on the edge, sometimes you fall off.”

  Parking in James Duffy’s driveway, they exited their vehicle. The first place they searched was the man’s wheels.

  “Jimmy loved this truck. If it’s here, then at one point so was he,” offered Julian, his tracking skills surfacing, as he did his job and stopped thinking about the man who used to be a friend. Now, it was all business. “He liked to pick up the ladies and take them for a ride in it, and I don’t mean around the block.”

  Tori snorted, pulling out two pairs of rubber gloves. “Thanks, great visual. I’ll disinfect when we get back to the Denali.”

  Julian winked at her, accepting the gloves. He pulled open the driver’s side door, glancing inside. “Two empty beer bottles, a pack of breath mints and a cell phone.”

  Holding open the evidence bag, Tori shook her head. “That doesn’t look like a man’s phone. Unless Jimmy liked rhinestones and butterflies.”

  He flipped it over in his hand. “Maybe he got lucky last night after all.”

  They searched the rest of the vehicle, looking for anything else that would give them an idea of where James Duffy spent his last hours.

  Julian pulled out the man’s gun. “Sidearm stuffed under the driver’s side seat.” He checked the chamber. “It’s got one bullet ready to go.” Unloading the gun, he dropped it into another evidence bag.”

  “Great place to leave your weapon,” she answered, shaking her head. “Why not place a sign on the window that alerts the town?”

  Littlemoon found that funny. “You used to kee
p a spare key in a fake rock in the front of your house. I could say the same for you.”

  Tori began laughing. “I guess you’re trying to tell me that I’m not permitted to do that at your cabin?”

  “Our cabin,” he corrected, automatically. “It’s our home now, since you’re going to be my wife, and no, you’re not allowed to leave a key outside the door.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave our bedroom window open. I can climb in if I get locked out.”

  Julian simply stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “Or you could walk over to my mother’s house and get a spare, or call my brother to come let you in too.”

  Tori couldn’t help but laugh as she popped open the glove box. “Wow, that’s some big box of condoms. You weren’t kidding when you said he liked using his truck as a portable bedroom.”

  “This truck has more mileage than what’s on the odometer.”

  Quickly she moved her arm off the seat. “Thank God we don’t have a black light.”

  The prospects of seeing what was on the seat grossed Julian out more than words could ever portray.

  Tori dumped the box of condoms out on the seat. “Three missing and look, we have a receipt from last night. It looks like he just bought the box.”

  He snorted. “Are you implying something?”

  She began laughing. “I’m impressed that the man could have sex three times in one night, when he was that inebriated.”

  Julian thought about it, reaching into the storage area beside the door. “Honey, I have news for you. Any drunk man can initiate it, but follow through is a totally different thing.”

  It was the grin on his face that made her giggle. “Okay, I get your point.”

  Reaching into the side of the door, Julian pulled out two condom packages. “I found some wrappers, currently empty. Jimmy seriously loved his truck, and there’s no other debris in here.”

  “Well, if you’re going to die shortly after doing something, I guess post coitus would rank up there,” Tori tried to keep it light for Julian’s sake.

  “I think the truck’s done,” he replied, trying not to think about sex and the woman he was working with at the moment. Damn, she made it hard to concentrate.

  She nodded and pointed to the house. “I bet he doesn’t have a key in a rock, so we may have a harder time searching there,” Tori quipped, making her way to the man’s front porch. Before she could step up, Julian pulled her backwards against him.

  “Blood,” he said, pointing. Then he motioned to the door, where a set of car and house keys hung from the doorknob. “It looks like Jimmy was just getting home from his debauchery and was taken here.”

  Tori bent over and picked up a rock on the porch. Flipping it over in her hand, there was evidence of blood on the bottom. “He was clocked in the head with a rock. Sound familiar?”

  Julian did his thing and checked out the area. Before long he found the telltale signs. “We need to follow these marks,” he stated, pointing at the semi-visible drag lines in the grass. “He was grabbed here and pulled around the back of the house.”

  When Julian saw a trail, Tori knew it was best to let him lead and just follow. She was barely able to ascertain any marks in the grass. If he was picking something up, she needed to just let him do what he did best.

  Once around the building, neither of them needed to stare at the ground. It was blatantly clear what had happened behind James Duffy’s house.

  There was a dead fire and a great deal of blood.

  “You better call the bosses. We found where the killer did the deed,” Julian stated, scanning the trees behind Jimmy’s house, making sure he and Tori were safe.

  She pulled out her phone and sent a text message. It was time to get ready to work the crime scene and piece together the last few moments of James Duffy’s life.

  Once her phone began beeping, Elizabeth was forced to put down her half eaten bagel. On the way out to the potential scene, the men had stopped to get her and themselves some fuel. It was looking like a long day, and she didn’t need to be dropping from exhaustion and hunger.

  Glancing down at the message, she returned it and quickly banged out a new one to her team. It was time to get back to work. “Head to this address,” she said, adding it to the onboard navigation. We have the crime scene.”

  Blackhawk hit the lights and listened to the direction. “Tori and Julian?” he inquired, steering through the traffic.

  “Yeah, they found evidence at Duffy’s house. They believe they found the area that the killer used to skin him.” Elizabeth tried not to think about the visual, as she finished her food. If she wasn’t feeding a baby, she’d skip it for coffee. “Tech team’s been notified and will be meeting us there.”

  “It’s not much further,” stated her husband.

  Elizabeth nodded, thinking about everything she knew about the assignment. “Is this going to be hard to profile?”

  Ethan drove. “No worse than every other serial killing case. I have one ready for you. Cal, can you call the chief of police and get him to find a whiteboard? We’re going to need it tonight. Tex has her work cut out for her on this one.”

  It was a good thing Elizabeth liked a challenge.

  He pulled out his phone and called. When he managed to arrange it, Callen ended the call. “He’s dropping it and the files at our rental later today.”

  Elizabeth saw the other Denali up ahead. “Thanks,” she answered, hopping out when they came to a stop. Striding around the back of the house, she found her agent and Julian standing there. “Wow, that’s a mess,” Elizabeth said. “I think this explains why the skin removal wasn’t as neatly done.”

  “It’s like he was in a hurry.” Julian pointed to the pieces of dermis that were left behind.

  “Most likely because he was out of his comfort zone. Our killer seems to like the art of the ritual, and this had to throw him for a loop,” Ethan added.

  “Why here?” inquired Elizabeth, waiting for him to supply anything to help her.

  Blackhawk analyzed their surroundings. “James Duffy was a big guy. Height wise he was at least Callen’s size, and he had some bulk to his body. Possibly he was killed here, because it was just easier than transporting him to the other scene after the fact.”

  “He was dragged,” offered Julian. “I found drag marks in and out of the back yard. There’s a small blood trail. The killer pulled him back here, did his deed, and then pulled him to a vehicle.”

  Elizabeth continued. “This is consistent with what Doctor Magnus worked out in the lab. The killer absolutely could be shorter than me and taller than Julian. I could probably drag Callen, but I couldn’t carry him.”

  Ethan thought about it. “Could you heft him up into a trunk?”

  “If he was skinned and wrapped in something, yeah, I could. Upper body first and then lift in his legs.”

  Julian added. “I couldn’t carry Callen, but I could definitely do the same thing Elizabeth just described.”

  There was a crunch of gravel and the sound of Christina excitedly directing her team.

  “Looks like they’re here,” Blackhawk stated. “We should let them work back here and check out the victim’s house. We may or may not find anything.”

  Tori broke down the details of what they found in the cab of the truck.

  “He definitely had company last night. We’ll hand over the phone to the tech team and get details on the owner. That could be the last person that saw him alive, and that gives us a timeline of when he was grabbed.”

  Christina and her team rounded the corner with their kits. One tech strung up the crime scene tape, as the other began snapping pictures.

  “Directors, if you’re accessing the house, use the back door. We have blood on the front porch,” stated Christina, pulling open her kit and getting started with her samples for testing.

  Moving towards the back of the structure, they found it locked up tight.

  Elizabeth knew what they needed to do. “The man that
picks that lock and gets the door open gets a big fat kiss from a pregnant woman.”

  Ethan had his pocket knife out and was on his knees while his brother was still formulating a joke in his head. It was open in under five seconds. “I know the kissy-face rules, I’ll claim my rewards later,” he said, grinning at his brother.

  “I let you win because I feel sorry for you,” he said laughing, until he earned an elbow from Elizabeth.

  “Let’s spread out,” she stated. “Tori and I are taking the bedroom and bathroom. You three get the kitchen, living and dining room.”

  The men headed one way, and the ladies the other.

  Up in James Duffy’s room, they spread out and started searching for anything that might be an indicator that the man’s attacker had been in his home.

  Pulling open a bedside drawer, they found a plethora of sexually related items. There were condoms, lubes, and some toys that made Elizabeth want to blush. Since she was sharing a bed with two men with varied sexual interests that was a big accomplishment.

  “The man liked to entertain here,” Elizabeth said, pulling out a few G-strings. “I somehow doubt these are his, but then again with his family one never knows.”

  Tori scrunched up her nose and tried to not laugh. “Which makes this job even more gross than it was a few minutes ago. The man was a panty collector or model.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “This is why we took this room. The boys would be too entertained to do this. Then I’d have to listen to them talk about my underthings the rest of the day.”

  “How you pull it off with the two of them, it boggles the mind,” offered Tori, laughing. “I’m tired with just Julian alone. I couldn’t imagine double the man lust.”

  Elizabeth dug through the drawer, making a mental note of the contents. “Don’t tell them I said this, but I actually like being pregnant. They give me a break and I can fake exhaustion.”

  Tori started laughing. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

  “We better hit the bathroom next.” She pointed to the room off the closet area.