“Hope you can be fast, Agent Blackhawk. Gabe’s going to be back soon.”
Blackhawk could be fast, or he could just take his time and thoroughly distract her.
Yeah, Gabe could wait.
* * *
In the car, Gabe handed his agent a box of tissues. He had seen her strike Elizabeth first, so nothing she could say at this point was going to save her. It was going to be a matter of defusing it and sending her on her merry way to another FBI location. If he had his way, she’d be far away from Blackhawk and his territory.
“She broke my nose, Gabe!”
“You struck her! Elizabeth was only defending Ethan and herself. You’re lucky she didn’t really hurt you,” he said looking over. “I’ve seen her kick the shit out of men twice her size. You’re very fortunate she didn’t beat you into the ground for putting your hands on Blackhawk.”
Lily looked over, nervously.
“Now, tell me what happened? What’s your version?”
“I went there to talk to Ethan. He called you after I leaked the media the serial killer information, and I wanted to tear him a new one for getting you to pull me out. This is on my official record.”
“First off, bad idea even going there and worse idea was slapping him, and then going after Sheriff LaRue. That’s going in your official record too.”
Lily fumed. “Yeah, well she got Ray killed and ruined his marriage. When it happens to Blackhawk don’t be shocked. Elizabeth LaRue is a home wrecking menace and nothing but trouble.”
Gabe pulled over, slamming on the brakes. “Let’s get this straight Agent Sanderson, you weren’t in that car with Ray, but she was. Elizabeth was also the only one in Kevlar, and it saved her life and almost his. Elizabeth threw herself over him and then fought to save his life. When I got there she was covered in their blood,” he paused. “It was a mess inside that vehicle. So, before you play judge, jury, and executioner, start thinking logically. You’re taking one side due to what a disgruntled wife said, and I expect better from my agents. I hope you don’t work like this in the field. Oh wait, I know the shit you pulled there. Consider yourself on write up, and suspension for striking a fellow agent and a civilian in my presence. If you think you can appeal, you can’t. I saw you do it, this is staying on your record.”
“But Gabe…”
“I don’t want to hear it. You better hope the review board doesn’t hand you a pink slip. I’ll tell you right now, I’m going to recommend it.”
Lily just sat there, saying nothing. Damn that woman, she may have gotten her fired.
“It’s a good idea to keep your mouth shut, since you just screwed up.”
Blackhawk left her alone for twenty minutes, after he had dressed in a pair of black dress pants, and a black dress shirt. Today was going to be hard on Elizabeth, so he gave her some time alone to gather her thoughts.
He ran down the block to the florist, grabbing a dozen red roses and a dozen white. He didn’t know her parents, but he was pretty sure with the tough woman they created, that they had to be pretty awesome. He had to wonder if they would have approved of him dating their daughter. Lost in thought, he had just started back up the front stairs of the brownstone when Gabe pulled up, and parked behind his car.
“Are you both ready?” he inquired.
“Yeah just about, can you take these to the cemetery? I’ll drive Lyzee over and meet you there. I want to talk to her first,” he replied, leaning in the window.
“Sure thing,” he said, taking the roses, and pulling away.
Inside, she was waiting for him. Elizabeth was sitting on the couch, her hair pulled up on top of her head in a pile of curls, and in a simple black dress with sandals. She was ready to pull off one of the worst days in her life, and he planned being at her side no matter what.
“Hey gorgeous are you ready?” He held out his hand for her.
“I’m ready, Ethan.”
“I picked up the flowers. They’re in the car with Gabe, and we’ll meet him there.”
“Thank you, for remembering,” she said softly, going into his arms. “In case I’m a wreck later, and don’t say it, thank you for doing this with me. I appreciate it more than words will ever express,” She kissed him.
Blackhawk just held onto her, and let his body offer her support; he would be the rock in this storm. As long as she needed him, no matter where they went in life, he would do this for her out of love.
“Let’s go, baby,” he finally said, taking her hand, and leading her to the front door. He set the alarm and walked out with her hand in hand. Opening the car door, he helped her get in. Part of him almost wanted to beg her to just stay home.
Anything at this point to spare her from what he knew was coming. Yet, Ethan knew she’d never go for it. She was too honorable a daughter.
The drive there was silent, as neither knew what to say. Elizabeth couldn’t speak. If she did, she’d cry. When she said goodbye to her father, she mourned him and wept brutally as she lost the only parent she had left. Now she had to pull him out of his grave, letting them cut back into him.
She was sure if she saw him that she would be horrified. A year in the ground wasn’t going to be pretty. She thought back to all the bodies that she’d seen in her past, and how many of them had remained hidden in the earth. Gratefully, most were just bones. Charlie’s body was housed in a steel coffin and locked in a concrete vault, so decomposition would be much slower. She didn’t know if she could do it. How could she stand in that autopsy room with a white mask and watch as they pulled him out? Let alone all the tests, as they tried to figure out what the first ME had missed.
Really, she couldn’t blame Doc Trudeaux for not catching it. He had to autopsy his friend, and that had to be hard. It didn’t upset her that he might not have been as thorough in his exam. How could she blame a man who just loved her father as much as she did?
She saw the sign for the entrance of the cemetery in the distance, and she knew how it was about to become her worst nightmare. Elizabeth had to relive the death of her father all over again. For that alone, she vowed she would make the killer pay, and she was angry enough to follow through.
Blackhawk stopped the car behind Gabe’s, and he walked from the driver’s side to the passenger’s, escorting her to the site.
Beside the plots where her mother and father were laid to rest, sat a machine. There was a crew waiting to break into the grave, and she felt the tears starting to build. The manager of the cemetery came over, clipboard in hand and ready to proceed. He took her ID and matched it to the relative on his forms, and let her sign the paper. It would begin as soon as she was ready.
“Can I just have a minute?” she asked Gabe.
He simply nodded, going to the cemetery staff to make sure they gave her the privacy that she needed.
Blackhawk was immediately at her side, two bunches of roses in his hands. There were red for her and white for him, as he held out his arm for her to use to steady herself.
Elizabeth looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, and then kneeled in front of her parent’s graves. She touched the engraving on her mother’s tombstone and spoke to her.
“I miss you, Mom. I know I’ve been away for a long time, but I’m doing okay. I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry we have to disturb you both. I don’t have a choice. I have to find who killed daddy.” She laid the roses against the tombstone, kissing it as she choked back a sob. “I love you, Mom, and I hope if you’re watching me that you're proud.”
Blackhawk knelt beside her and placed his roses alongside hers. “I promise Mrs. LaRue, I’ll take care of her, and keep her safe,” He brushed a tear from Elizabeth’s cheek and continued, “I saw pictures, and I just want you to know that your daughter is gorgeous, just like you. She’s kind, gentle and sweet. Your Elizabeth is an amazing woman.” Blackhawk ran his fingers over the tombstone, never releasing her hand.
Elizabeth was so touched by his words, that tears began to slide down her face
. She didn’t know what she did to deserve him, but she was so glad she had him in her life.
Blackhawk helped her stand, as he moved her to the plot that held her father. He helped her kneel again and once more joined her, refusing to leave her side for a single second.
“Oh Daddy, I miss you,” she sobbed. “I didn’t know that you were murdered. Had I known, I would have hunted him down. I promise, I’m going to find who did this and get you justice if it’s the last thing I do. I’ll do it for you and for mom,” she whispered through the tears. “I hope you didn’t suffer, Daddy. Please forgive me for not being here for you,” she kissed the tombstone and gently traced the letters with her busted up hand, knuckles still red from punching Blackhawk’s partner. All the emotion poured out of her body.
Blackhawk felt his heart ache as the woman he loved was weeping. He touched the tombstone, with his hand and spoke to the man he never knew. “Mr. LaRue, my name is Ethan Blackhawk. I’m an FBI agent. I happen to have fallen in love with your daughter. I promise, on my life, that I’ll make sure she finds the killer and helps you rest in peace.”
Elizabeth hugged him, the tears still falling as he stood with her and walked her out of the way of the machinery. She clung to him, as the equipment fired up. Turning her face into his neck, she hid from the visual of the grave being opened. When they reached the concrete vault and opened it, she still didn’t look. She couldn’t.
He was her eyes, when she couldn’t face it.
All she heard were the sweet words he whispered in her ear, and how he held her tightly against him. He talked her through it, telling her in detail what was happening, but not forcing her to have it burnt into her memory. When the casket was put into the back of a waiting hearse, and escorted by the ME van, he told her it was finally okay look. By then, it looked just as it did the day she buried him, a pile of dirt, and a gaping hole.
“I’m taking you home,” he stated, kissing her. Not realizing he had referred to his home as theirs.
“You need to go to the morgue,” she paused, unable to include herself, because she didn’t think she could do it.
No, she knew she couldn’t.
“I’ll go later to make sure he’s respected and taken care of the way he deserves,” and he meant it. “I’ll bring you home first. They don’t need me immediately baby, but you do.”
Elizabeth let him lead her to his car, and he even handed her tissues. The drive home was a hard one. She wanted to say so much to him, but she didn’t want to fill the car with a river of tears. When he pulled up to his house, he helped her out and walked her to the couch. Blackhawk sat there with her for a few minutes, just letting her weep and get it all out. When the torrent slowed, he tucked her under a blanket and looked deep into her eyes.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours, baby,” he pulled his keys from his pocket and took the house key off the main ring. “Here’s the key. The security code we’ve already discussed, and if you need me here’s my other cell phone number.” He keyed in his number to his private cell, saving it on her phone. Now she had his work phone and personal line, she could reach him anytime. “I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can or sooner if you call me.”
Elizabeth nodded, watching him get his badge and clip it to his hip. Going to the safe, he removed his gun and checked the clip. Watching him gave her peace and familiarity.
As he looked over at her, he just wanted to keep her safe and protected. “Lyzee,” he said, and reached back into his gun safe. “Here’s my ankle piece. Keep it beside you in case you need it.” He wished he could give Elizabeth her gun back, but across state lines, it was best she use one of his.
Elizabeth accepted it and nodded. It was sweet he was giving her a gun, even though his house was a fortress once the alarm was set.
“I love you.” Ethan kissed her on the forehead and then on her lips. “I’ll be home as soon as I can. I promise.” Blackhawk set the alarm and made sure the door was locked.
Now he would go stand watch over the dead, because this one mattered most to the woman who owned his heart.
Elizabeth sat there having a pity party for quite a while, and then decided to go for a run. She needed to burn some energy and to think. Just the prospect of a run through her old neighborhood lifted her spirits.
Carefully, she tucked the key ring around her finger, and her cell and money into her shorts pocket. Elizabeth made sure she locked his townhouse door before stretching out and taking off. A few miles would do her good, and she remembered the route, like it was only yesterday.
Elizabeth LaRue had always been hypersensitive about her surroundings and could tell when she was being watched, or in danger, but today she was off her game.
She didn’t see the reflection across the street, and she didn’t hear the clicking of the shutter. Today, she was oblivious to the eyes watching her. She was oblivious to everything but the pain in her heart.
Special Agent Ethan Blackhawk stood in the morgue staring through the glass window. The decomp was so extensive, that the smell would have been overwhelming, and he wasn’t going back to his house smelling like dead body. Not while she was there. He watched as they pulled the body from the coffin, rechecking it and taking more samples. The ME on duty pulled the stomach contents report, re-examining it in detail.
“Agent Blackhawk, it looks like he definitely was poisoned. There are high levels of toxicity in the stomach contents. Even if he had just taken heart medication with his dinner, they wouldn’t be this high. Something else is here, and that in combination with the meds that he was already taking for his arrhythmia, is what likely killed him. I’ll need a day or two to give you more specifics,” he spoke into the microphone.
“Thank you, Doctor Leonard,” he said, watching the clock. Now he just had to wait until Charlie LaRue was placed back in his coffin, and then he could go home.
For now, it was time to check in with his team. Blackhawk called his head tech and hoped they had found something. “Christina, what do we have?” he asked, as she answered the line.
“Ethan, this is the most infuriating case yet. We just completed deep searches on everyone that the sheriff had on her board and list, and I have to say we have nothing.”
“I don’t see how we can have nothing.” Frustration was taking over and making him edgy, as was the distance between him and Elizabeth.
“All I know is we haven’t been able to connect the deaths to anything. There is such randomness to it, it’s like the killer isn’t all there.”
“They never are,” he muttered.
“Well, that being said, we can explain Charlie LaRue’s death. He was digging into the case, so the killer offed him,” she said matter-of-factly
“Do me a favor, Christina. Please have a little more tact when we get back. Don’t be using the word ‘offed’ around the sheriff, okay? That’s her father.”
“Sure thing, Boss. I’m sorry,” and she continued, “and then we have Corrine Gilbride. We called her parents, sent an agent over to talk to them. It’s safe to say that was a spur of the moment get together with her girlfriend. We have pretty much confirmed that the killer just took advantage of there being another woman with the real target.”
“We knew all this, Christina.”
The lab tech could hear the frustration in his voice. “I know, Ethan, but we’re really trying. I swear.”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “Keep searching. Usually, it’s the most obvious explanation.”
“How did autopsy go?” she asked, cautiously. Her boss had a thing for the sheriff, and she didn’t want to cross that line from ‘favorite tech’ to ‘left back in Quantico tech’. One of the perks of her job was working with Ethan Blackhawk. There was just something about him that made all the female techs crazy. It was hard to forget the visual of her boss, sitting on the couch with the sheriff wrapped in his arms. There was definitely something between them, and she couldn’t help but wish she was Elizabeth LaRue.
“It was
the same as every other autopsy, Christina. They confirmed poisoning. It’s now just a matter of them isolating out the medication he was on, and finding the poison he ingested. They’ll be sending over all the details tomorrow, and we’ll possibly have the answer shortly after that.”
“When are you returning?”
He looked at his watch. “I’m in route home now for the night. I think we’ll touch down tomorrow as soon as possible.” He still had a few plans for their last night up north.
“See you then, boss.” Christina ended the call, and was desperately trying to not visualize him, shirtless and tattooed, since it made the room just got hotter.
Elizabeth made the five mile route and was walking up the steps when Mrs. Feinstein’s door popped opened. The woman greeted her and smiled warmly.
“How are you, sweetheart?” she asked.
“I’ve had better days,” she said, wiping the sweat off her brow, but the run had made it a little better.
“Would you like to come in and have tea and a cupcake with me?” she held the door open for the young woman.
“I’m all sweaty,” she paused, and saw the dejected look on her face. “Tell you what. Give me ten minutes to shower and change, and you put some water on for tea. I’ll be right over.”
Mrs. Feinstein smiled a huge smile and nodded as she headed back into her house.
Elizabeth stripped fast, leaving a trail of clothes to his shower. She jumped in, cleaned off and jumped back out, all in less than ten minutes. Dressing again, she inadvertently left her cell on the floor by her running clothes. The key she tucked into her pocket for safe keeping.
The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) Page 30
