Hell Is Burning

by Morgan Kelley

  “I never thought you weren’t good enough for me, Emma. In fact, the opposite is true.”

  She turned, and when she opened her mouth, he cut her off.

  “I’m hard to love. I have secrets, and I’m older than you. Let’s face it. If you and I were in a bar, trying to pick people up, you’d score. I’d get a few numbers, but once they saw the real me, it’d be over.”

  “Greyson Thaddeus Croft!”

  He touched her cheek. “I’m the one who should say I’m sorry. My mother was rude, and you didn't deserve that. I told them to leave.”

  “Grey.”

  “No. I’m not allowing anyone to come into our home to disrespect you. It’s not happening. Today, you threw yourself over me to save me. That’s love, Emma. That’s the woman I want. It’s you with all your feistiness, and not some debutant who will bore me to tears. I want a tough, strong woman who is in control of her life.”

  She moved closer. “I don’t want you fighting with your mother. For you, I’d swallow my pride and apologize to her. I’ll take the higher road for you, Grey.”

  This was more proof.

  Even though Reggie had insulted her, Emma was willing to take it for the man she loved. If that wasn’t the perfect wife, he didn't know the definition of one.

  “She’ll apologize, Emma. I’m pretty sure my father gave her hell too. He happens to be laid back. Sadly, I’m just like her. When she realizes what she did, she’ll own it.”

  Or so he hoped.

  “I don’t want to lose you, Grey.”

  He laughed. “Oh, Emma my sweet, you never will. I promise.”

  She moved into his body to cling to him.

  “Want to get some sleep?” he asked, knowing it was likely going to be a busy day in the morning. They had a gym to hit and interviews to conduct.

  “Yeah, I’m tired, and I want to try out our new bed.”

  Greyson lifted a brow. “By try out, you wouldn’t happen to mean sweet, gentle love, would you?”

  She giggled. “I think I do, Director Croft. Why don’t you show me that other side of you?”

  That he could do.

  * * * Croft & Croft * * *

  Saturday

  Early Morning

  When the phone rang in the middle of the night, they just knew. There was no way it could be anything but an emergency. As both of their tones went off, both Crofts knew why.

  They had a body.

  Glancing down, there was a code and location.

  “We have another one,” Emma muttered, sliding out of bed. What wouldn’t she give for a full night’s sleep? They were going to be dragging ass because of the sex, but at least she was feeling loose and limber.

  Greyson had that effect on her.

  As they headed down the hall, they found Steele kissing his boyfriend goodbye in the frame of their doorway. The kiss was full of passion. It could have melted the paint off the wall.

  “Break it up, lovebirds,” Emma stated, already in cop mode, “or I’ll get the hose.”

  Greyson laughed when his brother looked insulted. “She said it, not me.”

  Steele followed them down the hall, buttoning his shirt. From the way his hair was messed, and the whisker burn on his chest and cheek, there was no doubt that he’d yet to go to sleep.

  Death had its toll on the living, and here it was. Where they should be in bed with their prospective loved ones, they were heading out for a victim.

  “If this is the same killer,” he stated, following them down the stairs, “then we have a major escalation. He’s dropping a victim every twenty four hours. We need to end this.”

  They were well aware.

  As they strapped on their badges and guns, they heard footsteps behind them.

  It was Curtis, and he was getting ready to head out with them.

  Yeah, he’d miscalculated there.

  “Before either of you say a word, I’m better. I had an epiphany, and I need to do this.”

  They didn't have time to fight. If they didn't beat the media there, this was going to be all over the news.

  “Curtis, the first face you make that reminds me of a man mourning the loss of his wife…”

  He cut him off. “I’d like everyone to stop calling Brynn that. The day she filed those papers, it was over. She’s going to be ‘the ex’, if you don’t mind. I’m going to bury her, and do what she wanted, but as far as I’m concerned, our marriage was a lie. You don’t cheat on your husband or wife. Once you do, it’s dead.”

  They stared at him. He’d laid down the law. This was something new.

  “Okay,” Emma stated, “then let’s go.”

  Before they could reach their car, they saw the sleek black Lincoln waiting for them. Inside, they could see Dimitri behind the wheel. Obviously, he had the place bugged.

  That was a little unnerving.

  “I’ll stay out of your way,” he stated, “but you still need cover.”

  “Follow us. We’re not riding together,” Croft said.

  “You’re the boss.”

  Finally! Someone got that.

  As they got ready to get in their vehicles, Croft noticed something. On the hood of Emma’s Navigator there was body armor.

  “What’s this?”

  “Wear it,” Dimitri stated. “You won’t even know it’s there.”

  They each shrugged out of their blazers, including the ME, and slipped it on. It was cumbersome at first.

  “Once it heats up, it will fit like a layer of skin. You should order a closet full of them. God knows you get shot at a lot.”

  Greyson didn't argue that.

  Curtis hopped into the back of the Navigator. “I saw Katerina’s gear. He’s right.”

  “Yeah, it already feels better,” Emma stated.

  That was good enough for her husband. He made a note to buy stock in the company.

  As the vehicles lumbered through the gate, and into the street, Greyson’s whole body went on alert.

  What was the most dangerous time to be out in the open?

  Right then.

  Darkness wasn’t their friend, and he couldn’t help but pray that the person after him wouldn’t know that.

  It was the only chance they had.

  At the scene, it was pandemonium.

  The killer dumped the body closer to the road, and they had a spectacle brewing. Hanging from a nearby tree, there was another victim.

  As Steele pulled on his clean suit, he checked out the scene. “It seems to match victims’ one, two, and four. In fact, it’s an identical set up. The rope is consistent as is the pillow case. It looks like we’re dealing with killer one, not two.”

  They all glanced over at Curtis who didn't even flinch. They had to give him credit, yet they weren’t sure this was a good or bad thing.

  The man looked too calm.

  What had changed?

  “Curtis, I need you to handle the media and interview the first person who found her.”

  He went to protest over being forced to leave the crime scene for the easy work.

  “This has nothing to do with you, Curtis,” Emma stated. “Until Mace can get on scene, we need them handled. Time’s ticking, and we don’t want the person, who was first on the scene, to forget anything.”

  He relaxed. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  They waited for him to leave before they focused on the dead woman.

  “Babe, I need you to contact your lab. We need all the trace reports. Max has to have something done by now.”

  He already had an update. “He sent what he has, but we’re backed up. This is a tough time in Vegas. With the overspill from your lab, we’re doing it as fast as we can.”

  She understood.

  “Can you transmit to our agents? Then I need you to wake them from their office slumber.”

  He could do that. Heading off, Greyson went to deal with the task his wife handed him.

  Emma waited by the ME as they lowered the body. As soon as they took p
hotos, she was going to start digging for information.

  Her silence must have clued him in.

  “Go ahead,” he stated. “I know you’re dying to kick start this with questions I don’t want to answer.”

  Emma patted him on the shoulder. “Thank you, Steele. She’s been raped, hasn’t she?”

  Steele nodded. “I hoped when I saw she was missing her pants and undergarments that it was a fluke, but I can see that it’s not.”

  “Break it down for me,” Emma requested.

  “Look at the bruising on her thighs,” Steele said, tossing her a bone. “This is all new. He hung her up without them, and that’s telling. I’m sure your profiler will agree.”

  She began typing notes to send to Paris. He was going to need to add this to his suspect profile. Their serial killer just became a sexual deviant.

  Just when you thought the crazy train couldn’t get worse, it took a detour.

  That was her luck.

  “This time, there’s no damage to her face,” he said, motioning toward the pillow case. “It appears he’s switching up escalations. I don’t know which was worse. The physical abuse that Kelly Granger suffered, or the rape that this woman endured.”

  If it were her, Emma would have taken the abuse any day. To go out like this…it just wasn’t the way she’d want to go.

  Emma watched as he swabbed her legs for any sign of trace.

  “Well?”

  “We got lucky. He didn't bag up. We have trace.”

  She didn't need to say more.

  “I’ll have the DNA later this morning. I’ll have to run it as soon as I get back. Then I’ll do the autopsy. Are we skipping the charity event?”

  Emma glanced over at her husband. “We’ve been advised to attend. We don’t want the corruptor to think we’re on to them.”

  “Are we?” he asked, bagging her hands.

  “I only wish we were.”

  Steele patted her on the shoulder. “Hang in there, Emma. Something has to give.”

  Yeah, that was what she was afraid of. “Is there any ID on her?” she asked.

  He didn't see any. “There’s no purse, jewelry, or keys.”

  Emma didn't know what to say. The killer was now raping his victims and that was a whole new kind of crazy. They were four victims in, and had nothing to go on.

  This was bad.

  IAB was going to be on her, the captain was taking the heat, and she was days from being raked over the coals.

  There was too much on her plate. Emma needed to focus. Everything that was going on had her scattered. She took a deep breath.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Nope, but that’s not important,” she stated. “What else can you tell me? Please don’t argue, Steele. My job and sanity are on the line here.”

  Steele began running his hands over the victim’s body, checking for any other kinds of injuries. When he reached her breasts, he stopped.

  “What?”

  “There’s something in her bra.”

  “You can tell that by what you just did? You barely touched her.”

  He grinned. “I have magic fingers.”

  “You might not want to say that in front of Greyson, since the body you spend most of your time focused on is his brother.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, well, if you want to share. I’ll take a pass at him too.”

  She punched him. “Don’t be checking out my man or else.”

  Steele was amused. He never thought he’d have someone to joke with like this, and especially about the Croft brothers. It also served its purpose.

  Emma was smiling.

  When he slipped his gloved fingers into the victim’s tank top, he pulled out a driver’s license.

  “Pay dirt, Detective. Consider this your early Christmas present.”

  Emma held out her gloved hands as a tech photographed the ID. “We have Carrie Corwell. She’s twenty eight, and lives not far from the gym. Our killer must not have known that she hid her driver’s license in her sports bra. He didn't slow us down this time.”

  Steele motioned toward his team. “Yeah, let that be a lesson. If you’re going to rape someone, take off all their clothes.”

  She shook her head. “You’re definitely tired. Even the techs are staring at you.”

  “Don’t I know it?”

  Greyson headed over. “Paris and Tessa are up and working. I gave them some more details that we wanted added,” he stated, pointing at the bottomless woman, and the bruising appearing on her thighs.

  Emma handed him the ID. Greyson immediately whistled, signaling for Curtis to appear.

  “Yeah?”

  “How’s the media doing?”

  “Well, they got shots of her up there, but LVPD is confiscating their equipment. Your favorite reporter, Lewis Reynolds, is here, demanding a one on one with Emma. Apparently, the LVPD sprung him when you had nothing to pin on him.”

  “Yeah, I knew they would. I just wanted to hold him those twenty four hours to make his life miserable.”

  Croft had to do something about that man. He was causing all kinds of trouble. “He can kiss my…”

  “Grey!”

  He grinned. “What?”

  “Curtis, can you take a break from what you were doing and run her?” Emma asked, pointing to the ID in the plastic bag.

  Immediately, he pulled out his tablet and got to work. “It’s going to take me a few minutes. I’ll get you something. There’s not a lot of signal out here, so I’ll have to connect to the FBI server remotely using the Wi-Fi in our vehicles.”

  “However you have to do it, just get me anything you have on Carrie Corwell. I want to know what she does, and most importantly if she works out at ‘Body and Soul’.”

  He got to work. They could hear his tablet beeping as Doctor Bentley continued working.

  “She’s wearing a work out shirt,” he stated, as he began cutting the rope from around her throat. When he got her free, he carefully cut up the front of the hood, hoping to keep all the trace intact.

  “I was right. We don’t have any facial trauma.”

  “This is the weirdest case. He obviously has an issue with women at that gym.”

  They didn't disagree with Emma.

  “We need to get there to do the interviews today,” Greyson stated.

  She was well aware.

  When Steele pulled out the temperature gauge, they waited for him to get a time of death.

  “TOD is about nine last night. She’s been dead less than eight hours. Rigor is just setting in, and her eyes are only just beginning to cloud up. She died as we were having drinks on your patio.”

  Emma made notes. As she glanced over, her partner, Mace Bristol, was on his way toward them.

  “What did you find?” she asked.

  “The man and woman who found her were here making out. It seems that they are just shy of the legal drinking age, and wanted to drink a few beers, make some love, and not get interrupted.”

  Emma pointed at the body. “Well, that’s a surefire method of birth control. He won’t be suggesting the game lands any time soon--if he can ever get it up again.”

  Mace agreed. “I don’t think they had anything to do with this.”

  “Yeah, let’s cut them loose. Get their information in case something comes up. Our victim died last night. They’re clear.”

  “I’ll head into the office to start helping the Feds run some details. I saw the trace reports were coming in, and I’ll dig through them. Maybe our killer left something behind.”

  Emma gave him an elbow bump since she was gloved up. “When we come in, we’ll bring baked goods or something to feed the team.”

  Mace grinned. “Are you sure you don’t have a sister?” he teased, as he walked away. “I am currently available and always up for food.”

  Suddenly, there was a snort from Curtis as he ran the data not far away. “Newsflash, Mace. If one shows up, I have dibs on her first.”

  Then he
realized what he said.

  That was something the old Curtis would say. It was like he’d forgotten what had happened a few days ago.

  He glanced up, looking horrified.

  “I didn't mean. I shouldn’t have said that. It was totally inappropriate.”

  Emma pulled off her gloves and crouched down beside him so she could be eye to eye with him. “Welcome back, Curtis. You’re fighting your way back to us. This is part of healing. Don’t fight it. Go with your gut.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Emma was absolutely right. This was a huge weight off his shoulders for the time being. He was definitely healing, and that was a good thing.

  “What did you find, Curtis?” Greyson asked, waiting for anything to point them in the right direction.

  “Well, I’m not sure if you’ll like this or not…”

  “What?” they said together.

  “She works for you.”

  “Doing what?” Emma asked. “Last I heard, we have about a thousand employees.”

  “Shit! That’s crazy,” he stated.

  “Yeah, we know. You’re preaching to the choir on this one,” Emma stated.

  He turned the tablet around to show them. On the screen was the woman’s face, and she was more than just an employee.

  She was a headliner.

  Recognition dawned for both of them. Yes, they’d seen her before.

  “Carrie Corwell stared as Aphrodite in one of your musicals. She was the sexy centerpiece to your show ‘Sexcapades’. She was stripping down six nights a week. Last night, the show was off. They have scheduled a double the next two days for the weekend tourists.”

  Emma didn't like this.

  It was too close to home.

  Well, at least they could get her information, and easily.

  “Contact Dante, since he’s likely awake,” Greyson stated. “He’ll get her personnel file shipped over to you.”

  “Where are you two going now?” he asked. Curtis hoped that the killer wasn’t going to drag the two people he loved into this mess on a personal level.

  They already had enough on their plates.

  Greyson glanced down at his watch. It was too early to head to the gym, so they had some time to burn. “We’re going to swing by Captain Ford’s to update him, and then we’re heading out in the field. We have that commissioner’s charity thing tonight. We need to wrap this up as fast as possible.”