A Ride Home: Tampa FBI Two

by C. Soto

  After they greeted Tammy and James, the whole team walked towards the Anthropologist and the search and rescue unit. Emily telling the handler, “I have marked off the spots where I believe the graves are located. We left a trail of ribbons to find each location easier.”

  “Oh wow, thank you, that is really helpful. I will take Axel and see if he hits on the locations.” Speaking about his K-9 partner. After hearing his name, Axel looked up at his handler with his tongue hanging out, ready to be put to work.

  Emily loved dogs and all animals really, but she knew Axel was working and it would not be okay to pet him. He needed to be on his A-game with no unnecessary distractions, however, she always had the urge to grab the dogs in a tight squeeze and love on them. She resisted the urge and then had the handler and K-9 Axel follow her to the markings. The rest of the team followed behind them and they all waited to see if Axel would confirm Emily’s locations.

  While they were walking, John walked back a few feet from the group and called Eric back. “Hey sir, I had a thought about family notifications. I can’t believe that wasn’t the first thing on my mind with all of this. Has someone been able to notify them, so they don’t have to hear about this on the news? I think this should be done face to face. I know its late, but I’d rather wake them up now, then have them shocked while sipping their morning coffee watching the morning news and finding out that way.”

  “Yes, we had a few detectives notify the families at once. I’m surprised the news hasn’t camped out on the site yet. We’ve asked everyone to keep a tight lid for right now. The last thing we need while trying to figure everything out is the circus camped out there trying to interfere in our work. However, the Police Chief and I know we’ll have to conduct an interview first thing tomorrow. However, we are trying to hold off until then. It will be a long night that is for sure. The wife is still in the interrogation room. Then we have Forensics at the residence going through every inch of that house as well. Like I said earlier, I don’t think the wife had any clue, so I doubt we’ll really find anything there.”

  “Yes, this is all a nightmare. I’m glad we finally caught that psycho, and he can’t hurt anyone else. Well thanks Eric, I wanted to make sure the families would be notified so they didn’t have to hear the news from anyone else but from law enforcement. I wanted them to also be prepared in case the news media reached out to them for interviews. The last thing I would want is for them to be ambushed without having a clue what was going on.”

  “Are you guys still on the scene?”

  “Yes, Emily marked the locations where she believes the graves are held at. The K-9 unit and Anthropologist arrived a few minutes ago, so we are walking with search and rescue to confirm each site. After that we will head out.”

  “Okay, sounds great. Great work today from all of you.”

  “Thank you sir, I’ll pass that along to the team. We will talk to you in the morning.”

  John hung up with Eric and walked back with the group. It looked like K-9 Axel confirmed three of the spots that Emily identified so far. This was making it much easier. However, he thought, Could there be more than what Emily discovered? They probably should have the whole area searched again to make sure they didn’t miss any victims. He would talk to the Anthropologist and make that suggestion, which he was sure they would probably do anyways according to procedure. At least this gave them a head start on where they could start their process. They would need a huge team for this excavation with as many known bodies as they had.

  An hour later the team trekked back to the cabin. Axel confirmed all of Emily’s markers. A few of the bodies weren’t exact but a couple feet off from where Emily had marked. However, close enough that it was amazing to witness the accuracy of the locations that her visions had showed her. This saved the team possibly days’ worth of time finding the grave sites of each victim. Now they could begin their work. They began setting up lights at the first location where they would begin their work. There would be many more teams to show up in the morning that would begin extracting the bodies at the other sites at the same time. They didn’t want to call the big group out this late in the evening as some of them were already working all day. That way the team would be rested as the following days, they had a lot of work ahead of them.

  The team noticed the other teams had the scene under control, and they were ready to leave. Emily did ask Axel’s handler if it was okay now to pet him and give him loving for doing such an amazing job. The handler okay’d for Emily to pet him, so Derrick had to sit and wait another ten minutes for Emily to get her fix of loving on K-9 Axel. Derrick was beginning to feel jealous of the dog. He reached out a hand to her, “Okay Emily, I am sure Axel needs to go home and get rest, as I am sure he will have a full day’s work ahead of him tomorrow coming back out and searching the rest of the area to ensure nothing was missed.”

  “Oh yea, you’re right.” She sighed, then looked back at Axel, “Okay, buddy, I’ll see you later. You are such a good boy. You did such a good job, didn’t you! Yes you did. Who’s a good boy.” Then she reached down and gave him one last snuggle for the road.

  Derrick was amazed he was able to pull Emily away without more resistance. Finally, he got her in James’ SUV, so James could give them a ride back to the office to get their vehicles.

  “Thanks James for dropping us off. We appreciate you.”

  “Sure thing man. It sure has been a long day and night. I’m just glad all of us are safe now. It was sure scary there for a minute. We should use a rope to group us together next time, to ensure no one walks off.” As he gave a pointed stare at Tammy.

  Tammy looked out of the window, ignoring his directed comment. She was full of emotions at that time and couldn’t make a joke of the situation yet. It was too early, and she was still raw from the situation.

  They pulled up to the office and John, Derrick and Emily got out and said their goodbyes and they would see everyone in the morning. They wouldn’t go in until around 9:00 a.m. so they could catch up on much needed sleep and be able to rest for a little bit longer than usual.

  James and Tammy went back to her house, where James would stay with her that night. He pulled up to her driveway, got out and then walked around to her door, when he noticed she hadn’t made a move to get out. He knew she was lost in thought since she was quiet the whole way home. “Hey there, Earth to Tammy, you okay there?”

  Tammy snapping back to reality, “Oh yea, sorry a million thoughts running through my head.” He reached a hand up and helped her out of the SUV and they walked to her front door where she unlocked her door and reset the alarm once they were inside.

  She went in and set everything down and put away her stuff. “I’m going to jump in the shower and change into something more comfortable. Do you have clothes here still?”

  “Yes, I’ll do the same, using the guest bathroom.” He winked, trying to lighten her spirit. He succeeded and she let out a little laugh.

  They both got showered and dressed into their comfy clothes and met back in the kitchen. Tammy was in there first and started to heat up some leftovers from the takeout food they ordered the night prior and poured herself a glass of water and passed him a beer from the fridge. It was almost 11:00 p.m. and they were both spent. Tammy really wanted a glass of wine to wind down the evening, but she wouldn’t take any chances of it having a negative side effect from the drugs injected into her system.

  They ate their food in silence. Once they were done, Tammy stood up and let a yawn. “Well, I am spent so I am going to go lay down. The morning will be here before we know it.”

  “Sounds good. I’m going to sleep in your room with you, so I can keep an eye on you. If I’m sleeping in the other room I won’t be able to know if you stopped breathing or something.”

  She looked wide eyed. She had never slept in the same bed with James before. Yes they were best friends and partners, but this felt a little more intimate, she didn’t know why. She tried to shake off the f
eeling, I mean this was her best friend. His logic made sense. Not that she was worried she would stop breathing in the middle of the night. However, if something were to go wonky at least he would be right there to notice.

  “Okay, well let’s go. Don’t try anything funny either, I keep a pistol on my nightstand, and I’d hate for there to be a reflex.” She laughed as she walked to her bedroom.

  James a little frightened, yet turned on by that statement, walked hesitantly behind her, rethinking his suggestion. He really did make it with the best intentions. However, now he was getting hard and knew he would have a hell of a time getting to sleep with her so near.

  They climbed into bed with each of them going to their sides. Tammy putting two pillows in between them. “James don’t cross over the line of pillows.”

  “You need to give yourself the pep talk. I am doing fine on my side, I have no intention of moving.” He joked back with her.

  “Good night James. Thank you for saving me today. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “Anytime Tams, you would do the same for me. That’s what partners are for, right?”

  “Yes, and you are the best partner I could have asked for.”

  They both rolled over away from each other, and within minutes both of their exhaustion got the better of them and they both fell into a somber sleep.

  Chapter 31

  James’ alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.. He went to roll over to turn it off and found he had difficulty moving his body. His arm was able to reach it and hit the dismiss button on his alarm. He opened his eyes to see why he couldn’t move. There was Tammy sprawled over him, hair sticking up in his face. Her mouth open, giving out grunts of a snore.

  He laid there smiling, thinking, hmmmmm… she did make her way over to his side of the bed after all. He also had his arm wrapped around her back holding her in his sleep, even unconsciously he couldn’t bear the possibility of her moving from her position. His sleep self wanted to keep her near, to ensure she was safe and not in harm’s way. It appeared it didn’t matter if he were awake or sleep, he would still look out for her. The awkward realization of his morning boner, he hurriedly tried moving her so she wouldn’t realize she was sleeping right on top of it. He didn’t want there to be awkwardness between them. It was innocent enough, so she moved in her sleep to position herself right on top of him into his arms. They were friends, this was natural, right?

  He finally gently lifted her up and rolled away from her off the bed, so even if she woke up, he wouldn’t be in the bed, and she wouldn’t be aware that she slept on top of him. He grinned to himself. Way to go James, you avoided what could have been a catastrophe of her over analyzing the situation and making more of it then it was. He knew her and she would over analyze the situation and create an awkwardness until she worked it out. He wanted to avoid that at all costs.

  He walked into the kitchen and started brewing coffee. He then got out ingredients to make them breakfast. He stopped and thought, here he was again making her breakfast two mornings in a row. A quick thought fleeted his mind, You could get use to this. What, where did that thought come from? James, get it together, you need to get laid, if you are fantasizing about Tammy that way. I mean for god sakes, she’s your partner, your best friend.

  He shut his thoughts up and made breakfast for them both and then repeated his steps from the prior morning and cautiously made his way to the bedroom to wake up the morning monster.

  “Tammy time to get up”

  She responded by putting a pillow over her head and mumbled something that wasn’t audible. He knew he was pushing his luck and he then this time shouted a little louder. “Tammy, really you need to get up and eat breakfast and have coffee so we won’t be late.”

  She groaned and rolled over, sprawling her arms and legs out like she was getting ready to do a snow angel in the bed, trying to stretch the sleepiness away.

  “Fine, I’m up. I heard you the first time you came storming in here.”

  “Well, you made no movements that you were getting up.” He said while laughing at her. He didn’t know if he should be having this much fun poking the bear first thing in the morning, but he couldn’t help it. He thought it was hilarious. He began to wonder how on earth she made it into the office each day without him here making sure she got up. She didn’t appear self-motivated in the mornings.

  After she made movements that she was getting up this time, he went back to the kitchen and waited on her to come out. He poured her a cup of coffee and fixed her a plate and sat it on the kitchen table. This time he would remember the morning rules of no talking before the first cup of coffee was consumed. He thought he poked the bear enough this morning, he didn’t want to lose a limb. Especially, after the rough night they had.

  She slinked out of the bedroom and plopped down on the kitchen chair and immediately grabbed her coffee and drank it in silence. After a few minutes of James not speaking, she peeked up at him and asked, “What’s going on with you, what are you so quiet about this morning? Normally, you are unusually perky in the morning, which I might add is one thing I can’t stand about you.” She said with a wink, letting him know she said it in fun.

  “Well yesterday you gave me a house rule of no talking during the first cup of coffee, so here I am trying to obediently follow the rules.”

  She made a grunt, not believing for one second that he would adhere to the rules for more than one day, it was just who he was. She still admired him; despite his flaw of being a morning person.

  They finished eating their breakfast and both finished getting ready, then made their way into the office where the rest of the team was already in.

  John, Derrick and Tammy had to visit with the internal investigation’s unit from the prior day’s agent involved shooting. James had already met with them last night while he was at the hospital. Now they needed their statements to go along with the report. A formality at best. They all knew it was a clean shooting. What else was he supposed to do while a serial killer held a knife digging into Tammy’s neck? They knew the killer wouldn’t hesitate to slit her throat.

  They all made their statements and Eric believed it would be wrapped up by the end of the day or at best the following day. There were no red flags surrounding the shooting.

  The team all worked on their wrap up reports documenting the investigation and everything they had learned throughout the case. Making copies as they went, to give to the other team members to include in their reports. They all worked well as a team, making sure if they had something they all needed, they would make the copies for everyone, therefore reducing the leg work time.

  By the end of the day, everyone had completed the task that they needed to get done. Not that the case was closed by any means. It was documenting the killer was identified and he couldn’t hurt anyone else, but they knew there were many bodies still yet to be identified. Eric received five years’ worth of names of passengers. In the upcoming weeks, they would be tracking down each name on that list. The ones that were on a cold murder or missing person’s case they would ask the families for DNA to test against the bodies that were being excavated. They knew they had a lot of work ahead of them, even more depending on the timeline of the Forensic Anthropologist.

  Emily checked with the hospital to see how Sara was doing. Given the circumstances, she was holding up as best as she could. Thankfully, she was found alive and at least she wasn’t mutilated everywhere, but only a small section of her body, which was still horrible. However, Emily was glad she could at least hide it behind clothes, as Emily knew she wouldn’t want to show the world her scars. Emily knew this would be a long road of recovery for her and she would probably be afraid of her own shadow moving forward. Emily would try and stay in contact with her, to let her know she was not alone.

  As John was wrapping up his day, he looked at the team, “Well guys, this time I’ll be the one leaving for two weeks. No need to bring out the tears for my absence. It will only be two w
eeks and I’ll bring back presents. I’ll make sure to send you selfies though, so you don’t miss my face too much.”

  Derrick rolled his eyes, “Do you need an escort out, bye. No need to send photos.”

  Emily swatted Derrick’s arm. “John, send me pictures, I would love to see you guys having a great time. We will miss you, even Derrick. He’s trying to play it off. You have a great time, and I can’t wait to see all your pictures from your vacation. You don’t have to get us anything though. You and Samantha go and have a great time. Do you know where you are going yet?”

  “Nope, we discussed a few places last night, but didn’t decide on one. Samantha is planning everything and will surprise me when I get to her house tonight. I gave her my credit card to book everything, and we’ll be leaving in three days. We will spend the next two days first going to my parents’ house in Orlando then also visiting with my brother and sister-in-law and my beautiful niece. Really, I’m only going to visit my angel, my niece. I’m her cool Uncle John so I need to make sure I go spoil her.”

  “Aww, how old is she now?”

  “She turned two a couple of weeks ago. We were away on a case at that time, so this will be perfect so I can bring her presents down to her.”

  “That sounds great John.” Emily then got up and gave him a hug and wished him a safe trip.

  The rest of the team said their goodbyes and he walked out with the biggest damn smile knowing the next two weeks would be filled with Samantha.

  Chapter 32

  John walked up to Samantha’s door and knocked. She knew he was on his way since he sent a text when he left his house telling her.

  She opened the door, seeming frazzled.

  “Hey babe what’s going on, you appear like you are going a mile a minute.”

  “Hey, so glad you are here, you can help me pick out what to bring. I mean what do I wear at the first meeting with your parents and family? Do you think they’ll like me John? Oh my, I’m still trying to get everything ready.”