Choices will Destroy (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 14) (44 page)

“Are you kidding me, Meredith? Do you see what I have to work with out there? If you weren’t coming, I was going to have to abduct Christina. We all know how Ethan frowns upon me doing things that break the law.”

She laughed.

“You’ve got a point.”

Elizabeth headed toward the door. “Let’s get this over with because I have a profile to shake from the Blackhawk tree. He’s been closed lipped, and that has to end.”

They followed her to the door. Before stepping out and into the autopsy suite, Merry really had to know.

“Are you seriously not coming?” she asked.

Zane shrugged.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure.

It was a tough choice. He could be head ME out of FBI West, or one of a half dozen at the Hoover building. He wasn’t sure.

It was a tough call.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, following Merry back into the morgue. “Either way, it won’t be easy.”

And that was the truth.

Chapter Twelve

Gabe and Livy’s

As she sat on the couch eating a sandwich, Ethan set up her shiny new whiteboard. It was time for Elizabeth to do what she did best.

Solve.

As they sat on the couch, Callen was rubbing her feet, and she honestly believed that this was about as good as it could get while on a case. She had food and her men. It was almost perfect.

Well, actually, it could get better.

They could be naked, but that was just weird to have kinky sex in their hosts’ home. Yes, they had already rolled around, but they had refrained from pulling out all the stops. Normally, she’d whip out some sexy lingerie and heels to get the men riled up, but she was freaked out.

Gabe would flip his shit. Besides, did she really want him thinking about their sex life?

Then she started laughing.

Everyone glanced over.

“Sorry, I was in my own world. I was thinking about sexy Natives and how to make Gabe freak out. The two worlds often collide in my head.”

Gabe glared at her. “Keep it in your head for my sanity’s sake.”

Callen took that as his cue to wiggle his eyebrows and whisper truly perverted things. Immediately, Ethan began laughing at their silliness. Even out in the field, they managed to reconnect.

Today, they needed this. Truth be told, the stress of this case was putting them all on edge. They needed a break, and soon.

“Is that board going to be big enough?” Gabe teased, pointing at the monstrosity. “I think I could put all my notes from last week’s meetings on it, and still have enough room to make a grocery list.”

“Don’t mock my process. In a few weeks, I’ll be your problem. You’ll want me to solve things, and this is how I roll. I don’t know why it works, but if it’s not broke...”

Yeah, he was well aware.

“I don’t remember you doing this when we worked together,” Livy said.

Elizabeth was clearing her mind. Soon, they’d start breaking it down. “I didn’t. Before you left, I would bounce things off you. When you were gone, I didn't have that luxury anymore.”

“Oh.”

She glanced over. “It’s okay, Livy. It worked out for the best.”

“I still feel bad about it.”

“Don’t. You can’t sweat the past. If you look at all of our lives, we’ve each had to overcome that one thing to make it. You’ll need to let it go too.”

Livy knew she was right. This case was her one thing. Seamus O’Brien was her obstacle.

“Let’s get this party started,” Elizabeth began, getting up from the couch.

Immediately, Ethan told her to sit, which was fine by her. Callen’s magic fingers were doing something sinful to the arch of her foot. If she wasn’t chewing, she’d be drooling like a mindless lump.

“We have the three victims,” he began.

Writing them on the board, he faced his family, and boss. “We at first thought this was about
‘The Butcher’
case, but it isn’t.”

“I agree,” stated Elizabeth. “This is personal. This is directed at all of us.”

“Are you sure?” asked Gabe. Solving things wasn’t his forte. He was a boss to his core. It was all about power with him, and that was why he had wanted Elizabeth working for him all those years ago.

She had a beautiful mind.

She had the ability to think like a…killer.

“Yes. I’m not saying that the past case isn’t part of this, but let’s look at this from an outside perspective. William Donnelly was your friend.”

“He was. We golfed, he was my mentor, and he was my confidante. His murder pisses me off. He was a damn good director, and he gave me my shot at this.”

“See? That’s what I mean. This isn’t all about Seamus O’Brien. This killer is sending us a message. That was a personal shot at you.”

“What about the agent?”

Elizabeth glanced over at Livy. “I think you should tell him.”

“We weren’t only partners for that one case where you and Elizabeth were off working, but I may have had a personal relationship with him.”

“May have?”

Everyone knew this had the potential to blow.

“He was gay.”

“He wasn’t when I had sex with him.”

Gabe closed his eyes.

“Don’t lose it, Gabriel. We both had people we were with before each other. Are you telling me you were a saint?”

He opened his mouth.

“You made out with Elizabeth.”

“Seriously?” she said when Callen dropped her foot and Ethan glared at her. “You’re going to throw a pregnant woman under the husband bus over this? Ouch, Livy!”

She laughed.

Gabe wasn’t amused.

“For the record,” Gabe said, when the two men glared at him. “It was for my reunion, and she was supposed to be my hot younger girlfriend.”

Still they said nothing.

“It was one kiss, and it sucked.”

“Hey!” she objected. “You too?”

“This is exactly my point,” Livy said. “We’ve all had sex in this room before our significant others.”

“Livy?” Elizabeth called, motioning her closer. When Livy leaned in, she punched her.

“Shit! That hurt! What the hell?”

Ethan was amused. Now that he’d heard the backstory, he completely got it. He liked when Elizabeth was with him on a date. There had been times he’d had meetings and showed her off like arm candy. He couldn’t fault the man.

“Are we square?” Gabe asked him.

“Yeah, she was your hot piece of ass. I completely understand. She’s our arm candy too.”

Callen laughed.

She went to object, but they cut her off.

“Hey! It’s only fair. We got blindsided,” Ethan stated. “Let us have this one.”

She took one for the team.

“Anyway, you had a life before me, and I did too. He wasn’t a long term thing.”

“Again, he was gay.”

“Again, he wasn’t at that time. Trust me, I was there.”

Ethan interjected, “Neither was Jay. Although, he always did lay it on a little thick about the ladies. It is possible for a gay man to have sex with a woman, I guess.”

Callen went to bust his ass but Elizabeth put her hand over his mouth.

“I’m in the middle. I don’t want to get hurt.”

He shut his mouth.

“So she turned him,” Gabe teased, much to his wife’s protests.

Elizabeth knew the girlfriend code mattered, so she stood up for her friend. “Yeah, she did. You’re next. Who do you think is hotter? Ethan or Callen?”

He went red and began sputtering.

They all laughed.

“Anyway,” Elizabeth continued, now that she had shut all three men up. “That kill was to get Livy’s attention, and also because it was personal for Ethan. That was Jay Melrose’s partner and lover. Who was Ethan teamed up with when
‘The Butcher’
was here?”

“Jay.”

“This is all to keep us running in circles,” Ethan said. “She’s right. It’s personal. I’m her profiler, and this killer knows that I’m going to be pointing her in the direction. This is to trip me up, and it has been.”

“Someone knows how we think, how we work, and how we do our jobs. This is a watcher who’s had too much time on their damn hands.”

They agreed with her.

Well, now it was time for Ethan to ‘man up’ and do his thing. Elizabeth needed her profiler.

“What do we know about this killer?”

Ethan rolled his neck. Everyone watched.

It was something he did to get in the right frame of mind. It was how he cleared his thoughts.

When he opened his eyes, he was in the zone.

“This killer is methodical. The way he’s plotting this out, that takes skill. We’re talking murders based off an old case. There is no way that he just happened to pick the one case where Elizabeth broke the law. We run our office by the letter of the law. This asshole wants us to know one thing.”

“And that is?” Callen asked.

“That we have weaknesses. He’s finding them by studying us. This is going to be a long-term thing. We’re not talking weeks. We’re talking years.”

Callen needed to know for his woman’s sake. “So this person knows that she killed Seamus?”

“I doubt it. No one really knows. She took Seamus’s life, but she did it well. There are no loose ends. This killer wanted us back here to play the game, and what better way than to find the one case in her life that would make her come running?”

He had a point.

They’d done just that.

“Sex?” Elizabeth asked.

“Not now, baby, we’re working,” Ethan teased.

Her mouth dropped open.

Callen earned a punch for laughing, only because she couldn’t reach Ethan.

“That’s not fair.”

“Oh, do you really want me to play that game?”

He shook his head.

“Anyway, Ethan, you know damn well what I meant.”

He grinned, and it nearly took her breath away. He was in his glory. Not only was he going to be helping run the main FBI hub, but he was profiling some sicko.

This was his gig.

She was proud of him.

“I can’t pinpoint it that easily, since I’m conflicted. I need more to give you that.”

Elizabeth understood. “Women usually poison or shoot. They don’t like to get their hands dirty.”

“True. This is a messy crime, but then we have the blonde hair. Those are long hairs.”

“So a woman?”

“Or it could be planted to throw us off,” Callen stated. “Let’s face it. This whole thing is about screwing with us. We came here thinking
‘The Butcher’
and now we’re playing a whole different game.”

He had a point.

Gabe listened to them bouncing the ideas off each other. Now he got why they had to work together. This was a perfect storm, and they had a rhythm that few agents had.

Maybe it was because they were a couple.

Maybe it was pure skill.

Either way, he was lucky. This sleuthing powerhouse was about to be under his roof.

Elizabeth agreed. “We never would have come rushing back if we thought we were in danger at the beginning. We’re cautious. This person had to lure us in.”

“They used the right bait.”

“That’s why we have a serial stalker. We don’t only have a watcher, but we have someone so obsessed with us, that this person has taken this to a whole new level. The research on this alone is staggering,” Ethan stated. “Again, that’s why I don’t think this is a couple weeks of work.”

Elizabeth thought about it. “If this person did research, there will be a trail.”

“There would have to be one. We just have to find it,” Callen stated.

He began making notes with his right hand. Elizabeth noticed and signaled Ethan. Together, they silently watched him.

“Do you have anything on the age and ethnicity?” Livy asked. “If we can’t narrow down sex, what about that?”

Ethan thought about it. “We’re going to have a Caucasian. The only reason I say that is that the victims are all white.”

“Could this be a Native?” Elizabeth asked.

“Why do you think that?” Ethan inquired, curious at where she was heading with this.

“Well, let’s face it. You Blackhawk boys made enemies. We came back, and I made some too. We said this was years in the making, so what better place to kick this off than the Rez?”

Ethan started pacing. “It doesn’t fit up here,” he said, tapping his head.

Gabe was grinning.

“What?” Elizabeth asked.

He laughed. “I just signed you three to work in my office. This is going to get us some major accolades.”

Livy punched him. “They’re our family, not tools we can use to get shiny stars from the president.”

He rubbed his side. “I can still be excited.”

Ethan went back to pacing. “No, I’m staying with white. Sorry, but that’s my gut.”

Elizabeth was good with that.

“Age?”

“Older. Forties or fifties. This isn't some child. This is a smart adult who has had time to let this anger stew.”

They all stared at Elizabeth.

“I’m thinking about the last message left on Kay’s wall,” she admitted. “She was your surrogate mother, but the note on the wall called me out.”

Ethan worked it over in his head. “Yeah, this is going to be about you, Lyzee. I’m sorry, but I feel like we need to focus on you as the center of this.”

She got it.

She’d pissed off some jackwagon, and there were repercussions.

“So we’re back to the original case,” Livy stated, “aren’t we?”

Every time they tried to move away from that direction, they were right back at it.