Slay Bells Ring (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 12) (58 page)

“It’s not because of her sex life?”

She laughed. “Hell no. If she wants to screw two men blind, I don’t care. I want her brain. I want her to chase me. When she does, I’m the lucky one. I’ll win. I’m smarter than she is. She’s my route to fame and fortune. I’m going to be the most prolific killer in America’s history. I have three dozen plus kills to prove it.”

He wanted to tell her she wasn’t nearly as smart, but pissing her off was a bad idea, and he knew it.

“When I beat her, the media will rave about me. Now they’re talking about her sex life, but later, they’ll be talking about how she failed.”

He finally got it. “You called the media on her.”

She laughed. “Of course I did. I’ve studied her. Do you really think that weasel Seth Denton could make up a story on his own? I pointed him in that direction, and he dug. All the while, he distracted her. That gave me the edge. I can’t bribe her with sex, but I can break her heart.”

He stared up at her. “Who shot the Fed?”

“Oh, that was Clyde. He went off and did it on his own. I told you he’s crazy. They were never going to be a target. I need them. I’m so very pissed at his incompetence, and he will pay. That I can promise.”

He didn't speak.

She looked so innocent.

Yet, he was staring into the eyes of a killer.

Just then, the door opened, and the man exited covered in blood. He looked wild, and they both watched him approach.

“I couldn’t get off. The dead bitch couldn’t get me off,” he hissed, heading right for Bonnie. “I need you!”

Dakota didn't know what was going to happen. He hoped he wasn’t going to have to watch them fornicate. This was bad enough. His body was streaked with his dead partner’s blood.

He wanted to be sick.

Suddenly, she gasped and pointed toward the window. When Clyde turned around, she struck. With perfect timing, she sliced the blade she’d been hiding across his throat.

The spray coated the wall and Marshal as he stared at her with big eyes.

Dakota and Clyde both gasped as the blood sprayed all over the place.

“Goodbye, Clyde. The show’s over. Now I’m center stage. I don’t need you anymore.”

With that, she picked up the Taser and crossed toward the restrained man. “I promise this won’t be too bad. Think of it as going out with a bang.”

She hit him with the Taser and enjoyed how his body jumped in distress.

When he was out, she grabbed the bottle of water and the dissolved Viagra. “Dakota, this is going to hurt you more than it’s going to hurt me. In fact, I may just get off.”

Her laughter filled the room.

It was time.

                 
* * *  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Morgue

Late Sunday Night

Almost Christmas Eve

They were officially out of time. It had been over two hours since they discovered the dead reverend and his wife, and that meant it was likely that Dakota and his partner were dead too.

Elizabeth was beyond frazzled.

She was angry.

The team ran everyone. From Zuela Robinson to Rena Woods, and nothing popped. They were looking for someone who had only been in town for the last year, and also hit up New York and California. That gave them only half the suspects.

It was frustrating.

She was about to call Gabe to alert him that they’d had an abduction, when someone squealed.

“I have something,” stated Merry, jumping up from her desk. “It’s a blonde hair.”

Elizabeth stared at her. “Merry, no offense, but Irish Castro is blonde, so is Zuela Robinson, and Tehila Fields. We have a shitload of blonde to go around.”

“Yeah, it’s not about the who, but the where. That’s the key! Remember at the beginning, we had the DNA, but you said it was going to turn up someplace and that’s when we’d know who it was from?”

“Vaguely. If feels like a million years ago.”

“I found a blonde hair in a bed.”

“Okay, and?”

She set the scene. “We were at Cooper Douglas’s house finding trace. We searched all the rooms, and I found that blonde hair in his bed.”

“His wife was blonde.”

“Yes, but this hair matched the DNA of the killer. It had a full root tag, and I was able to pull the match. I got samples from the brush in the other bedroom too, and the toothbrush.”

“Okay, so they broke in, had sex in the bed, and killed them.”

But the hair brush and toothbrush didn't fit. Her heart started pounding, as she refused to get too excited.

Elizabeth’s fingers were crossed.

“When I further searched, I found vaginal and seminal fluid in that same bed. I ran it, and it came up that the female matched Bonnie, or the person we think is Bonnie.”

Everyone was staring at her.

“But?”

“The male sample wasn’t Clyde. It was Cooper Douglas’s. I ran it against his DNA.”

They were waiting for it.

“Here’s the kicker. The DNA from the sample in the bed, and the hair matches his at fifty percent.”

“Wait. Are you saying he was having sex with his daughter?” she asked. “That’s who he was cheating on his wife with?”

“Yes. Not only that, but she’s Bonnie. We found half of our killing team.”

They all looked around.

“Jesus. That’s just…I don’t have words.” It may have been a first for Elizabeth. “She was the one he was having the affair with? Really?”

It looked like Adeline Douglas was right.

Her husband was playing around, only…it was with his own child.

Ethan spoke up, “It makes sense. She played us. It was part of the game. She’s an actress, and she wanted to confuse us. By throwing in a red herring, she kept us off the track.”

Elizabeth pointed at her agents. “I want you to run her. Make sure you find out her real name. That’s why you didn't find anything under Tipton. It’s going to be part of the game and that’s the stage name.”

They got to work.

“She was abused by her own father,” Elizabeth stated. “I’m willing to bet that he’s the one who has a prescription for Viagra too.”

Johanna confirmed it. “There were no pills left in his room. The bottle was empty. The techs found it in the garbage.”

Yeah, she had her own private pharmacy.

This was just twisted.

It didn't take long for Brody to shout out. “Found it! I have her real name. It’s listed as Bridget Melrose. The reason it was so hard was that she’d changed it a couple of times from Douglas to Melrose when she turned eighteen. It was buried.”

“Awesome work. Now, start running her. Johanna, I want you to look for any properties in that name. We know she’s not going to be at her father’s house, and when she told us she was staying with a friend, we never thought it was her. I’m betting that ‘friend’ is Clyde.”

They continued typing.

Ethan found something. “You might find this curious,” he said, turning his tablet around, “but I found something.”

“What?” she asked.

“I searched her actress name and this town, and look what I pulled up.”

She crossed to him. On his tablet, there was a photograph.

“She was friends with Irish Castro. They went to school together when they were younger.”

“That ties them to Salvatore Boone too.”

“She danced with Ann Kong,” Chris said, holding up his tablet. “In New York, there was a charity event, and a bunch of celebrities and models got together. They were the opening act.”

She checked out the picture. “She wasn’t just targeting men, but she was going after the women too.”

The sheriff was sickened. “Lina ticketed her all the time. She liked to park her Mercedes wherever she wanted. They had a minor altercation.”

There was a motive.

“Why would they steal from the dead then?” Tony asked. “She’s got money, and her dad has it too.”

“Simply put…because she could. It screwed with us. She’s wealthy, but our killers are moving around and randomly using the stolen credit cards. They want us to fall for it. It was all part of their game.”

It was like one big performance.

“I don’t get the reverend and his wife. Why did they kill them?” Johanna asked.

Elizabeth knew why. “She’s tying up loose ends. Adeline went there for confession. Apparently, she wanted to make sure no one spoke. Who knows what was said in the confessional. Lottie wanted to be sure it died with Adeline.”

And it did.

“Oh, Bridget, you’ve been a naughty girl.”

“I have her and Lily Schneider in California together,” stated Ethan. “She worked as an extra.”

“That ties her to everyone. Think about it. Where did she work? New York and California. She did Broadway, and she did movies. Our young ingénue is nothing more than a killer.”

“I’ll admit it,” Ethan said. “She’s a genius psychopath. She buried this one. If not for that hair and semen, we’d be lost.”

She knew it. Now the game was just about over.

The sheriff shook his head. “She seemed so normal.”

Sadly, they knew the truth.

Killers were made, and this was proof of it. “At one time, she might have been sweet, but she was sexually abused by her own father. I would have cut off his penis too and shoved into a blender.”

Merry pulled up that report. “She had sex with him before he died, and she didn't use protection.”

She wouldn’t.

She’d trust him.

“She’s married!” blurted Brody. I have a marriage under Bridget Melrose. It was buried, but I located it.”

This was what she needed.

There was no doubt in her mind that this person was going to be the one helping her.

“Who is it?”

“Maybe this sounds familiar. We have Mr. and Mrs. Filip Howe.”

“Bingo!”

She knew they had him. There was no way that was a coincidence. Bonnie and Clyde were identified.

“Johanna, search his properties too. She’s going to use him just like she used her father. When he’s useless, she’ll take him out. If we can find the hole, that’s where they’ll have the two Marshals.”

The woman continued searching.

“He was so helpful, giving us that report with all the people on it. They knew we’d come knocking, and thus the stolen laptop. They played us even more,” Ethan stated.

It really had been a game.

“He came in rushed while we were interviewing both him and Juliet Singer. He was out of breath. He’d just shot Callen and raced there. We weren’t far from the deputy’s house. It was three blocks the other way.”

“Son of a bitch,” Ethan muttered. “I’m going to kill him for shooting my brother.”

It all made sense.

They were putting on one hell of a show.

She was about to ask more when her agent stood.

“I have a location,” Johanna stated. “I know where they are!”

“Where?”

“Filip has a cabin in his name not far from town. It was bought two years ago in a cash sale. They must use it to lay low.”

“Yeah, like when she’s ‘going out of town’ or ‘staying with a friend’,” stated Elizabeth.

“We found their hole.”

The sheriff spoke up, “We’re coming in with you.”

She didn't care.

They just had to move fast.

At that moment, there were two Marshals being tortured. She couldn’t let that happen. “Agents, sheriff, saddle up. We’re going in quiet. Put your coms on and get the guns out. We have a dangerous duo to bring in.”

Only no one there believed they would be going peacefully.

It was beyond that.

                 
* * *  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Filip’s Cabin

When he woke, he was naked and aroused, and nothing he could do could stop it. She’d pumped him full of Viagra, and was getting ready to end his life.

He wondered how long it would take for him to bleed out.

God!

He hoped it wouldn’t hurt.

As he glanced over, she was dragging his partner from the bedroom. She was a bloody mess and very dead.