Redemption is Here (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 9) Read online

  “We indeed have the heart,” she said, sliding it out onto a tray. “But, we also have a driver’s license.”

  That piqued Elizabeth’s attention. “Seriously? I couldn’t get this damn lucky if I tried.”

  Jaxon continued, “The ID looks like your victim. I think your killer just made the identifying part of this job so much easier,” she said, holding up a bloody bag.

  This was a first for all of them.

  This was more proof they were working with a nutjob. A killer generally wanted to keep the FBI from finding out the victim’s name. This one was doing the exact opposite.

  Now, she needed to know why.

  Elizabeth slipped on a pair of gloves and waited until the woman opened the bag. With a pair of tongs, she reached in and pulled the license out. Placing it in the tray, which Callen held, she stared at the woman.

  “We have Emelia Southland. She’s thirty years old and according to the address on her ID, she’s a resident of Devil’s Lake. We need to get those other jars open.”

  None of the men looked happy to be handed the jar with the penis in it.

  “I’ll take it,” Jaxon offered. “Trust me, I’ve seen quite a few lopped off ones in the field.”

  That one sentence managed to gross out three men.

  Elizabeth almost wanted to laugh. The looks on their faces were comical, including her straight-laced ME. “Thank you, Doctor Armstrong,” she stated, watching the three doctors begin.

  Zane took the jar with the woman’s mutilated genitalia. When he cracked it open, out slid the flesh and a plastic baggie. It too held a driver’s license.

  “Why would the killer do this?” he asked, holding it up.

  Jaxon and Tony went to reply at the same time. Then, he realized she was supposed to be getting the field experience. “Go ahead, Jaxon,” he offered, letting her run with it. If she screwed up, he’d step in and help her out.

  “Thank you, Doctor,” she offered. “I think your killer is doing this for one very specific reason. In ancient Egypt, they’d bury someone with identifiers, so when they were found centuries later, they’d have a name. Your killer is hoping these victims would be unearthed one day, and they’d know who they were.”

  Elizabeth reached into Zane’s bag to pull out the driver’s license. “We have Kaylee Bain.” She did the math. “She was twenty three and also from Devil’s Lake.”

  Tony dumped out the contents of his jar next. “We indeed have a tongue. Whoever did this butchered it. This wasn’t done delicately or with any precision,” he offered. Then, he pulled out the baggie and opened it for Elizabeth to extract the card.

  “We have an Allen Payne. From the dates on the license, he was fifty four,” she stated, resting it beside the other two. “Well, now it’s time for jar number four,” she stated.

  Jax opened it and dumped out the contents. A slippery dismembered penis slid onto the tray.

  From the audible hiss, all three men were obviously grossed out.

  “Seriously? You’re the ME,” Elizabeth said, laughing.

  “That’s not a body part any man is going to be okay seeing lying on a tray, Director. Trust me, I have a strong stomach and that is probably my one big creep out.”

  She couldn’t blame him. After all, she hated dead eyes.

  Jaxon opened the bag for her.

  Carefully, she pulled out the last card. “We have a Walter Dennison. From the license, he was thirty five.” Once on the tray, she glanced over at Callen. “Pull out our missing person reports,” she stated. “I want to see if these four are on there.”

  He got to work and as far from the dismembered penis as possible.

  “Callen, can you also text our two agents? They’re going to be doing some additional paperwork. I want to know everything about these four people.”

  Zane returned to the first body to get the autopsy started.

  “I need TOD and COD, Doctor,” she said.

  He glanced up. “I’ll be able to give you cause of death as soon as I finish today. As for their time of death, the oil and time in the earth has skewed that. I’m not going to be able to get you an accurate time.”

  Jaxon raised her hand. “Can I say something?”

  Elizabeth glanced over at her. “Yes, Doctor, feel free.”

  “I can tell you the order of their deaths just by looking at them.”

  Now, the woman had her attention. “How exactly? Before you share, I’ll also need a frame of reference for your expertise.”

  Tony moved to her side. “I’ll vouch for her,” he offered, placing his hand on her shoulder. He didn't want the woman to have to tell a room full of people her biggest emotional hurdle in life. The least he could do was protect her.

  Elizabeth measured the situation. This had to be a first in her book. As she stared into Tony’s eyes, she could see the need to have her trust on this one. “Very well,” Elizabeth offered. “Have at it.”

  Despite hating to look at bodies with flesh, she moved from corpse to corpse. With a piece of paper, she made notes at each victim. Then on separate sheets, she drew the numbers one through four.

  “Here’s your first victim,” she stated, dropping a paper with the number one on it by his feet. “Walter Dennison died first. I can tell by the way his skin has reacted to the frankincense. Already, it’s beginning to pucker and discolor.”

  “Can you tell me how long he’s been dead?” Elizabeth asked, noticing her ME didn't look happy about the guessing. Yeah, he was definitely like Chris Leonard in some respects.

  “I’m going to say that it’s over two weeks but less than three.”

  Again, Zane made some disgruntled sound.

  “Doctor?”

  “It’s not really our policy to guess.”

  Tony started to say something but was cut off by Elizabeth. “Well, Doctor Legend, we sometimes need to think outside the box. While I appreciate that you and Doctor Leonard are fastidious with giving one hundred percent backed scientific fact, sometimes, we need to run with other methods.”

  Doctor Armstrong glanced over. “There’s one way you can prove me wrong or right,” she stated.

  Elizabeth waited to hear this.

  She grabbed the tray with the severed penis on it and held it out him. “There’s no frankincense on his dick. Feel free to test it all you want.”

  When she held it out to the man, Elizabeth started laughing. “I do declare that our female anthro has claws. I like that in an employee.”

  She took the rest of the numbers and laid them out. Number two was Allen Payne, three was Kaylee Bain, and last was Emelia Southland. When she was finished, she pulled her gloves off and tossed them in the trash.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” she said, heading out. When she hit the door, it swung shut behind her. No one said a word, until Zane finally spoke.

  “I wasn’t saying she was wrong. It’s just not how we work,” he offered. “I didn't mean to hurt her feelings.”

  Tony wanted desperately to go after her, but he knew better. One person storming out of the room was enough to stir up the boss. For now, he’d give Jaxon time to calm down.

  Elizabeth wasn’t accustomed to people just leaving without her giving them permission. Staring over at her anthropologist, she waited for him to look at her.

  “Later, you and I need to have a talk.”

  Well shit. He was in trouble now too.

  “I mean it. Find me,” she said. “We’re going to be upstairs working in the conference room. I want to know what you know by the end of the day,” she stated to her team. “Am I clear?”

  Both men nodded.

  “Go find your trainee,” Elizabeth suggested. “When you locate her, please explain to the doctor why leaving before her boss is done is a bad thing. Then, you can tell Jaxon that I’m giving her leeway on this one, only because I’m not in a bad mood. If it happens again, I can’t promise I won’t chew her face off and have an anthropologist for breakfast.”

  Tony
didn't doubt it in the least.

  When the boss was gone, he glanced over at Zane. The man didn't look too happy.

  “She’s bitchy today,” he stated.

  He didn't plan on saying much about his boss. Bitchy or not, they were friends. “She’s carrying this entire assignment on her shoulders. I can’t say I blame her.”

  “I’ll start testing the samples, and then we can get the victims defleshed later,” Zane stated.

  Tony pulled off his gloves and went off to find Jaxon. He hoped she was fine, but one never knew.

  It looked like he had one more mess to fix.

  Upstairs, they walked past a few deputies and Elizabeth ignored the comments from them. Callen did too, because there was no time for a blood bath. They had a killer who could be dumping two bodies a week, and that didn't bode well for this assignment.

  Plus, Elizabeth’s mood was heading south.

  Callen was giving her some time to calm down. He could tell by the clicking of her boot heels on the floor that she needed a moment. It was a dead giveaway.

  Once in the conference room, Elizabeth dropped down into a chair and still said nothing.

  “Who are you angry at?” he asked, pouring them both more coffee from the pot in the corner.

  “The killer.”

  “You’re worried about something,” he said, sitting beside her at the table.

  “Yeah, that’s a lot of bodies for three weeks max. If Doctor Armstrong is right, we can expect another victim this week.”

  “There’s more to it,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  “Yeah, my anthropologist is stirred up, I have a newbie who stormed out of the room, my ME isn't used to working with me in the field, and Ethan’s going to have to get his sexy derriere here and give me a profile.”

  “AND?”

  “I’m worried about Wyler.”

  Now, the truth came out. Personal life was overshadowing professional. Elizabeth could run a team blindfolded and with her hands tied behind her back. These little bumps in the road were nothing to her.

  “They’ll be fine,” he promised. “I tell you what. You let Ethan sweat the profile, you run this mess, and I’ll periodically check in with Wyler. If I don’t say anything, then you know everything is fine. It’ll take some of the weight off your shoulders.”

  “I love you. Thank you for being the mediator. You’re really good at it.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, well we’re going to have to visit the tribe at some point. I may lose control once you start browbeating them.”

  She snickered. “Am I that obvious, Callen?”

  In this case, he simply shared a look. There was no need to point out the obvious. “How about we start working on the information we have? You break it down, and I’ll be your research monkey,” he offered.

  Elizabeth wiggled her eyebrows. “Deal.”

  Before they could start, there was a knock on the door. “I found your two agents wandering the office. They were looking for you,” stated the chief, escorting them inside.

  “Thank you,” she replied, grateful to have two more of her team ready to work. They were going to be digging in and would need everyone’s help on this one.

  “Is he being nice to you?” he asked, pointing at Callen.

  Elizabeth started laughing. “Chief, you’re under the wrong impression. Director Whitefox is far from mean. He’s actually my husband,” she offered, refusing to deny him. “He’d never hurt me.”

  “Oh, but you said,” he started, and then stopped in confusion.

  “She meant the real boss. He’ll be arriving any day now,” Callen offered, throwing his brother under the bus.

  It was hard not to laugh at that.

  He shook his head before leaving the room.

  Immediately, Elizabeth offered him a fist bump. “Way to go with that one, Cal. Now, Ethan will have one hell of a time.”

  There was no doubt in his mind. “Yeah, well I do like to keep my brother on his toes.”

  The agents sat. “You wanted us, ma’am?”

  Elizabeth broke it all down, telling them what they discovered in autopsy. Once more, the male flinched. Maybe Doctor Legend had been right. Penis removal was creepy to those who had one.

  “What’s the plan for today?” asked Agent Seaton.

  “First, we’re going to cross compare the victims’ ID’s to the files we have, and then we’re going dig into their lives. Today is likely going to be heavy into the paperwork for everyone.”

  Pulling out the files, Callen got ready to do what she asked. “Can one of you to search the databases, and the other scour the internet?” he asked. With three of them sitting there, they could run the searches so much faster.

  “Can do, boss,” offered the female agent.

  They opened their tablets.

  “Okay! Then let’s start with the victim Doctor Armstrong believes was the first to die. We have Walter Dennison. Callen, you go first. Was he one of our missing person reports?”

  He flipped through the names, and then used the code to pull it up online. “Yes, he was. It’s loading now,” he offered. Immediately, he scanned it. “Well, it looks like he worked at a school. It seems that a co-worker called it in when he missed a meeting with the board.”

  Elizabeth made notes to send to Ethan. “Can you tell me when?”

  He flipped the screens. “Two and a half weeks ago.”

  “So, our new anthropologist was right with her guess,” Elizabeth stated. “That’s one for her.”

  Callen glanced over at Agents Seaton and Madden. “What do you two have?”

  Johanna spoke first, “I did an internet search on him. It appears that he was in some trouble before he disappeared,” she stated.

  Agent Broderick Seaton agreed with that one, “Yeah, according to the databases, there was a warrant out for his arrest, plus a bench order for failure to appear.”

  That piqued her interest. “What kind of trouble was he in?”

  Madden went first. “According to the media reports, Mr. Dennison was a coach at the local high school. He was recently accused of screwing around with an underage girl on his team.”

  Agent Seaton picked it up there, “That’s what the warrant is for. He was supposed to turn himself in and the judge threw out a warrant or two. He was a wanted man.”

  Callen needed to know. “When?”

  They looked at the dates and compared them. “Less than three weeks ago,” stated Johanna. “If the papers are right, and according to the arrest warrant, he disappeared the day before he was supposed to appear before the judge.”

  Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and sipped her coffee. “So, we have a man who had his dick lopped off after diddling around with an underage girl. Does anyone find that to be poetic justice?”

  “He wouldn’t be the first sex offender to be handled that way,” added Johanna.

  “Yeah, that’s one hell of a coincidence. I want everything on him, the school, and alleged victim. Maybe we have some father who went too far and is now trying to cover his tracks with making it look worse.”

  Callen made notes.

  “Are you ready for number two?” Elizabeth asked her team. When they all nodded, she continued, “Doctor Armstrong picked Allen Payne as the next victim. Do we have a missing person report on him?”

  Callen flipped. “We do. It was called in by an employee. It seems that he owned a car dealership. When the employees couldn’t reach him for two days, they got worried. The police were called in, and they searched his home. Nothing was found out of place.”

  “What do we have for a date on that report?” she asked.

  “It was filed two weeks ago, so fourteen days.”

  Elizabeth was impressed that the new doctor was right, two for two, and that was just by looking at the victims. Glancing over, she waited for her team to continue. “What do you both have?”

  Agent Seaton searched the police database. “He’s clean. He doesn’t even have a par
king ticket. There are no arrest warrants or criminal activities.”

  “Well, the media hasn’t been as friendly to Mr. Payne. It seems there are a few articles regarding his business, ‘Payne Free Auto’. He’s had numerous complaints about the vehicles he’s been selling,” Agent Madden stated.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “Well, now he’s certainly Payne free. I have to go on record and state that he picked one of the worst names for a business that I’ve ever heard of in my life,” she stated.

  “Uh, how about a little place you love called, ‘The Pussy Cat Club’?” Callen reminded her.

  “Second worst name,” she clarified.

  Callen laughed. “Well, does anyone find it odd that a car salesman with shady practices had his tongue cut out? That’s ironic.”

  Elizabeth began processing everything. “What about Doctor Armstrong’s third pick?”

  Yeah, this was all bizarre. There was no way she was going to believe that a severed penis on a pedophile and a missing tongue from a lying salesman wasn’t connected, somehow.

  Callen flipped the pages and found nothing listed in the police reports. “No one called in Kaylee Bain.”

  Broderick pulled up the police registry. “Well, she’s in here about forty times,” he stated.

  “For?” Elizabeth questioned.

  “It looks like she was a woman of the night. Kaylee Bain participated in the oldest profession.”

  “So, a hooker had her genitalia removed?” Elizabeth had her proof that the killer wasn’t just picking random people. “We have a watcher.”

  Callen didn't like that at all. The last one they ran into had been Patrick Parrish. He’d stalked his prey and picked them specifically. Then, he took his brother and nearly destroyed their family. “Shit,” he muttered. “Ethan’s going to hate this.”

  There was no doubt in her mind he would. “What about Emilia Southland?” Elizabeth asked.

  Callen dug through the files. “Nada. No report was called in for her.”

  “How about you two?” she asked, pointing at the agents.

  Madden kept skimming. “I found her social media page. It seems she worked as a receptionist for Dixon Industries.”

  “Why was her heart removed?” Callen asked.