Dying to Love (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 18) Read online

  Ethan focused on the cop. “Has she? What kind of issues?” he asked.

  “She worked a case where she got one of the undercover detectives killed.”

  He pressed the intercom button again, and he hoped the man was ready for the shit storm.

  It was coming.

  “Ginny, I need a file. Pull Elizabeth’s personnel record, and then the file that pertains to…” He waited for them to give him the date.

  He gave it to her.

  “Yes, Mr. B. I’ll email it over if it’s been scanned.”

  He hung up.

  “Until I see it, I’m not at liberty to discuss that case. Frankly, nothing has ever been said to me to indicate that she’d handled it inappropriately. Is that what you’re saying, Detective?”

  “What do you care? You’re her husband. You’re not going to care what I have to say to you. This is a waste of time.”

  Ethan steepled his fingers and stared the man down.

  “Are you saying I can’t be impartial and do my job because it involves my wife?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  The police captain elbowed him.

  “He’s not saying that, Director. That’s why we figured we’d be working with Gabriel on this.”

  Ethan sipped his water. This was a game, and over the last few months, he’d become well versed in it.

  The uncomfortable silence spoke louder than words at times. This was one of those times.

  “I’m a little confused. Didn’t Metro call Gabe Rothschild to report that our director had been called out on a crime scene?” he asked.

  Captain Jefferson owned it. “I was willing to pass it off at the time, but it’s since been brought to my attention that she might not be the best advocate for the job.”

  He thought about it.

  “Well, what will it take to convince your detective the FBI has jurisdiction in this case and that it should remain with us—Elizabeth aside?”

  “More than two dead hookers.”

  “We have two dead hookers, two eviscerated babies, and a woman who was babysitting. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, Detective, because I didn’t go to a prestigious school like Whilton like you did, but I believe that two plus two plus one is five.”

  He stared at him.

  “It is.”

  His computer beeped.

  He sent the file to the big screen in his office. In it, was all of Elizabeth’s notes. There was even the email from him to Gabe where he profiled it.

  “It looks like a clean arrest, Detective. You and your partner were there. Elizabeth lured the killer in, you got a confession on recording from the wire she was wearing, and a judge sentenced him to a sanitarium for life. How does any of that make her less than qualified?”

  The police captain sighed.

  “You don’t have to actually answer that, Detective. Let me. It was a clean case and clean arrest.”

  Ethan wasn’t done.

  He pulled up Elizabeth’s file, and he flipped to her awards, commendations, and medals from the president. “I married her after this one here,” he said, pointing at the fifteenth one down from the top. After me, she got two citations for valor. Before me, she had fifteen. That’s confusing since you seem to think she’s slept her way to the top. She didn’t. She’s just very smart. Cornell, a master’s, started in the FBI young, and running her own division. I had nothing to do with that. That was all Elizabeth.”

  He tossed his water bottle into the trash.

  “Now, let’s look at your file, my friend.” It appeared on the screen.

  “How did you get that?” the Captain asked.

  The detective stood and objected.

  “SIT. You came to my house to stir the pot. While Gabe is away, I’m the big dog here. You came into the FBI with a chip on your shoulder, and now you’re leaving with clarification on where we stand.”

  The man sat.

  “Now, to answer your question. I received this file from some sources. This is the FBI. If I can’t make a cop’s personnel file appear, what kind of Director am I?” he asked.

  They all scanned it.

  “Let’s do a side by side comparison. Elizabeth has eighteen commendations, and you have two. Yours were almost twenty years ago.”

  The man didn’t look happy.

  “Then we have notes from your superior, the man sitting right beside you. It appears you have alcoholism, anger management issues, and bad attitude. Yeah, you’re right. You have a leg to stand on when it comes to slandering one of our agents.”

  He sputtered.

  “Next?”

  “I want back in on the case.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, that’s up to her. She’s the lead investigator. While Gabe might force one of his agents to do the dance, I won’t. I was one of those agents, and I like letting MY people make that decision.”

  “She’s making a spectacle on the news,” Glenn stated. “She always does. She made a mockery of the job last time I worked with her, and she got Cathy McCall killed.”

  He sent another file to the screen.

  “In this little dossier, the FBI did a little research on that accusation back when it happened. It seemed that you and your partner tried to throw her under the bus.”

  “She deserved it.”

  He was elbowed again.

  “You were sleeping with someone working under you, correct? This Detective McCall, the woman who was killed in the line of duty.”

  “You’re sleeping with Elizabeth, and you’re married to her. What’s the difference?”

  “Actually, she’s not directly under me. She reports to Gabriel Rothschild. I don’t control her cases, her job, or what she does in the field. It takes away the possibility that I’m biased.”

  The man closed his mouth.

  “The only reason I’m handling this now is Gabe was off today. Your timing sucks. Had you been here last week, this would have been his mess—not mine.”

  The man was getting twitchy.

  It was time for Ethan to wrap this up.

  “Anyway, according to this file, you would meet up with Cathy, and that’s how the killer found out she was a cop.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “Those are the words of the judge and defense attorney back then, not mine. If you’ll look, that’s the official court transcript. Now unless you’re saying Elizabeth slept with that judge too.”

  “She slept with me. She slept with my partner. She slept with a lot of cops.”

  He tried to control his temper, but it wasn’t easy.

  He didn’t want to picture his wife in the embrace of another man.

  It set him off.

  He really didn’t like dealing with this kind of thing. Did he know his wife had sex before him?

  Yes.

  Did he have to like it?

  NO.

  In fact, he hated it.

  “Thank you for telling me. All those men, and yet she picked me. Aren’t I the lucky one?”

  “Director…”

  Ethan cut him off. “You and your detective are dismissed. We’ll be watching you, Glenn. If you cross the line, I will have you in here with your boss, and you won’t like visit two. This was a social call. The next one is where the head of the FBI chews on your ass for about three hours, and you leave here missing a few parts of your soft tissue.”

  He stood. “I told you.”

  “Talk to Director Blackhawk. If she wants to let you in, she will. If she doesn’t…? Let’s just say this is dead in the water.”

  The men headed out.

  Ethan followed them to the door, and he motioned to Gabe and Livy.

  “Mr. B, your brother called. He and Elizabeth request a meeting later. They have to tell you what’s going on with the case.”

  He was glad.

  He wanted to warn his wife.

  The detective was gunning for her, and Ethan wasn’t going to be able to play favorites.

  “Order lunch, Ginny. Get something for Ca
llen and Elizabeth. Call him back and schedule it around one.”

  “Yes, Mr. B.”

  Ethan headed back into his office. Gabe had to admit, he was impressed. He was on schedule, he was keeping his cool, and he was running the kingdom.

  “What are you smiling about?” Ethan asked.

  “I want to kiss you.”

  “Uh, HR, and I prefer breasts. I keep telling people I may see dick during sex, but I don’t necessarily want to touch it.”

  Gabe started laughing.

  Ethan pulled the hair tie out of his hair. If he was going to see his wife, he needed to be relaxed. Ethan was thinking about what the cop had said.

  Had Elizabeth slept with him and his partner?

  Was it true?

  Why did it bother him so much? He’d had plenty of sex before her. He’d had a long-term on and off again relationship with the flight attendant. In fact, no one knew how long.

  He preferred it that way.

  “What’s up?” he asked, ignoring Livy. He knew why they were there, but he wasn’t entertaining the jackassery.

  “How was that meeting?” Gabe asked, trying to break the ice. He knew how pissed he’d be at that moment, and his wife was damn lucky she was even allowed in the building.

  “It went as expected. Someone had a bad attitude, they screwed up, and then they came here to throw Elizabeth under the bus.”

  He looked at Livy. “Sound familiar?”

  She cringed.

  “Livy has something to say, Ethan. We thought we’d start here, didn’t we, Olivia?”

  “Have at it.”

  “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have hit Elizabeth...”

  He held up his hand.

  She stared at him.

  “That’s her apology. You need to be saying that to her. What you need to say in this office, to me, the Deputy Director of the FBI, is that you understand you crossed a dangerous line.”

  She listened.

  “You need to show remorse.”

  She kept her mouth shut.

  “You need to explain what the hell you were thinking by going to another agent’s home, soused, and then striking her. That’s what should be going through that thick skull of yours, Agent Rothschild.”

  She was shocked.

  He was…yelling at her.

  “Ethan,” she began, and even Gabe cringed.

  “You will address me by my title, Agent. This isn’t a picnic or a social gathering. In here, this is your boss telling you how far over the line you crossed, and the ramifications for that action.”

  She swallowed.

  “This is me telling you that you screwed this up so badly that it’s going to take weeks to undo it. You struck another agent in front of her family.”

  Livy looked over at her husband.

  He was staring straight ahead.

  “Don’t you dare look at him! You’re my employee, you’re in my office, and this is YOUR ass chewing—not his. You crossed a line, and to me, that’s unacceptable. I can’t walk up to my employees and sucker punch them. You can’t either. As of this moment, you’re suspended.”

  She gasped.

  Gabe had to fight from celebrating.

  It wasn’t easy.

  “There are rules here and had Elizabeth done that to you, she would be in your husband’s office, getting three new ones torn out of her ass. You were insubordinate and enough is enough, Olivia. Turn in your gun and your badge right now.”

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “You’re kidding. This is to teach me learn a lesson, right?”

  He held out his hand.

  She looked at her husband. “Gabe?”

  “He’s your boss, Olivia. When you came back, you knew who you were answering to, and it isn’t me. I can’t override him. When it comes to this kind of behavior, it’s out of my hands.”

  She unclipped her gun, pulled the magazine, and discharged the round in the gun.

  She sniffled.

  Neither man flinched.

  Then she pulled off her badge, and she ran her fingers over it. “What do I have to do to keep this?” she asked.

  Ethan took it and dropped them both in his drawer. “You need to pray to God that the woman you hit doesn’t file a complaint. You’re probationary for the first year. You just broke a huge rule. If she puts it on paper, you’re gone before the ink even dries.”

  She nodded. “I see, and I understand. Where is she? I’d like to speak to her.”

  “I suggest you do it outside the workplace. As of now, you’re suspended from the building.”

  Gabe stood. “Livy, go sit out in the waiting area. I need to speak to Director Blackhawk.”

  She walked out and closed the door.

  “Gabe, please don’t try to use your position to save her ass. She came into my home and punched my wife. Had my kids been awake…”

  Gabe laughed. “Please don’t keep her in the FBI on my account. If Elizabeth files a complaint or you feel she needs to go, do it. I don’t want to be used as a reason to save her job.”

  He stared at him.

  What?

  What the hell was this?

  A trick?

  Then it hit him.

  “You want her at home, don’t you?”

  He grinned. “My life sucks right now. I have cancer, my wife, who was home for sixteen years, now wants to be liberated, and I haven’t had a moment’s peace in the last few months. The best thing for me, while I’m getting chemo, is to know where my wife is. Please.”

  “You want me to fire her?”

  Gabe thought about it. “Does that make me a horrible person?”

  “Nope. I get it.”

  He laughed.

  “Is Elizabeth okay?”

  “She’s hurt, but not physically. She gets kicked around more on a case by bad guys, but this made her cry, and that alone pisses me off. She’s not one to break over things like this.”

  He was aware.

  She’d been in the gym. They were both carrying a lot of emotional shit on their shoulders.

  “Between the two of us, is Elizabeth going to file a complaint?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to trust my wife on this one. She’ll tell me what she wants, and I’ll go with that. Livy broke a shitload of rules. Most importantly, striking another Fed. This will come down to how mad she is.”

  He was aware.

  “Why did you two turn your backs on her all those years ago?”

  He was surprised.

  “Is this cop or hubby asking?”

  “Hubby.”

  “Livy was raped by that asshole. Amy isn’t biologically mine. That’s a hard pill to swallow to watch your wife pregnant with another man’s child.”

  Preaching to the choir.

  “I’m aware. Three of our children are Callen’s.”

  “I guess you are.”

  “She was scared, hiding, and I had to protect her.”

  “Even at the cost of Elizabeth’s heart?” he asked. “I’m glad I didn’t have to make that choice.”

  He had hated it.

  “Looking back, I know it was wrong. I shouldn’t have done it. Then I was still reeling.”

  “Do you think that will come into play?” he asked. “Elizabeth doesn’t hold grudges.”

  “No, she doesn’t, but she’ll decide, Gabe. This has to be her decision, and whether or not we’re friends, I’m not stepping into the middle of it. You have a past with her. That’s going to weigh into it.”

  He was aware.

  “Can we keep the secret about Amy quiet? We don’t plan on ever telling her. No one wants to have that conversation with their child. ‘Hey, by the way, you’re the product of a serial killer and rapist, and we’ve lied the last fifteen years’.”

  Ethan didn’t blame him. He wouldn’t tell his kid either, and in fact, they didn’t plan on telling Cat that she wasn’t born of Elizabeth’s blood.

  “Your secret is safe. Children matter.”


  Before he left, he thought about what was bugging Elizabeth when she was working out in the gym.

  “Can I give you one piece of advice?” he offered.

  “Sure.”

  “Let the past stay in the past. It doesn’t change the future. It can only ruin your present.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He patted him on the shoulder. His fear was when Ethan figured out what was weighing on his wife, he wasn’t going to stay in control.

  “You’ll understand when it’s time.”

  “Uh, okay, Confucius.”

  “I’m going home. I’ll see you later, Ethan. You’re doing a damn good job. I’ll take the afternoon meeting from home so you can get in some down time out of the office. You make sure your wife is okay.”

  That made him happy.

  Damn happy.

  “I can start a profile.”

  He prepared for what was to come. “Uh, Ethan, don’t take this personally, but…”

  Gabe wrenched open the door and the tirade began.

  “You are a stubborn, pigheaded man, and you have a lot to learn, Blackhawk!”

  Then he slammed it.

  Ethan started laughing.

  Gabe was a funny man. Now he understood why Elizabeth and he had been close.

  He liked him.

  He liked him a lot.

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

  Across DC

  Pimp Interview

  When they pulled up to the place registered in the second pimp’s name, Elizabeth wasn’t quite sure they were in the right neighborhood. It seems a little…classy to be a pimp’s residence.

  It was big.

  It was plush.

  It looked like someone was making a killing in the sex trade. How ironic. They had a killer who liked hookers.

  Maybe, they were on the right track.

  “Does this place look wrong to you?” Callen asked. “This is something I can afford.”

  She agreed.

  “Yeah, he’s clearly loaded and the sex industry has been lucrative. How many arrests did he have?” she asked.

  “Two. He got off on both of them. They couldn’t prove he was playing pimp.”

  They both knew what that meant.

  He’d hired a damn good attorney.

  Money spoke in DC. Here was the proof.

  She got out of her Escalade, and surveyed the area. Then she started laughing.