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

  He closed his mouth, making a zipping motion.

  “All done.”

  Elizabeth was looking at the note. Something was bugging her.

  “Ethan, I need a favor.”

  “What, baby?”

  “I need protection for Chris.”

  He looked up. “Why me?” he asked, almost afraid to go there.

  “Who does the media say I’m shacking up with?” she asked, trying to find a way to protect the man she’d once had a relationship with, without letting her husband know it.

  Damn!

  What a tangled web you wove when you lied. This was a shit mess.

  Ethan and Callen raised their hands.

  Chris raised his too.

  “If the killer believes that, who do you think he’s going to go after to make me bleed?”

  “Any or all three of us.”

  “Yep.”

  “I’ll get him security. It’ll take a day or two. I have to put in the request.”

  “Put it in,” she stated.

  He would.

  “Back to our dead hooker,” Elizabeth stated. “What can you tell me?”

  Chris shoved the liver probe into her body. He did the calculations. “She’s been dead since around midnight.”

  Elizabeth did the math.

  “Callen, when did we leave the scene?” she asked.

  “Around nine thirty.”

  “She was raped,” Chris said, checking out the bruising on her legs.

  It looked like she was going to be visiting Gavin Weeks again.

  It did help with one thing. If he was on that corner the whole time, she could eliminate him.

  This was a mess.

  It looked like someone didn’t like her.

  Shocking.

  “What else can you tell me?”

  Chris knew she was a woman on the edge. Maybe he’d timed his earlier conversation poorly. It was beginning to look like she might lose it.

  That was the last thing he wanted.

  Instead of arguing, he simply checked for her. Running his hands over her body, he found nothing. Then he stopped at her neck.

  “She has bruising around her throat. If I were going to guess, I’d say she was strangled.”

  He opened her eyelids and checked her eyes.

  “There’s a little petechial hemorrhaging, so that’s likely your COD. We’ll run tox to see if he’s following his original MO.”

  Callen was making notes for her.

  Before she could say anything else, Broderick and Johanna were coming their way. From the looks on their faces, she could tell they had something.

  Hopefully, it would help.

  “What do you have?” she asked, before they even could tell her.

  “We found out her real name.”

  “Okay, spill it.”

  “We searched some police records, and it seems that her real name is a familiar one.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s Elizabeth Lynn.”

  Yeah, Ethan didn’t like that at all.

  “Her initials are the same as yours were before you got married,” Chris stated. “Elizabeth Lynn, Elizabeth LaRue.”

  Well, shit.

  This dude was sick.

  “He’s playing to you. He’s trying to tell you something,” he stated.

  “Yeah, that he’s nuts.”

  “He’s trying to get you to notice him, Elizabeth,” Ethan stated. “He’s desperate for your attention.”

  She glanced over at her husband. “If you’re going to ask me to back off, I can’t.”

  He shook his head. “No, you can’t. The second you deviate from this case, or try to leave it, he’s going to lash out at you. Romeo, unrequited love, dead women, and it will all be focused on you.”

  Callen hated this.

  “Damn it!”

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “I need to be sure of the direction I take this.”

  “You are going to be his focus, but only until he can’t get to you. Once you are unobtainable, you’ll become prey.”

  That bought her time.

  “I need a favor.”

  “What?”

  “Call off the security.”

  Callen started laughing. “No freaking way.”

  Ethan was staring into her eyes. “I’ll do it until the mood changes. Until you’re in danger, and then it’s back on, Elizabeth.”

  “Double up on you and Callen. Throw some at Chris. I’m not in danger. He wants me alive. You three are my concern. In fact, Ethan, get your team to take you back in. Work on a profile, and I’ll meet you later.”

  Callen couldn’t believe this.

  Was his brother really considering doing this?

  “Really? You’re going to call off her protection?” he asked. “You have to be freaking kidding me.”

  “I’m not. She’s not his target. If he thinks he can access her, he’s going to screw up.”

  “And that’s your opinion as what? A lunatic?” Callen asked.

  Elizabeth saw all the techs stop working. They were picking up on the stress.

  “Boys, come on!”

  Callen wasn’t having it. “She’s not going without protection,” he stated. “She’s not going to end up there,” he offered, pointing at the dead hooker.

  Ethan got it.

  He understood why his brother was so damn freaked out. He was too, but this was Elizabeth's case, and he had to trust her ability, and his profile.

  “Take a step back, Callen,” he stated.

  “I can’t. She’s my wife.”

  “She’s mine too,” Ethan stated. “In fact, she was mine first. Don’t question my love for her. It’s endless. I’ve sacrificed a lot…”

  “Yeah, and now you’re sacrificing her.”

  Ethan wouldn’t erupt.

  He couldn’t.

  He was balancing his job, Gabe’s, and everyone else’s at that point. This was about trust.

  “Callen, we need to focus.”

  He walked away.

  Callen couldn’t do it. He headed across the park to a bench. There, he took a seat.

  Elizabeth went to go after him.

  Blackhawk stopped her. “Stay. Work your case. I’ll fix this.”

  She watched him walk away. It killed her to do it, but she didn’t have a choice. Callen and Ethan had to work this out.

  “Seaton Squared, what else did you find?”

  “We pulled a familiar name.”

  She waited for it.

  “Once more, we came across Justin Sutherland in the police reports.”

  That was all she had to hear. He was on the top of her interview list for the day, along with the pimp. She was leaving no stone unturned.

  Yeah, it was going to be a long, shitty day.

  “Elizabeth?” Chris began.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’ll have the autopsy by afternoon. Stop in, and I’ll give you a tox report and COD.”

  She relaxed. “Thank you, Christopher.”

  The use of his name helped him relax.

  “Honey, are we okay?” he asked.

  She wanted to be angry, but this wasn’t anyone’s fault but the crazy killer.

  “We’re fine, Christopher. If you want, as soon as this case is over, I’ll house hunt with you. Again.”

  “Okay, honey. Thank you.”

  She hurt, but that was life. What was one more person bailing on her?

  It seemed to be the theme.

  “Team, do the normal shit I ask you to do, and I’ll see you both back in-house.”

  “Where are you going?” Chris asked.

  “I have to head over to this cop’s house. I want to catch him early.”

  Johanna handed her tablet to her husband. “I’m riding shotgun,” she stated.

  Elizabeth stared at her.

  “You’re about to ditch two very protective men. If you don’t at least take me, you’re going to have to deal with fallout later. Wou
ldn’t it just be easier to take a Fed and save a whole conversation?”

  She started laughing. “Yes, yes, it would. I’ll even buy you coffee, Agent.”

  “Why? To poison it?”

  She found that amusing.

  “No, because you have big brass ones, and you’re thinking outside the box so I can focus. You win the prize.”

  She grabbed her messenger bag, and the two women headed across the park, right to her ride.

  Chris shook his head.

  One day, she was going to push too far.

  “She’s something,” Amir stated.

  “Yeah, she’s a handful, all right.” And it was true. Elizabeth absolutely was one.

  “How long have you worked with her?” he asked, as he pulled trace from the woman’s skirt.

  “Around two decades, give or take a few years.”

  “Wow, that’s a long time. What was she like back then?” he asked.

  Chris laughed. “Pretty much like she is now,” he stated. “She was a little wilder then.”

  “Were you close?”

  He glanced up at the man. “We still are.”

  Nothing would change that.

  At least that’s what he told himself.

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

  Callen needed a break.

  Taking a seat, he stared off into the night. Maybe he was just cranky because he was tired.

  Or it could be that some maniac was leaving his woman love letters of the perverse kind.

  Yeah, he’d go with option B.

  “May I join you?” Ethan asked.

  “Listen, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to negate your decision in all this, Ethan. I’m just struggling with it.”’

  He sat and patted his brother on the back.

  “I get it.”

  “I’m sorry I questioned your authority on a crime scene,” Callen offered.

  “Actually, I’m just here as the profiler. Elizabeth is running this one. She has final say on a scene, not me. I may be higher up the food chain, but let’s be realistic. Everyone here knows who the boss really is.”

  He laughed. “You have a very valid point.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Please don’t pull security from her.”

  “Callen.”

  “There may come a time, Ethan, when you need me to stand by you like I am now. I’m asking that you do this for me, so I can have peace of mind. I need this favor.”

  He was aware of what his brother was asking. The man was putting him between them.

  If he pulled them, Callen would be pissed.

  If he didn’t, Elizabeth would be.

  This was an ugly place to be, and he knew it.

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Callen would have to take what he could get. When he stood up, he was a little calmer.

  Well, that was until he noticed their vehicle pulling away.

  “Uh, please tell me that’s not our wife,” he said.

  “Yeah, that’s our wife.”

  “I’m going to grab her, put her over my knee, and paddle the daylights out of her.”

  Ethan laughed.

  The two men began hustling it back to the body, and the rest of the team. When Brody saw them returning, he wanted to calm the bosses down.

  He knew what was going to happen.

  Someone was going to freak out.

  “She’s with Johanna.”

  That helped a little.

  “What the hell am I supposed to do?” Callen asked. “My partner just bailed on me. AGAIN!”

  Ethan laughed. “She left you work.”

  Callen didn’t get it.

  “You’re in charge of the scene. You get to make sure they all do their jobs. Tag. I’m heading into the office.”

  “Son of a bitch!” he muttered.

  Ethan headed toward his security guys. He may have been laughing on the outside, but inside?

  Yeah, not at all.

  This pissed him off, and that anger was building. He’d just lied to Callen. He was angry, but he wouldn’t let it out.

  He couldn’t.

  He had a job to do, and it sucked.

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

  As she drove, Johanna was quiet beside her.

  “Why don’t you just say what you’re thinking?” she asked her. “I can hear the wheels turning from here.”

  She laughed.

  “Really. Go ahead.”

  “Nice love bites on your chest.”

  “Well, shit!”

  She laughed even more. “You’re fine. It was covered the entire time you had your blazer on, Elizabeth.”

  She relaxed. At least there was one good thing going with her day. Her team didn’t have anything to gossip about—for now.

  “Ethan or Callen?” she asked.

  “Are you requesting to share girl talk?” Elizabeth asked, as she listened to the GPS navigate toward the cop’s house.

  “Yep.”

  Elizabeth glanced over. She genuinely liked Johanna Seaton. She was smart, kind, and she was laid back. She reminded her of a younger Livy.

  Yeah, before she’d been betrayed, left behind, and took that sucker punch to the face.

  “If you need to vent, I’m here.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Yes. We’re a family. You were there for us when Brody and I needed you. We’re a team. Dump away.”

  That was something Livy used to do too.

  “I feel overwhelmed.”

  “With?”

  “Everything. I’m balancing two men, who I love, but are two very different people. I’m playing Jackson James’s wife, Callen Whitefox’s wife, Ethan Blackhawk’s wife, I’m married to the FBI, I play mom less and less, and I’m having a shitty friend week.”

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Livy punched me in the face, Chris told me he’s moving out, and I feel very alone.”

  “Want to get our nails done when this is over? I know this place that gives you champagne.”

  She burst into tears.

  Johanna stared at her. “Uh, or not.”

  “I’m on burn out.”

  Elizabeth pulled off the road.

  “You realize you don’t have to be superwoman. You realize that no one is expecting you to pull all of this off without help from the people around you, right?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, sure. I’m all over the media, I’m lucky my husband runs interception for me, and I’m over forty and tired.”

  “You need a nap and a friend.”

  “I have no time for option one, and option two sucks as of late.”

  “You have me.”

  She stared at the woman. “Why would you even want to venture into that snake and leach filled swamp?”

  “You’re a good person, Elizabeth. Want my opinion on this?”

  Normally, she didn’t talk personal shit with people she worked with, but she needed to vent.

  “Yes.”

  “You need to let Chris move out, you need to tell Livy that was not cool, you need space, and then you need to stay married to only two men, not three.”

  She laughed at the last part.

  “You have a point.”

  “Seriously. Jackson James kept you out late last night, huh?” she asked.

  Elizabeth stared at her. “How did you know that?” she asked.

  “I wasn’t going to tell you, but I had the news on as I was getting dressed. We fall asleep with the TV on all the time.”

  Uh oh.

  She didn’t like where this was heading, at all.

  “What was on the news?”

  “Promise you won’t freak out?”

  “Well, now I’m obligate to freak out, Johanna. You know that.”

  She closed her mouth.

  “Okay! I won’t.”

  Johanna didn’t believe her.

  She pulled out her phone, pulled up the station, and hit p
lay. On it, there was Callen pulling a hooker into a seedy motel.

  Yeah, she knew it was seedy, since it had been her.

  “Oh, bloody hell.”

  Johanna hated to be the bearer of bad news, but this was bad. “When they find that out, you’re on lock down. The news thinks you were a hooker, and I’m sure the killer knows the truth. He didn’t pick that particular hooker, who you talked to, out of the blue.”

  She was right.

  Elizabeth watched the video again.

  Then she handed back the phone, and did the only thing she could do.

  She laughed her ass off. If she didn’t, she’d do nothing but weep a river of tears.

  This wasn’t breaking her.

  No.

  Freaking.

  Way.

  This case sucked. If she could go back in time, she’d never have taken it.

  “Uh, are you having a breakdown?” Johanna asked. “Do you need me to call someone?”

  “No, I’m fine, but about that friend thing.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Have you ever heard of the Girlfriend Code?”

  “No what’s that?”

  She told her, as they headed to the first interview.

  “I’m in.”

  “Really?” Elizabeth asked. “Are you crazy?”

  Johanna grinned at her. “Hell yeah, I am. Look what I do for a living.”

  Elizabeth smiled.

  Well, at least she wasn’t alone.

  There was always that.

  And that was saying a lot.

  Chapter Ten

  Thursday

  Early Morning

  When they knocked on the door of his home, they weren’t sure if he’d be awake or if he’d be asleep. With cop schedules, you never knew.

  As she kept knocking, eventually they heard him heading their way. The lumbering steps said it all. When the door opened, there was a very sleepy cop standing there.

  A sleepy, pissed off cop.

  “Officer Justin Sutherland?” she asked as he scowled at her.

  “Yeah, that’s me. You’re that Fed on TV all the time. You know…the one who catches all the killers.”

  She waited, giving him a few seconds to figure it out. Honestly, she wondered if he’d put two and two together or if she’d have to spell it out for him.