15. Freya
FREYA
T urns out I do get to leave the house. Maybe I should feel happy about that but I’m still fuming over the stupid contract. I should have known River would find some technical loophole to justify his actions. Only he could kidnap someone and make it legal.
The thing that hurts most though is that, technically, I’m no longer an FBI agent. I’m an asset.
I knew I’d be giving everything up when I ran but actually seeing it in writing had my stomach sinking.
I dreamed of being a profiler for years and I finally got it, only to have it taken away because River wants to control me.
It’s a fucking dickhead move so I continue to give him the silent treatment all the way to the morgue.
We’re here to see if Eva’s managed to get any more information from Millie’s autopsy, the first girl Zach kidnapped, but Eli snags my hand just outside the doors.
He waits till the others go into the morgue and it’s just us in the corridor before tugging me towards him. “Are you angry at River or all of us?”
My gaze drops to our joined hands. I should pull away, but I don’t. “I’m not sure.”
“You know, back in the kitchen, that’s the first time you’ve said you love me.” A tender vulnerability floats around him.
“No.” I furrow my brow. “Is it?”
Eli shrugs, the trademark cocky look on his face nowhere to be seen. “Figured you might hate me right now.” He runs the pad of his thumb over the back of my hand and after how we left things this morning, it’s enough to have me melting for him.
“I do, a little bit.” I sigh and bring my free hand up to his chest, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. “I guess that doesn’t mean I don’t still love you too.”
Eli smiles, a slow and honest thing. Joy radiates from him like a golden aura and I bathe in the glow. His hand settles over mine and presses it flat against his chest. “I will always and forever love you, Freya Danvers. Even when you hate me.”
Tears prick at my eyes. “That’s not fair. You can’t be nice to me when I’m mad at you. You’re never nice.”
Eli chuckles, the sound reverberating through my core. He dips his mouth to my ear. “Later, I’ll show you just how nice I can be.” He pulls back and tugs on my hand. “Come on, Eva’s excited to see you.”
Sure enough, as soon as we open the door to the morgue Eva rushes over to hug me. “You’re back!” She pulls out of the hug and grips my shoulders. “Sorry, I’m not usually a hugger but disappearing on a girl will do that to me.”
I’ve only officially met Eva once before, but we hit it off straight away.
She’s important to Eli which means she’s important to me.
She’s also incredibly good at her job and the most glamourous coroner I’ve ever met.
She looks as gorgeous as ever in a maroon blouse with a chic bow across the top.
Her braids are pulled back into a ponytail and her lips are painted a deep red and she honestly does look happy to see me.
“No more disappearing,” I say.
“Good.” She releases me and I move farther into the room.
There are no bodies out at the moment, at least not on either of the metal tables in the center of the room. The wall of drawers to my left I can’t be so sure about. I’ve never actually been here before and my lips twitch at the model skeleton wearing a top hat, frozen mid wave.
“That’s Boney,” Eli whispers, following my gaze. “He’s good people.”
I snort.
River watches me, his face unreadable.
I shift, giving him my shoulder, and walk over to Eva. “So did you find anything new?”
Millie’s autopsy was done over a week ago now, but Eli told me Eva sent some samples off for testing.
A bunch of papers are spread out on one of the shiny tables and Eva points to one of them.
“I found a bit of a dead leaf in her hair that I sent off to the lab. The results say it’s echinacea laevigata, which is only found in three counties in Virginia.
It’s not conclusive and it doesn’t guarantee he didn’t take her out of Virginia, but it might help narrow down the search. ”
“Which three counties?” River asks, and Eva hands him a sheet.
“I also took another look at the body.”
I clench my fists, trying not to imagine the smiling photo of Millie. “What was the cause of death?”
“Blunt force trauma to the head.”
“That tracks with what Zach did to Josh,” Eli says. “He’s angry.” Zach had beaten Josh, my old partner’s boyfriend, to the edge of death. It was part of what made me realize we weren’t just dealing with my father. Where my dad was always methodical, Zach has a rage about him.
Eva nods. “If this was any other case, I’d say he didn’t plan to kill her. The trauma was to the back of the head and the impact point is flat. The most likely scenario is that he smashed her head against the floor.”
“That doesn’t feel planned,” Oz says.
“No,” Eva shakes her head. “It doesn’t.”
I sift through the papers, taking in the rest of the information. “He could have wanted to keep her. Maybe she made him angry somehow and he got carried away. That would explain why he’s now taken Harley.”
Jude speaks up from where he’s been leaning against the wall, staring a million miles away.
I hadn’t even realized he was listening.
“That hypothesis doesn’t fit with the calling cards.
” His gaze lands on me. “He wants you to know what he’s doing.
He’s putting on a show, drawing you out. He needs bodies to do that.”
“So maybe he did plan to kill her, but not in that way,” Eli adds.
I keep looking at Jude. It’s the longest he’s held eye contact since they found me, and I want to go to him.
To slide my hands around his waist and take the blank look off his face.
Jude isn’t supposed to be like this. His eyes are dull, his normally fidgeting fingers still, and I want to touch him until he comes back to me but I don’t think he wants me anywhere near him.
So, I break eye contact and stare at the shiny metal table.
Eva starts talking again and we go over the remaining details of the case.
I can’t focus though, too worried about Jude, too pissed at River.
When my gaze catches on an image of Millie’s corpse guilt surges in my stomach.
She was so young, so small, and I’m the reason she’s dead.
I spiral down with my thoughts until the guys’ voices fade away and the words on the papers blur into black snaking lines.
Fuck . Adrenaline claws at my skin, pulling me under. My lungs drown as I fight to breathe. I can’t do this here. Not now. Not in front of the guys.
A hand circles my arm, and I look up at Oz. I’m on the edge of a flashback when a sharp ringtone cuts through the room.
I jerk away from Oz, staring at the table and catching my breath as the room comes back into focus.
River glances at his phone. “It’s the bureau director, we need to take this. Eva, finish catching Freya up on the case. Oz, Jude, Eli, you’re with me.”
Oz hesitates, his gaze searching.
I force a smile, trying not to let it hurt that apparently, I’m no longer trusted to listen to a stupid phone call.
The guys trail out, but River stops at the door, turning back to warn me. “You step one foot out of this room, I’ll be there waiting.”
My heart twists. “You’re getting paranoid, River.”
His face stays cold. “Am I?”
I press my lips together, my earlier panic morphing into anger. I’ve earned his mistrust though. I can be mad at him for locking me away, but I can’t change the fact that I broke my promise. I can’t make him trust me again. And I don’t know what to do with that.
The door shuts behind River and Eva eyes the door.
“Well, that was intense.”
I press my lips together. “That’s my new normal.”
Eva rounds the table and kicks back against the edge, her arms crossed. “So, you’re back.”
“I’m back.”
Strokes of deep red eyeshadow accentuate the look she shoots my way. “Voluntarily?”
“Yes. No.” I sigh. “I don’t know. I want to be here, I do, but not like this.”
“I take it they’re mad at you?”
I turn to face her, my arms splaying in the air. “Eli is nice. He’s all kind and jokey and it’s weirding me out.”
Eva presses her lips together to keep from smiling. “And flirty?”
I narrow my eyes. “Yes. The others though—Oz I can’t get a read on and Jude… I really fucked up with Jude. He’s always been on my side, from the very beginning. He’s never been anything but good to me and I went and ran.” I sigh. “I feel like I’ve destroyed us.”
I walk across the room, pushing thoughts of Jude out of my mind and focusing on how mad I am instead. “And River? He’s taking being controlling to a whole new psycho level.”
“Psycho how?” Eva asks.
I spin to face her. “Oh you know, unbreakable glass window and a reinforced door that I can’t pick the lock to psycho.”
Neatly shaped eyebrows peak high. “Do you need me to break you out? I can do that you know, I crack open chests for a living.”
“Dead people’s chests, Eva,” I remind her.
She waves a hand, knocking away my words. “Semantics.”
A tired laugh slips out. I stare at the off-gray ceiling panels and run my tongue around my mouth. Panic catches in my throat and I blink back tears.
“I don’t know how to fix it. To fix us .” My gaze drops to the papers spread across the table. “And then there’s the fucked-up fact that my half-brother is kidnapping and killing kids who look like me.”
Eva leans back against the table. “Have you talked to them? Told them how you’re feeling?”
I pull a face. “This whole talking about your feelings thing is still kind of new to me.”
She smirks. “I’ve heard it does wonders.”
“Did my therapist send you?” I deadpan.
“Listen to me, those men out there love you with their whole hearts. Talk to them, Freya. And give it time.” She tilts her head to the side. “Having said that, I’m fully on board with a prison break because River needs to get his controlling head out of his ass.”
I snort but any sense of calm I’ve found with Eva is shattered as the door flings open and Oz paces inside.
“Eva, I need your computer. Now.” He makes a beeline for the desktop on the raised counter beside Boney and Eva joins him, typing in her password.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
The other guys come back inside, River on his phone, ordering a SWAT team.
Eli looks my way. “We may have a location on Harley.”
Hope surges fast and furious. “How?”
Oz answers, his fingers moving rapidly across the keys. “I set up a program searching for key words in various chat rooms on the dark web. Some of the search terms just got flagged.”
I go to join him, staring over his shoulder at the black square open on the screen. It’s a chat window between two users. My stomach roils as I read the most recent messages.
Ridethesun08: Got a new model in last week. Nine years old but never driven before.
Whatsunderthehood: *low whistle* what make?
Ridethesun08 : She’s a beaut. Golden hood, cream leather.
Whatsunderthehood: You broken her in yet?
Ridethesun08: Not yet. Engine’s giving me some trouble but I’ll do some work on her this weekend.
Whatsunderthehood: Any chance you’ll let me take her for a spin? I can make it worth your while…
I swallow, nausea swimming in my head. “They’re not talking about a car, are they?”
Oz catches my gaze, devastation in his eyes. “No. They’re not.”
Eva shakes her head. “Sick fuckers. They should all rot in hell.”
“Oz, talk to me,” River orders.
The computer pings. “Got it. 48 Marsh Street, Warrenton.”
“Alright let’s go.”
Oz snatches his phone off the counter, the five of us running on adrenaline as we leg it out of the morgue.
We’re coming Harley.