Chapter Eight #2
Yeah, it was going to be a challenge not to try to run this like normal. Only, Gabe would bust his balls so hard that they’d fall off if he found out he was working in the field while on the injured list.
Desk duty meant desk duty.
It meant sitting behind a laptop, not walking on the street with his badge out.
Or so he said.
This was going to be where they bent the rules a little bit.
Ethan heard her tone, and he did NOT like it.
Not.
At.
All.
“For the record, I’m not an outsider,” Ethan offered. “I grew up here.”
That seemed to surprise them. In fact, so much so that Dannie lifted a brow.
“You did?” he questioned.
Leah was confused.
“I did, too, and I have never seen you here before,” she admitted. “What part of Damascus are you originally from?” she asked.
Really?
Two more people that only saw the white part of him, and not the Native part?
Was it the lighting in there?
Ethan knew that the cops were always going to be a curious bunch, so he was to the point and honest. It wasn’t like they could research him and find that information. The FBI protected their agents’ lives—just in case.
“Yes, I’m from here. In fact, I’m half-Native American. I grew up on the reservation where the bodies were dumped. I’m very familiar with Damascus.”
Yep.
That caught them off guard.
In fact, so much so, that they both stared at him.
“Our boss has a rule. If you’re off or on vacation, and you catch bodies, you’re no longer off from work. The FBI is short-staffed and can’t lose a single agent to downtime. Normally, I work out of the Philly office with my partner. We were here seeing my family.”
Leah went there.
“I don’t like that. Conflict of interest…,” she began, and someone wasn’t having it.
Gene was about to bust balls for his partner but didn’t get a chance.
Why?
Oh, because Ethan held his own.
“So let me get this straight. I’m a conflict of interest because I am from here, but you both want to work this because you’re from here. Does that sound like a sack of bullshit, Detective? Let me clarify what you’re really thinking. You don’t want an Indian working it. Period.”
Well, that set the tone.
This could only go one of two ways, and Gene knew it. So, he sat there, glaring at the two cops as he waited to see what kind of people they were.
Because if they thought Ethan was less qualified due to his ethnicity, he was about to smack their heads together for shits and giggles.
Why not add suspension to desk duty?
Immediately, Dannie raised his hands.
“Woah! We didn’t say that. We have NOTHING against your ethnicity!”
Well, it didn’t sound that way to him. In fact, it sounded like the opposite.
So, Ethan went in for the kill.
“Then stop making statements that make you look racist. Because there’s only a few things different between us. We both have gold badges, and we’re both are from here. Let’s see…what’s left?”
That hung there, daring them to take that route.
Instead, Leah leaned in and kept digging the hole. She either couldn’t read the room, or she liked poking the bear.
Clearly.
“That’s not what I meant. You’re trying to take it there.”
Honestly, he didn’t care.
Why?
Well, maybe because if he had a dollar for every time he was faced with this exact situation, he’d be able to buy them tickets back to Puerto Rico for another vacation.
“Well, to me, someone from here, you screaming conflict of interest when you’re also from here is wild. That’s hypocrisy at its best. As we’re both cops, just at different levels, there’s only one factor that is different—my ethnicity. So, see how that makes me, a seasoned investigator, go there?”
Oh, there was tension at that table, but that tended to be normal.
When the cops looked at Gene, like he was going to talk his buddy down, he simply shook his head.
“Nah, I’m with him,” he said, jerking his head toward his partner. “I may be white, but I’m not THAT white. I’m not racist,” he added.
Ethan was grateful that his partner had his back.
“So, the bottom line is that I’m more than capable, and if it matters, I’ve already profiled a piece of this.”
The two cops said nothing, but both Gene and Ethan didn’t miss how Dannie gave his partner the side eye.
Well, he should give her that.
Someone was way off base on this.
Ethan continued, sharing a little so they’d see this wasn’t his first rodeo.
“Someone is VERY angry. I saw the one body after the snow was brushed away. The victim was stabbed MANY times. Her torso was eviscerated by the blade of that knife. That’s rage.
I can also tell by what was done to them that they saw something, and likely were being silenced because of it, or because of them talking about it. ”
Gene let his partner do his thing, and he just placed a bagel with cream cheese in front of him as he ate his own.
“Thank you,” he said to Gene.
Oh, the pleasure was his.
Ethan continued breaking it down for the cops even though he had no obligation to do that.
“They were placed in a pile and discarded like they were absolutely nothing to him. Dumped, if you will, on a reservation in the woods. This killer is familiar with the area. They know it well because that particular part of the reservation isn’t traversed often.
The ground is swampy, so no cabins can be built there.
In winter, it’s hunted, but in spring, when the ground thaws, the remains would have sank into the bog—lost forever. ”
Gene pulled out his notebook, and he began making notes on what Ethan was saying.
He would start building the report since he was on desk duty. It was the least he could do, and it kept him from being itchy and wanting to take over.
Sue him.
They had a rhythm, and this was it.
Blackhawk continued.
“What we’ve learned so far about the victims will be added to that profile, once we have confirmation of their identities. I know you’ve given them a visual ID, but I prefer the ME to give us the official one. Now, can you tell me more about the cases you caught? Catch us up, please.”
The female cop went there.
“And then we can help on this case?” Leah asked.
Honestly, the two Feds weren’t shocked.
Truth be told, Ethan had zero animosity in his voice toward the cops. In fact, he had zero anything in his voice. He was in his work zone, and Gene knew that meant he wasn’t playing around.
It also meant he was profiling the two cops by watching their reactions and how they behaved.
Gene could tell he was NOT impressed with the female cop, and that was normally not the truth. Most of the time, the female cops gave them the least trouble.
Well, Leah was the opposite of that. She was the kind of cop who would run to her boss and see how much pull he had in the situation.
Gene just ate his bagel and minded his business.
“Again, we’ll see. Please break it down for me, Detectives,” Ethan repeated.
And they did just that.
From where he sat, Dannie hoped that his partner didn’t blow this for them. She was adamant that the FBI was going to fuck this up, but he just wanted the files off of his desk.
If that meant passing it off, so be it.
If that meant helping, cool.
Either way, he was good with whatever they opted to choose. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to have more work tomorrow when they caught another case.
“Do you want me to start at the beginning again for your partner?” he asked. “I know you got my notes, but I’m not sure he did.”
Ethan nodded.
“Yes, please,” he stated, knowing Gene had access to his notes, but it was always easier to start at the beginning, so fewer things got missed.
The man did just that.
“We normally work homicides, but the missing persons division is short a few detectives this week due to the flu. So, tag, we were tossed to that department to help out. It’s a slow murder week, or we believed it to be.”
Ethan was eating his bagel, and his leg was up against Gene’s. His man was hovering, and Blackhawk thought it was sweet. That touch told him that he had his back.
Yeah, he loved his partner for being his biggest supporter. That silent reassurance meant so much.
“Anyway, we caught the first missing person case. Until confirmation by the ME, we are assuming that one of those women is Ivey Slee, so that would make her the first victim.”
They kept listening.
“Apparently, she never showed up for work yesterday morning. She was a teacher, and when she didn’t show the next day, the school was concerned.
They called for a well-visit from the cops.
When the cops got there, they found her car, her purse, and all of her things, but no Ivey. That’s how we were called in.”
Yeah, lucky them.
Gene worked missing person cases and vice cases. A lot of the times, they ended up being homicides, so he understood the detectives’ frustration of straddling both divisions.
When he licked his thumb, Ethan glanced over and gave him a look.
Oh, Gene knew why.
His bagel was stuffed with so much cream cheese, and it likely should be illegal.
Sue him.
His arm hurt, and cream cheese was his happy place. Well, his real happy place would be in bed with his man, but a dude had to roll with the punches.
Ethan sipped his coffee as the cop kept talking.
“We heard there’s a function for her at the school tomorrow,” Dannie admitted.
Well, that wasn’t shocking.
“The teachers were out today after school, tying ribbons and putting up missing person flyers for their friend. By morning, word will circulate, and it will likely be a memorial,” Leah admitted.
That was pretty typical.
While people tended to know deep down that they’d lost someone they loved, there was always hope.
It kept humanity going.
Dannie continued.
“They are trying to keep the kids’ spirits high. Apparently, Ivey was well-loved by her students.”
Ethan was curious.
“Tell us more about her.”
Dannie did.
“She was single, and no kids. She’s worked at the school for about eight years.”
Ethan was curious.