Chapter Eight #4
Unfortunately, they’d have to wait and see.
“Yes, it’s a possibility that there might be another tonight,” he admitted. “Especially when this hits the news, and this person figures out we found the body dump.”
Oh, boy.
Ethan continued.
“We’re going to have to move quickly,” he added.
“While we found the dump site, we don’t know how they connect.
So, we have one advantage, but that is wiped out by the speed in which this person is successfully hunting.
I am going to assume anything is possible, until we figure out why this is happening. ”
Well, that didn’t sound fun.
Not.
At.
All.
The last thing they needed was three more bodies in that same amount of time.
The media would go insane.
And so would Gabe.
The male detective went there.
“We didn’t get to do too many interviews with Phylis Linzey’s case, either. The Tipsy Easel wasn’t open today. We went there thinking they would be open, but it was locked down.”
Leah spoke up.
“Maybe they didn’t have any painting parties scheduled. I can’t imagine anyone walks in off of the street to paint a picture alone.”
She had a point.
Gene made note of it.
He was running a list of interviews they’d have to complete tomorrow. Oh, and it was a long freaking list. They were going to have to utilize the cops at some point, and he knew it. Now, he only hoped Ethan knew it too.
There was no way they’d be able to do all of the interviews if another body dropped without some assistance—whether the female cop rubbed them the wrong way or not.
They were only human.
“That’s okay. I’ll add it to the interview list, and before you ask, we’ll see,” Ethan offered, knowing what they were going to ask him.
AGAIN.
Gene would have laughed if they weren’t screwed seven ways to Sunday on this one.
It appeared his partner cut off that request to help this time.
Then, he dove right back in, making sure to get as many details as possible.
Just.
In.
Case.
“Out of curiosity, what did Phylis do for a living?” Blackhawk inquired, needing to know so he could try to connect the dots.
A killer almost always had a pattern.
Now, he just had to find it.
On top of that, this was a test. Ethan wanted to know how efficient they were as investigators. If he did utilize them, he had to trust they knew how to do their jobs.
Their case relied on it.
Hell!
Lives relied on it.
Because they knew that answer, Leah flipped through her notes to ensure she didn’t misspeak. These two seemed like they’d hold it against them, even though they’d been on this case nonstop since Thursday morning.
“She worked at a retail store not far from the pub that the second victim worked at.”
That gave Ethan and Gene a little area to look at to see if the killer was hunting there. If they could tie the teacher to that area, too, it might be worth the manpower to dig around the location.
It appeared they had as much as they were going to get, so Blackhawk made sure.
“Anything else?”
Both detectives shook their heads.
Dannie explained.
“We both just went off shift from Thursday morning when we were alerted by dispatch that you guys had contacted us about finding potential victims. Like we said, we just caught these cases the day before, and now, you have everything we have.”
Well, then, they’d have to dig in tomorrow.
Even the cops.
Oh, and Ethan knew it too, unless he could figure out a way to not use them.
Honestly, the female cop rubbed him the wrong way, as in she’d skip steps to get to the finish line.
That was a problem in their world.
You didn’t get a second chance to save victim’s lives. Once they died, they were gone.
To buy himself time, he gave them a little hope.
“Meet us at the morgue in the morning,” Ethan said. “After I get the COD and TOD, I’ll figure out how we’re doing this.”
The two cops got it.
They were in limbo until then, and they were being dismissed. It was clear that they were going to have to wait to see if they were being allowed to assist in this case.
And that sucked.
Because he knew his partner, Dannie was ready for what was about to go down.
Shittiness.
When Leah opened her mouth, Dannie kicked her under the table to shut her up. He knew his partner, and when she wanted something, she got it.
Or there was hell to pay.
She’d dog these two Feds hard and only make more of a mess for them. He got the distinct impression that these two didn’t play games.
They’d get mean.
“Thank you,” Dannie said, making sure Leah didn’t dig them a deeper hole. “We’ll see you then. Come on, Leah. Let’s go crash and regroup tomorrow.”
The female detective didn’t look happy at all, but she followed her partner out, not saying a word.
Well, not in front of them.
There was no doubt from the shade of red she’d gone after being dismissed, that she was bitching up a storm the second they were in their ride.
Trust and believe.
“Well, she’s feisty,” Gene admitted, amused at the outcome. “And she does NOT like us. We aren’t making friends in Damascus, that’s for sure.”
Ethan laughed.
“Well, that’s shocking. Not. We’re such loveable characters,” he stated. “All that charm we ooze. As for making friends here, been there, done that. It’s a shitshow. Trust me.”
Gene snorted.
Gee.
He wondered why?
They were definitely a pair of nuts. That was for damn sure.
Only, Gene was curious, and Mr. Poker Face wasn’t even giving him a clue as to what was going to happen.
“Are you going to let them help?” he asked.
That was a good question.
Honestly, he didn’t know.
What his gut was saying, and what his brain was saying were two different things.
Blackhawk relied on his gut to save their asses more times than not, and his didn’t like the vibe.
The female cop was way too aggressive, and he wasn’t quite sure why.
Was that her personality?
Or would she be a pain in the ass if he let her assist?
He didn’t mind aggressive, since that was Gene’s style too when working, but her willingness to leapfrog around made him twitchy.
Methodical was his MO.
And he needed it to stay that way.
“How bad is the interview list? I saw you making one,” he asked.
For Blackhawk, that would likely determine it.
Gene slid it over to him so that he could see what he’d scribbled down so far.
On it, there were a plentitude of places they had to hit tomorrow to do the follow-up for this case.
Morgue
Homicide Captain
Ivey Slee’s home
Third victim’s husband
Randal Crest—Ivey’s ex.
School Memorial—co-workers
Retail store employer
Pub employer
Well, that was something.
What could he do?
Ethan just laughed.
“Oh, that’s a list. Do you think we can knock it off on our own, or do we need help? I’m not a fan of letting cops help when they’ve already shown they don’t like us. That feels like a ‘I’m going to burn them for my own benefit’ kind of a thing.”
Yeah, they’d seen it before.
“Maybe to do some basic research. I’m going to be riding shotgun and doing it with you.”
Ethan was concerned.
“Maybe you should stay in, and I should take the male cop with me. Want to babysit a woman?”
He laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
Oh, and for two reasons.
“I’m not letting my partner run wild on a case without me to babysit. I know you. You’re a magnet for all kinds of shit. Secondly, what kind of hoe-baggery is this? The day I willingly want to babysit a woman…take my temperature. Anally, because I’m gay as fuck.”
That amused Ethan.
How could it not?
“Well, then, we have to hope this killer is not already planning for more fun with another body.”
Gene hoped not.
“We have see, hear, and speak no evil already. What could possibly be next?”
That was a good question.
“I mean, I might be wrong. Maybe this person is done. Let’s just hope he or she is.”
Oh, Gene was.
“Male or female?” he asked, knowing Ethan would know what he was saying. There was NO FREAKING WAY that his partner, the profiler, didn’t already have an inkling as to who was doing this.
He shrugged.
“Honestly, Gene, I don’t have a clue. The weapon says either, the violence says either, and the degloving of a whole body minus the face…
that tells me that this person is out of their damn minds.
That’s gender neutral, too. As of yet, unless we get something that says otherwise…
no freaking clue. All three women were relatively demure in stature.
Both a man or woman could lift them, depending on their strength, so… ”
Well, that wasn’t good.
If Ethan didn’t know, they were genuinely starting at zero and digging their way out of that hole.
Shit.
Getting up, Gene knew they needed to get some downtime too. Tomorrow would be brutal, and his arm was killing him. He needed some pain meds in order to regroup for tomorrow’s laundry list of fun.
“Shall we?” he asked.
Blackhawk nodded.
Heading out to the car, Ethan held out his hand to get their car-rental keys.
It surprised Gene.
“Wait. What? You want to drive?” he asked. “What the hell is this?”
When he pulled his other hand from his coat pocket, he had Gene’s pain meds.
“If you take one now, you’ll be able to function tomorrow. While I love you, when you take meds, you get loopy, and you’ll say you can drive, but you can’t.”
He snorted.
It wasn’t like he was wrong.
“That you used that in the plural, meds, should tell you that we get in way too much shit. Case in point,” he said, holding up his casted arm.
But he didn’t argue.
Instead, he gave him the keys.
Then, they both got into the car. As they did, Gene used the last of his coffee to take two pills. He was going to be out for the count for a few hours.
Thank.
God.
Loopy would be an understatement.
As they were driving, Gene was looking up hotels to make a reservation for a late check-in.
A really late one. It was almost ten thirty at night.
“I’ll get us into a hotel room. We’re going to need to catch some sleep. Tomorrow isn’t going to be fun. The least fun will be the homicide captain. They are always bitches.”
That made Ethan laugh.
Yeah, he was well aware.
Honestly, he wasn’t expecting a standing ovation when they showed up. He knew better.
As they hit the road, Gene noticed that they were headed toward the reservation.
Yeah, he was confused.
“Uh, aren’t we going the wrong way?” he asked. “Isn’t the center of town back the other way? Do you need me to drive?”
Ethan shook his head.
“I’m not going to the hotel right now.”
Gene lifted a brow.
“Where are we going? Because I have about thirty minutes before I’m as high as a kite. I get giggly and handsy. I’ll be so inclined to hump you in the back seat.”
Both things Ethan didn’t mind since they were off until morning. Who didn’t like a bear humping?
He certainly did.
Blackhawk had been dwelling on their conversation before they talked to the detectives.
Gene was right.
He needed to let shit go.
“I’m going to go fix this with my brother. As usual, you know best. I have to stop running. While we’ll always have issues, I’m not leaving this like it is. That’s not fair to him, or me. Oh, and it’s not fair that you have to clean up my mess.”
Gene was genuinely surprised.
“Really?”
Ethan nodded.
“I want to start having a normal life where I’m not angry all the damn time, Gene. I’m thirty. I want to be able to smile and not hate myself. I’m not coming back here, but I can at least send some money to Timothy and stop denying that I have family.”
That was probably the healthiest thing he’d heard Ethan say in their whole dating relationship.
“So, a relationship with your brother?”
He was honest.
“I don’t know. I still feel like I need to punch him in the face for our past, but we’ll see how that goes. Maybe we’ll fix it, and maybe we’ll not, but I know at least he’s not going to betray me and try to sleep with my man.”
Gene snorted.
“My dude, I can’t handle you. I certainly can’t handle two Blackhawk boys. It would kill me. No one’s heart is that damn strong.”
He glanced over.
“If I ever caught you two in bed, I’d kill you. You wouldn’t have to worry about the rest. I’d also kill him. I can’t handle being betrayed again. That will never go away.”
Gene touched his arm.
Apparently, he thought he was serious. Gene wasn’t attracted to anyone but Ethan. He owned his whole heart.
“I’ll never cheat on you. That shit isn’t happening. I’m happy, EJ. I promise.”
Ethan hoped so.
Because he meant what he’d said. It would take an act of God to stop him from homicide if he ever found out Gene was sleeping with anyone but him.
He was possessive.
To.
His.
Core.