Chapter Seven #2
“Only the best forensic scientist in the whole goddamn world. I’d give her my ovaries if I had them. That’s how much I miss her.”
Okay, then.
Someone had attachment issues.
Callen clued his wife in.
“Let’s revisit the names from the cemetery. Who do you want working that?”
Oh, she had newbies to haze.
The cops were about to be put to the test.
“For those of you who know me, how many times have I hired someone at the beginning of a case?”
Alex laughed.
“Uh, never. You run them through the wringer first, making sure they aren’t serial killers.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Are either of you serial killers?” she asked the two detectives.
Mac gasped.
Tora…she went with humor.
“Yeah, and now, there goes that job. Shit. I should have hidden it better.”
It made Elizabeth laugh.
Sarcasm always did.
Yeah, the way to her team was laughter and questionable behavior on most days.
“You two are up. I want to know everything about the ten people who were interred last.”
“Why the last ten and not further back?”
Ethan went there.
“He’s going to want them somewhat fresh. So we know he’s been watching the cemetery to find the best ‘candidates’.”
That hung there.
Oh, and for a couple of reasons.
“Well, that’s a kink I’m never trying out,” Callen said. “That’s just ick.”
Yeah, they all agreed there.
Only, crazies rarely did logical or clean things.
“List?” Tora said, not minding that they were staying in while the agents went out. She was going to be an agent in the near future, and that was all she wanted.
She’d earn it.
Callen got her cell number, and texted it to her. When she got it, Elizabeth pointed.
“Inside the morgue. I don’t want the whole embalmed thing getting out. If it does, we have a shit ton of issues, and by we, I mean you two—since we’ll be asked to leave Holladay.”
Mac got it.
Lips were going to stay zipped.
“Can we borrow a laptop?”
Callen dug his out, and texted the man’s partner the password.
“Ignore the naked pics. They’re of my wife,” he joked, getting one hell of a look.
So, he covered.
“I mean they are of…strangers?”
She laughed again.
“Go,” she said to Alex and Corbin, so they could go handle the interview with the city council head.
Together, without a complaint, they headed out.
Not long after, the two detectives did the same thing. That’s when Ethan pointed one thing out.
“We have a lot of people working on this. I almost feel like we have too many, but still…,” he admitted.
Oh, she was aware.
Elizabeth went there.
“I want everyone double-checking work. I know I put them on the list, but let’s also keep working on everything like we normally would. We’re the pros, and are more likely to catch something if it pops up. I have the feeling like I can’t drop a single ball on this.”
No one argued the last part.
As for what Ethan said…
“Add one more. Takoda is coming tomorrow,” she admitted. “It’s about to get fun. I’m going to parade my son around a town where there’s a killer who is likely humping dead bodies, and getting his jollies off with eyeballs. Who’s the insane one here?”
They all pointed at her.
Yeah, she was aware.
Unfortunately.
As they began heading out, her phone chimed, and it was from her brother. It said one thing.
‘I need to speak to you. It’s urgent.’
Well, shit.
That couldn’t be good.
Outside, she pointed.
“Go ahead. Duke needs me. It’s likely about a case. I’ll be right there,” she said, dialing his number as they headed away.
When he answered, he didn’t sound good.
“Hey, sis.”
Uh-oh.
“What happened?”
He went there. At that moment, he was in her office, so he could have some privacy. Vivian had let him in, since Elizabeth had told her that her family could use it at any time.
“I have a problem, and honestly, I’m freaking the fuck out.”
Yikes.
That sounded ominous.
“What?”
Duke explained.
“I was on the phone with Axelle, and I wanted to talk to her about maybe getting the girls to her two weeks out of the month so she could see them.”
Elizabeth wasn’t sure how that was problematic, but his voice said it was.
“And?”
He dropped the bomb.
“She told me she doesn’t want them. In fact, she’s not thrilled with being a mother. On top of that, she’s been offered a CIA job, and she’s thinking of taking it. She literally told me that I forced her hand with Abby, and I made her have Charlotte, and she wished she hadn’t.”
Elizabeth gasped.
What?
The?
Hell?
“Jesus.”
Oh, he was aware.
“She doesn’t want them, Elizabeth. My wife, the mother of our children—well, one of them, as she was more than happy to point out—is over motherhood. It’s interfering with her job and life.”
She didn’t know what to say.
Elizabeth knew Axelle for a very long time, and since they were in their twenties, she knew the woman didn’t want kids. Then, she got married to Duke, and she figured she changed her mind.
“Duke, I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am. I need a good divorce attorney,” he said.
“If she’s not happy, then I don’t think we should stay married.
I want full custody. That’s all. I need help, and I know the Blackhawks have the best attorneys.
I doubt she’ll fight it, since she’s already looking for an exit strategy. ”
Oh, Jesus Christ.
“Duke.”
He stopped her.
“No. I grew up with a missing father, who I always assumed didn’t want me, Lyzee, but I turned out fine.
I’m not letting a woman who resents the kids stay in their lives.
If she wants to go off, she can. I’m done.
I took the kids when she told me to come get them because it’s too much, and we pay for a nanny to help during the day, but to come out and say she’s not interested… ”
Elizabeth rubbed the bridge of her nose.
This was a problem for so many reasons.
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
He stopped her.
“No. I want an attorney, and I need it to be the best goddamn attorney in the whole world. I fell down the rabbit hole again, Lyzee. Salem loved her job more, and died doing it. Axelle loves her career, and told me she didn’t want to be a mother.
I can’t do this again. I made a mistake, and I need to get out of this mess. ”
Yep.
This was going to make everything going forward awkward—even more so than it already was.
That meant Elizabeth had to dig a little with the whole ‘heading to the CIA’ thing, too. She was going to have a talk with Lewis after he handled the little favor she’d asked for today.
“Are you sure?”
He was never surer in his life.
In fact, his mind was made up.
Duke was done playing games.
“I’ve noticed her being cold to the girls.
The nanny told me she doesn’t touch them during the day, and I talked myself into it being because she figured the nanny was doing her job.
I don’t want someone icy around them. I don’t want my kids damaged.
We were both damaged—me by my mother’s choice to get a sperm donor, Charlie, and Charlie’s choice to marry Abigale. ”
Elizabeth reassured him.
This was deeper than friendship, and it pulled her in because Duke was her brother. She had to side with the man who was blood.
Period.
She gave in.
So much for being Switzerland.
“I’ll help you get custody of the kids.”
He apologized.
“I’m sorry, this is going to make it difficult at work between you guys.”
Well, the good news was she was on the other side of the country, and if Axelle was planning on leaving the FBI, which she’d not heard a damn thing about, then that handled that problem.
“Axelle will always be family, Duke. I can balance between. I held court between her and Jack for MANY years after the breakup.”
There were tears in her brother’s voice.
She heard them.
“If those little girls ever find out she didn’t want them,” he whispered. “That will damage them. Charlotte loves her. Lottie worships her mommy, and Abby…she’s the only mother she’s known.”
Elizabeth calmed him down.
“It’s okay, Duke. We’ll work it out. Kids are resilient, and yours won’t be the first two who are the product of divorce.
I’ll get Chris to give you the number for our attorney.
The best thing is to do it quietly because this will be a spectacle in the media.
They’ll make it about Ax and I being at odds, and that’s not going to happen. ”
Well, more than they already were over stupid shit. Now, she had to prepare everyone.
“If you do divorce her, Duke, you’re going to have to vacate DC. That’s her area, for now. Think of Damascus as your new home.”
He was honest.
“I’m good with that. Mom said she was staying here if Wyler passed away. She wants to stay on the rez to be close to him. The girls will have her.”
She reassured him.
“I’m going to be here a while. I’ll help you, bro.”
He sniffled.
“I can’t believe I fell for another woman who was overly ambitious and put her career first again. I’ll never love again,” he whispered. “I don’t care, Lyzee. I’ll never fall in love with another woman who will make me and the girls bleed.”
Well, that said it all.
This did so much damage, and it had only just begun.
“Just hang in there. I’ll be home from this case as soon as I can. Clock out, and tell Axl I had something for you to do. Get the girls, and go home. Caryn will stay with you until I can get back there.”
He was okay.
“I just want them to be loved,” he said. “I wanted them to have a good family, and here, they are losing the most important part.”
She stopped him.
“Hey, I didn’t have a mother. I had Dad and a gay man. I turned out just fine. I mean, I twitch on occasion, and I kill things, but other than that…”
He actually laughed.
“I love you, Lyzee. I really do.”
Oh, she loved him too.
“You’re all I have in this world, Duke, that ties me to our Dad. I love you too. I’ll make sure you and the girls are safe. If you want full custody, we’ll get that.”
He did.