Chapter Nine #2
“Something about how they were all his now. That he could keep them forever.”
Yowza.
That’s something a collector would say.
There was a good chance the man was killed because the killer didn’t want anyone to know he had overheard things.
Maybe the missing kidney was a red herring.
But why leave the body there so it might draw attention to his stash?
They needed to tell Elizabeth this.
All.
Of.
It.
“He said he got out of there, spent a cold, wet night in an alley with Shadow. That’s all he said,” she offered.
Corbin glanced over.
It was clear that the man was likely killed for knowing something.
Or snooping around out of curiosity.
“He went back there a lot,” the one guy said. “He was always too damn curious. We told him he was going to lose his other kidney doing that kind of shit, but he didn’t listen. Now, he’s dead.”
And there it was.
Curiosity killed the soldier.
“What’s your name?” Corbin said.
The man laughed.
“Yeah, no fucking way, cop. I’m not telling you jack shit, so you can take my organs too. Fuck off!” he said, and then picked up a stick to swing at Corbin.
Alex pointed.
“NO!” he said, making the man stop. “He didn’t do anything. We just need names for reports,” he said. “We don’t want your organs. We want to find who hurt Johnny. That’s all. You don’t have to trust us, but we aren’t being mean to you, so have some respect.”
The man settled down.
As Alex moved to put himself between Corbin and the guy, the woman went to a nearby tent. She pulled out a box and carried it to Alex.
What was this?
“Wherever you put him, can you bury him with this?” he asked, handing him the non-descript box.
Alex took it, and he opened it. Inside, there were medals, and a Purple Heart.
It appeared Jonathan Miller was a decorated hero.
And that only made his ending worse.
God.
It was heartbreaking.
“I promise you that Jonathan will not be forgotten,” he said, holding the box. “We’ll make sure he gets buried with them. Our friend has a soft spot in her soul for soldiers. She’ll handle it.”
That seemed to appease them.
Before Alex could leave with the box, the woman kissed the top of it.
With love and gentleness.
“Goodbye, Johnny. You were loved. You weren’t invisible to us. Thank you for serving our country, and protecting us. We’ll never forget you.”
Jesus.
That was so poignant it hurt.
“Thank you for talking to us,” Alex said. “We’re going to find who hurt him. I promise.”
That didn’t even faze them.
In fact, it was like they didn’t expect anyone to care, so they just shrugged.
That made it worse.
The three people moved away from them, and Alex handed Corbin the box.
He couldn’t just walk away. Something compelled him to follow them.
“Give me a second,” he said to his partner, before leaving him standing there with the box.
Then, he jogged over to the threesome, pulled his wallet out, and passed them all cash. The woman hugged him, and Corbin saw the compassion when he touched her face with care.
Oh, and it somehow made it so much worse.
God damn it.
His partner was a good person.
And he liked him.
More than he should.
That was problematic for so many reasons. First, he was gay, and Alex wasn’t. Second, he couldn’t get attached to anyone. Will had been his soulmate, and he couldn’t risk loving someone again, only to be the reason they died.
Now, he was annoyed that he was seeing Alexander Bartlett in a whole different light.
He wasn’t just some guy humping every woman he could, he was also a kind person.
A good person.
That was always the sexiest thing about someone, too.
As he walked back toward him, Alex smiled at him, and Corbin’s heart skipped in his chest. The butterflies picked up, and they were back after being gone for a very long time.
“Please no,” he whispered to the universe in pleading. “I can’t do it again. Let my heart stay dead.”
As Alex reached him, he took the box.
“Let’s head to the hotel, and I’ll write up my notes for later. Elizabeth is meeting us for dinner when she’s ready, so we’ll update her then. She’s likely eyeball deep with the cemetery employee.”
Corbin was staring at him.
And saying nothing.
“What?” Alex asked, looking around.
Corbin had to cover.
Because the mother of all panic had him by the balls, and he needed to put space between them.
The way he pushed his hair from his eyes, and smiled was a little too familiar.
It.
Haunted.
Him.
This man reminded him of Will on so many levels, too.
“The eyeball-deep part caught me off guard. Too soon, Alex,” he said, covering the wash of feelings he was having.
They were too overwhelming for him.
At his explanation, Alex laughed.
“If you can’t make a joke, what are you going to do when you are neck deep in the fucking misery?” he asked, putting his sunglasses back on.
That was a good question.
Because Corbin was there.
“To the hotel,” he said. “Maybe you should catch a nap, partner. You look worn down,” Alex admitted.
Oh, he didn’t know that half of it.
Only, what Alex had said…it was a good question since he’d been trapped in the misery for far too long.
Since he lost the ability to love.
* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *
The Cemetery
The Meeting
As the man lumbered toward them, Ivan and Uriel got in front of the Blackhawks, and put their hands on their guns.
Hopefully, the not-so-jolly-looking giant would not do anything stupid.
Like, start swinging.
He was a beast, and while Uriel was big, crazy made people incredibly strong.
They should know.
They encountered it a lot.
As he approached, it started going South, right off the bat, and that was a bad sign.
“I almost lost my job!” he said. “You tried to get me fired! All I do is take care of the dead, and here you are, telling the church I’m doing a bad job!”
Oh, boy.
They’d done no such thing, but how were they going to convince this man of that?
Then, it escalated.
He grabbed a shovel.
Well, shit.
Raphael grabbed Ethan by the back of the shirt, and Callen too, and proceeded to back them up.
Someone looked like he was going to go insane. The man was holding a shovel, and he looked pissed.
So, of course, Elizabeth felt the need to move forward, not retreat.
Ivan was going to get her a psych evaluation sooner, rather than later.
“We’re not trying to get you fired,” Elizabeth admitted. “You do a good job. The cemetery is beautiful. If I lived near here, I’d absolutely want to be buried here.”
The man paused.
That seemed to catch him off guard.
“You would?”
She nodded, and glanced over at Gene to signal that he was with her. Hopefully, he got it.
Ivan stood alert, watching every single move the man made with that shovel in his hand.
He didn’t want to, but he’d shoot him if Elizabeth or Gene were in danger.
Without any hesitation, or possibly sanity, she held out her hand.
“I’m Elizabeth. I’m sorry your boss thought we were complaining. You have done a good job. This place looks perfect. All the flowers are gorgeous.”
He shook her hand, a little caught off guard.
Elizabeth knew there was no way they could take him without gunfire. The man was a beast, and that screamed dangerous.
So, it was time to charm him, and get on his good side, so they could get this interview done. There were questions to be had about the cemetery.
Well, mainly the three graves that had been disturbed that the cops had given up on a while ago. With embalmed eyeballs, there were only two places they could be coming from.
The funeral home.
The cemetery.
She just had to figure out which and cross them both off of her list—at some point.
“I grew them myself in the greenhouse behind the caretaker’s shack.”
She glanced over at Gene.
She hoped he was ready.
It was time to do an interview without the person knowing they were doing an interview.
Hopefully, it worked.
“I bet it looks nice in there, too. Could we see it? I love flowers.”
The man shrugged, but the hostility level had decreased greatly. Now, hopefully, it stayed that way.
For all of their sakes.
Ivan looked tense, but Elizabeth gave him a look. Oh, and he knew what it meant.
She wanted him to trust her.
Clearly, someone was the crazy whisperer because she’d calmed the man down, but he didn’t have faith in that skill.
Call him crazy, but this man looked…
Twitchy.
Squirrely.
His vibe was off.
“What’s your name?” she asked, even though she knew who he was from their intel. Still, she wanted to build that connection to the man.
“Jeffrey,” he said, giving her nothing more.
Well, at least they had clarification.
They found Jeffrey Von Gunter.
“Can my friend Ethan and I join you, along with my friend Ivan? He just bought a house and needs some flowers for the yard.”
They all got it.
Gene was being left with Callen, and they needed to do a deep dive on this guy.
The boss lady had picked up something, too.
It was probably that someone was a little odd.
Now, they needed to see if he was dangerously odd. There was a difference in their world. While he was the likely suspect in the graves being opened up, there were many questions to be answered first.
“Okay,” he said. “You didn’t want to get me fired?” he asked.
Ethan approached, and was ready to back his wife up.
He was on profile duty, and his wife wanted him to see this up close and personal.
Oh, and there appeared to be a lot to take in, too. Jeffrey Von Gunter was an interesting character.
No.
Doubt.
Ethan played doctor for his wife.
It was shrinky-dink time.
“No, why would we want to do that when you're doing such a great job. Do you have extra flowers?” he asked. “Could we buy some for Elizabeth?”
Slowly, the man nodded.
It was as if he was considering what he was saying.
Carefully.
“I do. Come with me.”
Ivan stayed close, and he pointed at Raphael, who went the opposite direction to do what he did best.
Snoop.
Around.
Yeah, he was going to watch when no one knew he was there. The Marine was up to bat.