Chapter Ten #3
“They dropped me off with Jet and the remains. Is Tony around?” she asked.
Chris was staring into her eyes. Because they’d ‘grown up’ together, he was honest and ignored her question. They had more pressing matters at hand.
“I don’t like the look I’m seeing,” he admitted.
She said nothing.
“Bethe, we’ve been through too much for me to not know you’re about to blow. I’ve seen this before. Talk to me.”
She set him free and began pacing angrily.
In the privacy of the morgue elevator, she raged, taking that moment to let someone help her carry the burden.
“He touched my family,” she stated. “I can’t let that go. I know what it’s doing to me, Christopher, but I can’t stop it. I’m going to cross the lines, and I’ve been trying not to.”
He made her stop.
“You’ve crossed them before.”
Had anyone else said that to her, she would have lost her shit, but Chris had always been the one who comforted her, and talked her down.
So, she leaned into that relationship, and she was honest.
“It was too easy the last time,” she admitted. “Killing Javier Hughes was way too easy. Yeah, he was about to stab Gene with a corkscrew, but it was enjoyable.”
He knew where the dilemma was.
“You should talk to someone.”
She stopped him.
“If I talk to someone, like say Ethan, or Callie, they are obligated to report me to Kate. They are obligated to pull my badge, and that will be a far worse fate for me. I’m balancing on a razor’s edge here, and I don’t want to enjoy taking him apart, but I’m really going to enjoy it.”
He leaned against the wall.
Chris had been with her when she took down the Butcher for Livy, and he’d been there for other times in her career when she’d had to take a life.
The last thing he wanted was for her to do something that damaged her.
“He’s not going to stop. I can feel it in my balls. He’s going to pick off people one by one, until he can make me bleed. It’s going to be random, and with the intent to make me fuck this up.”
Chris reassured her.
“We’ve warned everyone to be careful. Everyone we love is protected.”
She was to the point.
“He’s finding ways. I don’t know how, but he’s had time. I have to figure this out. I’m missing something, and it’s going to be big. This might not be like a normal case for me, but it’s still the same process.”
Chris was curious.
“What do you need?” he asked.
She pointed at the two boxes.
“They have to be a clue. They have to lead me to the next targets, because he wants to play this game. Finding out who they are will help me find him.”
Chris knew what they needed to do then.
They needed Tony to get his ass moving.
“Well, then, let’s start figuring out who they are. What do you know?”
She was to the point.
“Male in his fifties, and a female in her thirties. He didn’t leave me fresh victims for a reason. Also, at the church, he left more religious clues. So maybe one of them is a priest? Another nun?” she asked, talking it out, hoping that would be it.
He considered it.
“That’s possible.”
Oh, and she had a clue she didn’t understand.
“He left me a hundred-dollar bill in a Bible left on the pulpit. What could that mean? I looked up what my hundredth case was with the FBI. It was a man killing women of the night. More prostitutes,” she admitted.
“I mean, most of my cases back then were ladies of the night. Prostitutes die more than non-prostitutes.”
On that last part, he agreed.
“We’ll figure it out. I know everyone is digging in, and what you need is some food, and to breathe for a few minutes.”
She was curious.
“How are our kids?”
Chris shared.
“They touched down in Fiji a few hours ago. The Women’s Auxiliary from Wisconsin booked out that plane for the trip. One of my company’s planes is there, for when we need to move them. Since I have offices there, nothing will show up on his radar.”
She smiled.
“Are they crocheting bikinis on the beach?” she asked. “Because I know if I was in the Women’s Auxiliary in Fiji, I’d be doing that or macrame.”
He got serious.
“I have fond memories of a certain woman in a see-through bikini in Fiji. Don’t make me suffer. I’ve missed my wife, and I have blue balls.”
Yeah, she had cobwebs on her clit, and that pissed her off too. She had perfectly available men, and no time to do them.
That sucked.
Because she missed him, Elizabeth headed his way and found his mouth.
Already, after just being near him for ten minutes, she felt a lot better.
The kiss was sweet, and fiery at the same time.
It filled him, and also allowed him to fill her too. When she set him free, he sighed.
“And an erection in scrubs. My wife is evil.”
She laughed, and he smiled at her.
“Better?”
She shrugged.
“A little. Thank you for knowing me and exactly what I need.”
He was to the point.
“I’m going to ask you to walk out of here, go get some dinner, and don’t look at Vivian.”
She said nothing.
“But I know you’re not going to listen. Promise me you won’t spiral. You’re back to baselevel now.”
She touched his cheek.
He had five o’clock shadow, and that was rare for him. Chris liked being shaved and neat as a pin. This was just proof that they were all running on fumes.
“I have to say goodbye. She deserves it. This is on me.”
And he knew he wouldn’t win that argument, so he didn’t even try.
“We’ll do it together.”
She appreciated that.
Opening the door from the morgue elevator, they stepped out, and Tony was there waiting for her.
“Hey,” he said, opening his arms.
Elizabeth went into them next.
As he hugged her, Chris went and let the men into the morgue by unlocking the door. The family was all back together, and they’d be locked in together too.
“I was worried about you,” Tony admitted, kissing her on the forehead.
She reassured him.
“Oh, well, you know me. I’m good,” she offered up, lying her ass off.
Only, he’d been to this rodeo for a long time.
“Bullshit.”
She sighed.
“Instead of having this conversation, Anthony, can you start on the bones? Both you and Jaxon?” she asked, as Tony’s wife hugged her next.
Then, it was Chrissy.
She took that moment because, honestly, she wasn’t sure if one of them would be next. The jury was out, and that freaked her out too.
Tony wasn’t standing there for his health.
He was ready.
“Where are they?”
She pointed, and the two anthropologists headed off to retrieve the boxes.
As they did, Elizabeth stared at her head tech.
“Before you tear into me, let me just say I missed you, and I love you.”
She sighed.
“I’m not much in the tearing mood,” she admitted. “I won’t yell. Tell me.”
She was to the point.
“We went over everything that was found in that gas station in Corpus Christi. The blood tied to the victims. The fingerprints were tied to Devon Slater, but they were all slightly smudged. He had to have been in a hurry.”
She listened.
“All evidence was from him, or the victims. We didn’t find anything we shouldn’t have. The techs there sampled the city ME, and all of the deputies. We found some trace from them, but they worked the scene. It was nothing to raise red flags. All of their gloves were accounted for, and logged too.”
It sounded like a very thorough run of trace.
Chrissy continued.
“Their eyes were removed with a scalpel, and the nun’s uterus was taken out the same way. It was a clean cut, and we didn’t find anything odd. The same is true for all of the appendixes.”
That didn’t surprise her. The ME on the scene had said it was done with precision.
Chris headed that way.
“Chrissy’s right.”
She was curious.
“Our deceased tech, the one he killed right before this shitshow started up…did you find anything on him?” she asked, going backward with reason.
Elizabeth didn’t put it past the man to try to fuck with her.
Chrissy shook her head.
“Nothing. He likely had very little time to kill him and shove him in the body elevator. We went over the car too. Just his fingerprints were found there.”
Ethan was nearby.
“He isn’t able to think on his toes,” he stated. “With each move on us, he’s had to take time to plan it. That’s likely done with a purpose.”
Elizabeth agreed.
“Yeah, he’s a douchebag.”
Ethan explained.
“He’s hesitating and going back to what his father taught him to do. He’s not a confident person. His father made him like this, but I guarantee under it, he’s a coward. When the walls begin closing in, he’ll make mistakes. He’ll panic.”
She thought about that.
They needed a way to make him be afraid.
“There has to be something we can find. He’s had time, but so have I,” she stated. “I’ve been doing this a goddamn long time, and I’m accustomed to games. He’s not.”
Ethan wasn’t done.
“The poison he used against us, and what took Vivian’s life, is from a case you worked a long time ago, so that had me thinking.”
She listened.
“He has had access to your files. I’m going to bet that at some point, his father bought them from someone. You’ve been compromised and likely have been for YEARS.”
Oh, no doubt.
“They weren’t electronic copies at the beginning. Getting photocopies and slipping them back would be easy. We’ve had people compromise the FBI and us before,” she admitted.
He was aware.
“He likely also had access to your psych profile, and that’s what he’s using against you.”
She stood there.
“Okay, so you know what’s in my profile. There’s no doubt you’ve read it, the real one, not the one that now sits in its place. You were the Director of the FBI, so tell me his plan. What’s his game?”
Oh, he had seen it.
And it was impressive.
Not only were her skills there, but her weak points were too. Gabe had her analyzed to make sure she’d be the woman he needed to run this shitshow down the road.
“He knows which buttons to push. He’s going to try to hurt you as best he can.
He knows your weakness is family because I know your file contained all the information about your attachment to Sam and Charlie—how much your mother’s death changed you, and how you had deep emotional scars from your stepmother. ”
None of that hurt her anymore.
It had been a long time since it did, so she considered what he was saying.