Chapter 21
It wasn’t meant to be.
That’s what Todd had said about his relationship with his ex-wife, Eliza.
They’d gotten married young. They had couple goals and timelines because they thought they should.
Todd was going to be a paramedic, but didn’t have the funds to pay for schooling—something which hit a little too close to home for my liking.
So, he joined the army at eighteen, and became a combat medic, with the intent that he’d get paid, get his training, do his time, then he and Eliza could live the life they were meant to live.
Young Todd sounded like a romantic.
But while he served, he changed. For better or worse, not only did he have a knack for healing, but he was calm under pressure, and could handle the worst and still get up in the morning.
He was wired different.
He could handle more. Do more. When his service was over, he knew he had to be part of the change. To continue his service to the country, but to fix it from within. Which resulted in Todd joining the FBI, while he was still in the reserve. From there, he trained at Quantico, and thrived.
Post-graduation, he was assigned to the organized crime unit, where he met Jack, who was already making a name for himself. A year into working together, Todd was given his first undercover assignment.
Todd skipped some details and rushed through what happened next.
He had been undercover for three years with severely restricted visits with his wife, when he received the news Eliza was pregnant with Remy—I didn’t ask for the details about how they arranged their time together for this to be possible, but I knew when people were motivated enough, they found a way.
It took Todd eight months to close out his first stint of undercover work so he could return home in time for Remy to be born.
He was a week late.
For the next five months, he worked on cases closer to home. But was soon reassigned to undercover work. Apparently, in Todd’s own words, he had become mission critical to the FBI’s operations with the mob. Don’t ask me which one. Cults I knew. Any other sort of organized crime… not so much.
While undercover, his visits with Eliza and baby Remy continued to be limited. And in one such visit, Eliza shared the news she expecting their second child. The picture she painted was a beautiful one. Once Todd completed his mission, he’d go home to his family, who’d welcome him with open arms.
But that’s not what the future had in store.
Todd’s work grew riskier. Visits with his family were virtually non-existent.
He couldn’t extricate himself from his work, learning of his second daughter’s birth six months after the fact, and had no say in her name, which was, to his dismay, Rory—apparently named after a character in one of Eliza’s favorite shows, which Todd couldn’t stand.
By the time Todd’s seven years undercover came to an end, he’d been torn apart and sewn back together again, he’d lost his tongue, and was entering a pre-established family unit that functioned without him.
He didn’t fit. And since he lost his tongue, he didn’t know how to communicate.
His children weren’t at an age where reading was feasible as their primary form of communication, and Eliza just didn’t have the time.
They tried to make it work for a while. But Eliza and Todd had grown apart.
It wasn’t meant to be.
When Eliza and Todd met, they weren’t who they were meant to be yet. And who they were meant to be were at odds with them being together.
“It was for the best,” he said, even though Todd didn’t have custody of his children. Even though, Eliza had used his role and commitment to the FBI, and his access to painkillers—which he refused to take might I add—against him to get sole custody.
The claims alone were enough for Todd to join the FBI’s Employee Assistance Program for substance abuse, not only to prove to himself he was capable and accountable, but so he had a chance of building a relationship with his kids in the future. He wanted to be ready.
Despite this, Todd didn’t hold animosity towards Eliza. He understood. She wasn’t a villain, he hadn’t been around, and she did what she could in order to protect their children. To put them first.
But that didn’t make his stranger status with is children any less painful.
He held hope that he’d have a relationship with his family again—something more meaningful than the handful of visits Remy and Rory once made, the last of which were over three years ago—a cordial, working, relationship with Eliza, and a chance to be a father to his daughters.
But that’s not how things were. At least not yet.
“Stop it.” Todd grumbled as he took us down Pennsylvania Ave.
“Stop, what?”
“Looking at me like you’re trying to solve my problems.” He squared his shoulders. “I told you so you would understand. I don’t expect you to do anything with it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The world outside passed by with large swathes of manicured grass and stately marble. We would be at the office soon, and I had one last question before we got there. “Knowing how it all played out, where you are now, would you change any of it?”
He looked at me, smiled, then returned his eyes to the road. “No.”
?
The agents were gathered in the briefing room. Same table formation. Same screen at the front of the room. Same chilled look from all but Jack, Todd, and Fawzy. Which, when I thought about it, was half of the room. I could work with that.
Todd and I took our seats next to Fawzy, while Thruppy and Jack conversed near the screen which currently showed a map, with dozens of pins highlighting locations in and around Huntington.
I tried to play it cool and ignore the flush that crept up my neck, and the tightening in my belly, when I made eye contact with Jack. I’d done something out of character, and both of us knew it. I’d invited him to dinner at a restaurant. The Jackalope. Just the two of us. Tonight.
Because I was going to tell him about my passenger.
“Well, that’s not good.” I swallowed the knot of nerves in my throat, noting the marks on the screen. “That’s where the epinephrine was stolen?”
Fawzy nodded. “The average grab took enough to restart a horse.”
“Which means—”
Jack’s glance roamed over me, followed by a smile, and a raised brow. “Thruppy, unless you’d like someone to steal your thunder, I’d suggest you get a move on.”
Thruppy’s shoulders sagged, but he still handed me the floor, palms up. What a gentleman. “Care to finish your sentence, Delilah?”
Even though I was mid-sentence, I wasn’t in the mood to steal the spotlight so I changed the direction of my words, “The presentation looks lovely.”
“Well.” Thruppy didn’t know what to do with that.
He blinked twice, three times. Scratched at his nose, then straightened his posture.
Proud, maybe? “Yeah. Okay. Good. I’m glad.
” He did a double-take before continuing, “I will accept more compliments after the presentation. Especially, if they’re from Zhou. ”
To which Zhou promptly rolled her eyes, Fawzy stifled a laugh, and Kaatz flexed her bulging biceps over her chest.
“Or, not, anyway.” Thruppy pointed at the screen.
“All the epinephrine was stolen from ambulances in the Huntington area in the last two years. Nothing from Cincinnati or Lexington, besides a missing auto-injector or two. Which means…” He got excited, pausing for effect, like he was waiting for a drum roll.
Instead, he got silence. “One, the intent to kill familiars was pre-meditated, and whoever was responsible, stocked up for almost a full year before use. Two, our suspects very likely know the location of vamp headquarters. And three, there’s a very high likelihood they’re locals to Huntington. ”
Thruppy smiled, proceeded to the next slide which showed a crypt in what I could only assume was the Lexington cemetery.
“Thanks to Fawzy and Zhou’s trips to Lexington, we were able to identify the crypt where the first two victims were held before they died. Circumstances were similar to that of the Dexter Mausoleum in Cincinnati. For whatever reason, our perpetrators, must be scoping out cemeteries ahead of time.”
“Ahead of time?” Kaatz said. “What would be the point of scoping after?”
“You know,” Thruppy sounded more resigned, than upset, “I put a lot of work into these presentations, and everyone’s always jumping ahead. Would it kill you, any of you, to let me make the big reveal, without interruption, for once?”
All of the attention in the room was squarely on Thruppy, which despite being what he asked for, caught him entirely off-guard. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.
Even though I was most definitely in a position where I could have ruined his day, I decided to set him up instead.
“If we work under the assumption the people responsible for the murders are local to Huntington, they would’ve had to scope out the crypts, and be confident they’d be able hold people against their will, without getting caught.
Which…leads-to-the-big-reveal-I-know-Thruppy-is-dying-to-tell-us-so-I-won’t-say-anything-else.
” Unless he got it wrong. At which point I’d have no trouble correcting him.
“Thank you, yes, the big reveal is…”
“Oh, hurry it up man,” Kaatz grumbled.
“…The perpetrators know the location of the fang ceremonies ahead of time.” He was right, but he also neglected to highlight the significance of what that meant.
“Of course, they’ve got to know the location ahead of time, Thruppy.
” Zhou’s voice gave away her real meaning which was, ‘this is why we shouldn’t let him run the show’.
“Crosses are nothing new. They started showing up at fang ceremonies five years ago. Garlic is dropped off at that vampire warehouse on the regular. Knowing where the fang ceremony is beforehand doesn’t give us anything new to work with. ”
“But I’m saying they know before anyone else.” Thruppy looked to Fawzy and me for support. “Even the vamps.”