Chapter Five #4
“Like I said, we think he knows about you and Chris. We had to tell Gabe about it. Could it be that?”
She shrugged.
“At this point, EJ, it could be about anything. I don’t have enough yet. He knows how I work, and I need forensics and more bodies, unfortunately.”
Yeah, he was aware.
Ethan had been digging too.
“His father and mother didn’t get married in church. She got pregnant, and Richard Devon James, his father, married her in some quickie marriage. Maybe he’s talking about them.”
She listened.
“What I’m leaning toward in a profile is that he might be telling us that you are the same in more ways. He’s trying to make you sympathize with him, or he’s trying to make you believe you’re going lose because you’ll not stoop to the level he will to beat him.”
Well, she had bad news.
She would.
Oh, she’d go so low she’d walk through Hell to get to him and pay him back. So let him believe what he wanted.
He.
Was.
Wrong.
When the door to the chapel opened, she saw more familiar faces.
“EJ, I have to go. I’ll check in tomorrow. Tell Saint that his husband is good. He’s only slightly dinged up. I know he has to be worried.”
Oh, he was.
She waved the people in.
“He said he owes you one for saving Winn. We all owe you for that.”
No, they really didn’t.
Because she didn’t save Jet.
“They’re mine,” she said. “Trust and believe. Love you. Talk to you later.”
Then, she hung up.
As the two men approached, she didn’t expect to see them there at that time of the night.
“Well, Dexter Corbin, I see Jack woke you guys up and wanted you to be as miserable as everyone else. Welcome to the fucking party.”
Max headed her way and hugged her.
“Hey, Elizabeth. We heard about Jet. We’re so sorry,” Max Holder, the US Attorney General said, as he held her.
She went lax in his arms and let him comfort her. Now, she needed it more than ever.
“Thank you,” she said.
Dex ran his hand up and down her back in reassurance that they were there for her. He’d planned on coming by himself, but when Max heard where he was going, he demanded to come along.
“No need,” Dex said. “Jack did call, but because he wants me to help Quinn tomorrow look for bodies. I hear you’re up to your eyeballs in shit. I saw the news last week about Devon Slater getting away.”
Max was to the point.
“I never liked that slimy piece of shit,” he said. “I’ve seen him at parties in DC. He’s creepy as fuck, and gave off that vibe.”
Well, she had bad news.
“Creepy would be an understatement. He’s a rabid, disgusting, horrible psychopath who has been killing people for years. We just didn’t know it.”
So they could talk, they sat in the chapel.
“Is what they say accurate?” Max asked.
She nodded.
The reason she would clue them in was Max would likely be handling this asshole’s court case.
OR HERS.
Because she might just be going to jail for homicide on this one, if she didn’t do it right.
“Between you and me, he likes digging up women’s bodies, fucking them, and taking their eyes. He likes bones too. He collects their heads by removing them, and then using their boney mouths to get off.”
Both men looked grossed out.
Yeah, her too.
“I thought he was gay,” Max said. “Well, that was the word on the street.”
She was aware.
“He could be. Or he could have pretended to cover his ass. He’s been training as The Grave Robber for two decades.”
She kept going.
“Only, now that I have his collection, he’s starting up again, but this time killing innocent people instead of digging them up.”
Dex whistled.
“You get the wild ones,” he admitted.
Tell her something she didn’t know.
Never was there a greater time when she wished that wasn’t the case.
“Yeah, well, digging them up slows him down. He’s got a recent body count of a mentally challenged groundskeeper who he lopped off his head and buried it with his mother, a nun, and two hookers.
He also killed his attorney, his secretary, and tried for an ME.
On top of that, he left DNA at the scene from the groundskeeper, so I have to assume that could still be in play. ”
Yowza.
That was quite the collection.
“Holy shit, Elizabeth.”
Yeah, tell her about it.
“I picked up a jarred uterus, a cross with Jesus ripped off of it, and am looking for their eyes. I fully expect to find them tomorrow. He knows I’m here. He helped the Russian spies take that shot at us.”
Max held her hand.
“What can I do?”
She was honest.
“Now that you came here, take tomorrow off, Max, and go stay with Dex in his office if he’s there.
Don’t go anywhere alone. I don’t doubt that he’s paid people to watch me, or he’s going to have studied everyone I work with.
He’s wealthy, and using that to his advantage, along with being able to move around easily since he’s laid these tunnels for years now.
He is the most well-prepared killer I’ve ever gone head-to-head with in my life. ”
Dex didn’t like the fact that Max was now in danger, along with himself.
There was one good reason, too.
He and Max were getting married in a couple of months. They were tying the knot at Christmas time back where he was from. They had to make that date.
Desperately.
“I can do that,” he said. “I don’t have court tomorrow. I can work from the police precinct.”
That helped her, and Dex, relax.
“Chances are, he’s already onto the next city, but I won’t know that until I’m eyeball deep in remains,” she stated. “He’s playing with me until he can get me tripped up. I have to stay on my game.”
Yeah, it sounded like it.
Dex was curious.
“What can we do to help with Jet? Do you need us to stay with him, or arrange something?”
That.
Was.
Sweet.
While she appreciated that, what she needed was for everyone to stay safe.
Out.
Of.
Danger.
That was the most important thing at the moment, but since he was asking…
“Dex, can you make sure my agents are safe. Maybe talk to Jack and get a few patrols past Cam and Dalia’s home? Same with Brody and Johanna, Noah and Lawless, and Sophia and Walker?”
He nodded.
“Can do.”
“I’m just covering my bases, because this dude is a nightmare, and it’s just like him to lure me back to Damascus and then make one of my agents go MIA out here to make me have to leave again. He’s wearing me down, and I know that’s part of his plan.”
They hated what this lunatic was doing to their friend. Elizabeth was a lot of things, but she was the sweetest, kindest soul when you needed her.
When there was a knock to the chapel door, she told them to come in.
It was when she saw her other Marines had arrived that more tears filled her eyes. It looked as if all of her Marines had vacated the house to be there.
“Hey,” Johnny said, entering the chapel.
Immediately, she was up and heading toward them. When she reached Johnny, Gideon and Gunny flanked her to wrap around Elizabeth as they mourned together.
“Mom,” Johnny said, emotional. “He just borrowed my car and was fine.”
She ran her hands up and down his back.
“I know, Honey. I know. I’m so sorry. He died because of me, and I’ll never forgive myself,” she admitted, crying all over again.
They couldn’t let her blame herself for this, so instead, they reassured her.
“He died doing what we all love—protecting our family. That’s the bottom line, Mom. He knew, and he wouldn’t want you being upset.”
She led them to sit down, and the men kept in contact with her the whole time.
Two held her hands, and one put his hand on her leg.
It was clear to Elizabeth that Ivan had sent them there to not only back her up, but to be safer with them.
“What would he want for his burial?” she asked. “I know what he’s told me over the years, but you guys were all Marines. Tell me how to give him his last wishes, and I’ll do anything to make sure they happen.”
Of course, she would.
Why were they not surprised?
Gunny and Gideon were the two newest team members, but a Marine was a Marine was a Marine. They spent most of their time together, and when you did that, you got to know a person pretty well.
Gunny took a stab at it.
“He’d want you to find who cost him his life and get justice.”
The minute he said it, the other Marine had an opinion on that too.
Johnny didn’t mince words.
“Let me know when you do find this person, and I’ll pull the fucking trigger for killing my friend. You won’t have to put him in jail. Just get me a good lawyer,” he said, right in front of Max.
As soon as they all looked over at him, as if daring him to say anything about the law, the man raised his hands.
“I’m off duty,” Max said. “I’m not hearing shit, and for the record, I know PLENTY of good lawyers who would get you off. Wasn’t he with you, Dex, when he is accused of committing a crime?”
That said it all.
Dex nodded.
“Yep. We were building a bookshelf, in case any of my detectives were to ask. Oh, look. It’ll be Quinn. I handpicked him to handle it,” he said, proving that case against anyone would be derailed pretty damn fast.
“Thanks,” Johnny said.
Because she hated seeing her Marines upset, she patted Johnny’s cheek.
He wasn’t handling this.
She was.
There was no way she was letting them risk their freedom to take out the trash. The badge allowed her to do that, and Gabe had sanctioned it.
This was hers to deal with, and she would.
Mark.
Her.
Words.
“I’ll get him justice. I promised him that. I meant more with his burial.”
Johnny wiped his eyes.
“He’d want to be buried in his Blues, someplace nice. He’d want a tree and some birds. You know how much he likes nature. Jet loved a walk through the woods to gather his thoughts and refocus when he was scattered. He was always walking the dogs through the woods.”
She was curious.
“Not in Arlington?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“While that’s an honor, he’d want to be with his family. That’s you guys. He’d want to be where you could visit him, and he could be by nature. He’d want to be where the dogs could go, and we all could remember how great a guy he was,” he said, a tear slipping from his lashes.
Nothing rocked a person more than seeing a tough, strong, battle-hardened Marine weep.
It did for her, anyway.