Redemption is Here (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 9) (32 page)

Now, he needed to see if he’d be trying to tread water alone, or with a partner.

Under the spray of cold water, he bit off a curse.

Chivalry and that bitch Fate should be dead.

             
                   *     *     *

After pulling themselves out of bed, Elizabeth, Ethan, and Callen got ready to face the day. While his partners were showering, Callen headed into the kitchen to make them breakfast.

Eth
an had been trying to teach him and with daily practice, he was getting better.

As
Elizabeth showered, Ethan found her all soapy and wet. Because he was craving it, he wanted to spend some alone time with her. Since they’d been a couple last night in bed, Ethan longed to be her focus that morning.

After a slippery bout of shower sex, they were both grinning as they headed out to eat.

“French toast,” Callen said, placing it in front of Elizabeth. Fortunately, Ethan had stopped for provisions. They had been so busy, that they couldn’t spare a moment to do it themselves.

“It looks delicious, Cal,” she said, taking her plate to the couch, with the two men follo
wing.

“She’s right, Callen. Way to go,” his brother offered, giving him a fist bump.

He took a seat. It was hard not to be proud of himself. “Thank you. Now, what’s the plan for today?” he asked, as they all began to eat.

“I think we need to stop at the morgue, get the team ready to head out, and then visit the car dealership,” she stated.

That worked for Ethan. “How’s the head tech doing?”

They both laughed.

“Is it that bad?”

She shook her head. “Merry is amazing.
She can think on her own and do her damn job without me directing her. It’s like we have a clone of Christina, just in a different body.”

“Seriously? We found a good one?”

Callen snorted. “We? Uh, I hired her. You picked the last five nightmares,” he reminded them.

Ethan sipped his coffee. “Well, since you’re so proud of yourself, Callen, it looks like you are getting a raise after all. You get to be the liaison to HR. You’re going to be the one who makes all the hiring
decisions.”

“Hey! Wait!
I didn't mean I wanted to do this every day. The odds aren’t in my favor.”

Elizabeth started laughing. “W
hen will you learn?”

He grinned
, opting to tease her back. “Are there perks with this new duty?”

“Yeah, you get to sleep with the bosses
as much as you want.”

“Sold.”

Elizabeth shoved the last of her food into her mouth before mumbling. “Let’s get a move on.”

They both followed suit. When the boss said jump, they knew better than
not to listen.

             
                   *     *     *

At the police station, they hopped out of the vehicle. It was time for the shift change, and there were deputies carousing in the parking lot.

Yeah, Devil’s Lake must not have any crime.

“We should introduce you to the sheriff, since he’s bound to ask where we picked you up,” she said, pointing at his suit. “You’re a little overdressed, aren’t you?”

His hand went to his tie. “You’re going to be a little underdressed in the back of the rental if you don’t behave,” he stated.

Callen snorted.

“Yeah, yeah. Wait until I win that bet. We’ll see who’s laughing then, Cowboy and sidekick.”

Crossing the lot, they stopped at the older man who was just climbing out of his truck. “Hey there, sweetheart. Don’t you look all pretty and sunshine-y today,” he said, grinning at her.

Ethan waited for the explosion, and when it didn't happen, he was shocked.
What the hell was going on?

“Good morning, Sheriff. I just wanted to introduce you to the third member of our tea
m,” she began, motioning toward herself and Callen. “This is Director Ethan Blackhawk. He’s my boss.”

The sheriff lifted a brow but offered his hand. “So, you’re the one who is mean to this sweet little thing. You
should be ashamed of yourself.”

Callen had to cover the laughter with a cough. His brother’s face was priceless. It was clear to see he was struggling to put it all together and failing miserably.

“Pardon?”

The man shook his head. “When she tol
d us that her boss was a yeller and often mean to her, we were appalled. How can anyone so gentle and sweet be treated like that.”

Ethan glanced over at his wife. “Her?”

The sheriff patted Elizabeth on the shoulder. “You should be nice to this fine young girl. She’s an asset to your team. If she was on ours, I’d spend hours just staring at her. She’s like the cherry on top of my sundae.”

Ethan was first shocked that Elizabeth was letting the man talk about her like she was a possession. Then, he was befuddled
as to why he was tagged the mean one. From the tears of laughter in his brother’s eyes, he was assuming that he had something to do with this.

“It’s okay, Sheriff.
Director Blackhawk means well.” Elizabeth could barely get it out without snickering. The funniest part was that both of them had the same last name, and the man didn't even pick up on that. It was probably a good thing the town was crime free.

The sheriff wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

“If he picks on you, come get me, sweetheart. We’ll keep you nice and safe.”

As the man walked away, she grinned wickedly.

“When I get you alone, I’m going to show you mean,” he warned, slapping her on the ass.

Callen couldn’t help it. He started laughing. “Can I watch?” he teased.

Heading in, Ethan glanced over at him. “No. I’m going to lock the door.”

“Hey!” Callen protested. “See! She was right, you are mean!”

Inside, the team was already at work. When Ethan walked through the door, there was a cheer.

Elizabeth stared at them. “You realize you’re going to be alone with me again, right?”

They saluted.

“Suck ups,” she stated.

“Hello, team. I’ve missed you,” Ethan said, grinning at them. “Now, tell me what we have. Meredith,
is there any DNA?” he asked, taking over his normal job.

“Sir, we’re still running it. We came up with something weird, and we want to be sure it’s not some f
luke. I know that perfection is expected.”

He was good with that.

Elizabeth hopped up on a counter to watch Ethan run this part of the job. She didn't mind in the least. The techs responded better to him. It was probably because most of them were women, and they were picturing him naked.

Hey, if it got results, she was good with it.

“I saw the reports, and while I’m pleased with the work, I need to be sure we’ve caught everything. Where are we with searching the victims’ homes?”

Meredith spoke again, “Sir, we’re done with the searches, but we’re still logging and checking everything. There were four houses, and that’s a lot of trace. We’ll need a little more time.”

Ethan glanced at his watch. “Well, I have bad news. Some of you are going out to do a search of the Native land. We were going to wait because of rain, but as you can see, it’s a sunny day. So, half of you suit up and head out. I want a grid pattern in the forest. If you find more bodies, call us in. The rest of you need to work on that sweep evidence. You’ll have Doctors Magnus, Armstrong, and Legend to help you.”

He glanced over at
his doctors, and they all acknowledged his instructions.

“Are there any questions?”

When no one answered, he assumed they were good. “Okay then. How about you all get to work? No one leaves tonight until we have everything processed and done. It looks like it’s going to be a long one.”

Elizabeth hopped down and
grinned wickedly. “So, are you still all happy to see him?” she teased.

They began mumbling as they prepared to head out.

“Oh, if it does rain, he’s not going to let you come in, either. How’s that make you feel.”

Blackhawk laughed. “
We better go before they string up all three of us up.”

Callen grinned. “I love an early morning lynching, followed up by a trip to a used car dealership. Nothing gets the blood pumping.”

“You’re out of control,” she stated.

Callen couldn’t help it. Today was going to be a damn good day. Their unit was strong
, and they were together.

Nothing could change that.

As they pulled into the auto dealership, they noticed a few things. First off, it was dead. Secondly, it matched the visual they’d created in their heads. Where they expected it to be some cheesy cartoony car dealership, it
didn't disappoint.

All it was missing was the man in the plaid suit and overly white smile.

Wait, they had him. He was in their morgue, missing the polyester and his tongue.

Walking in, they were met with a Native woman sitting behind the counter.

“Can I help you?” she asked, getting up.

“Yeah, we’re here about Allen Payne. Maybe you can help us?” Elizabeth asked. It wasn’t lost on her that the woman was focused more on Callen and Ethan. She nudged her husband, giving him the signal.
They’d done this a few times before.

It looked like he
was up to bat.

“My name is Director Ethan Blackhawk,” he began. “These are my partners,” he rattled off their names, noticing that she stared from him to Callen.

“What can I do for you?” Tiva asked, moving closer.

“Did you file a missing person report for your boss?” he asked, pulling up the file on his tablet.

“Yes, I did. When he didn't show up for work, I thought something was wrong. Is he okay?”

Well, it was good to know that the sheriff’s department didn't have any leaks.
Obviously, word hadn’t gotten out yet.

“He’s dead.”

The woman didn't look surprised. “I see. So, we’re not getting paid for this week, are we?”

Elizabeth lifted a brow. “You’ve just been told your boss is dead, and that’s your first response?” she stated.

It was like the woman finally noticed she was there. “Well, princess, I have to work to survive. I can’t bring him back, so what’s the difference?”

Wow! No love lost there.
Elizabeth didn't know if she was more appalled by being called princess or this woman’s callous emotions.

“
Did you like your employer, Miss…?” He waited for the introduction.

“It’s
Tiva Maine, and no, not particularly. He was lecherous, creepy, and would screw his mother over for a dime.”

Callen spoke up, “Then why did you work for him?”

Tiva looked at him like he was crazy. “Uh, I’m an Indian. Job prospects on the Rez, unless you’re artistic and can sell your goods to a tourist, suck. I had to find a job to support myself. It’s survival of the fittest for us. You know that. While princess here probably wouldn’t get that, I assumed you would.”

Elizabeth
went to open her mouth, only to be cut off.

Ethan defended his wife. “Actually, princess is my wife, and she works very hard. So, how about we drop the outsider hate and get to the facts
?”

Tiva
shrugged. “Whatever.”

Callen stepped in to be the mediator. “Did anyone have a problem with Allen Payne?” he asked.

She started laughing as she headed over to her desk. Pulling out a stack of files, she pointed. “There you go. That’s just this year’s complaints.”

Oh, their agents were going to hate them. That was a shitload of paperwork
to comb through.

Elizabeth grabbed the file
s to begin flipping through them. “These are mostly complaints about the vehicles he’d sold. Was there any issue with him personally?”

Tiva contemplated
it. “Well, two weeks ago, he came into work on Monday in a tizzy. While he was at church,” she stated, pausing to laugh, “you know, to save his soul, someone rammed into his car over and over again.”

“Did he say who?” Ethan asked.

“No, but he was pretty pissed that he’d been followed to church by someone who purchased one of his cars. He called him a stalker and wackjob. Personally, he sold him a lemon and knew it. Allen had it coming.”