The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) Read Online Free Page A

like snort when he bowed. This was the inherent problem with small towns. Your past always came back to bite you in the ass. The only consolation for her was at least they never had sex.
    “Anyway, I am technically off du ty, so I brought you some lunch. You need to eat.” Casually he waved a hand down his body, to indeed prove he was out of his uniform, and thusly free to call her by her nickname.
    She looked at him like he was crazy, and that was a good possibility. “We just fished two dead women from the lake, and you think I am actually hungry?”
    He shrugged. “It’s not a matter of hung er, Lyzee. It’s a matter of sustenance and survival.”
    “Pass.”
    Tony shrugged, “Do we have an ID on them yet?”
    “Not as of yet. T he fish had a bit of a snack.” Elizabeth didn’t have to elaborate. The bottom feeders in the lake had nibbled on the girls. Gone were parts of their extremities and soft flesh, including most of their eyes. They didn’t even have eye color at this point. “The ME is going to do dental, and maybe he can pull a fingerprint that wasn’t nibbled on, I really don’t want anyone to have to do a visual identification.”
    “Good idea,” he said , sitting beside her on the bumper of her Jeep.
    “I’ve seen worse bodies, but those fish…I may never swim in fresh water again.”
    Tony grinned, “I may be with you on that one.”
    “I can’t believe we had two dead bodies in one day . This has to be a record for Salem. I can’t remember when the last dead body turned up,” she stated, drinking the coffee he brought her, as she passed off her sandwich.
    “I can remember,” he shrugged , as if it was nothing.
    Elizabeth lifted an eyebrow over the plastic coffee cup. “Pardon? We’re practically the same age, so if you remember it, why don’t I?”
    “We had three bodies a year ago. Your dad was investigating them. We had two arson deaths in the same house, and one possible suicide in the park.”
    “I don’t know if I would classify them as ‘ finding a body’ . To me it sounds like misfortune and all together a sad situation.”
    Tony just shrugged again. “Your dad had a burr under his saddle about them. He didn’t think they were random acts. When your pop got gung-ho about something, he didn’t let it go. He just told us that the circumstances looked wrong to him. The fire was obviously murder, and he wasn’t buying the suicide at all.”
    “Seriously?”
    “When he had his heart attack, Deputy Bishop was checking in on him. Charlie was found lying on his laptop and case folders. He had been studying them before he…” Then he let it go, realizing he was discussing her dad and not some random victim. “I’m so sorry, Lyzee.” He touched her cheek when he saw the pain in her eyes.
    She nodded, guilt flooding her that her dad died alone, when she should have been here for him. “When you go on shift tonight can you get Sara to pull all the files that my dad was reading on the night he died? I want to see it all.”
    Elizabeth made a mental note to look at his laptop too. Since returning, she’d yet to turn it on; she had his things packed away and placed in the attic. Her heart couldn’t handle the pain of staring at them.
    The only constant memory Elizabeth kept, she now wore. On her thumb, she twisted his wedding ring. It was the one he’d cherished after her mother had passed away. Now, it was a daily reminder of them both.
    Tony patted her on the back. “I’ll make sure it’s on your desk for you in the morning,” and it would be. If Elizabeth needed this, he wanted to help her heal a little. Losing Charlie had bruised a lot of people’s hearts. So Tony could only imagine how bad this bruised hers.  Charlie was a great man, and he raised a damn good daughter.
    That was his greatest legacy.
    “Okay, thanks,” she said, finishing her coffee and tossing him the cup. “I’m going to follow the ME back to the morgue. I’ll catch up with you