Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) Read online

  Deep Dark Mire

  By Morgan Kelley

  Copyright 2013 by Morgan Kelley LLC All rights

  reserved. No parts of this publication may be

  reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

  means, electronic or mechanical, including

  photocopy, recording, or in an information storage

  or retrieval system without written consent from

  the author. All characters are fictional

  and any similarity to real life or individuals is

  coincidental.

  Second edition © Copyright 2013 by Morgan Kelley

  LLC

  Cover art by James Grogan. Titled: Mystical

  Cypress Swamp. @ Dreamstime.com purchased

  Rights 01/31/2013

  Other works by Morgan Kelley:

  Stand Alone Romance/FBI thrillers

  The Junction

  Serial Sins

  The Blood Betrayal

  Romance/FBI Thriller Series

  The Killing Times (book 1)

  Sacred Burial Grounds (book 2)

  True Love Lost (book 3)

  Deep Dark Mire (book 4)

  Fire Burns Hot (book 5)

  Darkness of Truth (book 6)

  Devil Hath Come (book 7)

  Consumed by Wrath (book 8)

  Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Series

  Celestia is Falling (book 1)

  Vegas is Dying (book 2)

  Christmas is Killing (book 3)

  Love is Bleeding (book 4) Spring 2014

  The Littlemoon Investigations Series

  Blood Red Rage (book 1) Early 2014

  Lost and Broken (book 2) summer 2014

  The Carter Chronicles

  Sinner Repent (book 1) Summer 2014

  The Dangerous Series

  Dangerous Revelations (book 1) Spring 2014

  Mire

  [ mīr ]

  an area of very marshy ground or deep slushy

  mud

  or

  difficult situation: a troublesome or oppressive

  situation or state

  that is very difficult to escape from

  A Native American grandfather talking to his young

  grandson tells the boy he has two wolves inside of him

  struggling with each other. The first is the wolf of peace,

  love and kindness. The other wolf is fear, greed and

  hatred.

  Which wolf will win, grandfather? asks the young boy.

  Whichever one I feed, is the reply.

  So Begins Desdemona Adare’s story and

  continues Callen Whitefox’s…

  ~Prologue

  Two weeks ago.

  The only sound that surrounded him was the chirping of crickets and the swishing noise of his boots through the swampy water. The bayou was beyond quiet tonight.

  It was deathly silent.

  It seemed completely appropriate, since he’d just committed murder. He took the life of the woman in his arms and snuffed it out from existence. Part of him believed it should have been hard to do, but the evil part of him knew better. Stealing away a life was simple. It only took intent and will to succumb to the call.

  Now it was finally done after years of premeditation.

  Glancing down into her serene face there was remorse, or he hoped what he was feeling was that particular emotion. The cold claws of fear ripped at his belly, not because he took a life, but that he’d get caught.

  Then he relaxed.

  This was the bayou. It was a mire of muck and decay and no one would find the woman, once she was placed with the other one. Time had proven that. As nearly twenty five years had passed since the first fragile life was taken and placed in the gaping hole in the rocky cliff. How no one found the body and returned her to her family, he would never know. But yet there she was, waiting to be discovered and reclaimed.

  Time wasn’t Trinity’s friend, and it certainly wasn’t kind to the family either. Both little girls grew up without a mother, always wondering if she abandoned them or was eaten by some vicious swamp creature. The beauty was that no one considered the other option… Murder.

  The secrets remained hidden for decades, and it was for the best. The man who stole her life had his reasons and his justifications. It was a valid killing in his mind, and the mind of the one who would follow in his steps. Trinity Adare was a blasphemous woman, and the children she brought into the world were mistakes who shouldn’t have found life. The time had come to take action and right the wrongs that lust and sin had given life to so many years ago.

  The mother had to die.

  Now the woman in his arms also had to be removed from the world. She too was just like her predecessor. Trinity Adare may have been gorgeous, funny and easy to look at, but she also crossed a line and wanted the truth to come to the surface. That wasn’t going to happen. There were too many innocent lives involved. When the decision came to end her life it was done with sorrow and no pleasure, he was sure. No one should take joy in the taking of a life.

  There was no happiness that day on the face of the killer, but there was satisfaction at protecting the secrets they shared.

  Staring down into the face of the woman in his arms, there still wasn’t any joy at what had to be done. This was a sin, but no worse than the sins that were being committed unknowingly. Something had to stop it before the ugliness came to light and the truth was told for the world to see.

  The bayou was an unpleasant place, but even in all its horrible poverty stricken hell, it still wasn’t worse than what was going to happen if the truth came out. People would make light of it, gossip, and that just couldn’t happen. The two women had to be sacrificed, and once the other woman came home, she too must die.

  It was only a matter of time to wait her out. Yes, he’d tried to find a way to get to her while she travelled the country dealing in death, but it wasn’t feasible. It had to be done correctly and done masterfully, like the murder before her. He’d stalked, chased and terrorized in an effort to bring her back to the bayou, where it all started.

  It was a matter of time until the woman was trapped in the sins of her mother. Soon, time would run out for her too, and he knew what that meant.

  Death.

  Cordelia Adare was much like her mother, but that wasn’t her only sin in life. The secrets that she found unknowingly were her undoing. Secrets he must kill to keep locked away for the rest of time. Had she not dug through the past, then she might have had a future herself.

  He spotted the rocky hiding spot on the inner most part of the swamp and knew the journey was almost over. It had been a long walk in, and it would be a long walk out, but one he knew well. He’d come here often to check on Trinity Adare. Now he’d come to check on Cordelia in a few weeks, when the decay and animals feasting on her flesh were finished. Even though he killed her, he had a weak stomach for watching things being consumed. The gators couldn’t get her in the crevasse, but there were a myriad of other swamp animals that could, and would.

  It was only a matter of time before her lifeless body became a meal, a snack, and a warm dwelling for all the bayou creepy crawlies.

  Climbing up into the cliff and pulling back the branches of the ancient cypress tree, he found the entrance and inspected the original remains. It wasn’t a deep fissure, but it would hold the body and the next one too. Then it would be filled to capacity and never used again.

  This would be the Adare family crypt, just minus the oldest member of the family. No sane person on the bayou would mess with Morgana Adare. She was the bayou witch. Whether or not s
he had power over God fearing people was a question he wasn’t willing to find the answer to personally. Better to be safe than sorry, that was his motto. The creepy woman wasn’t to be messed with and that was common knowledge among everyone in town.

  Laying Cordelia beside her mother’s fleshless body, he said a prayer for her, hoping her body would decay fast and all evidence would be eaten or washed away. In case it wasn’t, he knew what needed to be done.

  Pulling the wicked looking knife from his back pocket, he ran his finger across the sharp blade. This would be the last step before returning home. Swiftly he slammed the knife to the hilt into her very still lower stomach. The flesh made a hideous tearing sound, despite the sharpness of the blade.

  The stench of bowel and guts wafted up, making him want to gag, but he continued anyway. Cutting a wide enough gash, he dug and scraped at the internal part of her body, almost removing everything in sight. He wasn’t a doctor, so this was all new to him. When he found the slightly swollen bag, he assumed it was the uterus. Reaching in, he ripped it from her stomach. It slithered through his hands, like a bloody deflated balloon. Now he’d cut the abomination right from her body.

  Looking around, he found the light ripples not far from where he stood. He knew what was living beneath the murk, waiting for its next meal. Tossing the vile prize into the water, he watched the splashes as the alligator consumed it quickly. No more was Cordelia’s abomination. Now it was relegated to where it belonged.

  In the belly of the beast.

  Rinsing his hands in the murky water and watching to assure the alligator kept its distance; he washed off the knife and then thought twice about it. It was best to toss it in the water and let it sink.

  The deed was done and now he only needed the last one to return home.

  Alone.

  It had been more than half a year since he’d been able to get to her. There’d been no reason to travel, and he couldn’t allow it to look suspicious. Getting her to leave the safety of her new family wasn’t an easy task, but this should do it.

  Desdemona Adare would certainly return when she realized that her sister was now gone too. When her mother died, the death was written off easily, but two women in the same family? That would pique her interest and bring her back to the bayou.

  Then he’d make his move.

  Time was at hand. The truth was poised to surface and hurt all the innocent ones caught in its wake.

  Everyone knew the Adare women were born in sin, raised in sin and lived in sin, but no one knew who gave them life. That piece of information needed to stay dead, just like the two women in the crevasse.

  There was so much to lose if it all came out.

  The pain would be immeasurable.

  It was time to bury the secrets of shame once and for all.

  ~Chapter One ~

  Two Weeks Later

  Friday

  Desdemona Adare’s alarm on her phone screamed for her to wake up and climb out of bed. It was another day dealing in death and crime. Rolling over, she stared wistfully at the empty space in the bed beside her and sighed. The man she was currently living with was once again gone on assignment. Desdemona knew his job mattered, but she really wished they spent more time together as a couple. Deep down everything in her hated that she was feeling resentful towards a job he loved so much. Whenever he returned from an assignment, he joyfully told her all about it and talked shop nonstop. Callen Whitefox lived the job and couldn’t take a break from thinking about it. It was one of the giant loves in his life.

  He only had a few obsessions.

  His work and a woman.

  Then she pushed it down and scolded herself. Callen was a really good guy who tried his best to take care of her, and she shouldn’t be so damn ungrateful. The time apart was just getting hard to swallow, and it grated on her nerves and patience.

  Once back from this assignment it would be the same conversation and same outcome. Her fiancé would ask to plan a wedding, and she would have to artfully deflect. He wanted to rush into marriage, and she didn’t have any intention of doing any such thing. They both came from broken families. Doctor Desdemona Adare never knew her father, and Callen Whitefox grew up the ‘bastard’, but knew his. Maybe it was that little circumstance that made all the difference in their outlook on life.

  Or none at all.

  Like it or not, he’d try and persuade her get married sooner rather than later. Preferably in the fall on the reservation just like his brother and sister-in-law did. She’d have to hope and pray she could gently slip out of the oncoming arguments path.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t love him and want to marry him; Desdemona had this fear that it wasn’t right yet; that he wasn’t ready. Callen lived for the FBI and after the assignment that brought them together in Red River, they almost died. Part of her hesitation was that she didn’t know if she could spend every day wondering if her fiancé wasn’t going to make it home at night. Then there were the constant assignments that took him away for weeks at a time to mediate conflicts between the ‘outsiders’ and the Native tribes. Genuinely, he loved his work and threw himself into it whole heartedly, but what did that leave for her?

  Yes, she too worked for the FBI, but as the Medical Examiner and mostly in house. Field work wasn’t common, and only popped up once in a great while. Desdemona had gone out on body retrievals, but then she brought them home to the office and did her job there. Safe, secure, and minus the bull’s eye on her back. Desdemona couldn’t say the same for him, and that was a big hang-up for her.

  It scared her that she was going to get the call, finding out the love of her life was dead from a sniper’s bullet or crazed maniac.

  They’d both been there and done that, and it didn’t sit well with her. Once she even broached the topic of possibly finding new work that he could love. After all, she made more than enough money to support them comfortably. You would have thought she asked him to sever one of his own limbs with a dull instrument.

  Huge mistake there!

  It ended in an ugly fight where the make-up sex had proved to be a Band-Aid on a festering wound, still left to never heal. It sat between them uncomfortably and often reared its head.

  Yet, it wasn’t the only issue adding to her growing discontent. Toss in the fact that they never did anything alone together when he was home. Desdemona was starting to think that maybe rushing into getting engaged was a horrible decision on her behalf. Yeah, she followed her heart and placed a gag order on her brain, but now it seemed that she should have gone with logic and not matters of the heart on this one.

  Granted, along with Callen came a very protective family, one she didn’t have in her own life. The gift of a family and a girlfriend made the hard parts seem more tolerable. When her fiancé was away, the house behind her was where she’d go to hide. The surrogate family kept her safe, and they made sure she wasn’t scared or alone for too long. It was nice to have that security in her life, but when he came home all she wanted was to retreat back to their space and reconnect.

  Being alone with Callen was amazing. When she could get him away from his family, they had the life she believed they would have. Cuddling on the couch, mind blowing sex, and hours of intimate alone time that made her forget about all the things she wasn’t happy with in their relationship. Alone they were perfect, but alone time was more the exception than the rule.

  Be careful what you wish for, when you get it there was the possibility it just may suck.

  The catch twenty two in her life was this; she wanted what she never had, a family of her own. Once Desdemona received it, ironically she found she wanted less of it. What she believed they needed was less time with her inherited family and new best girlfriend, and more time with the man who made her heart skip a beat.

  Maybe things could be different if she could just pry him away from the Blackhawk Tribe. The hard part to swallow was that Callen Whitefox was attached to his family and even more so, Elizabeth Blackhawk.

/>   Maybe attached wasn’t the right word to describe the current situation, and what had been unfolding the last seven months.

  Her fiancé was in love with another woman.

  It was easy to see, since it was visible on his face and in his eyes. Yes, the woman was married to his brother, but it still rubbed her raw regardless. Callen would come home from an assignment, and they’d celebrate his return. Yet before the sweat on their bodies was dry, he’d be dragging them out the door and to his brother’s home to be with them. Let her rephrase that. Not them, but Elizabeth. She was the ying to his yang, the jelly to his peanut butter, the cream in his coffee and frankly it was driving her insane.

  Desdemona tried to let it go. Really she did, but it was beginning to make her crazy. Maybe it was a Native American thing, and family really was that important. Possibly it was because she grew up with just a sister and grand’mere and no emotional bonds whatsoever. Either way, when it all came down to it, that was the big reason why she wasn’t willing to marry him. Not because she didn’t love him. She was overflowing with copious amounts of the emotion for the man, but because she just couldn’t swallow the fact that she didn’t own his heart. When they met he told her his family was paramount, and at the time she was willing to accept that, but now… It was becoming a cross too heavy to bear. They’d had the conversation of the importance his brother and sister-in-law played in his life on day one. Honestly, she thought it was an over exaggeration, and once they came together she could make him love her more. Her plan was to show him that she could be the center of his life. Not another woman, but her and her alone.

  Yeah, that was an epic fail. They’d had fights on that one too. Apparently when it came to his job and Elizabeth Blackhawk the line was drawn in the sand. No, make that drawn in the concrete. Her fiancé wasn’t going to budge on that one either. Elizabeth was off limits to any discussion. Callen adored her and that was the end of it.