Page 292 of Affair

When they rolled up, the cops holding the scene hauled ass out of there. They cared less about the dead people inside, and more about having to tangle with her.

Or maybe it was Ivan’s stench.

It was bad.

Yeah, she was glad she wasn’t a Marine. That foulness was beyond her limit.

As the last of the patrol rolled away, then, and only then, did Boone and Rogue walk out of the shadows.

That told her all she needed to know about how well the cops had secured that scene.

Two mercenaries had been sitting a few feet from the crime, and they never knew they were there.

“Good to see you got sprung,” Rogue said.

Ivan pointed at him.

“You were supposed to protect her!”

He laughed.

“Uh, she won’t get shot on sight. I’m a thief in this town. I’ll go to the chair.”

Yeah, he kind of had a point.

She was like a cat with a thousand lives.

“Jesus. Why do you smell like a toxic waste spill,” Boone asked, as Ivan stood there.

“He’s molting,” she said, not missing a beat. “He sheds his skin every full moon.”

Ivan actually laughed.

“I didn’t have time to change,” he stated. “I came right from the swamp.”

Yeah, well, he should have changed.

Really.

Heading back into the house, Elizabeth was grateful that the neighbors were all asleep, because they were going to be nosey.

That was the last thing she needed.

As she stood over the dead victims, her heart broke for the woman and the child. They were innocent in this, and their lives were cut short because of a man chose to draw trouble to them.

“I have agents heading here to gather the bodies, and ship them back to the FBI building. We’ll make the notifies and handle this,” she stated.

“You guys search for anything tied to that crypto code, but I’m going to bet he doesn’t have it. He let his child be killed, and that tells me he likely never had the code.”

They agreed there.

The whole time, they ransacked the place, looking where the mercenaries hadn’t, and after ten minutes, they came up with one conclusion.

It definitely wasn’t there.

That meant it was only one last place.

“Let’s head out,” she said. “The agents will get in here quietly, and claim the bodies. We don’t need a crime scene. It’ll only get more focus.”