Page 24 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

“It looked like someone filled a garden hose up with blood and sprayed the walls.”

Oh, boy.

Chris knew what that would be from.

There was only one kind of injury that had that kind of ‘paint the walls’ effect, and it was the worst kind.

“That would be arterial spray. There are only a few ways that can happen. A slice to the neck, or the femoral artery. His leg would have to be bare for that to happen.”

That’s what Rayna thought. Well, it was good to see that she had somewhat of a clue when it came to things like this.

“Anyway, we followed the blood droplets to the trees to see if he’d wandered away for help. I called for deputies, because it looked like he’d gotten disorientated and wandered away.”

Yeah, Elizabeth somehow doubted that.

“You don’t wander away with an arterial bleed,” she said. “Right, Christopher?”

He agreed.

“He’d have under two minutes to live if it was that much blood. Mostly, the panic sets in, and you lose more blood as you freak out.”

That sounded horrible.

Rayna actually felt bad for the man now that she thought about it.

“Well, we called in a search party, and I really believed he would be found out cold—or bleeding out. When we got Beau on the trail…”

Elizabeth stopped her.

She was curious.

“Who’s Beau?” Elizabeth asked.

Rayna realized they wouldn’t know that.

“He’s my dog. I use him for hunting, mostly, but he can find a trail. If you’ve ever winged a deer hunting, and had to track it to put it down, you’d understand.”

Elizabeth said nothing, but she understood. Oh, she hunted…just not deer.

The thing she hunted was far more nefarious and dangerous.

Criminals.

Rayna continued.

“We walked ten miles, and finally, Beau alerted. He parked his ass by the old hunting camp on the Westside of the rez.”

Yeah, Callen knew it. It wasn’t that far from their cabin—maybe two to three miles from it.

So, he explained to his wife.

“It’s so far from a majority of the cabins that when you go hunting, you can use it to camp for the night, or to break down your deer. It’s basically just a clearing with a stone fire pit that someone built a long time ago. None of us used it since we don’t live that far from it.”

Chris was curious.

“So do we know for sure it’s human bones and not a bunch of deer carcasses?” he asked. “Asking because I’ve had this happen before.”

Yeah, it was damn difficult to differentiate between human bones, and deer bones, unless you knew what you were looking at.

A skull was a dead giveaway.

Rayna figured that would be the first impression, so she pulled out her phone, and showed them what picture she took.

“We started digging in the pit, and this is part of what we found.”

Elizabeth looked at the arm. It was from the elbow down, and the hand still had flesh.

“No, it’s definitely human.”

Rayna was to the point.

“I know the difference between a human hand and a deer hoof. I’m not an idiot.”

Callen heard the tone.

This was where he walked a fine line. It was between his culture and the FBI.

Oh, plus his family, and the Chief of Police.

“Hey, they weren’t calling you an idiot, Rayna. You’d be shocked at how often we’re called in, and before our anthropologist looks at the bones, everyone thinks they’re human. No one meant to imply you were not capable of identifying it.”

She calmed down.

“Sorry. I just get a lot of shit for my lack of experience and being a woman.”

Honestly, Elizabeth liked the woman. She had moxie, and that went a long way for her.

It was crystal clear that Rayna Running Wolf stood up for herself, and that was important.

Elizabeth had to explain a lot over the years, so she understood and there was no offense taken.

“I, of all people, know that it’s not easy being a woman in the law enforcement field. How old are you, Rayna?” she asked.

Rayna didn’t know where this was going.

“I’m thirty-two.”

Elizabeth sipped her coffee and went there.

“When I was thirty-two, I was moving my way up the ladder, and everyone thought I was nothing but a bad attitude with tits in boots.”

Callen opened his mouth.

That’s when she put her hand over his lips without even having to look over at him. Oh, she knew her husband, and where he was going to go with that.

“I will literally make you sleep in the treehouse for our time here, Callen James. Don’t get spicy with me, or you’re going to have balls so blue, people will think they are planets orbiting Uranus.”

As soon as she said it, Ethan choked on his coffee, and Chris had to pat him on the back.

HARD.

Once she said that, it broke the ice.

Clearly.

Rayna laughed.

“You’re interesting, Elizabeth. I expected designer shoes and prissiness. That last comment was not from an overindulged princess.”

Oh, well, she had news for her.

She was about as prissy as a rock that rolled downhill through a hillside of mud.

Before she could say anything, Chris was focused on Ethan, who had tears in his eyes after choking on his coffee.

“Are you okay?” Chris asked Ethan.

The man nodded.

“I let my guard down. I know better than to eat or drink around her when she’s talking. Sometimes, I forget how insane she is.”

Oh, that amused Elizabeth.

Why?

She.

Was.

Crazy.

“As I was saying, Chief, I know it’s difficult to be a woman in a man’s world. It just takes time to reach that glass ceiling and break through. You’ll get there, and then a man will never be able to doubt you again.”

Rayna calmed down.

It was clear they were just asking questions and not insulting her. Normally, she was far more laid back. Today, she was twitchy.

It had been one hell of a morning, and frankly, the reservation unnerved her. It had never done that before, and she didn’t like it.

“Please, continue,” she offered.

Rayna did.

“Anyway,” she said, continuing, “we found two arms—one was almost all bone, and then the one you just saw,” she offered, as Chris finally got to see what they’d located.

“We’re definitely going to need an anthropologist for this, Elizabeth. This is right up Tony’s and Jaxon’s alley. Definitely more them, and less me.”

She understood.

It was a good thing that the rest of her team had arrived, and were going to be showing up at some point. Tony and Jaxon would have to take a little side trip before seeing where they were staying.

Rayna continued.

“Where it got sketchy was when we noticed they were both left arms. That clued us in that there was more than one victim. We dug down a little deeper, and…”

Oh, boy.

She said the magic words to rile up a forensic ME.

Immediately, Chris stopped her.

“Wait. You kept digging down even further?” he asked.

She nodded.

“We reached more bones that were bigger, like femurs, and some little bones. I think they are foot bones.”

Elizabeth knew where this was going.

Chris was turning red.

Why?

They disturbed a crime scene, and he got particularly prickly when he had multiple bodies, and only one ME to work it. Yeah, that was problematic.

For him.

“Did I do something wrong?” Rayna asked as she saw the man staring at her. “Is he okay?”

Callen tried to take the temperature down before Chris dug him a hole—with the Natives.

Yeah, he was back to this again.

“Normally, once you find one bone, you stop, back up, and call for backup. It makes it more difficult when people touch the bones and move them. MEs like to see them in situ—as they were found.”

She considered it.

“Oh, okay. I wore gloves.”

Chris was saying nothing, but only because Elizabeth was staring at him and giving him the look that said, ‘don’t do it. Getting bitchy will piss off a spouse’.

Since it was their first day back, he wouldn’t, but he was going to bitch in private.

Bet.

On.

It.

That was his compromise.

Elizabeth got them ready to head out by doling out the jobs.

“Christopher, call Tony and have him meet us here. You both can follow us to the scene. Go ahead. Take a moment,” she offered.

Oh, and Chris did.

He got up, pushed away from the table, and miracle of miracles, he didn’t say a single, solitary word.

She’d reward him for that later. It made Callen’s job so much easier.

“Who is Tony?” Rayna asked when the man had left the room.

Elizabeth explained to the Chief of Police.

“That’s our Forensic Anthropologist. He’s landed and on his way here. He’ll assist Chris in digging up the remains. Meanwhile, after I see the scene, I’ll take a trip to Thomas Adsila’s home, so I can look around. We’re going to have to retrace his footsteps.”

She wasn’t sure how this worked, so she was going to try to insert herself into the investigation.

“I can escort you around the reservation. Granted, most people here admire the Blackhawks for their donations to the reservation, so you probably will be okay alone, but I can help.”

Callen’s hand was on her thigh, and she knew he was willing her to be gentle.

The more she riled the natives, the harder his job was going to be with the council.

So, she backed off.

Honestly, she was a Blackhawk, and she was so pro-Native, that she’d made a few of her own.

CJ.

EJ.

Charlie.

Christopher Anthony.

The last thing she’d be doing was shitting on a culture that was half of her own children.

“I’d love an escort,” Elizabeth said, easing into being back for both the Natives, and Callen.

When he patted her thigh, she knew he was grateful for her willingness to go easy.

Rayna nodded.

“Oh, yeah, there’s something else I forgot to mention. We know he disappeared and suspect that it was his hand my dog dug up for one reason.”

They were all ears.

“What?” Callen asked.

“On the rock just outside the camp area, there was a pile of folded clothes, neatly left there.”

Both Ethan and Callen tensed, and looked at each other. Something about what she said had resonated with them.

But what?

Elizabeth saw it, but since they didn’t say anything, she covered for them.

“Thanks for that information, Chief,” she said. “I’ll make note of it.”