He sighed.
That didn’t make him happy.
“Jesus Christ. What now? Was my name carved on a body?” he asked.
She paused.
Dramatically.
Elizabeth liked to keep him stirred up. That was kind of their thing too.
“Uh, why would you put that out there? You know that shit comes true in my world. If I pull up a dead dude’s shirt and see your name, or that chrome dome, I’m puking.”
He snorted.
“I love you too. What is it then? I have to get my ass to a meeting, and you’re interrupting it. You don’t call to say hello, so this has to be a favor or trouble. If anything, Elizabeth, you’re consistently a pain in my ass.”
Yeah, that feeling was mutual.
Since she knew he was a busy man, as president, she was to the point.
“What do you know about Devon Slater?” she asked. “I need a character witness.”
He paused.
He wasn’t sure why Elizabeth was bringing up his name, but now, color him curious.
“He’s a big campaign contributor, and so was his father. His mother was a gem. Sweetest woman I’ve ever met. He used to bring her to the White House functions. I met him when I was director of the FBI. His father was into real estate, and even though they were divorced, they were a tight family. Good guy. I liked him, and I like his son. Why do you bring him up?”
She went there.
“He owns a building where a body was found. Not only a vagrant, but a jar full of eyeballs, and skulls that don’t match them. I’m two hours into a mess, and I’m starting to build my suspect list.”
He paused.
“Uh, he owns a lot of buildings, and I can personally vouch for the family. He’s not some cuckoo. If he had a body dump, I’m sure he’s just as annoyed as you are. The Slater familyis known for being good, decent citizens, and they donate a lot of money—almost as much as you nuts.”
To her, that didn’t sound like he would be high up on the list. Yeah, she’d have to keep him on it due to the location, but Gabe was a good judge of character.
“Yeah, so I found out. I just wanted to know if you thought he could be a serial cuckoo. This killer is taking eyeballs, skulls, jacking off with the skulls, and cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.”
He reassured her.
“No. He isn’t crazy. Like I said, I know him, and he didn’t give me the crazy vibe. He has a steady life. At the last function, he brought his significant other.”
Elizabeth was curious.
“Who?”
“It was some model. A male model. He keeps his private life quiet, and that’s the first time he ever did that. He’s gay, Elizabeth.”
When she looked over at her profiler, Ethan shook his head, and Elizabeth knew why.
The skulls were female.
A gay man wasNOTjacking off to female anything. Look at Gene. Then again, he’d been naked in bed near her tits, so…
When she looked at him, Gene flipped her off, knowing what she was thinking, and she actually laughed.
