Toxic Delights: Part 3

You've forgotten who you really are. I'd say its disappointing, but I guess I've changed as well. I enjoy watching you run before you walk now, sprinting towards me instead of away. The only regret I have is that this change in you wasn't caused by me. My hands are shaking with envy as I write this, but only because you're beautiful when I put that frown on your face. It belongs to me. Not to a moment of weakness or the faint heartbeats you get when you think about the man who ripped off your favorite disguise. I'd like to see that fire in your eyes again, Elle. It would be in your best interest to indulge me. You're brilliant enough to know that.

With love,

Your best kept secret.

"Is it true?" Elle asked Hazel the next morning when she entered her private office and shut the door. She meant to call her after her interrogation with Detective Nieves but when Trevor Lee had dropped a very important bomb onto her lap yesterday, she felt the need to jump on the lead right away. She managed to politely get the hotel manager to give her the list of employees and their schedules and she had spent all night going through them. Running on only three hours of sleep wasn't going to do her any favors but she needed to catch this guy. Sleep would only stall her, while this maniac continued to kill innocent people.

"Yes. Lily was the one who found them. I can't imagine how terrified she must've been." Hazel responded in distraught, and Elle could sense a hint of exhaustion in her voice as she spoke. Guess she wasn't the only one burning the midnight oil.

"How's she doing?"

"She's... alarmingly calm. Hasn't said a word since they took her statement but the police want me to stay away from her and I'm not sure I can do that," her best friend rambled. Elle wished more than anything she could be there to comfort them, but knowing how pushy she was, she'd only make it worse. The police department in St. Cloud, Minnesota was short-staffed as it was, they didn't need her wrath making their jobs any harder. She'd done that enough the day she was assigned to the Skull Man's case.

"Just try not to resist their requests. It could make things a whole lot worse for you."

"I know. I wish you were here," Hazel added, making Elle's heart drop immediately. She loved that woman as if she were her blood sister, psychopath or not, she'd do anything for her and Lily and she'd bet her badge she'd do the same for her in return.

"Trevor's here by the way. He's surprisingly not an asshole," Elle commented, impressed by the positive personality of Trevor Lee and smirked when she heard Hazel chuckle on the other end of the phone.

"Did you want him to be?"

"Lawyers usually are. But he seems to be legit. Tell Dante I say thank you," she replied as she settled into her chair and started to look over some files she needed to sign off on from the case she wrapped up last week.

"You can talk to him, Elle. I never asked you to stop," Hazel reminded her and while Elle agreed, she still felt guilty for what happened the night of her party and how she still tingled at the sound of his name. He was off limits, that was the only reason why she wanted him. And she'd continue to repeat that to herself every day until she believed it.

"Listen, I have to go. Stay strong, Haze. That little girl needs her mother," Elle hurried, avoiding the wandering thoughts of Dante's cock ramming into her from behind.

"Stay out of trouble, Elle. I mean it. I heard about what's going on out there."

"Damn Carter Murphy and his big mouth. I'll try. Bye, Haze," she answered with a laugh, and ended the phone call as soon as she saw Sarah, the petite and perfectly fit medical examiner knock on her see-through door. Elle signaled for her to enter, and when she did, Sarah locked the door and pulled down the blinds in her office, as well as the blinds on the door.

"You're amazingly good at being subtle, Sarah. Keep it up," she said with sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

"There's something you need to see," Sarah explained, as she placed a file on top of her desk, and sat beside her by the edge of her desk. Elle opened the file, and the photographs taken by the CSI's yesterday and the one's Sarah took during her autopsy caused her to shake her head in anger. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, this was her fault. She managed to piss off the wrong person and now people were dying because of it.

"Whoever this guy is, he's super smart. Not only were the five stab wounds done postmortem, but the blood she was covered in? Not even hers. Whoever the blood belongs to, we have no way of tracking it," the blonde added with enthusiasm. Elle raised an eyebrow, questioning it, but Sarah quickly flashed her brilliant smile and she dismissed it. Sarah had been kind to her from the moment the captain had introduced her to the rest of the task force in her department, a little too kind if you asked her. But she was new here, she still needed to adjust to everyone's behavior and patterns, despite her ability to think everyone was a suspect.

"Did you find anything else on the body that might help?" she asked, and noticed how Sarah intentionally crossed her arms underneath her breasts to plump them up inside her white blouse. Just for her to see the creamy pale texture of her cleavage. Elle suddenly realized she needed to keep her urges under control, and fast. Before she made a mistake that costed her her career.

"None that I've detected. But you're more than welcomed to keep the file and go over it as many times as you'd like," Sarah offered, again flashing her toothy grin at her. Clearly Sarah wanted something from Elle she knew she couldn't give and she understood it completely. The aching in your body that pulled you towards someone you needed to have was hard to resist. Especially in the workplace, where you'd be stuck seeing that person constantly, daydreaming of all the things they could do in a matter of minutes in between the shadows.

"Sarah, I'm going to need you to stop looking at me like that and get back to work," Elle ordered, clearing her throat, but her words had only caused Sarah to scoot even closer to her, giving her a much better view of the valley between her breasts and the white lace bra that held them up perfectly.

"I've been doing workups all night. I deserve a break. Don't you think?" the blonde haired vixen taunted as she began to touch the silky lining of her blouse slowly, tempting Elle into submission. She would've resisted if she'd had coffee, or anything else to keep her sexually charged mind out of trouble, like the one she was about to step into right now.

Once Sarah was on her lap, Elle started to unbutton her blouse, and moaned when she saw how hard her nipples were for her. Arousal swam in her grey eyes when she looked up at her, dilating with desire as Elle took her taut peaks into her mouth, one by one. The soft groans escaping the blonde's mouth only turned her on more, making the wet flesh between her thighs pound with desperation.

Her tongue circled around her nipples, her teeth tugging and pulling at them to her liking, while Sarah's hand undid Elle's belt and tugged down the zipper to her jeans, dipping her warm fingers inside of her dripping mound. With slow strokes around her clit made by Sarah's skilled fingertips, Elle increased her sucking, biting down on the tender skin around her peaks. She loved it when they danced for her, that little shiver of joy coercing through their bodies while she pleasured them made breaking the rules worth it.

Sarah continued her seduction as she slipped two fingers deep inside of her, and swam inside her womb, rubbing at her sweet spot when they finally found it. Elle flicked her tongue over the newly bruised nipples, while Sarah increased her strokes, making her writhe against her palm. When the high finally slapped her skin, and her orgasm washed over her, Sarah giggled lightly into her ear and rubbed her soft cheek against hers.

"Let me take you out to dinner," she whispered softly into her ear, then pulled away to button her blouse up. When was the last time she went out on a real date? Probably not since college. With all the chaos going on around her at the moment, she wasn't sure diving into something new was the best idea. Especially since whoever was stalking her knew her so intimately. There was no doubt they would notice her attraction to the medical examiner.

"You seem like a smart woman, Sarah. I'm sure you understand how that would complicate things," Elle answered, and watched how her words caused Sarah to distance herself from her. Disappointment filled Elle when Sarah simply nodded, then sent her another winning smile. She wanted her to fight against it, change her mind with another orgasm even, but Sarah didn't take the bait.

"I'll see you around, Agent," Sarah added with a wink, then marched towards the door to her office, exiting and leaving Elle with more problems than she came in with. Yes, Sarah was smoking hot, in that naive kind of way. Which was definitely her type. But her instincts told her Sarah wouldn't benefit from what she had to offer. She screamed romance and intimacy and that just wasn't something that was part of her skill set.

Putting all things Sarah aside, she focused on the list of names of the employees at her hotel, and managed to narrow it down to two suspects. James Holland, the janitor, who knew the entire layout of the place, and did most of the repairs in the building, and also the hotel owner himself, Sebastian Hale. He'd inherited the place from his grandparents after they died last year, according to the background check she ran on her computer last night. He also graduated with honors from M.I.T at the age of only eighteen and made a name for himself in the tech world until he decided to drop it all to run that hotel for his grandparents.

Why? He could've easily hired someone else to manage the property since he had acquired enough money with his company, Hale Tech. Its main purpose was to provide law enforcement, along with other agencies, the type of high-tech gadgets they needed in order to make their criminal chasing hassle easier. The company was still doing well, despite Sebastian giving up his seat as the C.E.O.

Something wasn't adding up about him. Elle could feel it in her gut as she ran a deeper background check on him on her office computer. Huh. His father Luis Hale, was also involved with the mob, and had been labelled a snitch by the head of the mob task force, Thomas Friar in Brooklyn, New York, in the nineteen seventies. The Hale family suffered tremendously due to the media storm caused by Dean O'Leary, Luis' Irish mob boss, when they finally caught him in the act in nineteen seventy-six. Dean had been given life without parole and had stabbed himself to death in his cell the very night his sentence was given, while Luis Hale died years later in a prison riot that lead to fifty dead inmates and only five injured guards.

By the time Elle finished gathering all the information she could about the Hale family, her eyes were heavy with sleep and she decided to close her eyes for just a moment, giving them much needed rest.

Seconds turned into three hours of deep sleep in her uncomfortable leather office chair, and Elle opened her eyes to find her phone vibrating violently on her desk. Noticing it was Dante's phone number flashing across her screen, she straightened and exhaled deeply before she answered the call.

"Dante," she greeted him, surprised she sounded relieved as she held the phone against her ear. She reached for a sealed envelop addressed to her that had been probably dropped off while she was napping, while she waited for him to answer.

"Its me aunt Elle, Lily," her goddaughter's sweet voice filled her with happiness, causing Elle to smile instantly while she skimmed through the letter.

"How's it going baby girl?" she asked her, while her heart began to violently pound against her chest when she finally finished reading the note. The killer had left it for her, she was sure of it as a flare of anger consumed her and she reached for her gun.

You've forgotten who you really are....

"They won't let me see mommy. Can you help me? You're the only one I can trust," Lily pleaded over the phone, bringing her back to another set of problems Elle had barely began to process.

"I'll see what I can do, but no promises okay? And take care of your Dad. I'm sure he's sad enough about what's going on," Elle insisted and her anger increased when she heard her goddaughter sniffling over the phone. She didn't like hearing children crying. She'd had enough of it while she was shuffled around in the foster care system when her mother decided she was too much of a burden to be taken care of when she was eleven.

"Okay. Love you tons," Lily claimed, sniffling some more.

"Love you tons more, baby girl," she replied, and waited for her to end the call first before she cursed out loud. She was dying to go back to Minnesota to handle this situation with Hazel, but there was a killer on the loose, who decided messing with her was a good idea.

She needed to teach him how badly it wasn't.

"Elle, there's a call for you on line two. Its from the woman's correctional facility in New York," Corina Suarez, another one of the colleagues she had yet to get to know, announced from the other side of her door. She'd recognize that silky voice anywhere.

"Thanks! I got it."

Elle sent a quick text to Carter, letting him know she got another note, while she answered the call on line two on her switchboard phone. As soon as she accepted the charges, her mother's deep and raspy voice filled her ears.

"I need some more commissary money," Stella Dubois stated, not bothering to say hello to the only person in the world who paid any attention to her. Elle rolled her eyes as she read Carter's text, which told her to meet him outside in the parking lot when she could.

"I just put in a hundred bucks last week. What the fuck are you spending it on in there?" Elle asked, frustration fueling her as she gathered up her files and packed them up into her tote bag, along with her badge and gun holster.

"Watch that damn tone of yours, Elle Dubois. I ain't your daddy," her mother corrected with as much attitude as she was blessed with. Of course she wasn't. Her father would never ask her for money. He was busy rotting in solitary confinement somewhere in upstate New York after she testified against him in court.

"I don't have time for this right now. Take care of yourself, Stella," Elle hung up while her mother continued to call her every nasty name in the book and locked up her office on her way out of the precinct.

"Hey, Corina!" she called for the agent when she spotted her talking to Sarah by the smoking zone in the parking lot. The auburn haired beauty excused herself away from Sarah, crushing her cigarette underneath her boot and made her way towards her. Elle tried to ignore the heated gaze Sarah sent to her across the parking lot, and focused on the redhead in front of her.

"Do you know who left the note on my desk? I was too exhausted to notice someone came in," Elle mentioned and she watched Corina ponder a moment before she shook her head.

"There was a robbery at a bank not too far from here, which had everyone and their mother's calling in because of the hostages. I doubt anyone was paying attention. Why?" Corina inquired. Elle cursed her habit of being a heavy sleeper, and shrugged it off as casually as she could in front of Corina.

"Just do me a favor and keep an eye out for anyone who stops by my office when I'm not there."

"Uh, sure. No problem," Corina answered, narrowing her eyes towards her. Elle flashed her a grin and turned towards Carter's police car.

"I talked to the captain. He agreed you shouldn't stay in the hotel alone," Carter declared as soon as she settled into the passengers seat of the car. If she weren't so tired, she would've shot him straight in the ass.

"You do know I brought my gun right?"

"Elle, I'm serious. This is the second note you've gotten and I honestly think you're in way over your head with this one." Murphy added with concern, while Elle rolled her eyes and handed him the note she stuffed into her purse before she left her office. Carter reached for his reading glasses in the glove compartment and cleared his throat before he began to read the note the killer had left for her. When he sat there in silence after he was done reading it, Elle stared at him as the panic inside of her rose.

"What is it? What did you notice?"

"I think you need twenty-four hour surveillance. This is worse than I thought. Damn it, Elle...." Carter assessed, handing her back the note, along with a glare full of frustration.

"Oh, so this is my fault?" she asked incredulously, reading his angry expression.

"I didn't say that," Carter argued, pinching the bridge of his nose as he exhaled. "I just meant-"

"Just drive." Elle demanded, turning away from him and his accusations. Partially because she knew he was right. A life was taken on her behalf, to make a point, Elle realized as she looked through the photos taken during the autopsy. The woman's name was Juanita Vargas, and she had to die so that Elle would have no choice but to chase after this animal.

But Elle had news for her secret admirer. She was going to make him come to her.