Page 6 of Longing for Sin

"No," Graham stated as he seemed to accept the hand that was dealt to them. She doubted that was the case. Truthfully, she was surprised that Graham hadn't used his contacts to have Tonkel reassigned out of his current assignment at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina to somewhere like Loran Coast Guard Weather Station in Adak, Alaska. "It sounds like your first day has a rather busy schedule."

"And you, as well," Brook reminded him. It was essential that he be at the morning meeting that she'd organized with the team. "Was there anything else that you wished to discuss?"

Brook picked up her briefcase before giving her desk a once over. Even though she'd only been getting her office prepared for what some might label as their grand opening tomorrow, she'd gotten caught up in reading over the cases that she deemed were connected to his daughter's investigation. She was satisfied that she hadn't left anything behind that she might need before morning.

"No."

She took that response as a resounding yes, but she ignored the warning that the conversation would eventually take place. She wasn't going to continue to spar with him over the distance that she'd made sure remained between them. He'd wanted her to drop the formality of which she usually addressed him, and she had, but she couldn’t bring herself to say his first name aloud in a conversation as if they were close friends in a casual setting.

They weren't, and she needed to make sure that Graham—and Jacob—understood that she wasn't allowing her team to breach the emotional barrier that she'd put into place. Not that doing so had worked out so well for her before. Hell, how many times had Brook turned down Mrs. Upton's invitation for tea? Her neighbor across the hall hadn't deserved the brutal death that Jacob had dealt her, and all because the two of them had simply crossed paths now and then.

Brook wasn't sure what other measures she could put in place to keep Graham and the team she'd recently hired from being targeted by her brother, but she could only take things one day at a time.

"What floor did you park on in the garage?" Graham asked as she led the way through her office door. "I'll walk you to your car."

Brook held off telling him that she'd decided not to drive into work when the building that housed her condo was a mere two blocks away. Granted, she could understand where someone might find it extremely reckless of her to make herself such a target, but that was exactly why she'd chosen not to drive.

"I appreciate the offer, but I have a quick phone call to make before locking up." Brook didn't even flinch at her lie. She collected her coat from the front closet before returning to the main desk and setting her belongings on the chair. She then picked up the receiver of the landline that had been installed days before. "I'll see you in the morning."

Brook hadn't given Graham much of a choice but to accept her excuse as to why she wasn't leaving the office quite yet. He wasn't wearing his dress coat, so he most likely had parked in the garage that was attached to the building, which was where she would have parked had she driven her car.

"Eight o'clock," Graham confirmed, almost certainly not fooled by her ruse. He seemed to understand that he'd gotten all he was going to get out of her tonight. "I'll see you in the morning then."

Brook waited patiently as he walked to the elevator bank in the small foyer that separated S&E Investigations and a financial firm that had been in their office space for over two years. The first floor was occupied by a large traditional banking institution, so security was tight throughout the building. Graham had made sure their own office space had additional top-of-the-line overlapping security surveillance and alarm systems with cellular backups and firewalled 512-bit network encryption. Loss of connection with round the clock manned offsite monitoring systems resulted in immediate armed response teams twenty-four-seven. The building was as secure as it was going to get outside of being designated as a National Security Agency black site.

Brook slowly replaced the receiver after she'd heard the doors of the elevator close. It didn't take her long to put her cream-colored, wool dress coat over her blazer. She then looped a matching scarf around her neck to protect her skin from the bitter cold temperature. The two blocks to her building weren't that far, but the weather made the walk seem a lot longer.

Would Jacob be watching for her to leave the building?

She'd been overseeing the renovation of the new office space to give her team the appropriate square footage, equipment, and technology that was needed for them to investigate cold cases in a professional atmosphere. Every morning, she'd made sure to arrive by six-thirty. Every night, she made sure to exit the building between ten-thirty and eleven-thirty. She'd set a schedule that she planned to maintain, unless unforeseen circumstances presented themselves during the investigation into Kelsey Elliott's murder.

She couldn't imagine that Jacob had announced his presence in such a brutal fashion only to then leave the city. He was somewhere close by, monitoring her every move to ensure that she'd been affected by him and his actions. There was even a slight chance that seeing her go on with her life as if nothing had happened would eat away at him until he became filled with enough rage that he was unable to help himself confront her.

His desire to see her suffer through his horrific deeds had all but turned into an obsession, leaving her to spend every second of every minute longing to bring an end to the sin that he'd cast upon innocent women.

Jacob seemed to believe this was some sort of game between them.

Brook saw it more as a mission to bring an end to their unhealthy obsession with one another.

Only one question remained—who would be left standing after the ashes fell?

Chapter Three

Brooklyn Sloane

January 2022

Monday — 6:26am

"Goodmorning,Ms.Sloane."

"Good morning, Charlie," Brook called out as she walked across one of the industrial-sized Waterhog mats that had been put down to protect the marble tile of her apartment building's foyer. There had been enough foot traffic between last night and this morning to leave behind a trail of grime from everyone's slush-covered boots. "You have a good day. Stay warm."

Charlie McPherson was one of the doormen employed by the building association. He usually worked first shift throughout the workweek, and he always made sure to greet the residents as they began their busy day. In his mid-sixties, he was on the younger end of most of those who were employed for that specific position.

"Are you sure that you don't want to take part in the lottery pool with everyone else?" Charlie asked with curiosity before she could reach the double glass doors. He was already heading her way with an envelope in his hand, his limp caused by an accident while working construction years prior a bit more noticeable than usual. "Someone always wins, and I don't see why it can't be us."

Jacob had always been the reason behind Brook excluding herself from group activities such as the state lottery pool that Charlie always organized when the pot reached a certain amount. She'd had good reason for doing so, but the distance that she'd put between her and the other residents hadn't helped Mrs. Upton in the slightest.

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