Page 29 of Echoes of Sin

“Are you saying the unsub is or was a service member?”

“No. Quite the opposite.” Brook reached out and turned her laptop on the desk so that Otto could see the screen. “You and I both know that true interrogation techniques weren’t used on Luna Breen. This torture was inflicted by a civilian who wanted answers that Luna and at least two other women couldn’t answer. We have no idea whose blood was left in that second cabin, and we won’t know for a while. In the meantime, we work with the evidence.”

“It’s still all assumption,” Otto pointed out after he’d leaned in to read what was on the screen. His attempt at redirecting her own words back at her fell flat. “There’s a good chance that he was turned down by the military. It’s all conjecture. And as far as I’m aware, Riggs never even attempted to enter the service.”

Brook didn’t get a chance to argue that point. She even had proof to the contrary. Riggs had spoken to a recruiter about enlisting in the Army. His high school guidance counselor had even made a note in Riggs’ file that a meeting had been set up before his arrest. Unfortunately, the rest of their conversation would have to wait until they confirmed the call that had come over Otto’s radio. Not for him specifically, but the dispatcher thought he should be aware of a particular issue since it could involve one of his deputies.

Smoke had been spotted somewhere in the Smoky Mountains.

“Sylvie, would you please reach Theo over the radio?” Brook called out before she stood from the chair. Both she and Otto walked into the other room. “Make sure that everything is okay up where they are, please.”

“Is that satellite footage?” Otto asked as he walked closer to the portable monitor. He pointed toward a specific location. “Riggs told me last night that the cabin in question is here, so the smoke can’t be originating more than a half a mile from their location. Wait. Is this live footage?”

“Yes,” Bit replied after he’d flashed a smile at Otto. “Don’t worry, Sheriff. It’s on the up and up.”

“Brook, do you want Theo and Riggs to check it out?” Sylvie asked, holding the phone away from her mouth. “They can see the smoke from where they are, but the forensics team isn’t finished processing the scene.”

“You realize that the chances of that fire having anything to do with your case is almost nonexistent,” Otto said skeptically, and Brook agreed. It wasn’t worth the waste in manpower when the rangers would be sent to check it out and make sure the fire wasn’t about to spread. Rain wasn’t due in the area for a few more days, either. “It’s probably from a campfire that someone didn’t snuff out properly.”

“Otto’s right. I’d rather Theo and Riggs stay where they are,” Brook said as she monitored the small wisp of smoke begin to darken and thicken as it rose into the air. “The park rangers have a process for handling these types of situations, and if it was a structure versus a campsite, there’s nothing we’d be able to change about the situation now.”

“Speaking of rangers, wasn’t Erika supposed to be your point person?” Otto asked without taking his gaze off the screen.

“Dominic had an interview for his blog that got cancelled this morning. Since he had knowledge of where he and Theo left off yesterday, he accompanied Erika to finish searching the various shelters that were marked on an older map of the area,” Brook explained as she walked up behind Bit. One of his monitors seemed to be pulling pictures from some database. “Are those the photographs from Luna Breen’s phone?”

“Yeah.” Bit wiped his hand on a napkin. He’d been eating one of the stale donuts still in the box from yesterday. “I created a program to see if anyone else was caught in the lens. Little T is in touch with the cell phone providers that Carissa Norman and Helen Beckham used in hopes of them granting us access to their accounts. We’ve already requested warrants, but it could take a day or two. Since their belongings were never found, we’ll be limited to what was uploaded at the time.”

“Limited?” Otto asked as he joined Brook to watch the program scan a picture before moving onto the next. “Impressive. What software are you using?”

“Mine,” Bit replied with another smile.

Otto switched his focus to Brook, who nodded her confirmation.

“We keep him around for a reason,” Brook said as she patted Bit on the shoulder. She then moved away to where Sylvie was sitting on the bed, leaning back against a bunch of pillows. She’d just set the satellite phone down next to her on the comforter. “Are Erika and Dominic checking in on the hour?”

“Yes. I spoke to them right after the sheriff arrived,” Sylvie said as she stretched out both legs. She steadied her laptop with one hand. “I spoke with Luna Breen’s friend who was supposed to join her last weekend. Nothing stood out, but she’s going to need a lot of counseling after this. Let’s just say that she’s harboring a lot of survivor’s guilt.”

Otto was in the midst of asking Bit numerous questions about the applications that were open and operating in the background. Since the two of them seemed to be in their own world of tech jargon, Brook quietly broached a more sensitive subject with Sylvie.

“I received an interesting call around an hour ago,” Brook said gently as she took a seat on the edge of the mattress near the foot of the bed. She was about to bring up a topic that Sylvie avoided, but with good reason. “Your father needs to speak with you, Sylvie. He assured me that it has nothing to do with an appeal or him requesting anything else from you but a few minutes of your time.”

Sylvie was fair-skinned with golden blonde hair that she mostly always kept contained in a bun at the base of her neck. Her blue eyes darkened, and she pulled her legs up underneath her.

“I’m sorry that my dad bothered you with this, Brook.”

“It’s no bother,” Brook reassured her before extending the offer of personal leave. Doing so would clue Sylvie in on the seriousness of her father’s situation. “If you want to fly back to D.C. today, we can arrange accommodations for you to do so.”

“He’s dying.”

Brook didn’t confirm nor deny the statement.

She’d given her word to Nigel Deering that she would keep his diagnosis under wraps until he’d had a chance to speak with his daughter. It was obvious that he’d wanted to try and make some amends before he was no longer able to do so. Sylvie might not see it as such, but those close to a situation tended to have a skewed view of things.

“You need to speak with your father in person, Sylvie. I’ve already spoken to the warden, and he’s willing to waive visiting hours.” Brook could hear Otto and Bit’s conversation ending, so she stood from the bed. “Look, I’m the last one who should be giving family advice, but you don’t want to look back on this with regret.”

“You don’t believe in regrets.”

Sylvie wasn’t wrong, because Brook had come to the realization with the help of therapy that there shouldn’t be regret. At least in her situation. Every choice, every decision, and every consequence had molded her soul. There were stains of sin, but there were also marks of redemption.

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