Page 197 of Chameleon Killer

“Tragic design flaw.”

The callback landed softly between us. Something inside me loosened. Only a little.

Across the hall, Brewster's supervisor stepped closer to him. Their voices remained too low to hear.

But one phrase carried when someone opened a door farther down the corridor.

“—too personally involved⁠—”

The door shut again.

Silence.

I looked at Flint.

He'd heard it too.

Alisha had too, judging by the way she slowly closed her legal pad.

Brewster's response didn't carry.

His supervisor's did. “This isn't about her protection anymore.”

My stomach tightened. Flint went absolutely still.

Brewster looked through the glass again.

At me.

Then at Flint beside me.

The supervisor said something else and held out one hand.

Brewster didn't move.

Not immediately.

Then his fingers went to the credential case clipped at his belt.

He removed it.

For the first time since I'd met Elliot Brewster, I watched someone else take control away from him.

He didn't wear it well.

The supervisor accepted the credentials.

Brewster's gaze never left mine.

Whatever happened next, questioning clearly wasn't over.

But something fundamental had changed.

The FBI profiler who had spent months telling everyone else how dangerous obsession could become was standing on the far side of the glass while his own supervisors quietly removed him from the board.

And I couldn't stop wondering what Simon already knew and how it was all going to play out.

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