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“I don’t think it had anything to do with whoever was stalking Grace, but she found a twenty dollar bill the morning of her disappearance,” Sidney revealed with a small, hollow laugh. “Grace and Beau had been parking on the street in front of their house at the time, because she was using the garage to refurnish a dining room table. Since they only owned a one-car garage, Beau moved the lawnmower and other items of larger size into the driveway under a tarp while she worked on the furniture. Anyway, she walked out to the car and found a twenty-dollar bill tucked into the windshield. She texted me that it was her lucky day. That was last time that we ever heard from her.”
Sidney pressed the back of her hand to her lips as she fought for composure.
“I’m sorry,” Sylvie murmured, believing that she’d gotten everything that Sidney could recall from back then. “I know our conversation has probably stirred up memories of grief that you’d rather keep buried, but any bit of information helps our case. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Sidney.”
Sidney once again cleared her throat as she stood from her chair. It didn’t take Sylvie long to slip her arms into the sleeves of her dress coat. She didn’t worry about adjusting the scarf, because she could do that out front where she would take her time collecting Jarod’s business card.
“You don’t think that the twenty-dollar bill was left by the guy who did this, do you?”
By the time that Sidney had posed her question, the two of them had already left the breakroom. The gazes of practically every stylist and customer were focused on them, but that didn’t stop Sidney from holding her head up high. She’d already been through the worst of the situation by losing her best friend. She wouldn’t allow some idle curiosity to get the best of her.
“I honestly don’t know,” Sylvie replied truthfully. She set her purse down on the counter next to the business cards. Nikki was staring at Sidney with concern, much like all her other colleagues. Jarod was already closing the distance from where he’d been standing next to Sidney’s station. “As I said before, every detail helps. If you can recall anything else, please give me a call.”
Sylvie had taken note over the past year of how Brook conducted field interviews, and the woman always had a spare business card tucked into the pocket of her dress coat. If the weather wasn’t conducive, she’d then slip the business card into the sleeve that she’d recently stuck to the back of her cell phone.
“I will,” Sidney promised right as Jarod came up to stand next to them. “And please call me if there are any updates. I try to keep in touch with Beau, but I think hearing from me is too hard for him.”
“Of course,” Sylvie said as she reached into her purse to pull out her gloves and earmuffs. She glanced at the business cards lined up on the left side of the counter. “Do you mind if I take a few with me? I’ll pass them out at my office.”
“Please,” Sidney said with the first real smile since Sylvie had met her. “The majority of our clients are generated by word of mouth.”
“Sid, I prepped the dye for your client. She’s…”
Sylvie made it seem that she was randomly choosing cards as Jarod and Sidney made their way over to her station. An incoming phone call had garnered Nikki’s attention. Now that no one was monitoring her movements, Sylvie made sure that Jarod’s business card was amongst the few that she’d snagged from the small black holders.
Jarod Miller.
Sylvie gave a silent wave after she’d tucked the cards into her purse. She readjusted her earmuffs as she pushed open the door with her shoulder. By the time that she was outside on the sidewalk, she’d tucked her leather gloves underneath her right arm so that she could pull out her phone.
After a quick text to Bit to run an extensive background check on Jarod Miller, she thought over her conversation with Sidney. The carved pumpkin had been thrown out, but had the jack-o-lantern been nothing more than a prank by the new kids in the neighborhood? It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out if the family was still living in the same house. Grace’s husband had since moved to an apartment in the city, and Theo was meeting him within the hour.
What could hurt to check out Grace and Beau Willow’s old neighborhood?
After all, kids picked up more from their surroundings than people gave them credit for.
Chapter Twelve
Brooklyn Sloane
February 2023
Tuesday — 12:14pm
Accordingtothemeteorologist,the overcast sky wasn’t supposed to produce any measure of snow. Unfortunately, the bitter cold temperatures were to remain in the area for the rest of the week. Brook turned off the engine of her Volvo S90 and grimaced when the heat from the vents ceased to blow onto her face.
The warm air had instantly been replaced with a frigid caress that had her muscles tensing and teeth seconds away from a good chatter. She could have been back in her warm office, combing through Sinnett’s profile to discover what it was that she was missing.
Why else would the profiler want to speak with her in person?
Sinnett’s phone call had been unexpected, especially given the fact that Theo had been the one to request a call back. She’d agreed to meet with the profiler tomorrow afternoon at three o’clock. It wouldn’t have been in the best interest of the case to ignore his offer.
Needing something more productive than to sit at her desk and guess at the man’s motives, she’d updated Theo before impulsively deciding to drive out to the nursing home that connected two of the victims. Considering that Agent Parker had dismissed the link, she wasn’t expecting to find much. This side trip was more for her sanity than anything else.
Knowing that Jacob was back in the city before finishing what he’d set out to do with Sarah Evanston had her on edge. She didn’t believe for one moment that he would give up his quest to end the woman’s life so easily. He had the patience, the means, and the will to see through his pursuit.
Why the diversion?
Brook was usually so assured and levelheaded when it came to hunting her brother. He’d been in the city most of last year, and she’d purposefully kept her routine the same in hopes that he would show himself.
