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February 2023
Wednesday — 3:01pm
“Kate,thatwasagood catch on Dillon Buchert,” Brook said as she stood in the doorway of Bit’s workroom. While the numerous computers, monitors, and racks of other technical equipment kept the space relatively warm, it was nowhere near as comfortable as her own office. The first thing that she’d done upon returning to work was make sure that her space heater had been set on high. “I just got off the phone with Theo. Apparently, Dillon claims that he hasn’t spoken to Jenny in close to year. As you know, Dillon and Ian Capshaw were part of the same cycling group. We’ll still run a complete background check on him. Theo found it odd that Dillon didn’t mention it during their conversation.”
“You can thank Bit,” Kate replied from Bit’s chair. It was larger than the others with built-in back support. “These search programs that he put together are insane. Seriously, he’s somehow programmed about a dozen of them since Monday.”
“And if you happen to mention his name while you’re at the academy, I’ll see to it that you find out just how hard it is to graduate from the academy,” Brook warned, turning away at the sight of Kate’s eyes widening in disbelief. “I know people, Kate.”
Brook had called out her sentence loud enough to be heard, but she was far enough down the hallway that she allowed herself a small smile. It was always fun to ruffle Kate’s feathers, and Brook was going to miss the ability to do so. The office wouldn’t be the same without her, and Theo was going to have a hell of a time trying to replace her.
As Brook finally came upon her office with the cup of coffee that she’d just brewed in the state-of-the-art machine that could probably take over the world at some point, she cast a quick glance to her left. There was no sign of Martin Sinnett near the elevators. She also hadn’t heard from him since that first phone call. If he stood her up, she would just spend the rest of the afternoon looking over the data that Sylvie had been working to gather throughout the day.
After Brook had left the nursing home, she’d spotted the tech van in the adjacent parking lot. Had she not known what to look for, she never would have noticed the nondescript vehicle.
Bit would remain in place until around eight o’clock this evening, which was when the facility usually locked their doors for the night. Such initiative didn’t mean that family members or friends couldn’t stop by after that time, but they would then need to call ahead so that the staff was aware of such plans.
She crossed her office and took a seat before turning on her computer. While waiting for the screen to brighten and prompt her for a password, she took a sip of the freshly brewed coffee. She thought over the day’s events and the information that she’d been able to gather. While it might not have seemed all that important, she’d been able to ascertain a few key details. One of which was the reasoning behind how the unsub chose his victims.
The slightest movement near the elevators finally caught her attention.
Considering that S&E Investigations only shared the floor with one other firm, it was a safe bet that the man reading the sign in front of him was Martin Sinnett. His young appearance didn’t come as a shock to her. She’d met him once before, and she’d done her research on him. She had all the pertinent details of his profiling history. Most had been on point, but as with most profilers, he’d only gotten better with experience.
Was the reason behind the meeting his way of revisiting one of those earlier cases that still haunted him? She had a couple of those in her rearview mirror, but none more so than her brother’s profile.
Brook didn’t hesitate to reach for her tablet. While each office had the ability to let a guest inside the office, Bit had been easing them away from the hardwiring of the system. Each of the team members’ tablets had the software that contained the means to unlock the front door. Once she’d completed the task, she stood from her chair and walked around her desk to wait for him.
His brown hair had a slight wave to it in the front, and she figured such a characteristic gave him a lot of trouble in the mornings. He was clean shaven, his suit appeared to be well-pressed, and he was carrying a leather bag with a large buckle flapping on the front with each step that he took through the waiting area.
The way that his dark gaze zeroed in on her was with more interest than she was comfortable with, but she was used to suffering another person’s scrutiny. He might very well be intrigued by the reopening of a case that he’d worked on three years ago.
Martin finally came to a stop just inside her doorway.
“Brooklyn Walsh.”
There had never been a time in her life after Jacob that she wasn’t prepared for any eventuality. The fact that this man—basically, her peer—had the audacity to address her by a name that she had purposefully separated from herself so many years ago was an insult. He’d known it would be, yet he’d still chosen to start their meeting off in such a bold manner. A malicious one at that.
Martin Sinnett had clearly underestimated her.
“Mr. Sinnett, I appreciate you stopping by the office,” Brook replied as she switched holding her coffee cup with her left hand so that she could extend her right arm. “I hope it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience, especially given that we could have simply spoken on the phone.”
Brook suppressed her satisfaction at witnessing him falter before he took a step forward to shake her hand. He’d known of her association with the Bureau, but he would soon learn that she had more experience and possessed an instinct that he had never obtain at any point throughout his life. It wasn’t that she was being egotistical or that she viewed herself better than every other profiler within the profession. Quite to the contrary, because she’d had the privilege of meeting several profilers who had an innate talent for reading individuals.
Martin Sinnett wasn’t one of those people.
“Please, have a seat,” Brook said as she extended the offer before gesturing toward the couch against the far wall. “May I get you some coffee, water, soda?”
“No, thank you,” Martin replied as he set his leather bag in the opposite chair of the one that she’d made a step to claim. He’d already made the incorrect assumption that it would only be the two of them in the meeting, but she decided to let him believe such a notion for now. “I just finished up a late lunch with Agent Nelson. I believe you know her?”
“I know Ann quite well,” Brook replied smoothly, once again keeping her judgements to herself. “It was good to see her back in the field after being injured in the line of duty.”
Martin flashed Brook a smile as he leaned back against the couch. He monitored her closely as he remained silent, as if he wanted her to lead the discussion.
She simply met his gaze and sipped her coffee.
She had nowhere to be, and she had more patience than he could ever imagine. He was the one who’d wanted to meet to discuss his profile. She wasn’t sure what game he was playing, but it was becoming more obvious by the second that he’d simply wanted to meet her for the sole purpose of satisfying some morbid curiosity.
Once he realized that she wasn’t fazed by the awkward silence, he still attempted to continue on the previous subject of Special Agent Ann Nelson.
