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“Any truth to Abe’s claim that Travis might have pushed his mother down a flight of stairs, though? I’d hate to think that he got away with murdering his own mother.”
“The coroner ruled out any foul play. The woman’s fatal injuries were consistent with an accidental fall down a flight of steps. As for why we are certain that Butane had nothing to do with the initial investigation three years ago, he was in prison.”
Bit had remained conspicuously quiet while Sylvie finished her explanation.
Brook had purposefully not addressed him in front of the others. Bit’s past with a Russian crime syndicate was no one else’s business. If he chose to speak with Sylvie and Theo outside of the office regarding the subject, that was his prerogative. Brook understood all too well what it was like to be under the microscope by her peers.
“That leaves us with Cody Jennings, Jim Risner, and Noah Clark.” Brook finally turned her focus to Bit, who was no longer snacking on Skittles. Instead, it was obvious from the slight movement in his knitted hat that he was jostling his knee up and down at a rapid pace. Should Ann ever manage to get him alone, his nervous ticks alone would send glee throughout the woman’s body. “Bit, did anything come up in Levi Kittle’s online presence? I read through his background report. He fits the profile, even being raised by his grandmother. He also drives a truck.”
“Beau Willow was telling the truth when he said that he and Levi reconnected in AA. I have text messages over the last year that confirm it. Legally, of course,” Bit replied, finally taking her lead. She had no doubt that he would be calling her within five minutes of their meeting coming to a close. “Speaking of his truck, I manually entered his name into the program to see if I could get a hit. Nothing. He hasn’t had his windshield replaced by any shop in the city or the surrounding areas.”
“That doesn’t mean Kittle didn’t pay cash,” Theo theorized as he focused on the monitor. “Brook, if you’re going to drive to the nursing facility this morning, I can take Kittle’s photograph and make the rounds to some local shops.”
“Bit’s programs have been garnering a lot of information, so I’ll hang back here to sort through the data.” Sylvie took a sip of her tea before posing a question. “Bit, has Jim Risner shown up at the facility this morning?”
“Nope.”
“What are you thinking, Sylvie?” Brook asked after she noticed Sylvie tapping the teacup with her index finger.
“I just find it odd that Jenny Capshaw was a dental hygienist, and Risner has had several appointments with his dentist in the past few weeks.”
“Different dental offices,” Bit replied without hesitation, though he had yet to regain full color back into his face.
“Same building?” Brook inquired as she reached for her coffee mug. She’d polished off her large caramel macchiato long ago. “Same area?”
“Across the street from one another,” Bit replied with a frown. “I confirmed that he was there for dental work, as well as the length of the drive back to the nursing home. The appointments were also after Jenny Capshaw was abducted, Little T.”
No one had to say aloud that having Bit monitor the foot traffic of the nursing home might not have been the best allocation of resources. Still, Bit had been able to do most of his work inside the van. Not having Kate on site to monitor some of the programs slowed down the process, but the delay hadn’t been anything that he couldn’t handle.
“Have there been any abductions recently that could correlate to our case?” Brook asked before shutting down her tablet. She had some phone calls to make before she was able to leave the office.
“No, although there was an attempted abduction of a jogger earlier this morning,” Theo responded as he pushed back his chair after collecting his protein shake and tablet. “I left a message for the officer who responded to the call, and I’m hoping to hear from him later today.”
“Okay.” Brook stood, basically calling an end to the meeting now that everyone had their schedules confirmed. “Keep us posted, Theo. Sylvie, I know you have a lot on your plate, but would you take another look at Levi Kittle’s background report? See if anything stands out to you.”
Before too long, everyone went their separate ways. Bit had quietly logged off, and it didn’t take him more than three minutes to reach out to Brook. She alleviated his fears, listened to him as he swore that he hadn’t been in contact with anyone from his old way of life, and then once again warned him not to answer any calls or speak to any federal agent without representation. If they went so far as to pick him up off the street, the only word he was allowed to say to them waslawyer.
“Hey,” Sylvie said as she walked into Brook’s office. A strand of her blonde hair had fallen from her bun and framed her face. Her black-rimmed glasses had also slipped from the bridge of her nose. Those two tells displayed how much information she’d already sorted through this morning. “You’ve asked about Levi Kittle every day since last week. What is it about him that sets you on edge?”
“Something is off with him,” Brook divulged as she leaned back in her chair. “I understand how important a sponsor is to a recovering addict, but Kittle always seems to be hovering nearby when I question Beau Willow. I’d really like for you take another look at the timeline of their friendship. It just seems so…convenient.”
Sylvie was prevented from commenting when Brook’s phone rang. She motioned that Brook should take the call and that they would talk later. Sylvie then walked out of the office to give Brook some privacy.
“Sloane.”
“Brook?”
“Abe?” Brook leaned forward in concern. He sounded a bit breathless. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” Abe replied with what could only be described as stark fear. “No, it’s not. I can’t get ahold of my daughter. I think she’s missing, Brook. My daughter is missing.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brooklyn Sloane
February 2023
Wednesday — 6:32pm
