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“My harness,” Brook repeated as she turned her hand over. She placed her thumb on the outer ring and turned the intricate silver pattern in a circle. The motion instantly gave her a sense of calm. “Graham, thank you.”
“See?” Graham flashed her a smile. “Gift exchanges can be good.”
He then took his own present and tore the paper off faster than she’d anticipated, his quick movements causing her to go still. He didn’t say a word as he stared down at the framed napkin, which she’d placed in a black frame to match the décor of his new office. Considering that Kelsey had put her initials in the bottom righthand corner, the drawing couldn’t be mistaken as belonging to another artist.
Graham cleared his throat.
He’d been wrong.
Gift exchanges weren’t always good, and she’d clearly overstepped her bounds.
Her gaze swung to the open door of her office when Theo’s voice wasn’t as muffled as before. He was talking to Sylvie and the others as they vacated the new common area near the kitchen. It would be mere seconds before they were back in the foyer and enjoying another round of drinks.
“I take back what I said earlier.” Graham rubbed his thumb over the edge of the frame, his voice thick with emotion. “You are really good at giving presents.”
Graham pushed off the desk and held the frame close as he met her gaze.
“Thank you, Brooklyn.”
He was already halfway across her office before Theo came into sight, quickly followed by Sylvie, Bit, and Kate. They were all laughing and talking as they included Graham in on the conversation. He told them that he’d only be a minute, disappearing into the office next to hers.
“Brook, are you joining us?” Theo called out as he picked up his bottle of beer. “We have a few ideas about this New Year get-together that we’re going to have with the other firms.”
“Coming,” Brook called out before glancing down at her ring.
Her worry ring.
Her harness.
Was it wrong of her to think that a ring was safer than a fruitcake?
“What a hell of a year.”
Brook had whispered those words to herself as she shook off an emotion that she wasn’t quite sure she recognized anymore. Picking up her wineglass, she took a healthy drink to process her thoughts. She’d only taken a few steps when she heard the chime of her cellphone. She came close to letting the call go to her voicemail, but she decided against it at the last second. Raines was still dealing with a few loose ends, and she didn’t want to be the one responsible for holding up the case being handed over to the prosecutor.
“Sloane.”
“Brook? This is Scott. Scotty Nevin.”
She would have recognized his voice anywhere.
“Scotty, I didn’t expect for you to call,” Brook said as she carefully set her wineglass back down on her desk. She made sure that her back was facing the windowpane, not wanting the others to see her reaction. “I know we’ve been over this already. You could have simply emailed me back.”
Brook couldn’t help but visualize Scotty’s shaggy, black hair and crooked grin. He’d been the outgoing one of the group, and the one who always led the boys into trouble.
At least, he was until Jacob had cut ties with the others.
“Your question was a bit different this time, Brook,” Scotty said from a place that had to be surrounded by water. She could swear she’d picked up the sound of seagulls in the background. “I mean, my answer is the same, but your inquiry reminded me of when George got lost in the woods. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, I do.” Brook wanted to smile at the memory of George Rickers taking the wrong path to the waterfall one morning, but something in Scotty’s voice struck a chord. Everyone had banded together into small groups to search for him. They had located him in under four hours, though. “George was fine. Embarrassed, if I recall, but physically fine. The camp counselors didn’t even inform his parents. It was a non-issue, Scotty.”
“You asked me years ago if I could recall anything that happened to Jacob during those years, and I said no. I stick by my answer, but your email asked if anything happened thatdidn’tinclude Jacob. That would be George.”
“I don’t understand,” Brook said quietly as she rounded her desk and slowly sat down in her chair. Graham had joined the others, though every now and then one of them would glance her way to see what the holdup was that prevented her from joining them. When she looked back down at her hand, she caught herself subconsciously spinning her worry ring. Something told her that she was going to need her newfound harness for the rest of this call. “Scotty, why would George taking a wrong path to a waterfall have anything to do with Jacob?”
“We were all assigned search groups. You were with the younger kids, so you might not remember. Jacob was supposed to be with me and Daryl, but he said that he had to go back to the cabin for something. He told us that he’d catch up.”
Another cry of a seagull cut through the line. The sound was quite ominous in contrast to the Christmas lights blinking on the tree in the corner of the foyer.
