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General Graham Elliott hadn't seemed like a sports fanatic at first, but there had been a signed football displayed in a clear case on one of the shelves. Jacob should have taken a better look at the collector's item, but he'd been too impressed with the man's personal library. The reason for Elliott going into business with his sister had been obvious, but Jacob hadn't liked how the man had simply thrown her a life preserver.
Did she think going into business with someone such as Elliott took her up a notch in life?
Truthfully, the news that had been leaked to the media couldn't have come at a better time. Sure, it made his job of reminding her of who she was a bit harder, but he didn't mind obstacles. He'd had them all his life, and this time was no different.
"...means nothing to me. I can't change the family that I was born into, but I can carve out my own life, and that is what I've done."
Brook's melodious voice was like warm molasses being poured over his entire body.
Oh, how he'd missed the sound of her voice.
Her words, however, had him tightening his fingers on the glass in a white-knuckles grip. He'd known about her interview. How could he not, given all the coverage? Still, it wasn't like she would spill their secrets.
"Colin, is that the neighbor you were talking about the other day? Fuck, man. I'd tap that."
Colin Vogel walked up to the bar with a half empty glass of beer. He preferred draft beer, and he came into the bar every Wednesday and Thursday evenings with his colleagues. Jacob had spent a good week a while back dropping subtle hints about the condo being available in Brook's building, and how the management would have to give a discount after what had happened to the older woman who used to live there. Considering that the courthouse wasn't too far from the building, Colin had eventually made some inquiries that proved fruitful.
"She's a nice woman," Colin replied rather defensively as he leaned his elbow on the wooden surface of the bar. "Nothing like I would have imagined her to be with having a brother like that."
"...sound proud of your accomplishments," the reporter said as she clearly became ready to change topics.
"I am," Brook replied, her hands resting comfortably on her lap. Too comfortably, and her composure irritated Jacob to no end. "I've taken my personal experience and used it to help others. That is part of the reason why S&E Investigations, Inc. was established, and I will do everything in my power to help the victims' families obtain the closure that my parents and the families hurt never received after Jacob fled law enforcement."
The two women were seated in what looked to be comfortable chairs with a table in between them to hold two glasses of water. It was for show, of course. Both glasses were full, and neither one of them seemed to have been touched since the start of the interview.
"Do you keep in contact with the families from your hometown?"
"No, I do not," Brook replied with what sounded like regret. "I can only imagine hearing from me would bring back memories they would rather forget. I wouldn't want to cause them more pain than they have already experienced by..."
Pain?
He'd done those families a favor.
They weren't perfect then, and they were nowhere close to being perfect now.
People had to accept flaws within themselves, others, and their surroundings to truly appreciate the life they were given.
If not?
Then it was his responsibility to make certain they no longer wasted space for someone else.
"Larry, can you get us another round?" Colin requested, his eyes glued to the television screen.
Jacob had been monitoring the man's reaction while trying to stem his own to Brook's interview. It was evident that her new neighbor had taken an interest, and that was exactly what Jacob had counted on after spending so much time working an angle that might or might not come to fruition. It might be time to leave for a while. Now that the surveillance seemed to have been pulled from Brook's building, it wasn't as thrilling for him to continually walk by to see if the feds would notice him in broad daylight.
The challenge was gone, and he'd used the time to his advantage by planting someone who was malleable for future visits.
"How are you doing tonight, Silas?" Colin asked as he glanced toward Jacob.
"Good, good," Jacob replied, laying on his accent a little thick. He'd listened to Colin speak for days before deciding on an angle to give them something in common. While it was evident that Colin had been in the States for many, many years, there was still a hint of his childhood home near London. "How is the condo working out for you?"
"It's perfect. The view of the city is breathtaking, and my morning commute is half of what it was when I was living on the Northeast side of D.C. Not to mention safer."
"I have no idea how you can live in a place where that old woman was murdered," Colin's friend muttered as he gathered the three bottles of beer that Larry had set down on the table. "Gives me the fucking creeps."
Colin shrugged as he downed the remaining contents of his glass before exchanging it out for the new draft beer that Larry had set in front of him.
"What can I say? The price was right, and I got it locked in for the next two years of my lease." Colin lifted his glass in salute. "I owe Silas here for the suggestion, too."
