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“No,” Theo replied tersely. “I’m outside the front entrance of the building. We need to drive over to Millie Gwinn’s apartment immediately. Her place was broken into last night, and the police are taking her statement now.”
“Let me grab my coat,” Brook said with a sigh of regret. So much for her morning routine. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
Chapter Four
Brooklyn Sloane
December 2022
Friday — 6:58am
Thefaintscentofpine hung in the air, but the pleasant aroma wasn’t from the tree itself. Instead, holiday candles had been strategically placed around the small, two-bedroom apartment. The level of the green wax in the glass jars indicated that the wicks were burned quite frequently. There was also garland strung over the mantel of an electric fireplace that hadn’t come with the apartment, and there were two red and white stockings attached to the laminate wood hearth.
Brook figured the Christmas decorations were more for show than use. Maybe an effort on Millie Gwinn’s part to replicate what she once knew as the spirit of Christmas.
Brook empathized with the woman’s desperate search for contentment.
Millie Gwinn might have decorated for the upcoming holiday, but her body language suggested she wasn’t in a merry mood. No one could really blame her, especially given that the doorjamb to her apartment had been shattered into small fragments of kindling that were still strewn across a close-knit area of the floor.
“Nothing was taken?” Officer Soerig of the Metro Police Department asked for the fourth time. Brook didn’t envy the woman her job. While a crime might have been committed, it would be impossible to charge someone with burglarizing Millie’s apartment when not one thing was missing. “You checked everything before you called us?”
“Nothing is missing, but this can’t be a coincidence,” Millie exclaimed in frustration as she wrapped her arms around her midsection. “I’m telling you, someone has been following me ever since I reported Dr. Kolsby’s drug-induced confession to the police…to you, Office Soerig.”
Brook winced when she realized that Millie’s plea had once again landed on deaf ears. Officer Soerig had been the initial officer to look into Millie’s original claim, and nothing had come from the cursory investigation. Brook had an official copy of the original MPD Incident/Offense Report (form PD-251) that Officer Soerig had filed in her purse.
The officer had technically done her due diligence. She hadn’t uncovered one shred of evidence to support Millie’s accusation that Dr. David Kolsby was anything other than a well-respected psychiatrist with a spotless reputation.
Before Officer Soerig could reply to Millie, her partner had leaned in and whispered something in private. The way his gaze had darted to Brook spoke to the obvious subject.
She and Theo had arrived moments after the two officers. No introductions had been made as of yet, but Brook figured that small oversight was about to be corrected.
Theo had taken advantage of the brief distraction to conduct a short exchange with Millie. Brook suspected that he was instructing the nurse to remain cautious in her bid to make unsubstantiated claims by connecting the home invasion to her story about the psychiatrist.
Millie Gwinn lived in the heart of D.C.
Break-ins were quite common in this area, and there was no substantive evidence that someone had been following Millie, let alone having any of it tying back to Dr. Kolsby.
Oddly enough, Millie was wearing the same blue nursing scrubs that she’d had on last night. Brook had noticed the stain on the front shirt from what appeared to be some type of beverage from the long, vertical shape.
From what Theo had explained on the drive over to Millie’s place, the nurse had stayed the night at her sister’s house in Fairfax. Upon arriving back home to shower and change for another shift at the hospital, she’d discovered the damaged door to her apartment.
Millie had not only dialed 911, but she’d wisely called Theo, who had given her his cell phone number last night. The team hadn’t had a chance to discuss whether or not they were officially taking the case, but their presence alone signified the likelihood of such an undertaking.
“Am I missing something here?” Officer Soerig asked warily as she clicked the end of her pen. She was wearing a thick jacket, a cuffed beanie, and an unofficial, non-department issued dark blue scarf that was tucked in behind the zipper. “Is it true? Are you Brooklyn Sloane?”
The fact that Officer Soerig had to ask such a question meant that she wasn’t one to put too much stock in reputations, tarnished or otherwise. That was actually an advantage for the team, because it meant that Soerig didn’t put bias before her duty to ascertain the facts.
“Yes,” Brook replied truthfully, knowing exactly how her presence would be interpreted by both officers. She set her purse down on the coffee table. “This is my colleague, Theo Neville. Ms. Gwinn reached out to us yesterday with her concerns for her personal safety. She provided us a copy of your PD-251 report regarding her allegations against Dr. Kolsby. You conducted a thorough investigation, and we can see why you closed out the initial complaint.”
“Yet here you are,” Officer Soerig stated with a mixture of curiosity and derision. “Something has clearly caught your attention.”
Officer Soerig wasn’t being rude for the sake of being rude. She was only wondering if she’d missed something pertinent to the case.
Brook understood that her presence meant the officer’s work ethic would most likely be put under a microscope by her immediate superiors at the precinct. Unfortunately, there was no good way to handle this situation. What was interesting was the officer’s tone.
“May we please speak in private?”
At first, Brook thought that Officer Soerig was going to decline. She’d even taken the time to slide the small notebook and pen into the interior pocket of her jacket. It was after her brief nod of concession that Brook realized she’d made the right assumption about the officer. She led the way past Theo, Millie, and the other officer toward a small kitchen.
