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“I hope a grilled cheese sandwich is okay,” Agent Harden replied with a smile as he set a tray containing two plates on the table. She hadn’t realized so much time had passed by since he’d entered the building. Unfortunately, she still hadn’t wrapped her head around his proposal. “I haven’t had one of these in ages.”
Brook had little appetite at the moment, but that didn’t stop her from taking the plate and placing it in front of her. A shadow slowly began to envelop the table. Normally, the trees provided a canopy of solace and shade, but the lack of sun simply reminded her of his earlier comparison. She took her time unwrapping the napkin from the silverware, giving him the opening to initiate the next phase of the conversation.
“You aren’t going to take the bait, are you?” Agent Harden had waited to speak until after he’d taken a bite of his sandwich. He then wiped the corners of his mouth before getting to the point of his visit. “I want you to come work for me as a consultant. In D.C., of course.”
“You and I both know that I would never pass the background check.”
“You would if only a handful of people had access to it, but that’s here nor there.” Agent Harden took another bite of his sandwich, even closing his eyes as he enjoyed the taste of the warm melted cheese. “Not as good as my wife’s grilled cheese sandwich, but damn close.”
“Agent Harden, I have not been in contact with my brother.” Brook couldn’t fathom any other reason that a federal agent would pay her a visit other than Jacob. She had no time for games, but Agent Harden didn’t seem to understand or want to accept her role—more like lack of role—in her brother’s life. “I can’t help you with your investigation.”
“If your brother was the reason for this visit, you most certainly would be able to contribute to the investigation. You’re his sister, Miss Sloane. You’re also the target of his obsession,” Agent Harden said as he leaned back in his chair. He’d already polished off half his sandwich. “I’m not a betting man, but I would wager that you’ve profiled him better than anyone in our behavioral analysis unit. Hell, you spent ten minutes profiling me before I joined you at this table. Am I wrong?”
Brook wasn’t getting the sense that Agent Harden was trying to play her. She still couldn’t get a solid read on him, and that frustrated her. He hadn’t come right out and accused her of hunting Jacob, yet she got the sense that he wasn’t obtuse to the reality of her situation.
Jacob had brutally murdered two of her best friends. He’d not only taken the lives of Sally Pearson and Cara Jordan—two young women who had their entire lives ahead of them—but he’d stolen Brook’s childhood. She would never get back those precious memories of family.
Trust had become nonexistent.
Every waking thought she had was about bringing Jacob’s reign of terror to an end. Her brother’s promise about her not being the normal one had not fallen on deaf ears, but for a very different reason.
Normal had never been an option.
She’d known it then, and she knew it now.
Only Brook had made herself a promise, and one that she intended to keep—she would never be a bystander in her own life.
“Why a job offer?” Brook asked, not willing to remain silent any longer. “Why not just ask me for the profile that I drafted on Jacob?”
“I don’t want your brother’s profile. I want you.” Agent Harden let his gaze scan the campus before reaching for the other half of his sandwich. A large group of students had spread blankets on the grass to study, but they were far enough away not to be a hindrance. “Your talents are wasted here, Miss Sloane. You would be a great asset to the Bureau. Your personal experience can help attain justice for others. The same justice that has escaped you.”
“And you are basing this off of one profile?” Brook asked skeptically, still reserving judgment on the reasons behind such a job offer. “I find that hard to believe, Agent Harden.”
Without a word, the federal agent pushed the manila folder across the table with his left hand. She wasn’t sure what was inside, and she was hesitant to find out.
“Tell me what you take away from that photograph.”
Brook came very close to denying Agent Harden’s request, but something stopped her. She wouldn’t be opposed to a quid pro quo. Such a meaningful position might afford her the ability to make connections that someone in academics couldn’t, even someone who taught psychology and criminal justice courses.
She shifted her plate to the left, picking up the folder before leaning back in her chair. Using her thumb, she pulled back the top layer and was greeted by a single crime scene photo.
True to his word, the photograph had nothing to do with her brother.
Brook lifted her gaze and accepted that she was being given another test, but only because she was about to flip the script. She needed Agent Harden to understand that she would never stop looking for her brother.
“I will use whatever and whoever is at my disposal to locate him.”
Brook didn’t need to clarify her statement.
Both of them understood that she’d been referring to Jacob. Agent Harden wasn’t dense, and it was more than likely that he expected nothing less. Technically, he would win either way, not that she believed she was the be-all and end-all of profilers. She wasn’t even in that field, and she certainly had no idea how the inner workings of the Bureau were carried out on a day-to-day basis.
Agent Harden continued to enjoy his sandwich, purposefully denying her a response. Given that he could have called a halt to their discussion right then and there, she willingly dropped her gaze to the body of a young woman in what looked to be her bedroom. From the discoloration around the victim’s neck, she had been strangled by someone using their bare hands. The victim couldn’t have been more than sixteen years old, which was confirmed by the posters on the walls. Brook meticulously analyzed the photograph before giving her opinion on the suspect.
“The manner in which the victim was strangled indicates a crime of passion. Spontaneous, not planned. The killer didn’t use an impersonal method like a firearm. He employed a more intimate approach, suggesting a strong emotional connection to the victim. The suspect—”
“Unsub.”
“Unsub,” Brook reiterated with a slight nod, conceding to the verbiage used inside the Bureau. She utilized a lot of terms employed by law enforcement within her lectures, so she was well aware that “unsub” stood for unknown subject. “The unsub had no intention of killing the victim, and the broken picture frame points to a confrontation between the two. It’s rather difficult to see in this photo, but I’m guessing that the two people smiling at the camera were of the victim and her boyfriend. It’s possible that the unsub was in a fit of jealousy, anger, or even rage that escalated to violence when the victim spurned the unsub’s advances.”
