Agent Houser hadn’t had any luck in locating Jacob, though that wasn’t a surprise. He and his team were all chasing a suspect much smarter than them and one who had the advantage of picking the time, place, and method of any next step that he might make. They would not be able to apprehend him unless he made a rare mistake or they got incredibly lucky.
Graham had even called a few times to check in on her. He hadn’t mentioned his mother, and Brook had gotten the sense that he had no idea about his mother’s request. Brook decided to keep it to herself for now, because she still wasn’t sure how she was going to handle the situation.
Granted, Elizabeth expected an answer by tomorrow night.
Hell, maybe Brookshouldhave discussed the offer with Graham.
Theo cleared his throat, alerting Brook to the fact that she’d stopped talking mid-way through the details of the case. Clearly, she was still off her game.
“Over a month ago, Jenny Capshaw was abducted from the coffee shop a block down from here,” Brook proceeded after she’d found her place in her notes. “Like clockwork, the victim’s bloody handprint was discovered roughly two weeks after her abduction. Sylvie, I’ll let you take it from there.”
“Once it was uncovered that the nursing facility was at the heart of the investigation, we focused on finding additional connections other than the two victims from three years ago.” Sylvie picked up the remote again, turning her attention to the monitor. Bit flashed them all a smile as he popped a Skittle into his mouth. “I’ve categorized the interested parties, and you’ll see why in a moment. First up, Jack Ridgeway. He took his own life after an arrest warrant was issued for the murder of at least two patients, though the detective does believe there might have been more victims from earlier in his nursing career. For obvious reasons, he’s not our unsub.”
Sylvie didn’t have to add that there could still be a connection to Ridgeway.
“Jarod Miller.” Sylvie highlighted the man’s name on the display. “I met him the day that I spoke with Sydney Reeves, who was Grace Willow’s best friend. Miller exhibited possessive behavior toward Sidney. So much so that his demeanor had me conducting a background check on him. I won’t bore you with the details, but he doesn’t fit the base criteria of the profile.”
Brook had perused the details of Jarod Miller’s background report, and Sylvie had been right to exclude him as a potential suspect. He was raised by his father and mother in a suburb of Virginia, and none of his extended family had been residents in nursing homes.
“Dylan Fournette. He is the grandson of Norman Maple. While he does meet specific points listed in the profile, he couldn’t have abducted two of the victims from three years ago. He was out of the country at the time.” Sylvie then highlighted another name. “Dillon Buchert. Son of Leonard Bucher, a retired employee of the nursing facility. Although it was found that he had several connections to Jenny Capshaw, he has also been ruled out due to confirmed alibis from three years ago.”
Brook’s cell phone chimed, but a quick glance revealed that it wasn’t Graham or Agent Houser. Unfortunately, it was Special Agent Ann Nelson.
“Theo, when did you last speak with Ann?”
“Yesterday. I gave her an update on where we were in the case, and then she said that she would touch base with us next week. Why?”
Brook debated on whether or not to let the call go to voicemail, but she also didn’t want anything to languish in the investigation due to her personal dislike for the woman. She motioned to Theo that everything was fine and proceeded to take the call.
“Sloane.”
“I have intel that suggests one of your employees ran in some questionable circles before joining your firm. I wanted you to know that I will be reaching out to Bobby Nowacki later today. I thought you should have fair warning before I did so, especially considering that we’re working in tandem on the Capshaw investigation.”
Brook stood and motioned to the team that she needed a moment.
Once she’d exited the conference and made her way to her office, she made sure that her door was closed before responding to the request.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you want to speak with Bobby Nowacki, you can reach out to S&E Investigations’ legal counsel. He has nothing to say to you nor any other representative of the FBI.” Brook had purposefully referred to Bit by his full name. Ann had to know that he went by a nickname, but she was attempting to make this an official request. Brook wouldn’t have it, and she would do what was necessary to protect those under her care. “Is that all you needed, Ann?”
“Seriously? Brook, you need to put your personal issues with me aside. All I want to do is see if Nowacki can give us information on a few key players in an ongoing investigation. As you know, we’re seeing some movement in an organized crime syndicate. Any details that he could provide us with will—“
“If Bobby Nowacki had any information to provide regarding that issue, he would have already done so. I’m sure that you’ve already noticed he had his own background check upon being employed by my firm. Should you not be content with that information, you’re more than welcome to reach out to our legal counsel. He will, of course, avail himself of the 5thAmendment protections granted to him under the Constitution in all matters. He will also only answer written questions submitted to our counsel, and only then if required to do so by subpoena.“ Brook turned the outer band of her worry ring in a full circle. Her denial of Ann’s request was sure to ruffle some feathers, but Brook wouldn’t allow Bit to be fed on by wolves. “In the meantime, I need to get back to our morning debriefing regarding our current investigation. From my understanding, Theo gave you an update yesterday. Should anything change in the near future, he will be in touch. Have a good day, Ann.”
Brook lowered her cell phone and disconnected the call. She walked around her desk, logged onto her computer, and quickly accessed her email. She composed a brief and concise message to the firm’s legal counsel before doing the same to a woman by the name of Vivian Lourdes. She was Graham’s attorney, highly reputable, and also known to be cutthroat. The two firms could work together, with Ms. Lourdes taking point.
By the time that Brook had returned to the conference room, she could sense that several reasons had been bounced around the members of the team as to why she’d taken Ann’s call in private. She took a seat, used her phone to send Bit a private message that he was not to answer any calls or speak to anyone from the FBI under any circumstances. He was also to advise anyone who contacted him to speak to the firm’s legal counsel.
Brook set down her phone and purposefully addressed Theo and Sylvie so that they were distracted from Bit reading her message. The last thing that this investigation needed right now were more interruptions.
“Where were we? If I’m not mistaken, we’ve crossed off Miller, Fournette, and Buchert.”
Theo narrowed his left eye, but he didn’t call Brook out on shelving her phone conversation with Ann for another time. He graciously took her lead.
“Louis Kolshack’s nephew—Travis Butane. Brook, you wanted him crossed off the list after speaking with Abe. Well, you can definitely eliminate him out of the pool of suspects.”