Page 40 of Haunted By Sin

Brook’s phone chimed from the coffee table.

“I’m turning sixty-eight this year, Brook,” Arden reminded her in a stern voice, though there was humor shimmering in his dark eyes. He must have been holding the kitten for a while, because there was white fur attached to his brown cardigan sweater. “I’d like to stick around for a while.”

“Arden, I have a feeling you’ll be around long after me.” Brook retrieved her phone. Reading the name on the display, she began to walk toward the kitchen. “You two go crazy over the office mascot while I take this call. Oh, and Arden? You might want to invest in a lint roller.”

Brook swiped the screen of her phone to accept the call.

“Sloane,” Brook announced as she entered the kitchen.

“It’s Dever. Do you have a minute?”

Brook could hear the gravity in the federal agent’s voice. The brusque tone had her setting her coffee mug on the counter. If he was going to tell her that the search for Stella Bennett’s remains turned up nothing, Brook was going to need some fresh air.

“Yes.”

Though the forecast had promised an overcast sky, the sun was currently bathing the wooden planks in warmth. Not even the heat from the golden rays could chase away the cold that settled in her bones. Seeing as it would be near impossible to sit while listening to the results of the search, she crossed the deck to stand at the railing.

“We found the remains of a young girl.”

Brook wrapped her left hand around the weathered wood, needing something to hold onto that would anchor her for the rest of the conversation. She usually spun the outer band of her worry ring when needing some semblance of comfort, but she was afraid that she would drop her phone.

“Stella Bennett?”

“We won’t know for sure until we are able to transport the remains to the lab, but I’m being told the bones belong to a young female between the ages of ten and twelve.” Dever paused, allowing Brook the needed time to gather her thoughts. She wasn’t the type of woman who wished upon a shooting star or had faith in something she couldn’t see with her own eyes…but this moment made her want to be that woman. “Even though the camp has been closed for over a decade, most of the buildings are still standing. We discovered the remains under the wooden planks of the cabin you advised where your brother stayed with a group of other boys.”

“Far left corner?” Brook managed to ask while her pulse throbbed in her temples. “Underneath a bed?”

“From the marks on the floor, yes. The furniture was moved out of this place long ago.” Dever must have pulled the phone away from his face, because his words became muffled and weren’t directed at her. She was grateful for the reprieve to remind herself to breathe. “First impressions are that the body was wrapped in plastic. Sealed tight. It would explain why no odor was detected in the weeks following her death.”

Brook’s brother had only been eleven years old when Stella Bennett had officially been reported missing by her uncle. In the long hours that the campers were attempting to locate a lost boy from camp, Jacob had found the time to brutally commit his first murder. Given his high IQ, it wasn’t shocking that he would know how to hide a body while disguising the odor at such a young age.

Something in Jacob’s mind hadn’t snapped that day. Plastic? Enough to seal the body of a young girl? The materials and hiding spot proved premeditation.

“I’ll hold off notifying Special Agent Houser until we are given a positive ID. Still, given everything that we know right now? I think it’s safe to say Jacob Walsh will stand trial and receive the death penalty.”

“Thank you, Rick.”

Such formalities of gratitude were inadequate, but that was all she had at the moment. She disconnected the call, but she didn’t move from the railing. Remaining in place, she slowly raised her face to bask in the warmth of the sun.

Had this moment arrived three years ago, Brook wasn’t sure what her reaction would have been to the news. She had been so isolated back then. Her entire existence had revolved around her brother.

In a way, Jacob was the one responsible for the changes in her life. His obsessive need to check in on her from time to time had prompted her to break the consulting agreement she had with the Bureau. And when Graham had made her an offer that she couldn’t refuse…it had been like taking her first breath after being suffocated for so long.

Brook brought her head forward so that she could access her phone.

The line trilled, but only once.

His deep voice caressed her ear and brought a smile to her face.

“They found her, Graham. They discovered Stella Bennett’s remains.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sylvie Deering

May 2024

Monday — 10:49 am