Page 62 of Whispers of Sin
Graham leveled her a stare.
“You have a nephew, Brooklyn.”
“And he’s better off not knowing about the Walsh family, isn’t he?” Brook had thought long and hard about confronting Mrs. Cary, but it was more out of needing to know about the woman’s interactions with Jacob. “What was it about Wren Cary that had Jacob breaking his own rules?”
“What if he didn’t break his own rules?” Graham threw out as he casually glanced at an elderly couple entering the cafeteria. “Jacob might be a psychopath, sociopath, or whatever label one might give him, but heismade of flesh and blood. He has needs just like every other human being.”
Brook didn’t bother to mask the disgust at such a thought. For a woman to be touched by him after the damage and carnage that he’d wrought on another was utterly revolting. Wren Cary had to know the identity of her son’s biological father by now. She would have been shown his photograph. She probably knew before being told that Jacob was a living donor match, because she would have seen Jacob’s face plastered all over the news the day that he’d waltzed into FBI headquarters to turn himself in.
Wren Cary entered the cafeteria.
Normally, the senator’s wife embodied elegance and sophistication. She had a penchant for modern dresses that accentuated her slender figure. She’d forgone her usual attire for a pair of jeans and green sweater that matched her eyes. Her long brown hair had been pulled up into a clip, and she wore minimal makeup. She hadn’t wanted to attract anyone’s attention, and Brook couldn’t blame her.
Unlike what most of the populace believed, most senators weren’t given protection by the Secret Service. There were always exceptions to that rule, but Senator Cary wasn’t one of them, thereby the same for his family. Brook monitored the woman’s movements, waiting for the right moment to approach her.
Brook hadn’t expected Graham to reach out and cover her hand with his, but she relaxed somewhat the moment that his heat soaked into her skin. She’d been angry. Mostly at Jacob for fathering an innocent child, but also at herself for not realizing it sooner. Graham hadn’t smothered her, but he’d been nearby ever since she’d returned to D.C.
“Thank you,” Brook murmured as she lifted her gaze to his. The small lines around his eyes deepened as he squeezed her hand in reassurance. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Graham promised, shifting so that he could keep an eye on her. She’d stopped trying to convince herself that she could keep her distance from him. That having him with her was no different than being in the field with her team. They all had each other’s backs. “Brooklyn?”
The way he said her name caused a warmth of protection to spread over her. She paused and peered over her shoulder.
“I’m the example that old habitscanbe broken.”
Brook and Graham had spent her first evening back in town discussing her case and her opinion on how hard it was to break old habits. She’d confided in him her fear that she would forever put her pursuit of Jacob first. Her fear was that she was no different than Robert Jameson, and that her entrenched behavior could result in the destruction of the life she’d come to love.
Graham had spent his entire military career putting his country above his family. He regretted the time that he’d lost with his wife and daughter. They were now gone, and he would never get that precious time back. Yes, Graham could have been on his scheduled flight out of the country, but he’d chosen to delay it so that he could be by her side for today’s confrontation with Wren Cary.
Brook nodded slightly to indicate that she understood the meaning behind his words before closing the remaining distance to where Wren Cary had claimed a table. She’d just set down her tray and taken a seat. The way her lips parted, not upon noticing someone approaching her but of recognition, was a dead giveaway that she had knowledge of her son’s biological father.
Without a word, Brook slowly placed Jacob’s picture on the tray next to Wren’s plate. The sandwich and drink remained untouched while Wren leaned back in her chair and stared down at the photograph as if Jacob could destroy everything that she’d built.
“Does your husband know?” Brook asked quietly as she pulled out the chair opposite of Wren. Brook would have preferred not to have her back to the entrance, but she needed to be facing Wren to determine if the woman’s answers held any truth. She took the seat anyway knowing that Graham was watching over her. “Does your husband know that Jonah isn’t his biological son?”
“No.”
The one-word response was practically torn from Wren, whose lower lip trembled as she reached for Jacob’s picture and turned it over. She then placed her hands back into her lap before meeting Brook’s gaze.
“I know who you are, Ms. Sloane. I watched the interview you gave close to two years ago on national television, which was the exact moment I recognized the man who…” Wren broke off her sentence to swallow the rest of her words. She reached up and pushed away her tray. “I didn’t know at the time, if that’s what you’re wondering. I was at an airport in Maine when my flight was canceled due to a storm. I stayed at the airport hotel, and I met him in the lounge while having a drink. I doubt that you’ll believe me when I say that was the only time that I ever cheated on my husband, but it’s the truth.”
Brook wanted to ask if that was due to the realization that she’d allowed the hands of a psychopathic killer to touch her…intimately. Wren probably had no idea that such a broken marriage and tainted relationship was the sole reason that Jacob had allowed her to live.
It also hadn’t escaped Brook that Maine was where another one of Jacob’s victims had been claimed, which meant that he’d had his fix by the time he’d run into Wren Cary. Had Jacob been aware of Wren’s true identity at the time? Maybe Graham was right that Jacob had needs that weren’t satisfied by his kills. He didn’t obtain sexual gratification when taking a woman’s life, which meant that he had to find such release elsewhere.
“Did Jacob Walsh say anything to you that stood out?”
“No,” Wren replied quietly as she searched the area around them for anyone who might be listening in on their conversation. Her discomfort was obvious. “We exchanged a few pleasantries at the bar, and I invited him back to my room. We had sex, and then he left. I never saw him again until his picture was shown during your televised interview.”
“Dr. Mizrahi knows the truth.”
“Yes,” Wren replied to Brook’s statement.
“You paid him to keep the truth from your husband.”
“Yes.”
Brook could only assume that Jacob realized he was the boy’s biological father when news broke that Senator Cary’s son was sick. Jacob had used the information to his advantage when laying the groundwork to find Sarah Evanston’s location.