Page 55 of Girl, Fractured

‘She doesn’t like me, does she?’Sarah said once Ripley was out of earshot.

‘She doesn’t like most people.’

‘Must be tiring.’

‘It’s tough for her.Frank was her mentor when she first joined the Bureau.I’ve tried to avoid going to the morgue because I don’t want her to see Frank’s body.’

‘Oh,’ Sarah stuttered.‘I didn’t know.That’s awful.’

‘Yeah.And she retired earlier this year, but our director dragged her back.This is only her second case back on the job.’

‘Formerly-retired detective, huh.Do you think she has a white whale?’

Ella watched Ripley as she left the library, scan the street outside and take off up the hill.‘If she did, she wouldn’t tell me about it.Given the way she reacted when I first mentioned the ‘98 Beach Burials, maybe it’s that.’

‘Interesting,’ Sarah said.‘What if Brooks doesn’t show?’

‘Then we’ve learned something.’

‘Which is?’

‘That our unsub – I doubt Michael Brooks is his real name – is smart enough to break pattern when the pattern gets predictable.That’s information too.’

‘Yeah, but-’ Sarah began before a chirping on her desk cut her off.It wasn’t the standard iPhone tone.More like the sound of a drowning robot.She grabbed her cell and stared at the screen.

‘That’s probably your dad asking if you’re still on for dinner.If you need to head off-’

‘No.It’s not my dad.It’s… Brooks.’

Ella snapped to attention.‘What?’

‘An email.From Michael Brooks.’Sarah turned the screen so Ella could see.‘Just now.’

Ella leaned in.The timestamp read 4:56 PM.

SUBJECT: Frank

FROM: [email protected].

TO: [email protected].

Has anyone else heard the news about Frank?Just saw it online.Can’t believe it.Anyone know what happened?

Ella shivered.News of Frank’s death hadn’t made the press yet.

She looked around.The academic three stations down stood and gathered his materials.The elderly woman with the gardening magazine closed it and placed it back on the rack.The mother-of-two ushered her kids out of sight.

Any of them could be Brooks.All of them could be Brooks.

Or none of them.

‘We need to search this place.Thoroughly.What if he slipped past us?’Ella didn’t know how it was possible to bypass two cops, two agents and one civilian without any of them noticing, but stranger things had happened.

‘He could have emailed from anywhere,’ Sarah said.‘How’s he going to slip past five of us?’

‘How does David Copperfield make people appear in Hawaii?’Ella slowly rose to her feet, eyes roaming every soul in sight.‘Be discreet.I’ll text Mia.’

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE