Silent sin touch of evil.., p.1
Silent Sin (Touch of Evil Book 10), page 1
Silent Sin
Touch of Evil - Book Ten
Kennedy Layne
Kennedy Layne Publishing, Inc.
Copyright © 2024 by Kennedy Layne
Cover Designer: Sweet ’N Spicy Designs
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
Dedication
Jeffrey & Cole — I love you both to the moon and back!
About the Book
Fear lurks right around the corner in the next pulse-pounding thriller by USA Today Bestselling Author Kennedy Layne…
In the heart of Washington, D.C., a sinister plot unfolds as the life of one of Brooklyn Sloane’s trusted team members hangs in the balance. What at first appears to be a random attack turns into so much more when evidence is retrieved at the scene that suggests a carefully orchestrated plan to eliminate the people closest to her.
With Brook’s team fractured and not trusting anyone outside her inner circle, she falls back to her core strength—profiling. Each stroke of her pen unravels a bone-chilling revelation, one that takes the form of her own flesh and blood. Jacob Matthew Walsh, a serial killer serving multiple life sentences and Brook’s brother, has finally made his move to tear her life apart. He has somehow coordinated the assault from his prison cell, but the puppet on his strings doesn’t want to be controlled anymore.
Brook will stop at nothing to catch her brother’s so-called disciple. She has always attempted to put herself in the minds of killers when she’s hunting them, but she’ll need to go one step farther this time. Will she be able to unravel the twisted web of revenge that binds her, or will the deadly silence swallow her whole?
Contents
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Chapter Twenty-One
22. Chapter Twenty-Two
23. Chapter Twenty-Three
24. Chapter Twenty-Four
25. Chapter Twenty-Five
26. Chapter Twenty-Six
27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Other Books By Kennedy Layne
About the Author
Chapter One
Brooklyn Sloane
May 2014
Monday — 12:00 pm
The clock tower stood tall and resolute in its duty as the university’s iconic landmark. Its aged brick façade had borne witness to generations of students who had passed beneath its shadow. As expected, the large black hands had reached their destination and triggered the loud chimes, resembling that of a heartbeat counting down to the end of the school year.
“The passage of time is a finicky thing, isn’t it?”
Brooklyn Sloane made sure to conceal her reaction to the man’s question. The male subject had been monitoring her from a distance for the past ten minutes. He’d waited until she’d been alone to approach her. Such conduct, along with the folder in his hand, told her that his reasoning was personal rather than professional.
“Yes,” Brook replied cautiously as she leaned back in her chair. The cluster of wrought-iron tables was inside a small courtyard outside the university’s cafeteria. The private area provided tranquility that one couldn’t find inside the numerous buildings on campus. It appeared as if she wasn’t going to attain the solitude needed to finish her lecture notes. “I’m sorry to say that you’ve wasted your time, Agent…”
“Harden. Supervisory Special Agent Matthew Harden.” He was a wise enough man not to offer his hand. Instead, he glanced down at the chair opposite her. Only when she nodded her consent did he pull the seat out from under the table and make himself comfortable. “I’d apologize for my first name, but my mother might take offense.”
“Why don’t I save us both precious minutes of our day, Agent Harden.” Brook casually placed her pen on top of the tablet of paper. She ensured that her tone held no animosity for the interruption. “I haven’t heard from my brother since he murdered Cara Jordan. If we’re being factual, I didn’t actually see or hear from him on that particular day, either. Everything you need to know regarding Jacob Matthew Walsh can be read in his case file.”
Brook reached for her travel mug, which was currently full of freshly brewed coffee from the cafeteria. She always used her noon hour to go over her lecture notes for her two o’clock class. Agent Harden could have been informed of her daily routine by almost anyone on campus. She had her own personal reasons for keeping to a strict schedule, but there were times that such a routine worked against her.
“I’m sorry that you’ve wasted your time, Agent Harden.”
“There’s that word again…time. In an investigation, we chase those precious few minutes like a shadow. It’s elusive. Always shifting. And just when you think you’ve got it, it slips through your fingers like little grains of sand. I keep an hourglass on my desk just to remind me of how valuable each second of the day can be during an active case.” Agent Harden took his focus off the clock tower to meet her gaze. “I’m not here about your brother, Miss Sloane.”
Agent Harden’s reason for seeking her out might not have to do with Jacob, but the federal agent hadn’t been surprised to hear her brother’s name, either.
Harden knew about her past, even with the change to her surname.
The local police who had been working on an investigation into the murders of two young women on campus had done their homework. She’d expected nothing less, and she’d even anticipated questions regarding her brother, but an arrest in the campus murders had already been made. There should have been no reason for the police to go digging into her past after the fact.
“I’m sure that the very essences of the cases that you investigate are often obscured by the passage of time.” Brook allowed herself to sip her coffee now that Agent Harden had all but confirmed his visit wasn’t personal. “What is it that I can do for you, Agent Harden?”
Brook was done presuming anything about the man’s visit. She wasn’t comfortable with having captured the attention of the FBI. If she could go back to the start of the school year, she never would have chosen an active killer as the subject of a mock profile. It was too late to rectify the oversight, but she wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“I’m friends with Detective Tunney,” Agent Harden revealed as he rested his hand on top of the manila folder. “He brought to my attention a profile that you drafted for one of your lectures. I read it over, and you somehow managed to profile the killer so well that an arrest was made in the murders of Josie Gaston and Kari Wisocky. A profile, I might add, that rivals one crafted by a federal criminal profiler.”
Brook merely nodded at the compliment, still unsure of the direction Agent Harden was taking the conversation. While he’d asserted that his interest in her wasn’t regarding her brother, she wasn’t the trusting type.
Agent Harden wanted something from her, or he would never have sought her out.
“Have you eaten?”
The question came out of nowhere.
Brook blinked a few times before realizing that Agent Harden had purposefully wanted to throw her off balance, and she didn’t appreciate the deception.
“It’s a genuine offer,” Agent Harden said with a broad smile as he raised one hand to prevent her from bringing their discussion to a close. “Seriously. I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before catching a flight out of D.C. Besides, I’d much rather cover the details of a job offer over a meal than have my stomach interrupt us on a continual basis.”
Job offer?
Needing a moment to ground herself, Brook nodded her agreement. She monitored Agent Harden’s departure from the table to the double glass doors of the building. He’d left behind the manila folder, but she wouldn’t take the bait. He was testing her. She couldn’t even be sure that he’d meant what he’d said about a job offer.
Brook set her travel mug on the table as she reflected on Agent Harden’s rather nonchalant proposition. She could only assume that he was hoping she would apply to the academy, but she had no interest in being a federal agent. It was difficult for her to understand how he thought such an achievement could be obtained, because it wasn’t like she would pass a background check.
After all, she was the sister of a serial killer.
Brooklyn Walsh might have changed her name to Brooklyn Sloane at the age of eighteen, but it had been all but impossible to leave that person behind in all the bloodshed. Jacob had given his word that she would never get to be the normal one, and he’d done everything in his power to keep that promise.
“I hope a grilled cheese sandwich is okay,” Agent H
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.”
Brook searched for any sign that the unsub hadn’t been invited into the victim’s bedroom, but she couldn’t find any evidence to support that theory.
“The unsub had a close relationship with the victim, which allowed him easy access to her personal space. He experienced immediate remorse for the consequences of his anger. You can see it in the way he placed the victim’s hands over her stomach and the gentle gesture of brushing her hair away from her face.” Brook traced the tinted blemishes on the young girl’s neck. It was then that Brook noticed the smudge on the pale pink bedspread. “The unsub is a Caucasian male between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, though I would err on the younger side of that range. He’s impulsive and exhibits a high level of emotional instability. He is familiar with the victim’s daily routine, so family members and friends will likely be acquainted with the unsub. You’ll find that he resides in the area and works a labor job, perhaps at the garage of a local mechanic. An interview with the victim’s family would be able to give you a list of names of someone who fits that description.”
Brook tucked the photograph back into place before closing the manila folder.
“Any one of your profilers at the BAU would have been able to give you the same perspective, so this doesn’t prove anything,” Brook pointed out as she slid the folder across the table. She made no move to bring her plate closer, but she did reach for her pen. Holding it in her fingers gave her a sense of calm that she wouldn’t turn away right now. “Again, I’m wondering why you would make me such an offer.”
