Clark slammed his hand onto the dresser. “Lance! You know, you keep bringing him up. All this time I was worrying my ass off about you, and you were up there in a cozy little love nest banging a complete stranger. What about that, Brook?”
“Shut up! You make it sound filthy and vulgar and cheap. I won’t stand for it! It wasn’t like that at all. The man saved my life, Clark. He not only kept me from dying, he gave me new reasons to be glad I’m alive. You could never understand it no matter what I say. There's no point in discussing it. I don't even want to talk about it with you. I’m through!” Brook’s face was flushed. She refused to allow Clark to reduce her love for Lance to a base animal act. He was trying to shame her and she resented it. “There is no way you can equate what you did with what I did anyway, hard as you might try, Clark. There’s just no way.”
She walked down the stairs, her suitcases banging against her legs. She dragged the bags into the garage, surveyed the remaining cars, and decided to take the Lexus. She opened the trunk, deposited her luggage, and pulled out of the garage. Driving away, she took one last look at the outside of the house. Clark’s forlorn figure leaned against the front entry, watching her.
“Goodbye,” she whispered before accelerating down the road.
Brook checked into a motel room, plugged her cell phone into its charger, and unpacked her clothes. While she waited on her phone to charge, she placed a call to her parents from the room phone and told them as gently as possible that she had left Clark. Once again her mother expressed a desire to hop on a plane, but Brook implored her to wait. She would visit soon, she promised.
Brook stared at her phone where it lay charging. After all these months, she knew she would find it loaded with desperate messages from her family. She wasn’t strong enough to hear those heartbreaking calls just yet. That would have to wait for another time.
Turning back to the room phone, she made an appointment with an attorney to file for divorce. Then she called Randi to let her know where she was staying. There was a note of sympathy in the detective’s voice. She could read between the lines and suspected that Brook’s marriage was on a downward slide.
“I tried to call your house but got no answer,” Randi said. “We have someone in custody and we’d like you to take a look at a lineup. Could you come in later this morning?”
Brook’s heart thudded.
“Which one?” Her throat squeezed nearly shut and she spoke with difficulty.
“Benny.” Randi listened through a long pause, and then continued. “Although his ID has him as Kevin Russell Benson.”
Brook swallowed hard. “I’ll be there.”
Later that morning, Brook entered the police station and was escorted into the inner sanctum by a young policewoman. A few people passed by them as they made their way down the hall. Brook clutched her purse nervously under her arm and touched the bracelet Lance had given her. She sought comfort and courage from the precious gift.
“BrooklynBridge!” a familiar voice exclaimed.
As recognition slammed through her, the blood drained from Brook’s face, and nausea rose in her throat.
Benny was being led in chains down the hall by a massive uniformed officer, a Hispanic man with arms the size of Benny’s thighs. Benny looked Brook up and down from a distance of no more than four feet and licked his lips suggestively.
“That’s him!” Brook screamed, ducking behind the policewoman beside her. “He’s one of them!”
Benny started toward her, but was yanked back by his escort and slammed against the wall. “You just need to back off, buddy. Just chill,” the officer warned Benny, holding him easily in place with one beefy hand.
“Hey, baby!” Benny smirked at Brook. “You missed me, didn’t you? I missed you. It sure is good to see you again.”
“Make him shut up!” Brook’s voice bordered on hysteria and she covered her ears with trembling hands. “Get him away from me!”
Randi poked her head out of a doorway. “What the hell’s going on?” she demanded. Looking both ways, she took in the situation. “Get him outta here! Now!” she yelled as she rushed to Brook’s side. Brook found herself supported between the detective and the female officer as they led her toward an office.
“Remember all the fun we had?” Benny called over his shoulder, doing the awkward inmate shuffle ahead of the enormous policeman. “Hey, dude, that hurts!” Benny complained. His voice faded as he was pushed around a corner.
“I’m so sorry, Brook. That should have never happened.” Randi patted her on the shoulder. She helped her into a chair just as Brook’s legs collapsed. Randi turned to the policewoman. “Bring a glass of water, please.”
“Brook,” Randi said, catching Brook’s eye. “I’m really sorry. There’s no excuse for what just happened. It was simply bad timing, lack of coordination, or something like that. But, heads will roll over this, I guarantee you.”
“Never mind,” Brook managed, a catch in her voice. The officer returned with the water. She whispered in Randi’s ear before handing the cup to Brook. Randi nodded at the officer and then gave Brook a look of concern.
“I’m okay, really. I just need a minute.” Brook drank deeply from the cup.
Randi waited for Brook to compose herself, then continued. “We arrested Mr. Benson on an attempted carjacking, so he’s toast. But, if you can handle it, we still need to do the lineup.”
Steely resolve asserted itself and Brook's face grew taut as long-buried anger overtook her fear. “I can handle it." Her voice trembled only slightly. “In fact, I want to pick him out of a lineup. Did you hear him? What he called me?”
“Yes. I did,” Randi said, shaking her head. “He just substantiated your story in front of three witnesses. Not the brightest bulb in the box, is he?”
Brook managed a small mirthless laugh.
“Do feel ready to make the identification now?”
Brook rose to her feet. “Lead the way.”
She made it through the identification process, trembling the whole time, grim but satisfied when it was over. When she left the police station, she took a deep breath of crisp spring air and squinted into the sunlit sky. She wished this was all over and done with. She just wanted to get on with her life, to put this all behind her.
Randi called her later to tell her Benny had given the others up rather than go down alone. They had issued warrants for Gina, Pete, and Jase, Randi advised her, and it was only a matter of time before they would be apprehended. “He also gave us the name of their contact, the guy who set up the jobs, a man by the name of Anton D’Macio. Have you ever heard this name before?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Brook replied. “It doesn’t sound familiar.”
“I didn’t think so, but it never hurts to ask. Anyway, D’Macio has already flown the coop." Randi's disappointment was obvious. “When we got to his apartment, it was cleaned out, and it looked like it was done in a hurry. We’re not sure how, but we believe he was tipped off. We’ve been trying to break this carjacking ring for several years. This was the first name we’d gotten and we were optimistic that we would finally make some headway in our case. We suspect D’Macio was the middleman and now he’s gone. Probably out of the country by now.
“We’re pretty sure the ringleader is someone of importance, but, again, we have no information as to who he might be. If we could have nabbed D’Macio, he might have rolled over. But, no dice. Oh, and a heads up to you: the press has wind of this now. They’ll be looking for you. With you in a motel, they’ll have a harder time tracking you. Eventually, they'll find you. But for now, just keep your head low and you should be okay.”