Blinded by Sin (Touch of Evil #12)
1. Chapter One
Chapter One
Brooklyn Walsh June 2007 Saturday — 10:46 pm
The bright sun spilled over the funeral home, indifferent to the somber mood that consumed those exiting through the ornate wooden doors. Gradually, black-clad figures began to gather in small groups on the sidewalk. They would eventually make their way to a nearby cemetery using the parked vehicles lining the curb. The air surrounding the family members, friends, and neighbors was thick with grief and finality as they prepared to convey their final goodbyes to Sally Pearson.
Brooklyn Walsh stood across the street in isolation.
She was separated from the mourners by more than just a strip of asphalt. The Pearson family had every right to hate her. They had every reason to blame her for their daughter’s death. The Pearsons, once like a second family to Brook, were now hostile in the aftermath of her brother’s unthinkable actions.
Jacob had murdered Brook’s best friend, leaving the teenage girl to bleed to death in the middle of Mr. Herring’s cornfield. Jacob had not only taken Sally’s life, but he had ensured the mortician couldn't possibly offer Mr. and Mrs. Pearson an open casket. There had been nothing left of Sally’s face but mangled pieces of flesh.
The graphic image would forever remain burned into Brook’s mind.
Her parents hadn't left the house in a week and a half. The Walsh family had been shunned by the very community that had once embraced them, leaving Brook to grieve alone. Her mother had holed up in the bedroom, lost in her own mental anguish. Her father just sat in his chair staring at the wall in silence. It was obvious the shock of the horrific actions his son had committed had yet to wear off.
Brook hadn’t been able to take the silence in the house for another second.
The morning’s warmth did little to alleviate the chill that had settled deep within her. Not even a heating blanket had helped take the edge off last night. When a gentle breeze weaved through the trees behind her, she wrapped her arms around her abdomen to stop the onslaught of shivers.
She was being selfish.
She deserved to be as cold as Sally was inside her casket.
“Did you know?”
The deep, familiar voice cut through Brook’s thoughts, and she whipped her head to the side. She hadn’t seen or heard Sally’s brother cross the street. Ben’s usual easy-going demeanor had been replaced with an intensity she had never before witnessed from him. There was a furious storm of emotions in his dark eyes…anger, grief, disbelief.
“Did you know that your brother was a killer?”
Brook flinched at the hatred that seeped from his tone. She tried to swallow, but she couldn’t get her throat to accommodate her request. Ben’s voice practically vibrated with unrestrained emotion. She quickly swiped at her tears. Her sorrow and anguish didn’t matter today.
Brook couldn’t bring herself to admit the truth. Even if she had been able to give Ben an honest answer and reveal her conviction that her brother was a monster, her throat had constricted to the point of pain. She couldn’t even swallow her own spit.
“My sister trusted you, Brook.” Ben turned away for a brief moment after his voice cracked under the strain. He used the sleeve of his suit jacket to dry his eyes. “Sally was your best friend, and you didn’t warn her. You let her…”
Soul-crushing guilt weighed down on Brook. It was all she could do to keep standing in place. Her knees threatened to give out, and it became extremely difficult to breathe.
“Did you keep his secret?” Ben pressed after composing himself. His tone was accusatory, but it was witnessing the revulsion in his eyes that almost crippled her. "How long have you known, Brook? Because now the police think Jacob killed Pamela Murray, too."
Brook clenched her hands into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms, as if physical pain could somehow displace the unbearable weight of her guilt. She was no longer able to meet Ben's accusatory stare. He was right. She had failed her best friend.
How could Brook defend herself when she had known all along that Jacob had murdered Pamela? Brook had even discovered a sketch that her brother had drawn of the crime, but he had destroyed the evidence by the time she had gone back to search for the sketchbook. Her parents never would have believed her, anyway.
Deep down, Brook had questioned her sanity for allowing such appalling thoughts about her own brother to ruminate in her mind. They had been raised by the same parents, in the same household, and in the same town.
She had been blinded by her desire for normalcy.
If her own brother was a killer, then what would that make her?
“Ben, I—” Brook failed to convey how much she had loved Sally. Ben was already shaking his head in warning, but Brook still managed to find the courage to reveal a solitary truth. “I would change places with her if I could, Ben.”
“Trust me, Brook,” Ben muttered bitterly before he walked away. She was still able to hear his last declaration. “I wish you could, too.”
Ben didn’t cross the street, and she was left to stare after him. Sally would want her brother at her gravesite when they lowered her casket into the ground. Brook tried to call out to him, but she was too paralyzed by the horror of what she had let happen. She took a few steps back until she came into contact with an old tree. It kept her upright while she grappled with unspeakable guilt.
There was no escaping the consequences of her choices.
Jacob, on the other, had simply vanished into thin air. The police had questioned her for hours, interviewed her parents, and even suggested that Brook had helped Jacob leave town. The only law enforcement officer who seemed convinced of her innocence was Chief Conway, but she didn’t deserve his faith. While she wasn’t guilty of aiding her brother’s escape, she had known for a very long time that there was something broken inside of him.
Jacob had left her just as broken, and it was all she could do not to scream at the unfairness of it all. Her brother was out there…free to kill again. Free to commit horrific acts on innocent women who were merely living their lives to the fullest.
You don't get to be the normal one, Brook.
The words Jacob had spoken to her in their final moments together would forever linger in her subconscious. He was right in a way. She would never be able to live a normal life. Not because of his sins, but because of hers.