Chapter Seven
Bryson rolled into his office behind Teagan and did something he rarely did these days.
He simply enjoyed the moment. He didn’t worry about his aching hip or rehash the would haves, could haves, should haves of his life.
Instead, he basked in the sheer joy on her face as she turned in slow circles, taking it all in.
There was a lot to take in.
The expansive room was a microcosm of the house itself, fully contained with a kitchenette in one corner, a bathroom, a bedroom intended for those all-nighters if he needed a quick nap before heading back into the main room to continue his work.
On the left side was the library. Floor-to-ceiling cherrywood bookshelves were filled with all kinds of law enforcement textbooks on topics like forensics, crime scene analysis, and profiling.
Past the library, nearly every inch of wall space was adorned with matching cherrywood cabinets, drawers and open shelving.
Storage would never be a problem here. The boxes that Mason had sent over were neatly stacked beside some of those storage cabinets.
Something for him to tackle later, after everything was scanned electronically.
That was the real beauty of this room—the technology.
A large round stone table in the middle of the room was control central for the massive daisy-chained monitors that took up most of the opposite wall.
From that table, he could bring up reports or photographs or even the internet and display the information on any individual monitor, or slide it across all of them to form one picture.
It was a profiler’s dream, to be able to have everything at his fingertips at one time so he could make comparisons and see the entire case at a glance.
Too bad he’d never actually used the darn thing on a case.
Teagan had made a full circuit of the room, opening doors and checking behind them, looking into the storage cabinets.
But she surprised him by returning to the library, rather than the round table.
She traced her hands almost reverently across the books, like a beautiful butterfly, flitting from tome to tome.
When she finally turned around, she motioned toward the two leather wing chairs and circular rug that completed the library effect.
“This is amazing. You have books I’ve only dreamed of reading, rare ones that my college couldn’t even get their hands on when I tried borrowing them through our library system. Two of the books have your name on them. I didn’t know you’d authored any texts.”
“Neither do most people,” he said dryly. “My publisher lost a fortune on those.”
“Then they don’t deserve to be your publisher. They obviously don’t know how to market your work or it would have sold a gazillion books.”
“Are you one of the six people who bought a copy? Is that how you know they’re amazing?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”
“Not by much, unfortunately.”
“Well, based on your reputation in the field, I’d love to become reader number seven, if you’ll let me borrow them.”
“You can have them. I’ve got plenty more. What about the rest of the room? You don’t seem as impressed as I’d hoped. My ego’s a bit deflated. I thought you’d run straight to the table and start salivating.”
“I would have, if it wasn’t for your library.
I’m a book lover, through and through. But the entire room is incredible.
” She strode to the table and ran her fingers across it.
“You must have enjoyed being a Justice Seeker more than you’ve let on.
This is fit for the knights of the round table, just like the one that Mason told me that you all have in some super-secret hidden room at The Justice Seekers’ home base. ”
“Almost. It’s not quite as large as his since I don’t have twelve Seekers, or so-called knights, to fill it up.
But I admit I enjoyed his flair for the medieval and the fun of the whole Camelot concept, so I stole some of that for myself.
I converted an existing study and two bedrooms into this office with the intention of using it to work from home while recuperating from being shot.
But the recovery has been slower than I’d expected, and I ended up with way too much time to think about my failures.
Resigning seemed like the reasonable thing to do. ”
“Wait. Are you saying that you’ve never used this office, or great hall, if you call it that like Mason does? Once it was finished, it just sat here unused?”
“I don’t call it a great hall. It’s got the stone floors, walls and table, but nothing else that resembles a castle like Mason’s does.
And, yes, you’re absolutely right. I can’t remember the last time I’ve traipsed across the house to this room.
If it wasn’t for the cleaning company that comes in once a week, there’d be cobwebs and dust all over the place. ”
“Wow. If I’d known that, I’d have snuck in through a back window and claimed squatters’ rights long ago.
I could happily live here for weeks and not come up for air.
” She lowered herself into one of the cushy leather chairs at the round table.
“Ahhh. World class. You have great taste.” She waved toward the monitors.
“Feel free to feed your ego by giving me a demonstration. How big are those screens anyway? Six or seven feet tall?”
He rolled one of the other leather chairs out of the way and positioned his wheelchair beside her.
“Each one is six feet by three feet. I wanted twelve, to keep with the Camelot theme. But it seemed like overkill and would have restricted the space too much, so I settled on nine. They work together as one monitor if I want, or I can load something different on each one. That’s the real benefit, being able to put up information about different crimes on each screen and compare them.
I can use a computer tablet at the table to select which screen I want and use a light pen to draw circles around different items or highlight them, edit them, whatever. ”
“Definitely cool. Can I drive?” She held out her hand. “Give me the reins. Let’s do this.”
Instead of popping up one of the computer tablets from a hidden compartment in the table, he adjusted his chair to face her and took her hands in his.
Her eyes widened and a slow grin spread across her face.
“Don’t,” he said. “Whatever sexy, funny, or smart-ass comment you’re about to make about me holding your hands, just wait. I need to have a serious conversation with you. Can you focus for a few minutes without any wisecracks?”
A look of wariness crossed her face. “Why do I feel like I’m about to be sent to the principal’s office?”
He sighed and let her go.
“Okay, okay.” She grabbed his hands with both of hers. “No jokes, no tangents. I’m listening.”
He arched a brow, not sure whether or not to believe her.
“Really,” she said. “I can be serious when I need to. Go on. What is it?”
“I just want you to be sure that you know what you’re getting into before we go any further.
You’ve been like a whirlwind, blowing into my life.
I met you, what, a few hours ago? And somehow you’ve managed to make me excited about working again.
That’s why I brought you to this room, to show you the tools we’ve got at our disposal so we can work together, if that’s truly what you want to do. ”
“Are you kidding? It’s all I’ve wanted since I first came across the Ripper case and saw your contributions to the investigation. I want to work with you to catch the Ripper before—”
“We’re not going to work on the Ripper case.”
She blinked. “My turn to be confused.”
He gently entwined their fingers, trying to convey that he was there for her if she needed his support.
“I’m going to hire a temp to scan in and catalog the data in those boxes.
That will take several days, maybe even a week.
In the meantime, the only case that I’ve had a chance to scan is yours.
While you were recovering from your tequila binge, I used the scanner in my study to process your folder.
That’s what I want to bring up on these screens.
But there’s a world of difference between looking at something on an eight-by-ten sheet of paper, and seeing it on a six-foot-tall screen.
A lot of this stuff is deeply personal. Are you sure you can handle it? ”
“I don’t understand your concerns. I put that folder together. I know what’s in it. I want you to see it, to review it with me.”
“Your descriptions of the most recent attack that you allege was made by the Ripper didn’t mention you by name.
That’s quite telling. And there’s far more detail to what happened to you than what you had in that folder.
A lot more. We have to review all of the information, not just some of it, if we have a chance at solving this thing. ”
“Well of course there’s more, all the detailed reports that support the summaries I wrote. I didn’t bring those with me.”
“That’s not what I mean. There are other details, things you didn’t reference even at a high level in your summaries.”
“Like what?”
He squeezed her hands before letting go.
Then he pushed down on top of the table in front of him and the section flipped over to reveal a computer tablet.
He typed some commands into the control program, then pressed enter.
Teagan looked up at the screens. Her eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth before turning away.
“Where did you get those?” she whispered.
He tapped the tablet and the screens went dark. “I still have a few contacts in law enforcement.”
She crossed her arms over her middle. “Well, they shouldn’t have shared my hospital photos with you. They’re—”
“Too personal? None of my business?”
She flinched and dropped her gaze.
He rolled back from the table. “Come on. It’s okay. Forget all this. You’re not ready.”
“Wait. Just...give me a minute to catch my breath, okay? I can handle it. Really.”
“Teagan. There’s no reason for you to have to catch your breath, to handle it.
You lived through the abduction, the torture, once already.
You shouldn’t have to do that again, reopen old wounds.
Leave the investigation to me. Maybe because I admire your spunk, or maybe just because I’m ready to jump back in the game and didn’t realize it until now.
Regardless of the reason, I want to do this.
But the only way I can is by going through every piece of data surrounding your abduction, everything that happened to you.
Everything. It’s the only way to make sure nothing was missed, that every possible clue has been considered.
Meanwhile, you can go back to Florida, get on with your life.
When I have something to report, I’ll contact you.
” He wheeled to the door and held it open for her. “Come on. We’re done here.”