Noah crossed his arms and leaned on the door. “Never expected to see you end up as a desk jockey.”
Jacob glanced up, his expression shifting from focused to resigned. “That’s Agent Desk Jockey to you. I wondered how long it would take you to show up.”
“Longer than it should have since I had to hear from Misty at DCPD that they’d lobbed you the ball.” Noah collapsed into the visitor’s chair, ignoring his brother’s eye-roll.
“Leaning on your high school girlfriend for info? That’s pathetic, even for you.” Jacob pointedly stared at his screen as if Noah had interrupted a critical task.
“It would have been old news if you’d been the one to tell me.”
That earned him a glance from his brother. “Now, why would I have done that, pray tell? Do you have information regarding this case that the agent assigned to investigate should be aware of?”
“Well, now. That’s a great question.” Noah eased back in his chair and crossed his arms with a grin designed to get under Jacob’s skin. “How would I know what you are and aren’t aware of if you won’t talk to me about the case?”
Jacob’s mouth flattened.
This was an old comfortable routine that they fell into after five seconds in each other’s company—Jacob playing the part of the big brother who followed all the rules, living his life on the straight and narrow and having zero chill, while Noah poked at him with varying results.
It was fun. For Noah. Jacob, on the other hand, usually ended up looking like he did in this exact moment, as if he wanted to punch a wall. Or his brother.
Maybe they could save that for another day when Noah didn’t need to be on Jacob’s good side.
He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, peace. I’m sure you already read the report. Me and Dancer got the call on your Jane Doe. So, really, I’m here to help you. Anything you want to know about the scene, I’m your guy.”
The look his brother gave him said he didn’t believe Noah’s capitulation one bit. “Is there something missing from your official report?”
“No,” he replied honestly. “It’s accurate. But that doesn’t mean we can’t shoot the breeze and maybe stumble over something that would be of value to you. Like my insight honed from years of investigative reporting.”
“And there we have it, folks.” Jacob shook his head, but he didn’t look as perturbed as his tone suggested. “You want to write a piece on her.”
All at once, Noah had a flash of unease. This was his brother. They had few secrets from each other, had gone through their mother’s death together, a difficult season that would break a lot of people. To say they were close would be an understatement.
And Noah wanted his brother to bless the idea of him jumping back into investigative reporting. So far, it didn’t feel as much like the slam-dunk collaboration he’d expected.
“Is that so terrible?” he mumbled, struck all at once that Jacob might not be that thrilled with the idea.
Writing stories had pulled Noah away from Dark Canyon once and would likely do it again. Would his brother hate losing the close ties their family had created once Noah had returned?
Jacob tipped his head. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing to have someone with your skills looking into this.”
Hope flared in Noah’s chest even as the compliment pleased him. “So there is something to look into.”
“There’s always something to look into.” Jacob rubbed his temples. “What brought all this on? I thought you were happy with search and rescue?”
“I am,” he interjected quickly. “I love it. Love making a difference. Dancer is more than a dog, he’s my buddy. This is not a quest to give up the life I’ve built here.”
But wasn’t it? He’d been dreaming of chasing leads again, of scouring social media for tips on hot spots, hopping a plane to Syria, Myanmar, the Philippines—wherever he could find signs pointing to human rights violations, the effects of environmental disasters, or civil war, because those made the most impactful stories.
Noah rubbed at his eyes and sighed. “Let me start over. I got a SAR call, only the victim was already deceased. We found our Jane Doe and the excavation team pulled her out. The officer who called it in had this way about her, I can’t explain it. But she was adamant that there was something off about the scene, convinced the victim had been dumped there. It got my senses humming. The fact that you’ve got the case now says my instincts—and Officer West’s—aren’t off base.”
For whatever reason, his brother’s gaze had equal parts interest and evaluation as he zeroed in on Noah. “Officer West, huh.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jacob smirked. “I know that look. What kind of way did Sabrina have about her?”
His rib cage got tight and did a thing that felt like a Roman candle had gone off in his chest. Was he that transparent? “I forgot you knew each other. Yeah, I met her and she’s amazing. Why wouldn’t I notice that?”
“Uh-huh.”
