Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 102280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Vivienne looked at their joined hands. “Chief Sullivan offered you a permanent position, didn’t he? I saw him talking to you at the cemetery.”
“He did. Detective, full benefits, decent pay for a town this size.” Brooks was quiet. “I told him I needed to think about it.”
She pulled her hand back. “You’re leaving.”
“I didn’t say that.” He turned to face her fully. “I said I needed to think about it because this isn’t just about the job anymore. I need to know if staying here makes sense. If this partnership can work long-term.”
Her breath caught. “Brooks—”
“I don’t want to go back to Austin. I don’t want to leave Westerly Cove.” He met her eyes. “But I need to be honest—I’m not sure what I’m building here yet. Tell me if that’s not fair to you. Tell me if you need certainty I can’t give.”
“I don’t need certainty.” Vivienne’s voice came out barely above a whisper. “I need a partner who understands what I can do without being afraid of it. Someone I can work with. That’s all.”
“Is it?”
She hesitated. “I’m scared of pushing too hard. Of ending up like my mother. But I’m also scared of being alone with this gift forever.”
Brooks’s expression softened. “You’re not your mother. You have tools she didn’t. Knowledge she didn’t. And you’re not alone anymore.”
“No. I’m not.”
“Then let me stay. Let’s figure out what this partnership looks like. No promises about forever. Just an agreement to try.”
“Okay,” Vivienne said. “Stay. Let’s see where this goes.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She managed a smile. “But we need ground rules. Boundaries. Ways to make sure we’re not pushing each other into danger.”
“Agreed. We’ll figure them out as we go.” Brooks maintained the space between them. “For now, you need to rest. The memorial took a lot out of you.”
She nodded, exhaustion settling over her. The connection between them hummed—not demanding, not overwhelming, just there. A reminder that she had a partner now.
Whatever came next, whatever challenges they faced, they would face them as a team.
And maybe that would be enough.
TWENTY
brooks
The plane touched down in Austin at two in the afternoon.
Brooks had been gone five weeks. It felt like years.
He collected his rental car and drove through familiar streets that no longer felt like home. The humidity pressed down, the traffic moved too fast, and everything was too loud after Westerly Cove.
His first stop was the Austin Police Department headquarters. Captain Rodriguez had agreed to meet him, though Brooks suspected the captain would rather have avoided this conversation.
The building looked exactly as he’d left it. Same security checkpoint. Same fluorescent lights. Same smell of burnt coffee and industrial cleaner. But Brooks walked through it differently now—not as someone who belonged, but as a visitor.
Rodriguez waited in his office. More gray in his hair. Deeper lines around his eyes.
“Harrington.” The captain stood, offering his hand. “Good to see you.”
“You too, sir.” They shook, then sat. “Thanks for making time.”
“Your email said you wanted to discuss your resignation formally. I figured I owed you a face-to-face.” Rodriguez leaned back. “How’s Rhode Island treating you?”
“Better than expected. The temporary position turned permanent. Small department, quiet town. It’s a good fit.”
“And the case you mentioned? Missing person?”
“Solved. Turned into something bigger—artifact smuggling operation that had been running for over a century. FBI’s handling the prosecution now.”
Rodriguez’s eyebrows rose. “That’s what you’ve been doing in a town of five thousand people?”
“Turns out small towns have deep secrets.” Brooks pulled a folder from his bag. “I brought my official resignation letter. Effective immediately, if that works for the department.”
The captain accepted the folder but didn’t open it. “You know you don’t have to do this. I could extend your leave, give you more time to think.”
“I’ve thought about it for five weeks. This is the right call.”
“Because of Traci.”
Brooks met his gaze. “Partly. But also because I’ve found something in Westerly Cove that I didn’t expect to find. Purpose. A reason to get up in the morning.”
Rodriguez was quiet for a moment. “You’ve changed. I can hear it in your voice.”
“The case changed me. Working with someone who sees things differently changed me.” Brooks paused. “She’s a local historian. Cultural expert. She reads evidence the way I never learned to.”
“And she helped you solve a century-old smuggling operation.”
“Among other things.” Brooks thought about Vivienne’s abilities, about the connection they’d forged. Rodriguez wouldn’t understand—hell, Brooks barely understood it himself. “Working with her reminded me why I became a cop. Not just to follow procedure, but to find truth. Whatever form that takes.”
“Sounds like she made an impression.”
“She did.”
Rodriguez opened the folder, scanned the resignation letter. “I’ll process it through HR by end of week.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I need to ask—are you running from what happened with Traci, or running toward something better?”
Brooks had asked himself the same thing a hundred times.