The Men With the Golden Cuffs (13 page)

Maybe not. And still, he needed to know the truth before he started anything with her. He couldn’t walk in blind again. But he knew what it felt like to have everything he wanted dissected under a cruel microscope of so-called morality. He wasn’t going to get to the bottom of anything if he stayed here. “Let’s go. He seems to be home.”

The car was in the driveway. Just one, like Serena had said. It seemed the good professor still made his woman take the bus.

Jake knocked on the door, Liam behind him.

A pretty blonde opened the door. She couldn’t be past twenty-three. She was dressed in a sweatshirt and shorts that rode up her ass. “Hello.”

“We’re looking for Professor Brooks. We called earlier. My name is Jacob Dean. I’m with a firm called McKay-Taggart.”

Her blue eyes went wide. “You’re here about his ex-wife. Amber Rose?”

That was her pen name. Jake felt a deep need to correct the young woman. Amber Rose was a front. Serena was a woman. “Serena Brooks.”

She turned her head as though watching for someone. When she turned back to them, her voice was hushed. “Don’t tell Doyle about it, but I just love her books. I read all kinds of romance, but I just love erotic romance. Do you think she knows Eliza Gayle? That would be so cool. Amber Rose is good, but Eliza rocks, if you know what I mean.”

Dear god, he’d found a groupie. “I don’t miss.”

She chattered on. “I think it’s horrible that someone is trying to hurt her. You should find this guy. It would be sad if she didn’t write anymore. I have all her books on my e-reader. Doyle doesn’t believe in e-books—like they don’t exist or something. He’s a little behind the times. But I read one because I was curious. He talks about those books all the time. I mean, he hates them. Doyle is just jealous because he can’t get anyone in New York to buy his two thousand page book about single people in Manhattan. He has the grossest descriptions of venereal diseases. What’s with that?”

Liam put an elbow in his side.

“Ginny, who is it?” A deep voice called out from the back of the house.

“It’s the dudes who called earlier,” Ginny screamed back. She scrunched up her nose. “Don’t you tell him I read his ex’s books. He thinks I’m all about the American masters. I need my thesis to pass muster. He’s really good friends with my professor.”

She opened the door and let them in.

Unlike Serena’s place, Professor Brooks’ home was a pin-perfect model of efficiency. Jake’s heart clenched a little at the thought of messy, fun Serena being forced to keep everything perfect. There wasn’t a book out of place or piles of notes scattered around. The home didn’t look lived in. Though it was inexpensive, it was obvious the man who lived here aspired to much more.

Doyle Brooks walked into the living room. He looked the part of the upwardly mobile intellectual, dressed in slacks, a dress shirt, and a blazer. “Gentlemen, please join me in my office.”

His office was a renovated extra bedroom refitted with dark panels and an enormous desk that looked about as full of itself as the man who sat behind it. There were numerous degrees and plaques hung neatly on the walls proclaiming just how smart and educated Doyle Brooks was. The man was only thirty. That meant he’d achieved many of those degrees while married to Serena. Serena, who had supported his ass while he went to school. Serena, who he’d dumped the moment she became difficult.

Poor little sub.

Introductions were made, and the professor seemed to take everything with a cool calm.

“So, Serena is still attempting to malign me.” Doyle sat back with a sad sigh as though he didn’t want to believe it, but knew it to be true.

“She’s attempting to figure out who’s stalking her, Professor Brooks.” Liam’s Midwestern accent was in full force. The Irishman stared at Serena’s ex-husband with dark eyes, sizing the man up. Liam didn’t have Eve’s profiling credentials, but he’d spent years learning to read men and women. He’d had to. He’d had to learn who was going to try to kill him and who wouldn’t. Just like Jake.
 

A little laugh puffed out Brooks’ mouth. “No one is trying to kill her. I hate this. I really do. Serena used to be such a sweetheart, but she’s playing some kind of game. We’re in a little legal trouble, Serena and I, and she’s decided to play dirty. Have you read the police reports?”

Yes, but now that he was sitting in front of Serena’s ex, he could see what the cops had seen. A perfectly dressed, perfectly calm and reasonable man who could make his point in a manner they would understand. And Serena had most likely been a bit messy, a little mousy, and altogether awkward.

“I have,” Jake replied. “I also know that Serena’s been receiving some phone calls from you.”

He’d listened to the one on her answering machine the night before. It had been filled with bile and vitriol. The harsh voice on the machine the night before bore little resemblance to the cultured, smooth tones of the man in front of him. Professor Brooks seemed to have two different personalities.

Brooks had the good sense to flush a little. “I shouldn’t have left that message. It was wrong of me. I should have allowed our lawyers to handle things. Look, Serena and I have some matters to settle, obviously.”

“Your divorce was finalized a couple of years ago,” Liam noted. He had a notepad in his hand, looking to the casual watcher like an assistant.

Brooks sat up a little straighter. “Not everything was made clear to me at the time. My lawyer says this is a long shot, but I’m going to stand up for myself. I supported her while she wrote those…books, if you can call them that.”

“That’s what we usually call a collection of words forming a coherent story.” Yeah, the professor was a pompous asshole.

“I don’t know about coherent. What my ex-wife writes is pure pornography. It’s clogging up the publishers so the real writers can’t get through.”

Liam cleared his throat. It was a clear “I told you so.”

And he had. “Serena explains to us that you divorced her over her first book.”

He took a long breath and sat back. “Well, what did she expect me to do? I had just gotten on at the college.”

“Junior college.” Liam seemed to feel a desperate need to keep poking the professor.

Brooks didn’t acknowledge him. “A professor’s wife is an important asset. She reflects on the professor. If I wanted to move up in my profession, I certainly couldn’t be that man whose wife writes porn. And the acts she described.” His nose wrinkled in distaste. “The book was filth. It shouldn’t be out there. It made me sick and, quite frankly, some of it is demeaning to women.”

That was ridiculous. Jake had read the same book. She used some rough language. She called a cock a cock. She hadn’t used the phrase “honey pot” or “center” to describe a vagina. She’d called it a pussy. Jake had found it refreshing. It had made the whole thing hot. He didn’t see how a woman choosing to explore her sexuality demeaned her. But this wasn’t the time to defend Serena’s work. “Where were you last night, Professor?”

The man seemed a bit startled. “I don’t know that’s any of your business.”

“If you were at my client’s home running a key across her car, it is most definitely my business.” It was time to let this asshole know that someone was looking out for his ex. She wasn’t on her own anymore.

The professor’s fists clenched. “I was here grading papers. And no one was with me. Ginny was at class. The bus dropped her off after ten.”

Liam gasped. “You let that little bit of fluff walk the streets alone? What kind of a man are you?”

“I’m a man who respects women. She isn’t a child. She has a brain, and she can take care of herself.”

Jake sat forward. He understood the man now. “I know men like you. You take and take and give nothing back and call yourself modern or some shit. You won’t open a door for a woman because, according to you, it’s insulting. I’m sure little Ginny in there is responsible for her own orgasm because you can’t be bothered to give her one. You use every excuse in the book so you don’t have to take responsibility.”

He shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t want to piss off the feminists.”

Jake stood. It was time to end this interview. It wouldn’t go anywhere, and he knew at least one thing about the man. Jake didn’t trust him. He would give Adam the go ahead to hack into every account the man had. It might take weeks to go through everything, but if this fucker had even written a nasty e-mail to her, Jake would take it to the cops. Brooks thought he could annoy Serena. Well, Jake had irritated some of the world’s most deadly men in his time. Professor Brooks would be a breeze. Liam could keep an eye on the asshole for a few days, but talking to him was just pissing Jake off. “Serena Brooks is under my protection now. Do you understand?”

“I understand you sound like a meathead caveman.”

Jake leaned over, using every bit of his military training to intimidate. A wave of pure predatory pleasure overtook him as the professor seemed to shrink right before his eyes. “Remember that. If you call her house again, I’ll be back here, and we’ll have a chat. I don’t think you’ll like how I chat. I don’t use big words.”

“You’re threatening me.”

He smiled, but Jake was pretty sure it wasn’t a happy thing. “Look, Liam. All those degrees really made him smart.” He backed off. “And as for Serena’s books, they’re good. I like them. I can see where you would want to divorce her. She made you look bad.”

The professor’s eyes narrowed. “Fuck. You’re fucking my wife.”

There was the voice Jake had heard on the answering machine. Yep. The professor had a dark side.

“Not yet, he isn’t. But he’ll come around.” Liam stood, gathering his things. He put a card on the professor’s desk. “I want to make it easy for you to call and complain. Ask for Ian Taggart. He owns the company.”

Doyle Brooks’ face was a mottled red. He reached for the card. “Oh, Mr. Taggart will hear from me. Now, I believe I would like for you to leave my home.”

Jake nodded. He had nothing left to say. He wished he could be there when Brooks tried to pull his shit on Ian. Liam was a bastard. Jake was happy to not be on the Irishman’s bad side. He followed Liam out, wondering how hard it had been on Serena to live in this house. She wouldn’t have been able to write in her underwear. She wouldn’t have been able to dance around. She would have felt hemmed in. She had a deeply submissive nature. It didn’t mean she would just let anyone walk on her. She’d proven that. She’d come out fighting. She’d followed her path. But it did mean she would more than likely attempt to please the people around her. Especially her husband. That shit bag in the office had taken advantage of her for as long as he could and then ground her under his overly pretentious loafer when he no longer had a use for her.

“You look like a man ready to take a chunk out of someone.” Liam had a shit-eating grin on his face. “Remember my advice. Fuck her and get it over with. It’s inevitable. Then you would have had every right to punch that bloody wanker in the face. That pussy wouldn’t punch back.”

Jake nodded to Ginny as he strode out the door. He hoped the young woman had enough sense to get out when she could.

He could hear Professor Brooks shouting at someone. God, he hoped it was Ian. The door slammed behind him, just as his cell rang. He looked down at the number.

“Tell me it’s Ian giving us the go ahead to kill the bastard.” Liam’s Irish was back. And there was a grin on his face. He’d enjoyed fucking with the professor.

But Jake lost his smile. “It’s Brighton.” He slid his hand across the bar to answer the call. “This is Dean.”

His police liaison sounded grim. “Hey, Jake. Did you take the Serena Brooks case? You know that writer you called about yesterday?”

Jake got a cold shiver that always went up his spine when the shit was about to hit the fan. “Yeah. I’m out at her ex-husband’s place right now. What’s going on?”

“You should come down to the station. The cop working her case found something. Do you want me to call her or would you rather do that yourself?”

Fuck
. He didn’t want to call her at all, but he didn’t have the right to keep things from her. She had the right to know what was coming for her. “I’ll do it. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. How bad is it?”

“Well, it’s more serious than we thought, or she’s more clever. No idea, man. You need to talk to the cops handling this case. I’ll keep them here for you. I don’t know about this, Jake. It gives me a nasty feeling.”

Brighton was a cop with eighteen years in. Jake trusted Brighton’s gut. Especially when his own was telling him this was more complex than it seemed. “We’ll be there.”

He hung up the phone and called Adam. The whole way to the police station, he couldn’t help the feeling that everything was about to go wrong.

* * * *

Adam looked over the desk at Sargent Edward Chitwood. He was a quiet man with the sort of bland good looks that most people ignored. His desk was neatly appointed, complete with a picture of his perfectly bland wife and kids. In the family portrait, they were all smiling. The perfect American family. But Chitwood wasn’t smiling now.

“Brass is not happy with you, partner.” Chitwood’s partner was a fit-looking man named Mike Hernandez.