Page 40 of Missing Pieces (Brantley Walker: Off the Books #12)

After Reese provided him with information he’d originally withheld—which turned out to be not much at all—Brantley went to his office and buried himself in busy work.

For the first time in possibly ever, his inbox was almost at zero.

Granted, his trash bin was full, but he still deserved kudos for the effort.

It was all he could do to keep his mind occupied because it would’ve been so easy to start digging into Holt’s theories. He wanted to, but Brantley knew it was crucial to bring the team in, get their input before he proceeded. They deserved that much.

Brantley’s phone buzzed with a text from Holly.

“Holly said Simon and Archer are here,” he informed Reese.

Reese appeared in the doorway of his office, looking at his phone. “RT and Z aren’t far behind.”

“You ready to do this?”

Reese looked up. “Not sure I’m ready, but it needs to be done.”

Brantley understood Reese’s reluctance. They were heading down a road they hadn’t ventured before.

Finding Meredith Prescott would likely be the easy part.

Provided she wasn’t dead. If that were the case, he doubted anyone would ever find the body.

Not if the Adorites were the reason for her disappearance.

“Come on, girl,” Reese called to Tesha, who was in the midst of her afternoon nap on her bed between their offices. “Let’s go see the gang.”

The word gang was one of her trigger words, causing her to jump to her feet, tail wagging ninety miles a minute.

Brantley followed Reese and Tesha down the stairs. He started for the refrigerator to get an energy drink, then decided against it at the last second. He didn’t need more caffeine. He could already feel his heart pumping faster than it probably should. He settled on a bottle of water instead.

Reese opened the back door, letting Tesha dart out before following. Brantley pulled up the rear, taking a deep breath and preparing for the upcoming conversation.

He would admit he was looking forward to getting fresh eyes on the details they’d uncovered.

All of them. The ones Reese had held back, and everything Holt and Simon had identified.

Between the lot of them, he was certain they could make sense of it all.

And if they couldn’t, that was because there wasn’t any sense to be had.

Which meant Simon would understand there wasn’t a story there.

“Hey, boss,” Slade called out when they walked into the barn.

“Everyone here?” he replied, mentally doing a roll call as he glanced around the room.

Simon and Archer were standing near the conference room, clearly waiting for an invitation to sit.

Evan, Slade, and Becs were sitting at their desks, noses buried in their computers.

Luca and Darius were getting the electronic board set up.

Jay, Atticus, and Elana were pushing some of the desks out of the way to make room.

“I’m here,” Baz noted as he came out of the kitchen, bringing two stainless steel pots of coffee.

“Me, too,” Charlie said as she came in behind him with a stack of disposable cups, sugar, and creamer.

“RT and Z will be here in a minute,” he informed the team.

“Were y’all able to talk to the principal?” Reese asked Atticus.

“We did.” Atticus glanced at Slade, then back at Reese. “Nothing helpful, really. According to her, the statue was there one day, gone the next morning. But we’re still workin’ on it.”

“A statue?” Charlie asked.

“The bronze mustang in front of CRHS,” Becs explained.

“It’s missing ?” Charlie’s expression shifted between amusement and confusion. “Like it disappeared?”

“Seems that way,” Atticus answered.

“Is it a big statue?”

“Yeah. Life-size.”

“Really?” Charlie laughed. “How does that happen?”

“That’s what they’re tryin’ to figure out,” Reese told her.

“You two workin’ it?” She pointed between Atticus and Slade.

“We are,” Atticus grumbled.

Charlie’s laughter was enough to make Brantley grin. While he sympathized with Atticus, this case couldn’t have come at a better time. It gave them something to focus on. Something that wasn’t mission-critical since they had important things to tend to at the moment.

“I need everyone down here. Including you, Holly,” Brantley said, directing his voice toward the loft.

“Coming!” she called back.

A moment later, she rushed down the stairs carrying an armful of notepads and some pens.

“I know it’s the digital age,” she said as she dumped her loot on one of the desks. “But personally, I like to jot things down.”

“I thought maybe we could record this,” Simon said, stepping up beside Brantley. “Unless you’ve got a problem with it.”

Brantley looked at Reese. “You cool with that?”

Reese’s response was a curt nod.

“We’re working on this together, remember?” Simon stated.

“We are?” Evan asked.

“Who’s we ?” Becs questioned.

Brantley addressed the team. “Archer has officially accepted the offer and will be joining the task force immediately. Simon will be working alongside us on the case we’re about to discuss.

” Brantley glanced at Simon briefly. “Meaning he’ll likely be here with us assisting while doing what he does. ”

“So you’ll be recording us?” Elana asked.

“It’s part of the process, but I promise, you’ll have first listen of everything I do.”

That made Brantley feel slightly better.

“Will some of it make it into the podcast?” Becs questioned.

“More than likely,” Simon told her before looking at Brantley. “But again, you’ll have first listen.”

Brantley didn’t know what it meant for the recording to make it into the podcast, nor did he care for a lesson on it. Not right now, anyway.

“If everyone could settle, we can get started,” Brantley told the team.

Once everyone was sitting, Brantley gestured to Baz.

“Let’s start by going through the data we collected when we were looking for—”

His sentence was cut off when the door opened.

Ryan Trexler, a.k.a. RT, walked in. “Sorry we’re late. We had to wait for someone.”

Z came in behind him.

Brantley was about to ask who they were referring to, but then Z stepped aside, and Decker Bromwell stepped forward.

It took effort, but Brantley managed to avoid grinding his molars to dust as he kept his mouth closed.

He had a few things he wanted to say to the man who’d clearly been keeping things from them.

But now was not the time or place. Had he not been privy to the information Reese uncovered—the fact Decker went to the same high school as Kylie—he would’ve wondered why the man bothered to show up now.

He only hoped the guy had something to contribute other than excuses.

“Thanks for comin’,” Reese said to RT.

“Glad we could be here.” He gestured to Decker. “Y’all remember Deck.”

A few grumbled greetings sounded from the team.

RT continued with an official introduction. “Deck, this is Archer Halligan. He’s the newest member of the team. Archer, meet Decker Bromwell. He’s a tenured agent of Sniper 1 Security and a former member of the task force.”

“I’ve heard quite a bit about you,” Decker told Archer, shaking his hand.

“All good, I hope.”

“So far,” Z retorted, reaching out to shake Archer’s hand after Decker. “Glad to have you on the team.”

“Glad to be here.” Archer gestured toward Simon. “This is Simon Jennings.”

Z stepped aside so Decker and Simon could shake hands and exchange pleasantries.

Brantley waited patiently. Once they were finished, he motioned for Baz to continue. “It’s your show.”

“Have a seat. There’s coffee if you want it.” Baz pointed toward the stainless steel pots on the desk. “We’re just getting started.”

There was some shifting as people moved around, making room for the newcomers.

“Is JJ gonna join us?” Elana asked Baz.

“Yeah. Could you text her?”

“No need,” JJ’s voice sounded a second before her face appeared on the big screen. “I’m here.”

The team launched into greetings. Brantley found himself smiling as he peered at his best friend. She looked good. A little tired but perhaps a bit less stressed than she had been.

“How’re the babies doin’?” Z asked.

Brantley leaned against the wall, watching the interaction. He figured they deserved a few minutes before they were launched headlong into this.

“They’re perfect,” she answered with a sweet smile. “They’re doin’ well.”

“Will y’all be goin’ home soon?”

Her smile widened. “They’re optimistic.”

All eyes cut to Baz.

“You two breed strong stock, huh?” Z asked Baz.

That resulted in some laughter.

“We do. And while I’d love to flash all the pictures I’ve got on my phone, I think we should get started.”

“Coffee, boss?” Holly asked, her voice low.

Brantley shook his head. He didn’t need more caffeine. He had enough adrenaline flooding his system.

Baz tapped the screen on the large board, bringing it to life. Several folders appeared, all containing the information he and Reese had discussed earlier, along with the data that Darius had digitized. Becs had neatly organized it into various folders, all labeled.

“Are we expectin’ more company, boss?” Slade asked, drawing everyone’s attention to the monitor that reflected the exterior camera views.

“Not that I know of.”

“That’s Holt,” Simon noted. “I told him where we’d be.”

“I knew he couldn’t resist,” Archer said with a chuckle.

They wasted another five minutes introducing Holt to the team and vice versa before finally getting down to the nitty-gritty.

By the time Baz started talking again, Brantley could feel his anxiety level soaring.

While this seemed like a good idea in theory, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

At the first mention of Kylie’s name, the team got quiet.

There was no doubt they were reliving the horrific events as they’d played out not so long ago.

Some of them, anyway. A few of the team members were new to both the team and the town, so they weren’t there when it all went down.

Several others had been born and raised in Coyote Ridge and were up to speed on the details.