Page 44 of Missing Pieces (Brantley Walker: Off the Books #12)

“How do you know she’s FBI?” Reese asked Decker, confused by the turn of events.

“Because she told me.”

“Did you know about this?” Brantley asked.

“That Luca had tied her to this?” Reese nodded. “But I had no idea she was FBI.”

He felt the familiar itch of guilt on the back of his neck.

He hated that they’d kept that information from Brantley.

At the time, he hadn’t seen another way.

The man he loved was headstrong and fierce, and he didn’t doubt for one second that Brantley would’ve put the wedding on hold in order to chase a lead.

“I thought you said she was a new hire,” Atticus noted, looking at Reese before his gaze moved to Decker. “Weren’t you a new hire, too?”

“Decker didn’t come on board until a month after everyone else,” Reese explained. “He was finishing up an assignment.”

“Was that intentional?” Brantley asked, spitting the words at Z. “Did you hold him back so their paths didn’t cross?”

Z was about to answer, but RT shook his head, silencing him.

“Apparently, he pleads the fifth.” Atticus pursed his lips. “Still doesn’t make sense, but okay.”

“Tell us how you know Bogart,” Brantley commanded.

Decker glanced around, then got a nod to continue from RT.

“I met her while I was in Dallas. She told me she was FBI, working on a special assignment.” Decker rolled his eyes. “A case against Max Adorite. She wanted to know if I knew Eddie’s whereabouts because they had some questions for her.”

Reese was beginning to think Holt’s theory about a conspiracy wasn’t all that far off. Or perhaps it was spot on because something was clearly not right.

“When was this?” Simon inquired.

“I don’t know. Before Z assigned me to work for the task force.”

Archer got to his feet, his gaze locked on the screen. “I’ve seen that woman before.”

“Where?” Reese asked.

Archer made his way across the room. “May I?” he asked Baz, gesturing toward the screen.

“Go ahead.”

Reese watched, along with the rest of the team, as Archer flipped through images. He stopped on one and enlarged it before stepping aside. “She was at the funeral.”

“Where’d you get those photos?” Brantley asked.

“They come from various people. We skimmed through social media accounts, gathered up the ones we could find. It’s how we usually identify players,” Simon explained.

Impressive. That was precisely what they would’ve done, but they had programs to do that for them. Which was another reason Reese thought it would be a good idea for Simon to become an official member of the task force. He would have access to the same tools they did.

“There’s another one,” Archer noted. “She’s wearing a hat and glasses. I assume it was a disguise if she wasn’t expected at the funeral.”

Definitely a disguise. Reese didn’t recall seeing her, and considering how she’d disappeared, he would have.

“We saw her, too,” Baz said, his gaze shifting between him and Brantley. “At the diner a few days before the wedding.”

Brantley looked his way, accusation in his eyes.

“This is the first I’m hearing of it,” he told him.

Brantley’s attention returned to Baz. “Who was she with?”

“No one.”

“Did you confront her?”

“JJ wanted to, but I asked her to leave it alone until after the wedding.” His gaze shifted to the monitor where JJ’s face was filling the screen. “Want to add anything to that?”

She shook her head. “I’m takin’ notes. I’ve got a ton of questions, but I figure now’s not the time.”

“If it’s pertinent, ask,” Brantley told her.

“I will.” She gestured toward the screen. “We did see her, and yeah, I wanted to confront her, but Baz convinced me not to. I disagreed, but he was right. We had too much going on at the time.”

Brantley stood. “I need someone to create a timeline of events, starting with Meredith Prescott being approached by the FBI. Fill in everything we have from Holt’s research.

Use dates from articles if they’re related.

We’ll meet back up tomorrow to continue this.

If you’ve got anything that’s hot, keep on it.

Otherwise, help Becs and Darius with this. ”

Reese wasn’t surprised that Brantley ended the meeting abruptly. They’d received a lot of information. Probably too much to actually do anything with until they had time to sort it out.

“I’ll be at the house,” Brantley said before walking out, not saying anything to anyone else.

Reese sighed.

“He okay?” RT asked, his expression reflecting his concern.

“It’s a lot.”

“It is.”

“When are y’all goin’ back?” Reese asked his brother-in-law.

“Not until we’ve got this situation sorted.”

“You have a place to stay?”

“We’re staying at the B and B.” RT grinned. “I think your brother wants to buy a farmhouse.”

Reese laughed. “Does he now?”

“He mentioned it last night. Said we should invest in a farmhouse and adopt a few dozen kids.”

“Sounds like my brother.”

“Look,” RT said softly, his tone serious. “I apologize for what went down. I had no idea Z was sending your team to New York. And I damn sure didn’t know it was to find Decker. He kept that part from me.”

“I take it Decker wasn’t missing?”

“Not so much missing, I don’t think. More like off the grid. Your brother was worried, and I think he suspected something was up.”

“How?”

“We’ve got quite a bit of information about Decker’s past. More than you do. We knew about the connection to Kylie. Same high school and all that. But I figured it was purely coincidence.”

Reese would’ve assumed that as well, but as Brantley would say, there’s no such thing as a coincidence.

“Again,” RT said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Reese met his gaze. “But I would appreciate you and Z helping us to figure this out.”

“We’re here until you don’t need us anymore.”

“Thanks.” He gestured toward the door. “I should go check on Brantley.”

RT nodded. “Let me know if I can help.”

Without a word to the team, Reese slipped out with Tesha, leaving them to discuss details. He knew that once they put their heads together, they would likely make sense of it all. He wasn’t sure it would result in a story for Simon to tell, but they would figure that out soon enough.

He hoped.

Rather than spend the next two hours fretting over shit they couldn’t control, Brantley suggested they visit JJ. He needed some time to cool his heels, and this was the perfect way to do that. And because he wanted to spend some alone time with Reese, they left Tesha at home to rest.

“I’ll bet you a blowjob that there are at least a dozen vases in that room,” Brantley told Reese as they walked through the hospital toward JJ’s room.

Reese coughed.

“Your face is red. Does that embarrass you?”

“Behave,” Reese whispered as they passed one of the nurse’s stations.

“I am behaving. I haven’t dragged you into one of these storage closets yet, have I?”

A nurse looked up, grinning.

“Brantley,” Reese drawled.

Laughing, Brantley kept his mouth shut until they reached the door to JJ’s room.

He knocked softly, not sure what state she would be in.

After he left the meeting, he shot her a text to let her know they would be coming up to see her unless she didn’t want them to.

Her response had been: Come. And bring a chocolate shake.

They’d brought both chocolate and strawberry in case she changed her mind before they got there.

“Come in,” JJ called from inside.

Brantley opened the door and gestured Reese in first.

As soon as he saw the forest of flowers, all sitting pretty in their giant glass vases, Brantley cleared his throat and nudged Reese.

“Stop it,” Reese muttered.

“Is it hot outside?” JJ asked, shifting so that she was sitting up.

“Not unusually. Why?” Brantley asked.

JJ pointed at Reese. “Your face is red.”

Brantley choked on a laugh.

“Chocolate and strawberry,” Reese said, lifting the bag, clearly wanting to change the subject.

“You know me so well.” She smiled, and it reached her eyes.

“You’re in a good mood,” Brantley acknowledged, making his way to her bedside.

“I have two beautiful, strong babies. Of course I’m in a good mood.” She took the sack from Reese, opened it. “What did you think of that meeting?”

Brantley shook his head. He honestly didn’t want to discuss it. He needed time to process.

“I don’t really know what to think right now,” Reese told her.

“I think I’m glad I wasn’t there.” Her nose scrunched. “Decker was fourteen?”

If he didn’t want to discuss the meeting, Brantley damn sure didn’t want to think about that , so he changed the subject. “The team’s workin’ on getting the information together. I think we’ll know which direction to go tomorrow.”

Her green gaze was inquisitive. “I didn’t realize there was a direction.”

“This is Simon’s deal. If there’s a story, I don’t think it’s the one he started out thinking it was.”

“Finding Meredith Prescott?” JJ put the straw in her mouth, sucked on it as she shook her head. “No. I don’t think so, either. But there’s something.”

“Did Baz make it back yet?” he asked, looking around, changing the subject again.

“Yeah. He’s with Wes. They’re checking on the babies.”

“Any updates from the doctor?”

JJ’s eyes glittered, and Brantley was positive that was hope he saw reflected there.

“They’re doin’ better than expected. The doctor said they might change the minimum from ten days to seven.”

“Well, that’s good news.”

“I know, right?” Her eyes teared up. “I can’t wait to get them home.”

“Do these babies have names yet?” Reese asked, dropping into a chair near the bed.

JJ sighed. “I can’t decide.”

“What are you working with?” Brantley perched on the corner of the bed.

Laughing, she said, “Too much and not enough.”

“Why not name the boy after Baz?”

“Uh … no,” she said emphatically. “Sebastian’s too long.”

“What’s his middle name?”

“Wayne,” she said, scrunching her nose again. “So that’s a definite no.”

Brantley chuckled. “Does Baz have any suggestions?”

“He likes Naomi and Noah.”

Brantley considered those for a moment. “Very nice names.”