Page 7 of Missing Pieces (Brantley Walker: Off the Books #12)

“We’d prefer someone full-time, but there’s some leniency in there when we’re not workin’ an active case.” Brantley looked at Simon. “Do you have an idea of how much time you’ll need him on a weekly basis?”

“Depends on the story I’m workin’ on. If I keep ’em local, I do a lot of the investigatin’ myself when Archer’s off doin’ other things.”

“What’s local? Like state level?”

“I was thinkin’ more along the lines of keepin’ it closer to home for a while.”

“Home being…?”

“Here. Coyote Ridge. We’ll have a permanent address on October thirty-first.”

Brantley looked at Archer. “And you?”

“Same. I’m movin’ in with them.”

“No roots, huh?”

“Temporary ones,” Archer said with a smirk. “I’m hopin’ to shift that to more permanent in the future.”

That made Brantley feel a little better. It was difficult enough to find someone, but hiring them, getting them set up and through the onboarding process was a pain in the ass, regardless of who was responsible for doing it.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I know nothin’ about what you do,” Brantley told them. “So I don’t know what it entails. You have experience lookin’ for missing people? Or workin’ cold cases?”

“The majority of the stories I do are cold cases,” Simon explained. “The cases vary. Robberies, fraud, missing persons, unsolved homicides.”

“Do you get to choose? Or do your podcast bosses decide?”

Simon chuckled. “No boss, but I do have sponsors. I’ve been a stickler for deciding on my own. I’m an investigative journalist by trade, so I have an eye for a story when there is one.”

Interesting. He looked at Archer. “What about you? You an investigative journalist, too?”

“No. Just an investigator.”

“Ah. You have a gun permit?”

“I do.”

“Know how to shoot?”

Archer’s grin widened. “I’ve got a little experience.”

Reese brought over a plate, handed it off to Archer. “He was a Marine scout sniper.”

Brantley looked at Archer. “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

“ Oorah! ”

“Brantley was Navy,” Reese noted. “SEAL. SpecOps.”

“He says it like he’s a civilian.” Brantley laughed. “Reese was in the Air Force. He did two tours in Iraq. One in Afghanistan. POW.”

“No shit.” Archer stared at Reese. “Glad you made it back.”

“You and me both,” Reese muttered, clearly not wanting to discuss it.

“Thank you for your service,” Simon said. “All of you.”

“When’d you get out?” Archer asked, looking at Brantley once again.

“A coupla years ago. Forced retirement. Medical discharge.”

“Do you miss it?” Archer asked.

Brantley cut his gaze to Reese. “Not as much as I used to. Thanks,” he told Reese when he passed him a plate. He was about to explain how the task force worked, simply to get off the subject, when the back door slid open, and Baz appeared.

“Hey, man,” Brantley greeted with a grin. “You look just like you did a few hours ago. Like shit.”

Baz huffed a laugh. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I thought you weren’t comin’ in until later.”

“JJ kicked me out.” Baz waved a hand to encompass the room. “I think she’s lookin’ for the dirt on this meeting.”

Of course she was.

“How’s she doin’?” Reese asked.

“She’s good. My mom’s with her now. Holly’s headed up there.

” Baz nodded toward the two men sitting at the counter.

“I tried to warn her she’s gonna get an earful about these two.

” His gaze snapped up to Brantley’s face.

“Because apparently, her best friend is a lowdown, no good, secret-keeping asshole.” He flashed a grin. “Her words.”

Brantley could pretty much hear JJ calling him that. She meant it with love.

“But on a positive note, she misses you guys.”

“We miss her, too,” Reese said, then made the formal introductions.

“This JJ sounds like a badass,” Archer stated.

“She is,” Brantley, Reese, and Baz said at the same time.

While he ate his sandwich, Brantley watched the interactions.

They’d been looking for another investigator for what felt like a damn long time.

One who could partner with Atticus now that the newest member of their team was fully onboarded and certified.

They’d looked at somewhere around fifty applicants.

A couple had seemed like they would work, but not exactly fit.

Not until now.

Archer Halligan … yeah, Brantley got the feeling this guy was going to pull his weight and then some.

Reese stood beside Brantley, listening as the conversation came to a lull.

“How about we walk over to the barn, and we’ll show you around,” Brantley suggested once he and Archer had downed their sandwiches.

Archer got to his feet. “Sounds like a plan.” He peered down at Simon. “You comin’?”

Simon glanced at Reese. “I thought I’d stay here and talk if that’s all right with you?”

“Sure. We’ll hang back,” Reese told Brantley, figuring they didn’t need an entourage to do a tour of a barn anyway.

“Come on, Tesha,” Archer called as they walked out the door. “You can lead the way.”

“Looks like those two are gonna get along,” Simon said when it was just the two of them. “He really does like animals. Violet’s got cats, and Archer’s excited about living in the same house with them.”

“I think Archer’s gonna fit nicely,” Reese admitted.

“Me, too.”

“You don’t think his workin’ for the task force is gonna be a problem for your podcast? You’ve only got one other person who helps, right?”

“Yeah. Paige.”

Reese piled the empty plates in the sink and turned on the water. “If I recall correctly, she usually does most of your editing work, right?”

“You know a little about podcasts,” Simon said with a grin.

“I listen to them,” he said as he poured soap on a sponge. “Yours mostly. Long-time fan. I think your best work was the story you did on Casey Jenner.”

Simon nodded. “The little girl who went missing when she was supposedly walkin’ home from the mall.”

“Yeah.” Reese paused what he was doing and stared at him. “She’d been there with her foster brothers, right?”

“And her foster father,” Simon’s tone turned somber. “The man who was supposed to take care of her was the one who took her life.”

Reese remembered it like he’d heard it only minutes ago. That was how good Simon was.

“You broke that case wide open. Hell, you solved it when the police had spent years findin’ nothin’.”

“Sometimes the cards fall the right way.”

“If you’re ever lookin’ for an idea for a story, we’ve got quite a few cold cases we’re workin’ on. You could even solve a few if you’d like.”

Simon grinned. “I might just take you up on that.”

“We could make a place for you in the barn,” Reese told him as he got back to scrubbing the plates. “We’ve got the room. Get you a desk.”

Simon chuckled. “Are you offerin’ me a job?”

That wasn’t his intention, but he would admit, the idea had merit. “You’ve got the investigative skills.”

“It would be a damn good change of pace,” Simon mused. “Especially if I’m gonna lose Archer. Don’t get me wrong. It’ll be a hardship to lose him, but I know this is more his pace. He gets bored easily, and you’ve got so much more goin’ on than I do.”

“What about Paige? Will she be able to take up the slack?”

Simon shrugged one shoulder. “Paige is dealing with some stuff. She’s hesitant to move here. Keeps waffling on her answer.”

“What’re you gonna do?”

“Probably cut her loose. She doesn’t make decisions well. If I make it, she’ll adapt. If and when she’s ready to commit to coming down here, she can come back.”

“Well, the offer stands. You can stop by anytime you want.” Reese rinsed the dishes and placed them on the drying rack while Simon remained on the stool across from him. “Or you can always tap one of us for help if you get to a point when you’re shorthanded. We’ve usually got some leeway.”

“How big is the team, anyway?”

“With Archer, that gives us six active investigators, including me and Brantley,” Reese told him.

“We’re in the process of creatin’ another team of six.

They’ll work on cold cases and special projects.

Jay and Charlie are in place now, and we’ve got four new hires comin’ in the next coupla weeks.

Plus, we’ve got two hackers, two analysts, one assistant, and Baz. ”

“That’s quite a team.”

“It’s taken some time for us to figure out how to make it work. There’s some travel involved, and we’ve got a couple of people who need to stick closer to home. I think we’ve finally found the sweet spot. As you can imagine, active cases require all hands on deck.”

“That makes sense.”

“But as glamorous as this job sounds, they need a break from time to time.”

“I know now’s probably not the time,” Simon said, his tone hesitant. “But Holt said I should talk to you and Brantley about Meredith Prescott. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with her or not.”

“Holt mentioned her. Kylie and Jessie’s mother.” Reese grabbed a towel and dried his hands. “What about her?”

“Holt believes she witnessed somethin’ that caused her to go into hiding.”

Reese frowned. Although they’d attempted to talk to Holt, they hadn’t gotten far on the topic.

Claiming not to be one for gossip, Holt had urged them to talk to Travis to get the details.

Since Travis had been avoiding them for some time now, they hadn’t been able to get information from him.

And now Simon was here, looking into whatever it was Holt had unearthed.

Although he was on the fence as to whether pursuing this was a good idea, Reese decided to entertain the notion. Just for the basics, of course.

“What did she see?”

“If rumors are to be believed, she witnessed a mob hit when she lived in Dallas.”

Reese set the towel down and stared at Simon. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know where this was going, but that little niggle of warning at the base of his skull told him he already did.

“You’ve heard of the Southern Boy Mafia?” Simon asked.

Yep. That was what he feared Simon would say.