Page 8 of Missing Pieces (Brantley Walker: Off the Books #12)

As was the case whenever someone mentioned the Adorites, guilt settled like a lead weight in Reese’s stomach. His past relationship with Max’s sister, Madison, had nearly cost Reese his life as well as his relationship with Brantley. To say it was a sore subject for him was an understatement.

“Yeah,” he answered, and it was his turn to hesitate.

“Holt uncovered something that leads him to believe Meredith witnessed Max Adorite kill a man. He also thinks the FBI tried to strong-arm her into testifying, which is the reason for her disappearance.”

Reese wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“I’ve done a little digging, and while I think there’s a correlation of some kind, I’m not exactly sure what she did or did not witness. With Travis’s permission, I’ve decided to investigate it further. It’ll be the topic of my next podcast series.”

“Travis’s permission? You talked to him about it?”

“I did. Briefly.”

“Investigate what exactly? Her disappearance?”

“Yes. And the events surrounding it.”

“Travis knows about this?”

Simon nodded. “I reached out to him shortly after I got to town. I make it a point to talk to the family before pursuing cases. Since my job often entails making their pain public, their opinions matter, although it doesn’t always mean I’ll back off.”

“Does Travis support it?”

“More than I expected he would.” Simon sighed. “He’s seekin’ something. Closure, maybe. I’m not sure this’ll give it to him, but it might help.”

Reese wasn’t sure what additional closure anyone could give Travis. The woman who killed Kylie was dead. As for how tracking down Kylie’s absentee mother would benefit anyone, he couldn’t begin to guess.

“And if Meredith Prescott doesn’t want to be found?” Reese asked.

“That’s a risk I’m willin’ to take considerin’ the bigger picture.”

“Which is?”

Simon paused, glanced down, then looked back up. “If Holt’s right, there are people conspirin’ against the Adorites. Powerful people. And I honestly think Meredith Prescott was caught up in it somehow. From what I’ve come up with, I’m not so sure it was by any fault of hers.”

“So you don’t think she witnessed a murder?”

“I honestly don’t know at this point. I’ve been holdin’ off because I wanted to talk to you and Brantley about it.”

“We don’t know Kylie’s mother. Hell, I didn’t realize she wasn’t in the picture until Holt brought it up. I’m not sure what we have to contribute.”

“You’d be surprised. Holt’s theory deviates from the norm.”

“In what way?”

“He believes there’s a government conspiracy. He’s leanin’ toward the idea of a group of rogue agents out to take down the Southern Boy Mafia on their own.”

Conspiracy? Rogue agents? This was quickly venturing out of their wheelhouse.

“Are you talkin’ about a cabal?” Reese asked, unable to disguise his curiosity.

“Exactly. From what Holt’s found so far, there are some questionable actions by the FBI. He thinks perhaps they’re workin’ outside official lines.”

“To what end?”

Simon grinned. “That’s the question everyone keeps askin’. One I don’t have an answer for yet, but I think if I start pullin’ on these threads, it’s gonna come to light.”

Reese thought back to the information they’d uncovered during their trip to New York.

JJ had found some interesting connections between some of their former team members.

Connections that didn’t make sense. At least not on the surface, but when you looked at them through a bigger lens, there was a good chance they were connected to this theory of Holt’s.

“Travis encouraged me to pursue this,” Simon said. “And I’d like to utilize the skills and knowledge of your team to get answers. Unless you’re opposed to the idea.”

“No,” he said quickly. Perhaps too quickly.

Simon chuckled. “It’s addicting, isn’t it?”

Reese stared at the man, unable to hide the smile that crept up. “The finding the answers part?” Reese huffed a laugh. “Yeah. Addicting is one word for it. I think there are definitely more questions than answers at the moment, but I honestly don’t know how our help will benefit the story.”

“Let’s just say there are some connections that need to be fleshed out. Because you and Brantley are familiar with some of the key players, having you and your team look at it will help.”

“If we do and nothin’ comes of it, what then?”

“Then we quash it altogether.”

Reese nodded. “How often does that happen?”

“In all the time I’ve been doing this…” Simon’s gaze shot skyward as though he were thinking. A second later, he looked back at Reese. “Never.”

“Never? Really?”

“Really. I wouldn’t agree to look into something unless I thought there was something there. If we work together, perhaps we can give Travis and his family some answers. It may not be the closure he’s lookin’ for, but like I said, maybe it’ll help.”

Reese wasn’t so sure anything would help, considering Travis and Gage had lost their wife. Their children had lost their mother. Only time would lessen the pain of that sort of loss. But maybe Simon was right. Perhaps there were answers that would give them a little bit of peace.

“Okay,” Reese told Simon, meeting his stare. “Say I give you full access to the task force. What’s the next step?”

“We need to plug in some of the missing pieces. The only way I know to do that is to map it out from beginning to end.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

Simon smiled. “Holt and I have already started. We just need your team to add what they already know. Then we can establish a baseline.”

A baseline.

Sounded easy enough.

Which Reese figured meant it wouldn’t be.