“Along those lines, maybe,” Reese agreed. “JJ? Can you think of anything?”
“He’s spoiled,” she said, her tone irritated. “I’m pretty sure he lives above his means. And that’s with his parents payin’ for everything.”
“What about gamblin’?” Luca asked.
“Or maybe the stock market?” Holly offered.
“Funny.” JJ huffed a laugh. “I remember him makin’ some dumb-ass comment about how he should invest in powder. Said he’d be rich. Idiot doesn’t even use powder.”
Brantley glanced at Charlie, Reese, Holly, then Luca. They were all looking at him and based on their expressions they were thinking the same thing he was.
“Hey … uh … JJ,” Luca said, his tone low and even. “Does Dante … uh … do you know if he does drugs?”
“Drugs?” This time JJ snorted. “Guy couldn’t do drugs. He spends all his time with a sinus infection. It’s part of the reason I didn’t want to be around him this last go-round. Every time I saw him, he was sniffin’ and snortin’. It got…”
They heard JJ inhale sharply.
“Oh.” She sucked in more air. “Oh, my God! Dante’s a drug addict?”
“Sounds like cocaine is his drug of choice,” Charlie said.
Brantley agreed. It was known to do significant damage to the sinus cavity.
“There’s a good chance he’s in debt to a dealer,” Luca said, looking up from his chair.
Charlie exhaled heavily. “Great. Because that’s something we can easily narrow down.”
“We could hack his email and his phone. The one you recovered at the scene,” Luca offered. “JJ, it’d be worth a look. See if we can find any communication between him and a dealer.”
“We didn’t recover the phone,” Reese said. “I left it on the table. Alongside the finger.”
Luca considered that. “Email, then. We can also see if he kept anything from his phone in the cloud. It’s possible he utilized the automated backup.”
“What the fuck is a cloud?” Brantley asked, glancing from one face to another.
Like the last time, Reese shook his head. Brantley was really getting tired of that response.
JJ ignored his question, too. “I agree. We’ll have to do a scan, though. I doubt he’ll openly use phrases that would call attention to it.” She snorted, then muttered, “Then again, he’s provin’ to be a world-class idiot.”
“Which do you want me to take, boss?” Luca asked her.
There was no response on the phone.
Brantley grinned, knowing JJ thought Luca was asking him. “JJ, he was talkin’ to you.”
“Me?” she squeaked. “Oh. I … uh … I’ll take the email since I’ve already got a path in. The phone’ll be a bit trickier. I know how you like a challenge, Luca.”
Luca grinned. “Your wish is my command.”
Brantley wouldn’t lie, he felt a little bit useless, but at least they had a string to pull on.
While they started on that, he stepped outside to make a call to the governor. Not exactly news he wanted to relay, but he’d promised to keep the family in the loop.
*
After Brantley and Reese left, Trey hadpolitely excused himself to the kitchen, giving the Greenwoods a bit of privacy. He had taken a seat at the small dinette table, doing his best not to eavesdrop on the conversation taking place in the next room. Not an easy feat when the family was on edge and louder than they likely intended.
He wasn’t sure why Brantley thought it a good idea to leave him behind. He had absolutely no experience in this sort of situation. He didn’t know what to say to possibly ease their fears and worries. He had no idea what he would do if they asked for a status update, either.
