“Honestly, I don’t know. Why? What’s wrong?”
He proceeded to give her the rundown of the state of his house.
“That’s terrible,” she said with exasperation. “God, I hope he’s all right.”
Yeah, Reese did, too.
“He’s got a picture of you and him, Mom,” Reese said, heading back to the picture lying on the table where he’d left it. “He wrote your name on the back, so Z’s gonna post some bodyguards with you for a little while.”
“What? Why?”
“We don’t know who’s after Toby, but whoever it is went to a lot of trouble lookin’ for somethin’. It’s better to be safe than sorry. If you hear from him, I need you to call me.”
“I won’t,” she said, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of disappointment in that statement. “Hear from him, I mean. Of course I’d call you.”
“Did somethin’ happen?”
“After your father died,” she said softly, “Toby came around a little. I think he was hoping to pick up where we left off.”
Another shiver slithered down his spine.
“But I’d met Hugh by then and…”
Reese didn’t need her to finish that statement. He knew how his mother felt about Hugh, knew they were happy together. And if she hadn’t been joking about Mark—God, he hoped she’d been joking—then he figured there was no room in her life for Toby anymore.
“Watch your back, Mom,” he said with a heavy sigh. “We’re gonna keep lookin’. I’ll let you know when we find him.”
“Be careful, Reese.”
“Always.”
He disconnected the call and turned to find Brantley standing there, staring at him expectantly.
“From what I gathered, he doesn’t have stable employment. She said last she talked to him, he was starting a travel agency.”
Brantley frowned, standing tall. “I saw a brochure in his desk.” He started toward the office. “I didn’t think anything of it, but maybe it’s his.”
Reese followed him down the narrow hall and into the office. When Brantley passed over the glossy, trifold brochure, Reese skimmed it.
“Land Ho!” he read aloud.
Brantley chuckled. “Creative if he specializes in cruises.”
Based on the pictures in the brochure, it looked like he did.
“There’s a phone number,” he noted, pulling his phone from his pocket and dialing. “Damn it. It’s disconnected.”
“We could get JJ to trace it? If it’s a cell, maybe it’ll give us somethin’ to go on.”
Reese glared at him.
Brantley put his hands up in surrender. “Okay. What if we ask Luca? I’ll be discreet about it.”
Blowing out a puff of air, Reese considered his options. Based on what they’d found so far, there was nothing that would help them find Toby or whoever was looking for him. He figured this was a dead end, but unfortunately, it was the only lead they had.
“Fine,” he said. “But don’t you dare tell him the guy had a thing with my mom.”
Brantley laughed. “I promise.”
