“What did he say?” Brantley asked Slade. “The kid?”
Slade shrugged. “Just asked if we knew Molly.”
“Same thing he asked us,” Reese told everyone.
“Well, it’s clear he knows whoweare,” Brantley stated. “Since he knew who to approach with that question.”
“How?” Baz asked.
“I think that’s a question you have to answer,” Reese told him. “We never met her.”
“No one did,” Baz stated. “I never introduced her to anyone. Hell, I never even told her where I lived or worked.”
Atticus raised a hand. “There are some of us who’ve never heard of her at all.”
“She was a woman I had a one-night stand with. Sorta.”
“Sorta?” Atticus asked, his confusion evident. “How do you sorta have a one-night stand?”
“I went home with her once. She claimed I got her pregnant.”
Atticus’s eyebrows dipped low. Reese understood how that could raise more questions. No one knew exactly what transpired between Baz and Molly, but in order for them to understand how to proceed, they needed to.
“But you didn’t?” Atticus asked, his tone still purely professional.
“Goddammit, it’s not important what I did or didn’t do with her,” Baz snapped.
“Roger that,” Atticus muttered, glancing at Reese. He looked genuinely affronted, which was understandable.
It was clear Baz was about to come out of his skin. He wasn’t looking at this from a rational perspective—understandably—so he didn’t see the need for them to have the basics. But for them to start searching, they had to have a starting point.
“High level,” Reese told Baz. “If we’re lookin’ at her for this, we need to understand her motivations. It might help us know where to start.”
Baz looked at Atticus. “Sorry, man. I’m just…”
Atticus nodded. “No apologies necessary.”
“I met Molly at Moonshiners,” Baz stated, thrusting his hand through his hair. “On New Year’s Eve. JJ and I were…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I got drunk that night. Really drunk. I went home with Molly. She drove me back to her apartment.”
“Write that address down,” Brantley said, addressing the room collectively.
“What is it? I’ll track it and send it to them,” Luca said, his fingers poised on his keyboard.
“What’d Mack say?” Reese asked, realizing Luca was off the phone.
“He didn’t see the kid’s ID. Guy left right after.”
Damn.
Baz rattled off an address, then took a deep breath. “Molly claimed we had sex. I was too drunk to remember anything, so I believed her. Turns out we didn’t. She was already pregnant and told me the baby was mine.”
“But you didn’t date her?” Atticus asked.
Reese had to give the kid credit. There wasn’t an ounce of judgment in his tone.
“No. I told her I wanted to be part of the baby’s life and that I’d take care of her while she was pregnant. She would call me when she needed something. Which was all the damn time because she wanted … she wanted a relationship, and I didn’t.”
“She didn’t believe him,” Luca noted, drawing all eyes to him. “Sorry. Not my business. I overheard some shit I shouldn’t have.”
