“Do you still have them?”
Baz shook his head. “I threw that shit in the trash. I didn’t want JJ to know. I didn’t want to freak her out.”
Considering all that JJ had been through in the past couple of years, Brantley understood that. JJ was finally getting to a point where she wasn’t afraid to be alone. He doubted that would be the case anymore. At this rate, maybe it would be best to wrap her in bubble wrap, put her in a room with no windows, and keep her there. That might be the only way to keep her safe from here on out.
Of course, if anyone tried to do that, JJ would break every bone in their body.
“Do you think Molly’s a threat to JJ?” Brantley asked sincerely.
“If you’d asked me that a couple of days ago, I would’ve said no,” Baz stated, his temper cooling.
“What about the guy?”
Baz shook his head. “No idea.”
Well, the good news was they now had a suspect. The bad news was Baz didn’t appear to know who the guy was either. However, they’d had less to go on before, so he held out hope. They would tug on this thread until it unraveled something that would help them find her.
“Keep it to yourself for now,” Brantley told Baz when Reese and Sheriff Endsley started toward them.
Tesha trotted along beside Reese, constantly looking up at her favorite human, waiting for Reese to give her another command. She’d been a trooper since they got there, sniffing everywhere, following JJ’s scent. Too bad that scent seemed to start and end in roughly the same place: with the remnants of JJ’s breakfast—a bottle of orange juice, a bottle of chocolate milk, a couple of cronuts, and a long John—along with JJ’s cell phone and the little magnetized wallet that was constantly popping off the phone.
“We’ve got this, Baz,” Brantley told him. “I promise you.”
He felt Baz stiffen. He knew the man wanted to argue because right now, the only thing he cared about was finding JJ, and he didn’t give a shit who found her. Brantley didn’t care either, but he knew they could find her faster without having to jump through hoops or dodge red tape. Or, most importantly, stand around and talk this shit to death.
Brantley turned his attention to the sheriff. “We good here?”
He waited as Jeff sized him up, the older man’s gaze shifting between Baz, Brantley, and Reese before returning to Brantley.
“How do you wanna play this?” the sheriff asked.
Brantley wouldn’t pretend he wasn’t surprised that Jeff was putting the ball in his court. He’d expected the small-town cop to want to lead this investigation. Then again, Brantley and Reese had proven their abilities a couple of years back when they joined forces to find Kate Walker—his cousin Travis’s daughter—when she’d been kidnapped while on a school field trip. They had a good track record, so maybe Sheriff Endsley merely appreciated the help.
“Don’t act surprised,” Jeff told him. “I’ll give you all the manpower you need, but since I know you’ll only go rogue if I insist on runnin’ the show, I figure it’s best to let you lead the way.”
Well, he was right about that. Brantley hadn’t intended to let the sheriff lead the investigation. However, he’d thought he would have more of a fight to get control.
Good to know they could bypass that part.
“Reese asked me to expedite the missing person report,” Jeff noted.
Brantley looked at Reese and got a nod.
“Protocol is to wait—” the sheriff began.
“Fuck that shit!” Baz roared. “She’s pregnant, goddammit.”
Brantley stood tall and put his hands on Baz’s shoulders. “We’re gonna do everything we can. All of us.”
“Why? Why the fuck would you wait?” Baz’s arctic blue eyes blazed like beacons in his face.
“We won’t. And we won’t hold off on the search either,” Sheriff Endsley clarified. “I’ve got my guys goin’ through town. Door to door to see if anyone saw who she left with or where they went.”
“It’s not enough,” Baz snapped.
Nothing they did would be enough, Brantley knew. Not unless their efforts brought JJ home safely.
Because it benefited them to have the deputies knocking on doors, Brantley decided to share what he knew with the sheriff.
