“Simon put an offer in on a house,” Archer told him.
“Seemed the logical thing to do since they’re movin’ down here,” Violet added, wondering why Reese would ask that.
“Is this podcast thing steady work?” Brantley asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“For the most part,” Simon said at the same time Archer answered with, “No, not really.”
“It barely pays the bills,” Paige stated as she joined them.
“And they’ve multiplied again,” Brantley muttered. “You are?”
“Paige Avery. I keep these two in line.”
“Investigator?” Reese asked.
“No. That’s Archer’s thing.” Paige frowned. “Wait a minute. Y’all run that task force, huh?”
“We do,” Brantley responded, cocking an eye at Violet.
She grinned. This was better than Violet had imagined it would be. For the past couple of days, she’d been working on a plan to make a more lengthy introduction between Simon and Brantley. According to Simon, it would go a long way to getting the information he needed for the story. He hadn’t put a final stamp on it yet, although Violet knew he was leaning heavily in that direction. Enough that they’d outlined a very rough draft of the season.
“What is it that you do?” Paige inquired.
“Our focus is on finding missing people,” Reese explained.
Violet grabbed her drink and took a gulp. She considered asking Brantley to help her find a missing person, but she stillwasn’t sure her father was missing. Her mother insisted he was because no one had seen him since before the wedding. Granted, Violet knew where he’d been last Saturday night—breaking into her bookstore—but she hadn’t told her mother or sisters about that. It wouldn’t make a difference to Daphne. She would probably love the man even if he killed someone.
Plus, they weren’t exactly at DEFCON 1 yet. It had only been a few days, and this wouldn’t be the first time Harold had run off without telling anyone where he was going. Then again, he usually answered his phone, but he wasn’t doing that. Violet had tried calling him several times, determined to give him a piece of her mind for what he had done.
She decided to keep it to herself for now. If her father didn’t reappear in the next week or so, she’d talk to her cousin.
“You interested in steady work?” Reese asked Archer.
“I might be. You got somethin’?”
“Hold on. You can’t go poachin’ my fiancé’s co-workers,” Violet told him, grinning because she loved that word.Fiancé.It warmed her heart to even think about it.
Simon put a gentle hand on her arm. “Trust me when I tell you, he needs this.”
“But what about the story? Who’s gonna investigate for you?”
“What if we could make time for it?” Reese stated.
“Wow. You’re really hard up to get someone else on the team,” Brantley joked.
Reese looked at Brantley. “It’s either this or we take Decker Bromwell back.”
Brantley’s head snapped around, his gaze slamming into Archer. “Let’s talk some more. Monday work for you?”
Archer looked at Simon. “Monday work for me?”
“I don’t plan on goin’ anywhere until we close on the house,” Simon told him.
Violet’s smile grew ten times its normal size. She’d overheard Simon talking to Spencer yesterday, telling him he would be hiring movers, so he wanted to confirm the closing date. Spencer informed him that October 31stwas the big day. They would be getting the keys that morning when they signed the papers. Violet honestly couldn’t wait. She was already mentally rearranging furniture in that house, and she didn’t even know what furniture they would have.
Archer turned back to Reese. “Monday works for me.”
“So, which house did you buy?” Brantley asked.
