He wasn’t surprised when Atticus put his foot to the floor and laid a band of rubber on the road.
Complicated didn’t seem to be working all that well for Atticus.Not from what he could tell anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Three
After Reese provided him with information he’doriginally withheld—which turned out to be not much at all—Brantley went to his office and buried himself in busy work.For the first time in possibly ever, his inbox was almost at zero.Granted, his trash bin was full, but he still deserved kudos for the effort.
It was all he could do to keep his mind occupied because it would’ve been so easy to start digging into Holt’s theories.He wanted to, but Brantley knew it was crucial to bring the team in, get their input before he proceeded.They deserved that much.
Brantley’s phone buzzed with a text from Holly.
“Holly said Simon and Archer are here,” he informed Reese.
Reese appeared in the doorway of his office, looking at his phone.“RT and Z aren’t far behind.”
“You ready to do this?”
Reese looked up.“Not sure I’m ready, but it needs to be done.”
Brantley understood Reese’s reluctance.They were heading down a road they hadn’t ventured before.Finding Meredith Prescott would likely be the easy part.Provided she wasn’t dead.If that were the case, he doubted anyone would ever find the body.Not if the Adorites were the reason for her disappearance.
“Come on, girl,” Reese called to Tesha, who was in the midst of her afternoon nap on her bed between their offices.“Let’s go see the gang.”
The wordgangwas one of her trigger words, causing her to jump to her feet, tail wagging ninety miles a minute.
Brantley followed Reese and Tesha down the stairs.He started for the refrigerator to get an energy drink, then decided against it at the last second.He didn’t need more caffeine.He could already feel his heart pumping faster than it probably should.He settled on a bottle of water instead.
Reese opened the back door, letting Tesha dart out before following.Brantley pulled up the rear, taking a deep breath and preparing for the upcoming conversation.
He would admit he was looking forward to getting fresh eyes on the details they’d uncovered.All of them.The ones Reese had held back, and everything Holt and Simon had identified.Between the lot of them, he was certain they could make sense of it all.And if they couldn’t, that was because there wasn’t any sense to be had.Which meant Simon would understand there wasn’t a story there.
“Hey, boss,” Slade called out when they walked into the barn.
“Everyone here?”he replied, mentally doing a roll call as he glanced around the room.
Simon and Archer were standing near the conference room, clearly waiting for an invitation to sit.Evan, Slade, and Becs were sitting at their desks, noses buried in their computers.Luca and Darius were getting the electronic board set up.Jay, Atticus, and Elana were pushing some of the desks out of the way to make room.
“I’m here,” Baz noted as he came out of the kitchen, bringing two stainless steel pots of coffee.
“Me, too,” Charlie said as she came in behind him with a stack of disposable cups, sugar, and creamer.
“RT and Z will be here in a minute,” he informed the team.
“Were y’all able to talk to the principal?”Reese asked Atticus.
“We did.”Atticus glanced at Slade, then back at Reese.“Nothing helpful, really.According to her, the statue was there one day, gone the next morning.But we’re still workin’ on it.”
“A statue?”Charlie asked.
“The bronze mustang in front of CRHS,” Becs explained.
“It’smissing?”Charlie’s expression shifted between amusement and confusion.“Like it disappeared?”
“Seems that way,” Atticus answered.
“Is it a big statue?”
“Yeah.Life-size.”
