“We could make a place for you in the barn,” Reese told him as he got back to scrubbing the plates.“We’ve got the room.Get you a desk.”
Simon chuckled.“Are you offerin’ me a job?”
That wasn’t his intention, but he would admit, the idea had merit.“You’ve got the investigative skills.”
“It would be a damn good change of pace,” Simon mused.“Especially if I’m gonna lose Archer.Don’t get me wrong.It’ll be a hardship to lose him, but I know this is more his pace.He gets bored easily, and you’ve got so much more goin’ on than I do.”
“What about Paige?Will she be able to take up the slack?”
Simon shrugged one shoulder.“Paige is dealing with some stuff.She’s hesitant to move here.Keeps waffling on her answer.”
“What’re you gonna do?”
“Probably cut her loose.She doesn’t make decisions well.If I make it, she’ll adapt.If and when she’s ready to commit to coming down here, she can come back.”
“Well, the offer stands.You can stop by anytime you want.”Reese rinsed the dishes and placed them on the drying rack while Simon remained on the stool across from him.“Or you can always tap one of us for help if you get to a point when you’re shorthanded.We’ve usually got some leeway.”
“How big is the team, anyway?”
“With Archer, that gives us six active investigators, including me and Brantley,” Reese told him.“We’re in the process of creatin’ another team of six.They’ll work on cold cases and special projects.Jay and Charlie are in place now, and we’ve got four new hires comin’ in the next coupla weeks.Plus, we’ve got two hackers, two analysts, one assistant, and Baz.”
“That’s quite a team.”
“It’s taken some time for us to figure out how to make it work.There’s some travel involved, and we’ve got a couple of people who need to stick closer to home.I think we’ve finally found the sweet spot.As you can imagine, active cases require all hands on deck.”
“That makes sense.”
“But as glamorous as this job sounds, they need a break from time to time.”
“I know now’s probably not the time,” Simon said, his tone hesitant.“But Holt said I should talk to you and Brantley about Meredith Prescott.I’m not sure if you’re familiar with her or not.”
“Holt mentioned her.Kylie and Jessie’s mother.”Reese grabbed a towel and dried his hands.“What about her?”
“Holt believes she witnessed somethin’ that caused her to go into hiding.”
Reese frowned.Although they’d attempted to talk to Holt, they hadn’t gotten far on the topic.Claiming not to be one for gossip, Holt had urged them to talk to Travis to get the details.Since Travis had been avoiding them for some time now, they hadn’t been able to get information from him.And now Simon was here, looking into whatever it was Holt had unearthed.Although he was on the fence as to whether pursuing this was a good idea, Reese decided to entertain the notion.Just for the basics, of course.
“What did she see?”
“If rumors are to be believed, she witnessed a mob hit when she lived in Dallas.”
Reese set the towel down and stared at Simon.He wasn’t sure he wanted to know where this was going, but that little niggle of warning at the base of his skull told him he already did.
“You’ve heard of the Southern Boy Mafia?”Simon asked.
Yep.That was what he feared Simon would say.
As was the case whenever someone mentioned the Adorites, guilt settled like a lead weight in Reese’s stomach.His past relationship with Max’s sister, Madison, had nearly cost Reese his life as well as his relationship with Brantley.To say it was a sore subject for him was an understatement.
“Yeah,” he answered, and it was his turn to hesitate.
“Holt uncovered something that leads him to believe Meredith witnessed Max Adorite kill a man.He also thinks the FBI tried to strong-arm her into testifying, which is the reason for her disappearance.”
Reese wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“I’ve done a little digging, and while I think there’s a correlation of some kind, I’m not exactly sure what she did or did not witness.With Travis’s permission, I’ve decided to investigate it further.It’ll be the topic of my next podcast series.”
“Travis’s permission?You talked to him about it?”
