“I’m aware.”Rose looked back and forth between them.“And I know this isn’t an urgent matter—well, it kinda is to Callie with homecoming and all that, but…” She waved her hand again.“But it’s missing, and your team finds missing people, so I just figured if you could tackle finding the human element, you could easily do this.”
He was still fighting the urge to laugh as he shot a confused glance at Brantley.
“She does kinda have a point,” Brantley noted.
Reese’s mouth fell open.Was he saying…?
Brantley’s grin was that of a devilish man, but Reese suspected only he would notice.
“We’ll get our best people on it, Mrs.Elliott,” Brantley told her.
Reese harnessed every ounce of willpower to keep from asking Brantley if he’d lost his damn mind.Instead, he watched as Rose narrowed her eyes at Brantley, cocking one perfectly arched eyebrow.
Brantley cleared his throat.“I mean, Rose.”
She smiled.“Thank you.And if you could keep it quiet, that would be wonderful.The last thing we need is for Brett to get word of it.”
Brett?Reese let the name tumble around in his gray matter until it found something that made sense.He assumed she was referring to Brett Jameson, the superintendent of Coyote Ridge ISD, who also happened to be Callie’s older brother.The only reason he knew of the man was because Trey had mentioned him when explaining that he was building an agricultural barn for the high school on their newly acquired property.Apparently, Brett had to sign off on it.
“We’ll do our best,” he promised when Brantley didn’t respond.
“Okay then.”Rose smiled.“I’ll let you get to it.”
With that, she strolled into the diner on her two-inch heels, as prim and proper as he remembered her when she was his teacher.As soon as she was inside, he hurried to catch up with Brantley, who’d made a beeline for the truck.
“I think you’re sleep deprived,” he accused, helping Tesha into the truck.
“Probably.”
“You just had to tell her we’d do this.”Reese shook his head, still baffled that Brantley would cave so easily.
“You do know I’m not huntin’ down that horse, right?”Brantley muttered as he was getting behind the wheel.
“You’re the one who took the case,” he countered.
Brantley’s eyes were wide when he looked over, his voice raspy.“I couldn’t tell her no.It’s like she had this”—he mimicked gripping someone around the throat—“hold on me.I had no choice.”
Reese understood the feeling all too well, which was why he said, “Why don’t we let Atticus run with it?”
Brantley barked a laugh.“Oh, that should be fun.”
Reese thought so.
Chapter Fourteen
“How long did we sleep?”Brantley askedas he came awake slowly, drifting out of a deep, dreamless sleep.
“Almost five hours.”
“So, it’s what?Thirteen hundred?”
“Ten after.”
Brantley breathed in deeply, enjoying the warmth of the man pressed up against his back.He could easily drift off for another hour, but it would accomplish nothing.
“If we get up now, we can get some shit done today,” he grumbled.
“We could,” Reese agreed from behind him.
