“How do you know Max didn’t eliminate her?”Brantley asked.
“We don’t know that,” Simon admitted.
“It would’ve solved all his problems, would it not?”
“Sure.I don’t think she’s dead,” Holt admitted.“If there were even a whiff of that, the FBI would’ve backed off.”
Reese had to agree with Holt.He wasn’t sure what Max Adorite was capable of, but someone would’ve noticed her absence.Meredith would’ve had to sign the divorce papers.And surely she’d sent birthday cards to her kids over the past decade and a half.If she had disappeared off the face of the earth, they would’ve realized it.
Which meant finding Meredith was key to understanding what did or did not happen all those years ago.
“Hey, Archer,” Reese called.
“Yeah?”he replied a second before he appeared in the door.
“What’re your thoughts on this?Story?No story?”
“I think it’s a bit convoluted at the moment,” he said, glancing at the walls.“Too much information.But if we can narrow the scope and outline some of the data, I think we’ll find a pattern.”
Reese looked at Brantley, silently putting the ball back in his court.As far as he was concerned, he was all in.
Chapter Sixteen
Brantley took in the information relayed onthe wall and tried to see it from Archer’s perspective.He had to agree that the man had a point.At the very least, they needed to weed out the information that didn’t matter to see if there was a pattern.As much as it pained him to admit, he had a feeling Holt and Simon were on to something.
He wouldn’t deny—at least not yet—that there was something here.What, he had no idea, but there was only one way to find out.And it wasn’t by standing around arguing back and forth.Clearly, Holt and Simon had given serious thought to what they had uncovered.Perhaps it was only fair that Brantley do the same.
“Y’all really want our help?”he asked, turning to look at Simon.
“We really do.”
Brantley fished his phone out of his pocket and pulled up his contacts.Once he found who he was looking for, he stabbed the screen to dial.
“Hey, Darius.I need you to get over to Shelf Help.”
“I can do that.Do I need to bring anything?”
“Yeah.Somethin’ to digitize a whole bunch of information.You might wanna bring Elana or Holly to help.”
“Okay,” Darius said hesitantly.
“Simon and Holt are lookin’ into a case, and they need our help on it.Figure it’ll be easier if we consolidate the information.Once we have it in electronic format, Simon will need access to it.”
“Easy to do.”
Brantley explained where the apartment was and how to access it, then informed Darius that they would leave the key with Violet, the bookshop owner, and asked him to stop in there to get it.
When he disconnected the call, he turned to Simon and Holt.“Let’s grab some food and talk about next steps.”
The two men shared a glance before Holt said, “I think I’m gonna sit this one out.Thanks for the invite, though.”
“You sure?”Reese asked.
“As curious as I am, I can’t let myself get too far off track.”He smiled sheepishly.“As it is, I’m supposed to be holed up in the apartment working on a chapter.”
“Writer’s block?”Simon teased.
“It’s a living, breathing thing.I shit you not.”
