“Want somethin’ from inside?”
“Energy drink.”
Brantley watched the silver Honda that was following them pass when he pulled into the parking lot.He kept his eye out for the others as he got out and pumped gas.The red truck drove by going in the opposite direction.He was moving slowly.Slow enough to earn a honk from someone trying to pull out of the parking lot.
By the time Brantley was finished, Reese was coming out of the store with Tesha and two energy drink cans.
“Do we still have company?”Reese asked when he climbed into the truck.
“No.Doesn’t mean they’re not waitin’ up the road.”
“For what?Us to leave town?”
That would be a reasonable assumption.Since Brantley hadn’t stopped during their scenic drive, it was likely their pursuers thought he hadn’t found what he was looking for.Little did they know, but they could’ve flashed bright neon signs with arrows pointing and not been as obvious as they were.
“Do me a favor,” he told Reese when he put the truck in gear and pulled out of the lot.“Pull up an address for me.I need to know who owns the property.”
When he had his laptop open, Brantley rattled off the address.
While Reese did the search, he continued to drive, making a few turns, left, then right, then right again.He saw no one following, and he was confident they believed he’d given up.But he still wanted to stall, to give them time to get comfortable again, so he drove toward the city limits, heading north.He figured there would be a decent enough restaurant up ahead, and they could have lunch, talk through what their next steps were, and give Atticus and Archer a heads-up.
“It’s owned by a corporation.Looks like it’s leased out as a hunting retreat.”Reese looked at him.“Why?”
“How long’s it been on the market?”
Reese typed, Brantley drove.
“They put it up for sale in November of 2018.Haven’t changed the price since they did.”
“Almost four years ago,” Brantley noted.
“And?”
“And the for-sale sign is rusted and bent, which means they clearly aren’t marketing the property with any sort of priority.The gate was leaning and barely latched with a rusted chain looped around it, but no lock.”
“You saw all this while driving by?”
Brantley decided not to be offended by Reese’s lack of faith in his abilities.“But two brand new trash cans were sitting at the edge of the street, one with the lid open and some takeout containers on top.”
“Could be someone decided to clean out their car when they drove by.Figured it was a safe bet no one lived there.”
“Oh, yes.Let’s go with that.”
“What?It could happen.”
“It could.But it didn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know.”
“The store owner told you, didn’t he?”
Brantley chuckled.“No.I swear.Speakin’ of the store owner, I bought you somethin’.”He reached into the back, grabbing the bag he’d stashed when they first got in.
“What is it?”
“Good ol’ Bobby drives a hard bargain when it comes to givin’ up information.”
