“Sure.We’ll be at the diner in a couple of hours.Want to meet up then?”Another brief pause before Brantley said, “All right.See you there.”Brantley ended the call and shoved his phone in his pocket.“Looks like it’s gonna be a party.Travis wants to talk.”
“You realize we’re gonna have to tell him what we know, right?”
“Yep.Probably what we should’ve done already.”
Great.
It was going to be one of those days, he could feel it.
Almost two hours exactly from the time Allison called him, Reese was sitting at a table with Brantley.Tesha was tucked up underneath by their feet, where she preferred to be.They were sipping coffee, holding off on the order until Allison and Travis arrived.
“I’m wonderin’ what questions she could possibly have for us,” Brantley said, spinning the napkin-wrapped silverware.
Reese had given him the high level of the call initially, but then ran it through almost verbatim when Brantley kept questioning him.
“I have no idea, but I’ll take it because we’ve definitely got questions for her,” Reese said, reaching over to still the spinning silverware.
Brantley looked up, grinned.“Am I gettin’ on your nerves?”
“Little bit.”
“Then let me order.Travis wouldn’t expect us to wait.”
“I’m not worried about Travis.”Reese glanced at his watch.“Ten minutes.If Allison’s not here by then, you can order.”
“I’m gonna hold you to it.”
While they waited, Reese checked his phone, skimming text messages and emails.He found the update from Atticus that came in shortly after midnight.
“Atticus and Archer drove down to Blanco last night,” he told Brantley.
“For what?”
“To check out the property for Terry Berry, one of the top-level Censorious members.”
“Terry Berry?Did his parents hate him?”
Reese ignored the question as he continued to read.“The email said they checked it out but couldn’t get eyes on the house because it’s situated too far back.”He looked up.“Atticus said it’s fifteen minutes from the house we checked out.On the same road.”
Brantley frowned.“That can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
Reese wouldn’t think so, but with this case, anything was possible.
“Who’re you textin’?”Reese asked when Brantley pulled out his phone.
“Atticus.”
“Don’t you want to order first?”
“You order for me.”
When the waitress returned, Reese did exactly that, ordering Brantley’s usual heart attack on a plate and some egg whites with a side of fruit for himself.He knew better than to push a healthier option on Brantley when they went out.The man wasn’t above making a scene.
“Hey, man,” Brantley greeted when his phone rang a couple of minutes later.“Where are you?”
Reese couldn’t hear the response on the other end, but he continued to watch Brantley.
“We’re at the diner,” he said after a lengthy pause.“You and Archer have breakfast yet?”Short pause.“Good.Meet us here.We’ll talk.”
