Chapter Four
“What’s on your mind?”Reese asked fromthe passenger seat.
Dragging himself out of his thoughts, Brantley cut his gaze over briefly before looking back at the road.“Oh, you know.A little of everything.”
“Holt’s theory that Kylie’s alive?”
His hand tightened on the steering wheel.“You and I both know that’s not even a possibility.”
It couldn’t be.No matter which way he tried to spin this theory, it never worked out for him.How could anyone fake a woman’s death when that woman died surrounded by her family and friends?If they had done it, then it was a complete stroke of luck because it shouldn’t have been possible.
When Reese didn’t respond, Brantley glanced his way.“It’s not possible, Reese.We were at the hospital.We went to her funeral.”
“We did.You’re right.”
He didn’t sound convinced.
“You think somehow there was an elaborate ruse right under our noses, and what?Kylie was carted out of that hospital, locked up in some medical facility somewhere—if she was lucky—and cared for until she could get back on her feet?The extent of her injuries…” He trailed off, not wanting to remember how she’d looked after the accident.Someone had caught the crash with their phone and had posted it on the internet for the whole world to see.During those days when they’d been searching for Juliet, Brantley had watched it more times than he wanted to admit, wishing like fuck he could turn back time and change where Kylie had been standing.
“That would mean we buried an empty casket, Reese.Do you think we buried an empty casket?”
Brantley knew he sounded irritated.He was.Immensely.
“I honestly don’t know what to think at this point.”Reese shifted, facing him.“Trust me, I’ve thought of little else in the past couple of hours.”
Brantley understood that all too well.He’d been tossing around various scenarios in which it could be possible for Kylie to be alive.And every one of them was preposterous.This was the sort of shit you saw on fictional television.It didn’t happen in real life.There weren’t rogue FBI agents who kidnapped people in order to force an outcome.
And fine.Perhaps that shit did happen.But it was rare.Very.
“It’s wishful thinking,” he muttered, flipping on the turn signal as they neared the hotel where JJ and Baz were staying until the babies were released from the hospital.
He had a hard time wrapping his head around it.But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a shit-ton of hope buried beneath all his doubt.It was a stretch to believe any of Holt’s nonsense, but that little thing called wishful thinking had Brantley by the throat.
Ever since their initial conversation with Simon and Holt, he hadn’t stopped thinking about the duo’s contrived theory.Admittedly, he’d been drawn into it because of the conspiracy.The thought of some pompous asshole using people for his gain pissed him off to no end.Thinking that Calloway’s manipulations had somehow crossed into Brantley’s family made him see red.
But this… thinking Kylie was alive … well, that was just Holt grasping, desperate for there to be a happy ending.The guy was an author.That was what they did.
In this case, he couldn’t fathom a happily ever after when there wasn’t a lick of proof that agreed with Holt.Not that he’d seen yet.
“Don’t you wish there was some truth in it?”
Brantley sighed.“Damn straight I do.But am I gettin’ my hopes up?”
He let the question hang because he didn’t want to admit to Reese that he was already headed down that road.Despite his best efforts.
Now he needed to figure out how to break this information to JJ.The only thing he knew for sure was that he could not lead with, “There’s a chance Kylie Walker’s not dead.”That seemed like the worst segue ever.Especially since he didn’t have anything to back up the claim.
No, his rational side didn’t believe it for a second, but there was that tiny thread of optimism that he wanted to pull.Which was why his hackles were raised, but still.
“I think it’s worth pursuing,” Reese said, his tone calm, as though he were talking to a wounded animal.
“I agree.”That much was true.There was enough information to see that something was off.He wasn’t sure it substantiated Holt’s theory that the FBI faked a woman’s death, but yeah, there was something.
As he pulled into the parking lot of JJ and Baz’s hotel, he allowed himself to believe for a moment that Kylie was alive.That they would find her and bring her home.That Travis and his family’s world would be put back together.It was an absurd notion to even consider.But that was exactly what Brantley was doing.Considering it.
He could still hear Holt’s words.You saw her?You actually saw Kylie in that casket?
The fact of the matter was, no, he hadn’t.Not once.So, of course he was looking for reasons to believe there was a modicum of truth to it.But there wasn’t.It was a fucking conspiracy theory.
