Brantley’s fight-or-flight instinct fizzled, transforming into sympathy for a man who’d lost so much.“I don’t know,” he admitted, holding Travis’s stare.“But I can assure you, we won’t stop until we know for sure.”
Silence settled heavily over the room as Travis continued to stare at him.Brantley wasn’t sure what Travis was looking for, but he suspected he found it a moment later when he took a step back, his shoulders relaxing.
“As much as I want to believe it, I can’t,” Travis said, his words spoken softly.“Not until you give me real, definitive proof.”
“Understood.”
Travis took another step back, his gaze swinging to every person in the room.“I expect that you’ll be discreet.I do not want this gettin’ out.”
“Only those who absolutely need to know will have the information,” Reese told him.“And it’ll remain that way.”
Travis nodded, then glanced at Brantley once more.“Keep me updated.”
“Of course.”
Everyone remained silent as Travis made another hasty exit.
When they were Travis-free once again, Reese looked over.“You really think he’s gonna let this go?”
Absolutely not.“One can only hope.”Brantley turned to Holt.“Your turn.”
“What would you like me to say?”
“Maybe start at the beginning.Tell me how you came to the conclusion that Kylie’s alive when I was at the funeral.I saw her when they lowered her into the ground.”
A knot formed in his throat just thinking about that day.
“You saw her?”Holt sounded genuinely curious.“You actually saw Kylie in that casket?”
Brantley frowned as he thought back to the events that followed that horrific day when Juliet Prince plowed into Kylie in downtown Coyote Ridge.The hospital, the devastating news, the numbness that followed.The family had insisted on a closed casket because Gage feared their children would never get over seeing their mother like that.At the time, it made sense.Then again, Brantley had selfishly been grateful for the reprieve.Seeing her would’ve caused the guilt to weigh heavier on his shoulders.
“No,” he admitted.“I didn’t.But I’m sure Travis and Gage did.”
“What about at the viewing?”Simon prompted.
Shaking his head, Brantley said, “No.They had a photo beside the casket.”
Brantley recalled that perfectly because he’d thought the point of a viewing was to see the deceased one last time.
Holt looked at Simon.
“Why?”Reese asked.“If you’re sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’...”
“Which is?”Brantley insisted, not interested in the cryptic bullshit.
“That Kylie wasn’t in that casket,” Reese said, still staring at Holt.“Why would they do it?”
“And how would they know they’d keep the casket closed?”Atticus tacked on.
“It was a risk they had to take,” Holt explained.
“So, what?They filled the casket with a hundred and twenty pounds of sand so no one would notice?”Archer sounded dubious.
“And just hoped they’d keep the casket closed,” Atticus repeated.“Faking her death with so many people around would’ve been quite a gamble, don’t you think?”
“Faked her death?”Brantley swiped a hand over his hair.Hearing it out loud sounded so much worse.“For fuck’s sake.Why?”
“I don’t think it was intentional,” Holt explained.“Simply convenient.”
