“I’ll … uh … take the chair.”
Atticus was staring at him like he’d grown a third arm, this one out of his face.“You okay?”
“Never better.”It was a lie.But one he was determined to make true.“Why?”
“Never saw a guy your size move that fast.”
“The couch was lumpy.”
Based on Atticus’s expression, he would believe Archer was an alien from another planet before he believed that.
“Let’s map out a plan for while we’re here,” he told Atticus, wanting to get back on track.“Outside of the conversation with Max Adorite.”
Atticus was still watching him, but he nodded, his gaze slowly shifting back to his computer screen.“I think we need to do some recon on Martin Calloway.We need to get an address for him so we can check out his home, his office, maybe shadow him for a few hours.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Archer started a list, putting that as the first bullet point.
“I’d also like to talk to Allison Bogart or her parents.Or all of them.See if they can give us any information.”
Archer added those to the next bullet point.“What about the team?Can they handle anything back at home?”
Atticus looked up, then leaned back and took a deep breath.“I guess it depends on who’s available and what can be done down there.”
“Let’s start by listing out who’s available.”
“Okay.”Atticus closed his eyes for a moment.“We’ve got Evan, Charlie, and Jay.”
Archer noted them separately.“Okay.”
“Becs and Holly.They could do deep dives.”
“Good.”Archer added their names.
Atticus’s eyelids lifted slowly.“Jay and Slade.”
“I already have Jay, but I’ll add Slade.”
“Oh.Right.Okay.Baz and JJ are lookin’ into the doctor who signed the death certificate,” Atticus said.“Reese messaged me earlier about that.”
Adding that as a bullet point, Archer nodded.“That’s a good lead.If he falsified it, they’ll figure it out.”
“Especially if they follow the money,” Atticus noted.“No one does anything for free.”
“True.I’ll make a note for Luca.I know he’s currently on another case, but if he gets done, we could utilize his skills.What about Darius?”
“Yeah.We can use him until Monday,” Atticus said, sitting up and tapping his keyboard.“He sent an email earlier.The new hires are starting then.He’s pushin’ to get them set up by then, so he might be busy, but we could use him in a pinch.”
“Will they be ready to pitch in?The new hires?”
Atticus shrugged.“I don’t know much about them.I mean, I’ve seen the resumes, but I don’t know who they hired.”
Archer sat back in his chair when Atticus spun the notepad around, dragging his finger down the list as he read.
“We’ve also got Elana and Simon,” Atticus noted.“What if we have him do a deep dive into Censorious?See what they’ve been up to for the past few years.She can help him.”
“He’ll want that information for his upcoming podcast, so yeah.”
