“Have they found Violet’s dad yet?”Darius asked.
“Not yet.”Archer didn’t know all the details, but Simon had mentioned that Luca and Slade were still working on it.The longer he was gone, the more worried Violet was getting.What Archer found more interesting was that Simon hadn’t bothered to interrogate him about what information they’d gathered.Apparently, Simon was content to do some research and review the notes the team was updating, but he didn’t seem too worried that they were moving along while he dealt with more pressing issues.
Love.It had the ability to fry the brain.
“Where’s Slade?”Reese asked, glancing from face to face before stopping on Atticus.
“He said he’ll be workin’ with Luca until they find Harold,” Atticus said, looking none too happy with that information.
“Do you want us to call him in?”Archer asked.
Reese looked at Brantley, who turned to Evan.“I guess we should so you’re not—”
Evan spoke up, cutting him off.“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to keep Becs as a partner for the duration of this case.”
Brantley looked at Becs.“You okay with that?”
She appeared surprised by the request, but at the same time, pleased.“Yeah.Sure.”
Brantley addressed Archer and Atticus when he said, “We’ll let the new hires make up the difference.”
Archer moved to the door to let Simon in.As he was walking in, a ringing sound came from one of the computers.Becs hopped up, a smile on her face.She hurried over and tapped the keyboard.A moment later, JJ appeared on the screen.Baz’s face popped up right after, when he moved into camera range.
“We’re here,” JJ announced.
“Good mornin’,” Reese greeted.
“Mornin’.”
“Any news on Naomi and Noah comin’ home?”Holly asked, her voice filled with hope.
“We’re meetin’ with the doctor later this afternoon.”
“We’re keepin’ our fingers crossed.”
JJ smiled.
“If you want coffee or donuts, get them now.I want to get this show on the road,” Brantley said, moving to take one of the chairs they’d moved from the conference room.
Archer walked over to Atticus.“You should take the lead on this.”
Atticus peered up at him, looking as though he might argue.But he didn’t.He simply nodded, then walked over to his desk and grabbed his notepad.
When he returned, he passed it to Archer.“Take a look at this.Make sure I’m not missin’ anything.”
Archer skimmed the pages.Atticus had detailed everything they’d accomplished so far, as well as everything they had left to do.There were notes in the margin, some things marked with asterisks, a couple crossed out.On the third page was a list of next steps, including which team member was assigned which task.
On the last page was a diagram with lines connecting various incidents.It was a basic outline showing the correlation of events.
“When did you have time to do this?”
“This mornin’.Couldn’t sleep.”
Archer was impressed.He skimmed it quickly and only had one thing to add.He grabbed a pen, made a notation, then passed it back to Atticus as everyone was taking their seats.
“Oh, my God.Who made this coffee?”Holly asked, eyes wide.
Becs and Evan pointed at him.
