“Did you bring it from home?”
He shook his head.“Just fancied up the Folgers.”
“It’s amazing,” Holly said dreamily.“From now on, it’s your job.”
“Let’s get this underway,” Brantley said from behind him.“Atticus?Archer?”
“You’ve got this,” Archer told Atticus quietly, adding a smile.
Atticus hated public speaking.
Granted, this wasn’t exactly the public he was addressing, but it was close enough.All eyes were on him, making him feel like a bug under a microscope.
“What I’m about to tell you might not be easy for some of you to hear,” he began, forcing himself to make eye contact with his team, which was a hell of a lot harder than looking at yourself in the mirror when practicing.“You’re aware we’ve taken on a case outside the norm for this team.We’re lookin’ into a conspiracy involving the FBI’s desire to take down the Southern Boy Mafia.At least that was our original thought process when Simon came to us with this theory.”
He took a breath, glancing down at his notes, although he didn’t need them to continue.Oddly, he felt a sense of empowerment standing at the front of the room, addressing these people.He had expected to hear snickers and see amusement in their gazes.Instead, he found them all to be paying attention, listening to what he had to say.That gave him the strength to keep going.
“Archer and I were tasked with creating a timeline based on the notes we were given,” he continued.“That timeline’s available for anyone who needs or wants to look at it.If you have more information you think should be added, feel free to update it.We want to ensure we’ve covered all the bases.”He took a breath, stood taller.“While we were updating it, we came across notes Holt made that gave us pause.We looped in Brantley and Reese immediately, knowing the information we had was sensitive.”
He definitely had their attention.
“Some of you, mainly those who grew up in this town or have been here since the beginning, know Kylie Walker.For those who don’t, she’s the woman whose life was cut short by Juliet Prince, the woman who kidnapped Kylie’s daughter, Kate.”He looked from one face to the next.“Only we no longer believe her life was ended, but rather her death was staged to further the agenda of the rogue group of law enforcement known as Censorious.”
The very air seemed to stop moving, all eyes still locked on him.
Holly gasped.“Kylie’s alive?”
“At this time, we believe that to be the case,” he explained.“Baz, would you mind sharing the details you have after your conversation with Dr.Weaver and the funeral home?”
Everyone shifted to look at the television at the back of the room while Baz filled them in, explaining the deposits that JJ had uncovered, as well as the FBI using the ruse of a federal witness in order to get away with kidnapping her.
“Oh my God,” Elana said on a choked sob.“She’s alive.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Brantley said, standing up.“I will say this.The information we’re giving you does not go any further than those in this room.Not until we have proof of our theory.And only after I share whatever we find with her family.Understood?”
“Travis doesn’t know?”Holly asked.
“He knows some of it.We haven’t given him all the details yet.I won’t be comfortable until I get eyes on her or find someone who knows where they took her.Like I said, we keep it within this team.”
A round of nods and affirmative mutterings moved through the room.
“How long have you known this?”Evan asked, his tone holding a slight edge, as though he was bothered that he hadn’t been included.
Atticus didn’t blame him.He’d tried.
“Since Saturday morning,” Atticus told him.“We shared our findings with Brantley, who took the information to Travis.With his permission, we moved on it.Our trip to Dallas was to talk to Max Adorite, the head of the Adorite Crime Family.”
“That was about Meredith Prescott, right?”Jay asked.
“Correct.We wanted to get clarification on the events that supposedly took place nineteen years ago.As you know, Decker stated that Meredith did not witness a hit, although she was being blackmailed into testifying.”
“But we don’t know that for sure, right?”Charlie asked.“We have secondhand information from Decker.”
Atticus glanced at Brantley, received a nod to continue.
“Meredith showed up Saturday morning,” he said, realizing some of the team wasn’t aware of her presence.“Evan and Becs were able to talk to her yesterday.”He glanced at Evan.“Would you mind sharin’ the information you have?”
While Evan filled the team in on their conversation, Atticus listened intently, hoping to hear something that he might’ve missed from reading Evan’s notes.
