Chapter Twenty-One
He learned quickly that on time, in this case, would’ve actually been late, as Vince Lombardi was known to say.
The parking lot was full of vehicles, some he didn’t recognize, others he did.
He was half an hour early, wanting to get things set up for a meeting with the entire team, but apparently, he would have to get an even earlier start if he wanted to beat them to the punch.
When he was halfway to the barn, he heard a sound behind him. Turning, he saw Tesha bounding out of the house, soaring over the steps of the deck to the ground as she raced toward him. The instant he saw her, his face split in a wide grin.
Unable to help himself, he stopped, squatting down so he could pet his new friend. “Hey, girl. What’s up?” She wiggled excitedly. “I think so, too. It’s gonna be a busy day.”
She hopped around, tongue hanging out of her mouth, clearly happy to see him. For whatever reason, that made his day. He liked the idea of someone being that enthusiastic about his arrival.
“You ready to get to work?” he asked as he stood to his full height. “Well, come on.”
They walked the remaining distance to the barn side by side.
After punching in his code, he pulled open the door, allowing Tesha to race in first. Inside, he found a buzz of activity. Atticus, Becs, and Evan were busy rearranging the equipment so that what they’d moved to the conference room was back in its rightful place.
“Morning,” Evan greeted, depositing a pile of cords on Slade’s desk.
“Good morning. What can I help with?” he asked after dropping his backpack in his chair.
“You could make the coffee,” Becs told him with a wide grin.
If he didn’t know better, he would think she was trying to set him up.
“You sure you want me to do that?” he asked. “It’ll only be the best coffee you’ve ever had.”
Atticus chuckled. “If you can turn Folgers into the best coffee ever, have at it, buddy.”
“Watch and learn, partner.”
While they continued to arrange, Archer got busy making coffee.
He searched through the cabinets in the small kitchenette until he found what he needed.
There wasn’t much to work with, but they had cocoa powder and cinnamon.
Once the coffee was brewing, he placed cups on a tray sitting beside the sink.
He gathered the sugar packets and tiny creamer tubs, arranging them in small bowls, then adding them to the tray.
When the first pot completed, he dumped the grounds, added a new filter and fresh grounds, then put a clean pot under the spout and started the process all over again.
While that was underway, he carried the tray out, set it on a desk where someone had placed a box of donuts and kolaches.
He returned to the kitchen and waited. Once the second pot was complete, he carried both into the main room of the barn.
At that point, several more people had arrived, including Darius, Elana, Holly, and Charlie. They were assisting however they could, moving chairs from the conference room to provide additional seating.
Jay was the next to arrive, five minutes early. Brantley and Reese strolled in behind him a minute later.
“When are the new hires arriving?” Brantley asked Darius as soon as he was inside.
“I have them coming in at eight. Didn’t want their arrival to disturb this meeting.”
“Good. By then, you should have plenty for them to do.”
“Do we have a new case?” Charlie asked. “Or are we still working on Censorious?”
Archer felt all eyes on him. He glanced at Atticus, then back to Brantley. When neither of them jumped to provide an answer, he directed his question at Brantley. “We’re opening this up to everyone, right?”
“We are,” he confirmed, then looked at Charlie. “Same case, but we have some new developments.”
Movement on the large television caught Archer’s eye. He looked over to see a car pulling up.
“That’s Simon,” he told everyone. “I called him last night. Asked him to join us.”
“Good thinkin’,” Reese said. “He’s got insight, and we need all the help we can get.”
“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.
“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?”