Chapter Thirty-Two
When Travis left the diner, some of the tension eased up, but not all of it.
Brantley wasn’t sure what to make of his cousin’s behavior.
Part of him didn’t want to question it because there was a sense of relief that came with Travis’s more laid-back demeanor.
On the other hand, he didn’t want Travis to bank everything on them finding Kylie.
Oh, it was true, Brantley’d started thinking that she was alive, too, so he couldn’t fault Travis. But that didn’t mean it was true.
“Did you tell Travis about the doctor and the funeral home?” Archer inquired after the waitress topped off their coffee.
“That we talked to them, yes,” Brantley answered.
Atticus frowned. “But not that the casket is empty?”
“I kinda left that part out,” he admitted.
“Probably best,” Archer said. “He might head to the cemetery and start diggin’ otherwise.”
Brantley could almost envision his cousin out there wielding a shovel and a stern expression.
“You plannin’ on tellin’ him?” Atticus asked, still eating.
“Let’s see what the day brings first.” Brantley took another sip of his coffee, then pushed it away. “We’ve got one more stop before we head back to HQ.” He looked at Reese. “You ready?”
Reese nodded, signaling the waitress over. It took a few minutes to take care of the payment, but once they did, they headed out to the truck, leaving Atticus and Archer to finish their meal.
“Where are we goin’?” Reese asked as he opened the back passenger door for Tesha.
“JJ’s.”
“It’s kinda early, don’t you think?”
“She’s an early riser.”
“With babies, that might not be the case anymore.”
Brantley grinned. “It is.”
“Tell me you gave her a heads up and you don’t plan to just drop in.”
“I’m not an idiot. I texted her and Baz to get the okay.”
“And they both answered?”
Brantley glanced over at his husband. “Do you not trust me?”
“Not when it comes to followin’ the rules.”
He had to laugh at that because it was true. Brantley tended to straddle the line a lot of the time.
“That’s why you love me, though.”
Reese grinned. “It’s one of the reasons.”
He couldn’t resist grabbing Reese’s hand and linking their fingers as he drove to JJ’s house. The day hadn’t started off quite the way he would’ve preferred, but the fact that Reese was with him made it bearable. Hell, Reese’s presence made everything bearable.
A few minutes later, they were pulling up in front of JJ’s house, parking on the street. Brantley got out and waited for Reese and Tesha before heading up the narrow walkway to the porch.
He half expected to find JJ bleary-eyed and in her pajamas. After all, that was what happened when you had kids, right? You stopped worrying about your appearance because sleep became the only thing you could focus on?
“Mornin’,” JJ greeted when she opened the door.
Definitely not bleary-eyed. Or wearing pajamas. Although she was wearing fluffy slippers, she had on jeans and a T-shirt, her hair pulled back, her face clean of makeup. She looked refreshed and far too chipper for that hour, especially for a new mom with twins.
“Mornin’,” Reese replied.
“Come in. Noah and Naomi are napping,” she said as she moved deeper into the house.
“Napping?” Brantley chuckled. “Isn’t that pretty much all they do?”
JJ grinned. “They were awake for almost a whole hour.”
“A whole hour?” he echoed. “And they get a nap for that?”
She giggled, leading the way to the kitchen. “Oh, hush it.”
“You seem extra chipper this mornin’,” Brantley told her.
“Oh, well, you know,” she said, making a show of scratching her nose.
“Is that…?” Reese reached for her hand. “Holy shit. He did it? He finally asked.”
Brantley frowned, glancing between them. “Asked what?”
Reese took JJ’s hand and held it out in front of him.
Staring at the diamond on her finger, Brantley pretended not to notice. “What? What am I lookin’ at?”
JJ laughed, then smacked him with her right hand. “Stop it.”
Brantley grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug. “Congratulations.”
She hugged him back. “Thank you.”
“Where is the lucky guy, anyway?” he asked when he released her.
“In the shower. He said he wanted to go into work for a little while.”
Brantley took a seat at the small island. “Why would he wanna do that?”
“Coffee?” JJ offered.
“Please.”
“He wants to pitch in.”
“He can do that from here,” Reese told her, nodding when she offered him coffee.
“He’s worried y’all don’t have enough people.”
“We’ve got bodies to fill the seats,” Brantley told her. “But no one can come close to replacing either one of you. That doesn’t mean we can’t get things done.”
“Did the new hires start?”
“Yep,” Reese answered. “Darius has ’em loggin’ Martin Calloway’s movements for the past two years.”
“Well, I did some research last night,” she said, leaning against the counter with her coffee cup in hand. “I’ve been tryin’ to figure out where the five-hundred k came from that Calloway paid Dr. Weaver.”
“Any luck?”
“Censorious,” she said. “It wasn’t too hard to find.”
“Find anything else while you were diggin’ around?” Anything that’ll lead us to Kylie?
“Oh, you know, just a few million sitting in offshore accounts. It’s hidden behind shell companies, but it all comes back to Censorious.”
“I wonder if the members know about that money?” Reese mused.
“You think Calloway’s hidin’ it?” Brantley asked.
JJ set her coffee cup down. “From what I can tell, no one else has access to those funds.”
“What about personal accounts?” Reese asked.
“I was able to trace some transactions on what looks to be his main account.” She reached for her cell phone. “I found it interesting that his wife doesn’t have access to their money.”
That was interesting. But not surprising.
“A couple of things caught my attention when I was scanning the account.”
Brantley watched as her eyes glittered with excitement.
“I seriously doubt it’s a coincidence, but he rented a private plane to take him from Dallas to Port Isabel.”
The hair on Brantley’s neck stood on end. “When?”
“March second,” she said.
He knew she didn’t mean March 2nd of this year.
“And?”
“And he stayed for twenty-four hours. Long enough to identify Juliet’s body.”
Brantley looked down into his mug. He remembered the phone call he’d received from Max Adorite, advising him to take his team to Starbucks so they’d have an alibi for her death.
Oh, the mob boss had given him the option of taking Juliet into custody before the nice gentleman in the late-model Ford truck took care of business.
Choosing to get coffee had been an easy decision, and Brantley hadn’t lost a moment of sleep over it.
“He also identified the body of a Mexican national who was found dead in his truck.”
Lifting his head, Brantley stared at JJ. “Shit.”
She studied him. “I take it that doesn’t surprise you?”
“He knows Max had her killed.”
JJ frowned. “Max?”
Brantley shook his head. “He’s known all along.”
“And that means, what?” she prompted.
“It means he blames Max for his daughter’s death.”
“But that can’t be the reason he took Kylie,” JJ said firmly. “He’d already paid Dr. Weaver and relocated her before then.”
“It’s not why he took her, but it could be why he kept her.”
“To draw Max out?” Reese asked.
“Why would Max care?” JJ questioned.
“He wouldn’t. But he probably knows about Max’s relationship with Travis.”
JJ picked up her coffee cup. “I didn’t realize they had a relationship.”
“Friendship,” Brantley corrected. “Or business acquaintances. Whatever they are.”
JJ frowned. “But what does that get him? It’s not like Max is gonna walk into the FBI headquarters and surrender because Calloway kidnapped his business acquaintance’s wife.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I haven’t figured that part out yet.” And God knows he’d spent enough time thinking about it.
“We know that Martin Calloway went to Port Isabel to visit Juliet.” JJ pondered. “The ticket was purchased before her death, so did he go down there to help her? Was he plannin’ to get her out of the country?”
“Did Juliet know he was her father?” Reese inquired. “I thought we determined she didn’t know.”
“I don’t think she did,” JJ told him. “But that doesn’t mean he can’t pretend to be her white knight. He’s an FBI agent. Maybe he gave her some story about how she helped with a case, and he wanted to return the favor.”
Brantley wasn’t sure what Calloway might’ve told Juliet. Or if he even talked to her at all. They hadn’t uncovered anything that proved Juliet knew who he was.
“You said he identified the body of the man who killed her?” Reese asked.
“I find it hard to believe that guy would’ve stuck around.” Shaking his head, Brantley added, “Probably crossed over into Mexico as soon as it was over.”
JJ nodded. “It’s possible Calloway tracked him down in Mexico, killed him, then dragged his ass back to Port Isabel. Like a big fuck you to Max.”
“Anything’s possible.” Brantley got to his feet. “But none of it tells me where Kylie is now. We know she’s not in that grave.”
“I take it you haven’t heard back on the DNA yet?”
“Not yet,” Reese answered.
Brantley looked at him.
Reese nodded. “I’ll give Z a call.”
“I saw Atticus’s notes about the property they visited last night,” JJ told him. “Sounds like it’s worth a visit. Maybe get a drone overhead, see what’s goin’ on in there.”
A drone. Brantley hadn’t considered that, but he liked the idea.
“We’re gonna find her,” she said softly.
Brantley met her gaze, held it. “If he suspects we’re gettin’ close, he might not have any reason to keep her.”
JJ’s dark eyebrows dipped low. “He has a plan for her. I don’t know what that is, but I know that much.”
That was what Brantley was worried about.
JJ took a sip of coffee, then set the mug down. She studied her best friend. As usual, she wasn’t able to get a good read on Brantley. She knew he was thinking about Kylie. Likely about how he would bring her home, or maybe even what the odds were that she was still alive.