Chapter Thirty-Seven #2
He caught sight of Atticus still staring straight ahead, so he went over to the passenger side and opened the door. He reached across him and unbuckled his seat belt.
“Here.” He unscrewed the lid on one of the Dr. Peppers, then held it out to him. “Drink this. Then get out and walk around for a minute or two.”
Atticus took the bottle, lifted it to his mouth. He drank. As he did, some of the color returned to his face.
Archer remained where he was, standing beside Atticus, the door open wide. “That was horrific,” he said. “And let me tell you, it never gets easier to see.”
“They…” Atticus shook his head, not finishing the sentence.
Archer didn’t need him to. He knew what the man was referring to.
As though slashing her throat wasn’t enough, they had cut out Allison’s tongue, likely as a warning to whoever was looking for her.
According to Kieran, Allison had helped him get Kylie to a safe place when they learned Calloway had given the order to kill her.
And because she had betrayed him, Calloway had probably ordered Allison’s death, too.
“Do you think he did it?” Atticus asked.
“Who? Calloway?” Archer shook his head. “I doubt he gets his hands dirty.” The bastard had too much to lose. “But he instructed her killer to do it.”
Atticus took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, his Dr. Pepper still in his hand. Archer took it from him, then reached over him again and placed it in the cup holder.
“I’ll never get over seein’ her face.”
“You will,” he assured Atticus, placing his hand on his thigh. As soon as he did, he realized what he was doing, so he jerked it back. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Atticus looked at him, his green eyes glowing in the light from the dashboard.
Archer held his stare, unable to look away. He wanted to kiss this man so badly. Hell, he would settle for putting his arms around him and holding him. But that wasn’t the deal they’d made. As his partner, Atticus was off limits, and Archer had agreed to abide by the rules.
Forcing himself to look away first, Archer took a step back. “Brantley’ll be here soon. I figure the police might want to talk to us. If they don’t, we’ll head back.”
“Yeah.” Atticus exhaled heavily. “I didn’t realize you got the license plate.”
“It’s a thing I do without realizing it,” he admitted.
“What do you mean?”
“I just see details.”
“Like a photographic memory?”
“I don’t know, maybe. I just notice things and I remember them. For a while, at least. Not indefinitely.”
“If I asked you about that license plate number next week, would you have remembered it?”
“Probably not.”
“Interesting.”
“How so?”
Atticus shrugged. “I just find it cool, that’s all.”
Archer grinned. At least he’d gotten Atticus’s mind off what he’d seen in that field.
Atticus turned to get out of the truck. “I think I need to walk around for a minute.”
Moving out of his way, Archer took the other Dr. Pepper from where he’d set it on the truck’s bed rail. He opened it and took a long drink, watching as Atticus walked a few yards away and then back.
It really sucked that he was such a stickler for rules because the urge to grab Atticus and kiss him was damn near too powerful to resist.
But resist he did.
Nearly three hours later, Brantley stood at the road, watching as investigators blocked off the area as a crime scene. Because Allison Bogart worked for the FBI, they’d come in and taken over. Probably for the best, since he wasn’t sure that some of the local cops weren’t on Calloway’s payroll.
“What happens next?” Reese asked Kieran, who was remaining back, looking as though someone had ripped his guts out.
Kieran shrugged. “I’ve been benched until they can investigate.”
Seemed redundant to him, but Brantley figured that was par for the course when it came to the government.
Kieran slowly turned, facing Brantley. “I want to find this fucker.”
“You just said you were benched.”
“But you’re not.”
Brantley watched him, not sure how much he wanted to reveal to a man who’d kept a pertinent detail from his own fucking family.
The fact that Kieran had been protecting Kylie didn’t matter when he could’ve easily told her family that she was alive, and they could’ve stepped up to help her.
Instead, he’d taken it upon himself to decide what was best for everyone.
“Look, I get you don’t agree with what I did. But it’s done. I thought it was the best thing. You don’t know him, Brantley.” Kieran thrust a hand in the direction of the body. “He’s capable of worse than that.”
Brantley figured as much. Martin Calloway was working his own agenda.
He wasn’t above using anyone and everyone to get what he wanted.
The problem was, they didn’t know what he wanted.
Censorious’s manifesto was one thing. But this …
killing an FBI agent so heinously after blackmailing her and her family for years … it seemed like overkill.
No pun intended.
He could feel Reese watching him, knew his husband wondered what the plan was.
Brantley wasn’t sure yet. He intended to take down Censorious, but after seeing this, he knew he had to protect his team.
He would not leave them vulnerable to this.
That would require them to refocus their efforts. No more going off half-cocked.
“You can help,” he told Kieran. “As a consultant to my team.”
It was evident by the gleam in Kieran’s eyes that he wasn’t keen on the idea. It was also clear that he didn’t have many other options.
“Fine.” Kieran nodded curtly. “I’ll help in any way that I can.”
“Good.” Brantley glanced at Reese, then back to Kieran. “I’m gonna give my team a couple of days to relax before we go balls to the wall. Monday mornin’, meet at my house. Our headquarters is in the barn.”
“I’ll be there.”
Brantley watched as Kieran made his way over to one of the FBI agents.
Reese stepped up beside him. “You really think it’s a good idea to bring him on?”
“I do. He knows what goes on within the organization. That’s the part we’re missin’.”
“True.”
“With his help, we’ll find out what Martin Calloway’s endgame is. Once we figure that out, we’ll dismantle his house brick by brick until we destroy it once and for all.”