Fear had made his blood run cold, the thought of losing Reese… Brantley honestly wasn’t sure he’d ever felt anything that terrifying. Including the day he thought he would die beneath the rubble of that building.
The moment he’d realized what had happened, Brantley hadn’t given a second thought to himself or any possible injuries Travis or Trey might’ve sustained. His entire world had shifted into a pinpoint focus on Reese. Even with his brain temporarily scrambled from the blast, he’d known he had to get to Reese, had to help. Thankfully, the damage to them had been minimal. Especially considering what it could’ve been if they’d been closer to the house. Or worse, inside.
“You said JJ had a visitor last night,” Sheriff Endsley prompted, interrupting Brantley’s thoughts.
Brantley nodded, adjusted his focus once more. “Yeah.”
“Who?”
“I’ll tell you, but for right now, this stays between you and me, Sheriff. Understood?”
He could tell the older man wasn’t keen on taking orders in his own jurisdiction, but the truth was, because he was on a special task force for the governor of Texas, Brantley’s authority won out over any and all. For a few more days, anyway. And since this particular case involved the governor’s son, he would be taking it, regardless of any pushback he might receive.
“Fine,” Endsley grumbled.
“Dante Greenwood,” he said, ensuring he kept his voice low and his mouth obstructed on the off chance someone was recording them. He’d seen half a dozen phone cameras out already, and a news van had arrived a short time ago.
Sheriff Endsley’s face tightened, his expression turning hard. “Are you sayin’—”
“Right now, I’m not sayin’ anything,” he interrupted. “What I need from you and your team is for you to work this crime scene.”
The sheriff’s gaze swung to what was left of JJ’s house. “Not much to work with.” He looked back at Brantley. “In case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Trust me, I noticed,” he growled hotly. “Had it not been for Travis showin’ up, I wouldn’t be here talkin’ to you now, Sheriff. I woulda been inside. With Reese and my brother.”
Sheriff Endsley’s eyes flashed with sympathy. “Understood.”
“Before the explosion, we hadn’t gathered much of anything. We were reviewin’ the scene.”
“And where was JJ durin’ all of this?”
Brantley knew he had to tread lightly here. “She was distraught, so I had one of my team take her somewhere safe.”
“Which is where?”
“Right now, she’s safer without anyone else knowin’.”
That seemed to pique the sheriff’s interest. “You think she’s the target?”
“I think Dante’s the target, but I think whoever’s got him is willin’ to do whatever they have to. So, can you do that? Can you process the scene? Get a fire investigator out here? See if they can determine what caused the explosion?”
They both knew he’d merely phrased them as questions.
The sheriff’s hazel eyes narrowed again. “You’re gonna owe me one, Walker.”
Considering the sheriff wasn’t asking the difficult questions, he already owed him one.
Brantley left Sheriff Endsley to deal with the aftermath of the scene, rounding up his team and sending them back to HQ with what they had. When Travis told him he was going home and would keep his nose out of the investigation, Brantley had some doubt. However, he had no reason not to take him at his word. Travis wasn’t one to say things unless he was going to follow through. Nor was he one to excuse himself if he thought he might have something to contribute.
“How’re you feelin’?” Brantley asked Reese once they were in the truck heading back to HQ.
“Fine.” Reese peered over. “Seriously, Brantley. I’m fine. It’s a scratch. Nothin’ more.”
A scratch that had bled like he’d opened an artery. It had scared the shit out of Brantley when he’d seen all the blood. And since there was currently a butterfly bandage holding it closed, it probably needed a few stitches.
“You sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” he asked, simply because it would make him feel better if Reese got a complete checkup.
Reese huffed. “What would you say if I asked you that question?”
Brantley grinned. Yeah, he understood where Reese was coming from, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t ask.
“I’m just glad Tesha wasn’t with us,” Reese said softly.
Brantley saw the concern in the man’s eyes, knew he’d grown seriously attached to that dog. If anything happened to her, it would be a rough day for everyone involved.
“I’m not willin’ to leave her alone again,” Reese added. “Not when we don’t know what’s goin’ on here.”
The way he said it had Brantley cutting a quick look over. “What’re you thinkin’?”
Reese shrugged one shoulder, continued to stare out the side window. “Without anything to go on, we can’t be sure Dante was the target. It makes sense that he was, yes. However…” Reese looked over. “What if JJ was the target and they used Dante to get to her?”
“Good question. The answer is we don’t know until we work it. And the first thing we have to do is find Dante. Regardless of the motive, Dante’s missin’. Findin’ him’ll give us the answers. We can take Tesha to JJ if you want. If you think she’ll be safer.”
“I thought you didn’t know where JJ was.”
“Technically, I don’t.”
“Technically?”
“They’re holed up at Baz’s father’s,” he told Reese, not wanting to reveal how he knew that. Probably wouldn’t go over well if Reese knew Brantley had a way of tracking all of them.
“Might be a good idea to keep her away from all this for a little while.”
Brantley agreed, but he said, “Just let me know what you decide. For now, I think our only priority is findin’ Dante.”
“How do you propose we do that without JJ?”
“I’ve got a secret weapon,” he admitted.
“Lemme guess. You called Luca?”
Brantley couldn’t hide his surprise. “You know Luca Switzer?”
“Who doesn’t know Luca?”
“Let me rephrase that,” Brantley stated. “How do you know Luca?”
“My sister was friends with Holly. When I came back, I ran into her. We got to talkin’.”
“Holly? Luca’s little sister?”
“Well, she’s all grown up now, but yeah. Why?”
“Small world,” Brantley mused.
“More like small town,” Reese said with a gruff laugh that didn’t quite hide his pain. “How do you know Luca?”
“He used to date my sister.”
“Which sister?”
“Bryn. Back in high school.” Brantley pulled into the driveway. “I guess it’s really true. Everyone knows everyone in Coyote Ridge.”
“I was thinkin’ more along the lines of half the people in Coyote Ridge have dated the other half.”
There was no arguing with that, and still Brantley refrained from asking Reese if he had dated Holly. He honestly didn’t want to know.
“Luca agreed to work with us?”
“He heard about the fire on the scanner. Answered on the first ring.”
When Brantley pulled the truck to a stop, they both got out, headed into the house.
Tesha was there to greet them, her tail wagging. Brantley had to admit, it was a relief to see her. He’d had a morose thought a short time ago, feared that if they were the target, someone might go after one of them. And a surefire way to hurt Reese was to hurt his dog.
And hurting Reese … well, that was a surefire way to have hell rain down on you.
Brantley wouldn’t have to worry about Travis going off half-cocked because he’d take them out without a second thought.
Chapter Seventeen
Juliet stared at the television, watching the breaking news about a house fire in Co
yote Ridge, Texas.
Ever since she’d lost access to the live feed from Jessica James’s cameras, she’d had to resort to getting the information from the media. If she could’ve gotten a hold of good old Samuel, maybe she could get access to one of the neighbors’ cameras, but the bastard wasn’t answering his phone.
So here she was, on the edge of her seat, desperately waiting to hear what the body count was from the explosion that had rocked that stupid little town.
Honestly, she’d thought Dante’s kidnapping plan was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever fucking heard. But she considered herself an opportunist, which was why she’d come up with the idea of using Marcus for her own devious scheme. She would even take credit for coming up with the idea to put a bomb in the house, one that would wipe out any trace they’d been there at all. At least that was what she’d told Marcus. Her real plan had been to wipe Travis Walker from the face of the earth.
“Behind me you can see what remains of the house that exploded just a short time ago,” the field reporter announced.
Juliet held her breath, her hands wringing in her lap. “Let them all be dead,” she whispered harshly.
“Despite the obvious devastation, there is some good news.”
“No,” Juliet muttered. “No good news, dammit.”
“We’ve been told by the EMTs that no one was in the house when it exploded, and the injuries to those nearby were minimal.”
“No!” Juliet screamed, not caring if someone in the neighboring rooms might hear her.
This could not be happening. Not again.
“How the fuck does he keep doing this?” she ground out through clenched teeth.
She was sick and fucking tired of making the effort only to have it backfire in her face. And that do-gooder Travis Walker continued to get away with destroying her life.
He had single-handedly brought everything down around her with that stupid resort of his. If her pathetic ex-husband hadn’t insisted they go do perverse things with other couples, Juliet would be back in Mississippi, getting her hair and nails done, going shopping whenever she wanted, buying whatever she wanted.
She damn sure wouldn’t be in this moldy, roach-infested motel in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She’d been hoping to make it to Canada and slip out of the US unnoticed, but something kept holding her back, so she was stuck here.
All thanks to Travis Walker, who’d taken her entire life away from her by sending Nicholas that stupid invitation to come live out his fantasies at that stupid fetish resort. And because Juliet had felt her relationship with Nicholas beginning to fray at the edges, she’d had no choice but to agree to accompany her husband.
No, maybe she hadn’t actually loved Nicholas, but who gave a shit? He hadn’t seemed to notice. Or maybe he had and she hadn’t cared enough to realize it. So, when he told her he wanted to participate in partner swapping to spice things up between them, she’d figured why not. She would’ve taken it all back if she’d known the guy she got to screw was only a smite better in bed than Nicholas, which meant she’d been yawning before he ever rammed his dick inside her.
It wasn’t long after they’d left Alluring Indulgence Resort that Nicholas started acting funny. He became secretive, going on more business trips than usual, not coming home for days on end. Juliet probably should’ve given a shit, or pretended to, because if she had, Nicholas wouldn’t have blindsided her with his demand for a divorce.
Divorce!
It wasn’t like she missed him. Hell, she didn’t even like him. But her kid … she did miss Lana most of the time. She definitely missed the money she should’ve gotten when the courts granted her full custody. Only they hadn’t because Nicholas had brought up that stupid incident when Juliet had left Lana in the backseat of the car that one time. One freaking time. It wasn’t her fault she’d had to get her hair done and the nanny had failed her, claiming she had something else to do at the time. And it wasn’t like Lana had died. It hadn’t been all that hot or anything. The EMTs had gotten her to the hospital, and they’d hooked Lana up to an IV, but only for fluids. She’d been a little dehydrated, that was all. Juliet still didn’t understand why anyone made a big deal out of it.
But Nicholas had used it against her, telling the courts she was unfit. Juliet knew she wasn’t unfit, she just didn’t want to be bogged down with a child all the time. She hadn’t been the one who wanted to have a baby. That was Nicholas’s idea, and she’d agreed to it because she knew it would get her more money if he ever did divorce her, which he’d threatened to do on more than one occasion.
In one fell swoop, thanks to that fucking visit to that fucking resort, Juliet had lost every good thing she ever had. No child support, no alimony. The only thing she had left was the measly seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars that she’d drained from the bank accounts before Nicholas cut her off.
All thanks to Travis Walker.
She growled, her fury igniting into rage.
Pacing back and forth between the queen bed and the wall in the tiny room, Juliet attempted to come up with a new plan.
Her thoughts drifted to Dante. More accurately to his extortion plan.
She could do that.
Taking a deep breath, Juliet shoved her hair out of her face, stood up straight.
Yes, dammit. She could do that. But not a kid this time. She didn’t have the time or energy to put up with a whiny brat.
Maybe she could take the resort hostage. The whole place. She’d be able to get some money out of Travis Walker that way. He’d probably pass it hand over fist to get his precious hotel back.
Juliet shook her head. No, that wouldn’t work. Too much of a risk. Too many variables.
She needed to take the one thing Travis loved the most. From the articles and snippets she’d read about him, he was a family man. He was close to his mother and father, his brothers. He also had a husband and a wife—a true pervert.
One of them would do. Maybe his mom. She was old. Juliet shouldn’t have any problem overpowering her, holding her hostage until Travis forked over some money.
“But what if she’s fragile?” she wondered aloud.
What if she kidnapped the mom and she died from a heart attack or something? Juliet would be right back at square one. Not where she wanted to be.
She would have to think on it a little more. But it was definitely time she got her hands dirty again. More chance of success that way.
Yes. She would go down the road and buy that sexy little blue Mustang she’d had her eye on and drive to Coyote Ridge and take care of this problem once and for all. And the time it would take to get there would give her an opportunity to come up with the perfect plan.
The one that would take Travis Walker down once and for all.
*
Reese followed Brantley over to the barn, keeping an eye on Tesha as they went.
From the moment JJ’s house had exploded and he’d seen that Brantley was all right, his only thought had been for the safety of his dog. He would probably go so far as to say he worried more about her than himself, so knowing she was safe and sound was reassuring, enough that he could actually breathe easier.
“I think it’s in our best interest to inform Governor Greenwood,” Reese told Brantley when they stepped into the barn.
“We don’t have any proof that was Dante’s finger.”
“No, we don’t. But we’re inclined to believe it is. And if this is a K and R, he should be receivin’ a ransom call. We need to be there if and when that happens.”
“And if it doesn’t happen?”
Reese sighed because he knew Brantley was playing devil’s advocate.
“Okay, say we wait. What’s the governor gonna say when he realizes we knew about this and didn’t tell him? Hell, he’ll likely hear about the explosion from someone. Then he’ll be callin’. Wouldn’t you rather we reach out first?”
Brantley’s eyes were narrowed. “I’d prefer you don’t make so much damn sense.”
Reese smiled, couldn’t help it. “You didn’t fall in love with a dumb ass. What can I say?”
“No, I certainly did not,” Brantley muttered. “I just hate to give them anything more to worry about. Not until we’re positive somethin’s happened to Dante.” Brantley peered over at him. “They went through so much with Corinne.”
Reese understood Brantley’s reasoning. After what the Greenwoods had gone through when their daughter had been abducted a few months back, he didn’t like the idea of making them worry again, either.
“We have to tell them,” Reese stated. “You know it’s the only way to do this.”
Brantley stared back at him for a few long seconds before he blew out a lengthy breath. “Fine. But we go to him. I can’t do this over the phone.”
The chime from the alarm sounded, signaling someone had arrived.
Reese peered over at the monitor on the wall, saw Trey’s truck and another parking in the driveway.
“That’s Luca,” Brantley informed him. “He brought Holly. Said they’d do whatever we need them to do.”
“You know JJ’s gonna go apeshit when she realizes you’ve replaced her,” Reese told him.
“No one’s bein’ replaced,” Brantley grumbled. “He’s fillin’ in temporarily.”
“Temporarily, my ass,” Reese countered. “I know how your brain works. This is an unofficial job interview.”
He could see the truth on Brantley’s face. “Okay, maybe you don’t tell JJ that part.”
Oh, he wouldn’t. Reese knew there was more than enough work for them to bring on another with JJ’s skill set, but he seriously doubted JJ would see it that way. Not in her current predicament. She’d simply think they were bringing someone on to take her place.
While they waited for the others to join them, Reese went into the kitchen, scrounged through the cabinets until he found the bottle of aspirin. He popped two pills in his mouth, downed them with water. As it was, the cut on his head was burning like the fires of hell, and he figured while he didn’t have a headache yet, why risk it?
Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker: Off the Books Book 4) Page 20