Hide & Seek - Nicole Edwards Page 0,49

those contacts.” JJ smirked. “Smart.”

“Reese mentioned Charlie took the job,” Baz said, speaking to Brantley.

“She did. And she’s the reason I wanted to talk.”

“Problem?”

“Opposite, actually,” he continued. “Based on my conversations with her, and the info I received when callin’ her references and past and current superiors, I think she’d do well as a team leader. However, I didn’t want to make that decision without discussin’ with y’all first. Anyone have an objection?”

No one spoke up.

“Does that mean you’ve found your three team leaders?” JJ questioned.

“Actually, Baz offered to be responsible for assignin’ cases, rather than leadin’ a team in the field. Since he’s got the most experience, I think it’s worth tryin’. He will also be responsible for followin’ up if we don’t get the responses we need, so use him for escalations and whatever else that might help.” Brantley looked at Baz. “I want your plate full, so figure out what else you can take on to make that happen.”

Baz nodded. “Of course.”

“That leaves us with a team leader position open, as well as the rest of the teams. I reached out to local PDs and we’ve got a handful of people who’ve been referred to us. I’ll email you their info. If you’re interested in anyone, call them in for an interview. At least three people need to talk to them before a decision can be made. One of those must be me or Reese.”

“Do we have a time frame on gettin’ them hired?” Trey asked.

“Yes.” Brantley hopped off the desk. “Yesterday.”

“How did I know you were gonna say that?” JJ started toward the stairs leading up to her office. “Oh, and I’ve got three people scheduled for interviews. Two tomorrow, one on Monday. These are my peeps, but I’d appreciate someone helpin’ me with interviews.”

“Just holler,” Reese told her. “One of us’ll be there.”

She gave him a curt nod, then bounded up the stairs, the box of cell phones in her hand.

“Until we’re at full capacity, I want you to start goin’ through the case files with Trey,” Brantley told Baz. “Let’s separate them out in a manner that makes sense. That way we can start lookin’ into them as soon as we’ve got the teams in place.”

“Got it.”

“Oh, and last thing,” Brantley called out. “Travis is sendin’ in a crew this weekend to get the conference room completed. So make yourself scarce.”

“A construction crew that works weekends? Impressive,” Baz said with a grin.

“Travis is owed some favors,” Brantley told him.

“Tell me y’all don’t hang around on the weekends,” Trey said, his gaze darting between the three of them.

“Only when it’s necessary.” A smirk slowly formed on Baz’s face. “For some reason, I get the feelin’ it’s about to become necessary.”

Yeah, Reese had to agree with him on that. The time for settling in was over. It looked as though they were gearing up to get to work.

Chapter Twelve

Friday, November 20, 2020

The following morning, Brantley woke groggy but thankfully without the migraine that had hit him with a vengeance last night. One of those that gave no warning and had been relentless in taking him down. He’d been expecting it. They were still coming once a week at minimum, sometimes more, and it had been about that long since the last.

He didn’t remember much except for Reese taking care of him, urging him into bed, feeding him the pill that would help to alleviate the excruciating pain, or at least lessen the time it lasted. Brantley had shut down his brain and drifted off into nothingness.

The mornings after were always a gamble. The fear of another headache lingered, making him move slowly. It took only a few minutes for him to realize he was fine and the day wasn’t quite underway since it was still dark out. Perhaps some exercise would help, get his adrenaline flowing, make him feel human once more.

Getting in a five-mile run was his intention, but that goal went right out the window when he stretched his arm and found Reese was still in bed. Only one part of his anatomy seemed content to get up at the moment, so he rolled toward the warm body and spooned Reese from behind, sliding his arm around him. He had another form of exercise in mind.

Reese’s hand glided over his forearm, gripping his wrist gently as he pushed back against him. “Feel better?”

“Yes,” he breathed against Reese’s ear. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

“What pleasure would you like me to give you in return?” he asked.

“Depends. Is