After a lengthy discussion, RT and the team had agreed it was the best avenue to pursue, so he’d gotten some people in place to man the hotline that was being set up and started the process of gathering the press.
Brantley was grateful RT had agreed to speak. The man had a way of articulating that brought people together, had them rallying for the common goal. He listened as RT outlined the events that had taken place, the tragedy that had impacted the Walker family and the community as a whole. He spoke of the kidnapping of Kate Walker, then outlined the devastating loss of Kylie.
While he spoke, Brantley watched the cameramen, the media correspondents, and the few onlookers who’d gathered. He had to wonder if Juliet was watching this live, if she was stalking the town the way she had been for months. He hoped so. Brantley wanted her to see they were stopping at nothing to find her. And he wanted her to see that Travis wasn’t giving her the time of day.
“With that said,” RT continued, “the Walker family is offering a one-hundred-thousand-dollar reward for information that directly leads to the arrest of Juliet Prince.”
That announcement set the press in motion. Questions were lobbed at RT, who handled them brilliantly. He seemed to have an appropriate response prepared and Brantley admired him for it. The guy was definitely good at what he did.
Now it was time for Brantley’s team to prove they were good at what they did, too.
*
Juliet glared at the television screen.
At all of them, in fact, since she was currently standing in the electronics section of a Walmart watching what was evidently the biggest news story in five counties.
With her sunglasses and ball cap on, no one was going to recognize her, even if there’d been more than three people in the store at the moment. This small hick town didn’t have many people to begin with, and at one o’clock on a Monday afternoon, they apparently had better things to do.
One hundred thousand dollars.
She snorted, taking her cart and pushing it toward the beauty department. She’d come into this godforsaken store to pick up a few extra pairs of clothes, although she felt sick at the idea of having to wear such crap. She’d been stupid to leave the clothes behind at the motel. She’d spent good money on that stuff and hadn’t been able to wear half of it. Now she was stuck in this shithole of a town, and the Walmart was the only store they had, so she had to make do. Temporarily, of course.
Now that she’d scrounged a few pieces that were relatively decent, she needed something that’d help alter her appearance a little more.
The thought of putting cheap hair dye on her hair had her stomach cramping, but Juliet knew the days of salon highlights and coloring were out. At least until she figured out a way to start over, to change her identity for good. One day, she would get back to the glam life, of that she was certain. She had even started her list of potential husbands. There were several she knew who had bank accounts worthy of her. It was just a matter of getting through this debacle and reinventing herself. At that point, she could marry money one more time and live happily ever after.
As she skimmed the rows of boxed hair color, she couldn’t help but wonder where Travis Walker was. He hadn’t been part of the group backing the guy who’d stepped up to the microphone and made the big announcement. Juliet had expected Travis to be the speaker, but at the very least, she thought he would be standing in the background.
No. It looked as though Travis Walker couldn’t be bothered to show up.
So where was he? At home, cuddled up to his husband, maybe? Juliet wouldn’t doubt it. The guy was disgusting. A wife and a husband? Who did that? Was he too good to settle down with just one person so he grabbed one of each?
It sickened her to think about. Maybe Travis Walker had already moved on. Maybe the reward was his family’s way of avenging the woman’s death.
Now that she thought about it, most of what she’d ever read was about Travis and the husband. Rarely was the wife even mentioned. Could be he hadn’t wanted the wife in the first place.
Had she done him a favor by offing that bitch?
Juliet felt her face heat with her anger. Had she killed the wrong person? Was that woman of so little importance to Travis that he couldn’t be bothered to offer a reward himself?
She grabbed a box of red hair color, threw it in the cart, and stomped toward the register.
If Travis Walker couldn’t be bothered for Kylie, then Juliet would find someone else to eliminate. Someone whose death would bring that asshole to his knees once and for all.
But first, she would have to find a place to go for a little while. Somewhere to hide until the heat died down. The reward would have people actively looking at her. It raised the chances of her being caught.
As much as it pained her, she knew she would have to leave the area for a little bit. Not too far though. Juliet liked knowing Travis Walker was close.
Mexico wasn’t ideal but it would take little effort to get there. Only a few hours from here.
Then again, crossing the border on her own would likely result in her being caught. She would have to get creative, which meant a little more time.
Nope. Not Mexico. Not yet.
A touristy spot might work. Somewhere along the coast. South Padre? It was close to Mexico. That way, if it came down to it, maybe she could make a run for it.
As she scanned her items through the self-checkout lane, Juliet came up with a new plan.
Chapter Twelve
Three weeks later
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Reese had known that offering a reward to the public would result in an overabundance of crap sightings of Juliet Prince.
What he hadn’t expected was to have spent the past three weeks chasing one lead after another only to come up with absolutely nothing. Every single time they had what sounded like a legit sighting, they investigated. And so far, they’d done nothing more than harass innocent people.
The calls had died down significantly in the past couple of days. They’d been prepared for that, too, realizing there would be a heightened sense of awareness in the beginning, when the story was hot, but eventually the buzz would wear off. With each passing day, people were forgetting about the reward, moving on with their lives. Eventually they would stop looking for the woman whose picture had been flashed on the television and social media for several days, asking for any information leading to her whereabouts.
If he was being honest, it pissed him off.
Now as he stood in the shower, his head down, the heat of the water beating over his tired muscles, Reese tried to relax. He needed to regroup, to come up with a new plan. Juliet Prince was out there. It was just a matter of pinpointing where. No one could hide forever, regardless of how determined they were.
He must’ve been so lost in his own head that he hadn’t heard Brantley come into the bathroom, because it wasn’t until he felt the man press up against his back that he even realized he had company.
“You’ve been in here a long time,” Brantley said, his arms banding around him, palms flattening on his chest and pulling him back.
Reese leaned into the hard body, letting Brantley keep him upright.
“You’re thinkin’ too much.” Brantley’s voice was low, guttural. “I can help with that.”
“Can you?”
The hands pressed to his chest slid lower, gliding over his stomach, down, down.