“But man, what a downer that is, am I right?” Travis said. “I must sound like an old man, rambling on about the good old days and lost love.”
“No, not at all,” Cole said. He was adopting his Library Blanket Guy voice, all open and supportive, extra Southern twang amping up the charm. “Thank you for sharing.”
“Did Dom say anything else?” Brennan tried again. “About the ball, or about where she was going?”
“Nah. She kinda snapped at me and told me she was skipping town, and that’s the last I saw her. I hope she’s doing okay, murder or not.”
“Skipping town is… good,” Brennan said. “That means not botheringus,at least, but Sunny and Nellie won’t be able to contain the murders if she’s running.”
“She’ll be in someone else’s jurisdiction.” Travis shrugged. “Someone else’s problem.”
“Until she comes back,” Brennan said. “There’s still the ball. She ran away after she heard that story. What if she wants to finish what Shea started?”
“If that was the plan,” Cole said slowly, “why wouldn’t she wait till then? Why kill people and run off now?”
“She needs power,” Brennan and Travis said at the same time.
“Hah, jinx!” Travis said, laughing, but Brennan went cold under Travis’s confirmation.
“So she’s going on a murder road trip to power up before the ball?” Brennan asked.
“That’d be my guess,” Travis said, “but who’s to say, really?”
“Great,” said Brennan. “Awesome.”
“Damn,” said Cole. “What are we gonna do about it?”
That was the question.
“Sunny’s tracking Dom,” Brennan said. “Nellie’s covering the blood bank. I want to hit the library and keep researching, maybe try to find a relevant pamphlet.”
“Good fucking luck with that,” said Travis.
“But other than that…” Brennan caught Cole’s eye. Cole took his hand. “I think we wait.”
17DELICATE
BRENNAN’S PHONE
Brennan
You seemed to like Travis.
Cole
Fucking coolest person I’ve ever met!!! And so charming???? Like wow.
Brennan
Can’t say I get the appeal.
Cole
Aw. Babe.
Are you jealous?
Brennan
