“I guess it is never that easy.”
“Is there any way to talk to Jett about it?” Maccon asked while looking through more of the papers.
“We can try in the morning.”
Maccon grabbed a metal folding chair from the far side of the room, pulling it up next to me. “I say we hunker down, try to make heads or tails of all this crap, and then see if we can get more information from Jett tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan, brother.”
* * *
The blaringof my cell’s ringtone startled me awake. Wiping the drool from my cheek, I forced my stinging eyes to focus on the flashing screen withUnknown Callerscrolling across the top.
Maccon groaned as I flipped the phone open.
“H-Hello?” I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand as the call connected.
“An inmate from Muscogee County Jail is attempting to contact you. Do accept the charges? Press one to be connected,” an automated voice droned into the receiver.
“Holy shit,” I said breathlessly as Maccon started to stir a little.
A familiar voice came through the line. “Reese?”
“Shit, Jett. What the hell is going on?”
“I can’t say much over the phone, but did you make it to my house?”
“Yeah, man. I’m here, but I have to be real honest—I have no fucking clue where to go.”
Jett sighed. “I know there isn’t much to go off of, but that map is all I got.”
I gripped it in my hand. “550 or 735?” I asked, using only the house numbers just in case someone was listening in on the call.
“You know how I missed out on our second deployment?”
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.” I just went along with the conversation shift, completely understanding what Jett was getting at.
“I still feel like I abandoned you. The first one was a fucking wash and fucked me up pretty good. I should have just skipped that one and gone for the second.”
“I hear ya, man, but sometimes we only see things clearly on the other side of the shit pile.”
“True, man. So fucking true. Look, I know we don’t have too much time left on this call. I just want to thank you for everything and for always being there. I’ll be seeing you soon. Oh, and don’t forget to check out that photo in the back of my journal. It’s a good one for sure. I think you will find it pretty entertaining.”
“Aye, brother. I’ll be sure to take a look at it. It was good to hear your voice.”
“Thanks for checking in with Sandra,” he said. “It was nice for her to be able to put us in contact after all this time.”
“Call back in a few days. I might have a good story or two to tell you.”
“Sounds good. Thanks again for everything.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The line went dead and I leapt to my feet.
“Did you figure it out? Was that Jett?” Maccon asked, stifling a yawn.
I pointed to the second address on the map. “It fucking was. I guess calling his lawyer last night was the right move after all, and I sure as shit hope so because these eye witness statements and news articles are just depressing with no goddamned information in them. Where’s that journal you found last night?”