Page 64 of Building Courage

The brochure would be the next thing, but first, she needed to update Treasure’s website.

Emily Jane, one of her first clients since she’d set up business in San Diego, regularly sent her work. The bookstore-giftshop-café was a popular and successful shop because Emily Jane stayed on top of things, updating the site and sending newsletters to her customers regularly.

Brynn made some minor changes to the site to make things pop a little more and then added the new items to the online menu for the café. Using photos she’d taken of the store a few weeks ago, she created an ad with the info E.J. had included in her message and sent it to E.J. via text for her to okay. E.J.’s answer was an immediate yes. She took another half hour to send out the ad over all the business’s social media sites and the mailing list.

Next, she started the brochure for Liam Bryant while she waited for him to send feedback about the slide show.

It was almost noon when she took a break to get a drink and eat a snack. She retrieved the camera SD card from her computer desk and downloaded the photos of the sea lions she’d taken. Had it really been only the day before? So much had happened since then.

She browsed through the photos one by one, then decided to post some on her podcast. She’d even taken a short video of the big bull who’d grumbled at her and used it to end the episode.

She reached for paper to write down her thoughts about the whole experience and how it tied in with her journey to trauma recovery.

It was after she’d posted the video for the podcast that she realized she was just distracting herself with busy work to keep Tucker off her mind. She wondered how the meeting was going and if funeral arrangements had been made for his friend.

Once again, she was waiting for his call. At least, this time, she knew he was safe.

*

Sitting outside of one of the admin’s offices the agents had taken over, Tucker rocked his head back and forth to relieve the tension in his neck. They’d already interviewed Sam, Arrow, and Bullet. That left Rosenburg, Denotti, Swan, and him. Beckham had just gone in.

Denotti elbowed him. “I’m sorry about your buddy, Gilly.”

Tucker nodded. “Thanks.” He drew a deep breath. “I’m sorry they’re questioning you guys because Jordan and I were friends.”

“Not your fault,” Denotti said flatly. “They’ll rule us out and move on to the next team.”

The agents were following his playbook. Their team had deployed, and someone had died. They were looking at all of them now. What had he expected? He hoped they would rule them out, but there was no guarantee. They were looking for a needle in a huge haystack.

The door opened, and Simon Beckham came out. His eyes looked steely with anger as he walked past the four of them.

“Petty Officer Giles.” Byers stood at the door with the same deadpan expression he’d worn the last time they’d met. Tucker rose to walk into the office.

As soon as Tucker sat in the seat in front of the desk, Byers asked, “How often did you keep in touch with Petty Officer Toliver, Giles?”

“We always called when we got home from deployment to check in. A few months ago, I called him, and we went surfing. He told me then he was going to propose to Savannah. They’ve lived together for about three years. He called me about a week later and told me she’d said yes. He said he’d hit me up to be an usher at the wedding if I was available. I asked him if he needed someone to arrange the bachelor party. He said his brother Rob was going to take care of it, but I needed to be there. He and Savannah knew his team was due to deploy soon and had set a date for seven or eight months out for the wedding. We’ve called and texted each other a few times since, but things have been a little hectic for us both. I didn’t know he’d gone wheels up until Senior Chief Masters briefed us…after our mission.” He struggled against any display of emotion.

“You weren’t at your apartment last night. Where did you go?” Byers asked.

Surprised, Tucker stared at him. “I went to my girlfriend’s apartment.”

“What’s her name?”

He hesitated. “Why didn’t you just call me if you wanted to speak to me last night? I’d have told you where I was.”

“What’s her name?” Byers repeated.

“Brynn Barrington.”

“How long have you been seeing each other?”

“A little over a month.”

“Will she corroborate that?”

“Yes. I was at her apartment from the time I left the base and drove to her apartment until this morning around six. I had to drive home to change into my uniform before coming in.”

He understood what had set Beckham off now. This wasn’t an interview. It was an interrogation.

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