Laurel and Jade waited, but I didn’t offer them anything else. That part of my life was too dark, too thick and murky, and I didn’t want to go back there.
I blinked.
They were expecting the trade.
“Right. Laurel is helping us free a packmate. He’s locked up in the pens.”
“What! Babe, why didn’t you tell me?” Jade said.
Laurel’s face reddened. “It wasn’t really my secret to tell,” she muttered.
Jade snorted, but left it, tapping a long nail on the tablebefore turning back to Laurel. “So. We have Jule acting strangely before his death. And you suspect your father?”
Laurel nodded. “He knew that wasn’t Jule in the coffin, and I can’t imagine anyone else would have switched the bodies.”
“So, why would your father want to pretend to bury him? If he didn’t have a body, why not just fake a cremation?”
Laurel scuffed her shoe on the ground, shaking her head. “Our family doesn’t do that. It would have looked more suspicious if he’d gone for cremation.”
“But why no body?”
“Maybe he ran away?” I offered.
Laurel looked like I’d slapped her. “He wouldn’t have abandoned me like that,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure. “Anyway, that’s beside the point. He’s not around, and Father wanted everyone to think he was dead.”
She chewed on her lip and shifted in her chair.
“Father could have sold him,” she said finally. “He had the contacts. If Jule really pissed him off…”
“Hmm,” Jade said. “The police likely have all the records from the trafficking ring as evidence… I could call in a favour and see if any alphas were moved in that timeframe.”
“I got into the security system today,” I added, nodding my head. “We could look at the archives.” Yeah, that sounded right as well.
Huh.
Must owe Julius something big.
Maybe he did help free me.
“Kaos, do you have equipment that can get us into my father’s computer?” Laurel asked.
“Most likely,” I said.
“I can try to get us access, then.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. Nice to meet you, Kaos.” Jade stood, and to Laurel, she asked, “Guess I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah, I’ll be here until Ocean’s free. Or until we’re all dead.”
Jade gave Laurel another funny look, and Laurel just shrugged.
I studied Laurel as she packed up her things. She kept…surprising me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It had been easier when I just hated her, but ever since her unexpected reaction to finding out I was Demon, I’d been wavering.
Once she had left, I followed Laurel back inside and collapsed on the couch. I pulled out my phone to video call Finch. It took a couple of seconds as it bounced through all the security measures we had in place.
“Report,” Finch said once his face was on the screen.
“I’ve claimed some key areas of security,” I said mildly, scratching my chin. “I’ll send the map.”
