I nod. “Thanks.”
He’s scrolling through the video feeds. “What did you call Connie earlier? Hayley?”
“Eilidh. That’s not to be repeated, either. It's her real first name. Connie Doe is an alias. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let it slip like that.”
“We’ll need to know her real name and info, so I can get people looking for her. If she crosses the border anywhere and goes through passport control, we’ll have an idea where she’s heading next. Jackson King’s mate, Kylie, is a hacker extraordinaire. And we’ve got a former CIA spook in our pack, too.”
He turns to me. “Wewillfind her, Dexter. You’ve got the manpower behind you, and you damn sure have the money. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll closely coordinate directly with Frangelico, so we’re not duplicating efforts.”
“Thanks.” Cold dread fills me. “I really appreciate this.”
“Hey, she’s pack. Sort of.” He looks up at me. “Or is she part of a nest now?”
“I haven’t fed from her yet. If your question is have we had sex, yes, we have. We haven’t yet had discussions about our future. Between you and me, frankly, I don’t want to turn her. I’m terrified of her not surviving the process. But she’smine. And if she never lets me feed from her, I’m fine with that.”
He turns to me. “How canthatbe possible?”
“Contrary to popular belief, it’s not required. Just like marking a mate isn’t a requirement among shifters to love them and be with them.”
“Touché.” He focuses on the feed and finds her. Fast-forwarding through the lobby camera feeds, we locate when she finished and drove away. “Looks like maybe she headed west.”
“But that doesn’t mean it’s her final direction.”
“No, but I’ll bet she headed up to Mesa, to close out her box there.” He places a phone call and, moments later, has confirmation. “One of my dad’s pack owns the store. He confirmed she came in this morning and closed it out, but no idea what way she headed. She didn’t leave a forwarding. He’ll keep an eye out for anything coming through from the official USPS system about a change of address or forwarding. We’ve got her license plate, too. If she tries to change that, it’ll ping the system. She’ll have to use her Connie Doe name for that, because that’s the paperwork she has for it.”
“Thanks.” I slump against the wall, my phone in my hand and feeling…
Useless.
I feel like I should be doing something, anything.
“Let’s go see if Amber’s picked up anything.”
We take the stairs, and the only reason I don’t blur and beat him up there is because I don’t want to freak out Amber, or any other residents we might encounter, by racing ahead.
Amber’s sitting on the bed, which is unfolded, with her eyes closed and hands flat on the mattress on either side of her. Eilidh’s furniture is still here, but everything else is gone and it feels empty.
Worse, I can smell the terror Eilidh felt as she hurriedly packed.
We don’t interrupt Amber.
Finally, after several minutes, she opens her eyes and sadly shakes her head. “Nothing. She doesn’t even know where she’s heading yet. All I’m getting is panic. I’ll try again later. Maybe by then she’ll know, and I can see it.”
“How far could she make it in twelve hours?” I ask. “We know what time she left the mailbox store, right? Can we mark an obvious radius and start there?”
Garrett runs a hand through his hair. “Let me call Jackson and Kylie and get that started from our end. You call Lucius and see what he’s learned.”
I plug my phone into the charger and call Lucius to update him.
“I haven’t learned anything yet,” he says. “But I’ve started making calls and will continue to do so. Please, tell Garrett he can give Jackson King my information, so we can coordinate.”
Swallowing the choked terror wanting to rise in my throat, I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Thanks.”
“Wewillfind her, Dexter. I must admit, I owe her an apology.”
“Why?”
“Because I honestly thought perhaps she was imagining things, or overstating her terror. Now…” He sighs. “Let’s just say I can now fully understand why she runs. Were I a human, I probably would do the same.”
