The suburban neighborhood grew denser as they neared the heart of town. Meredith’s red head merged with a crowd of early evening shoppers, darting in and out of the quaint bistros and bookstores. He nudged through the crowd, zeroing in on her. She saw him. Damn it; she was taunting him on purpose. She glanced over her shoulder, caught his eye, and ducked into a bustling coffee shop.
He followed her inside, toward the back. For a second, he lost sight of her in the crowd.
“Hey! There’s a line,” a middle-aged woman yelled from outside the bathroom. He turned his head to see someone slip inside the ladies’ room.
Silas flashed his badge. The woman raised her hands in the air and backed against the wall. The door was locked. He kicked hard and fast. The wood splintered, the door swinging open on its hinges. Inside, there were two stalls, two sinks and no one in front of either. The toilet flushed, and a blond woman in a blue suit exited one of the stalls and rushed past him into the café. Silas checked the other stall. No sign of Meredith.
A light breeze blew through the restroom, and he glanced up at a small, open window. Too small for a human to fit through, but not too small for a fox. He slapped the wall and rushed for the exit.
“Hey! You’re going to have to pay for that door,” a man behind the counter yelled. Silas ignored him. As fast as he could move, he rounded the building, found the window from the outside, and searched the area. Nothing. Not a single footprint, fox or human. He sniffed the air. Nothing.
Defeated, he returned to her house, alone.
“I don’t knowwhat to tell you, Silas. Nickelova is here, safely behind my enchantment,” Grateful said. “If Meredith has the heart or she gave it to Alex, she hasn’t tried to use it.”
“Weird.” Silas lifted the lid to the pot on Meredith’s stove with one latex-gloved hand. “She was here at her house. I lost her in the crowd when she ran.”
“What do you mean you lost her? You’re a goddamned werewolf. You are your own search-and-rescue dog. How could you lose her?”
Silas’s brows knit. “She had a stew boiling on the stove. It had onions and garlic in it, not to mention this place smells like a chemical fire. It masked her scent.”
“I thought you said you chased her into the street?”
He thought back. “I couldn’t smell her. I lost her in a coffee shop. It’s possible the smell of the coffee interfered with her scent.”
“I don’t like this. There’s something…”
“Off about this whole thing?”
“You feel it too?”
“Like an itch I can’t scratch.”
“Well, you better get a longer coat hanger to scratch that itch, because the lunar eclipse is only days away. If what Julius says is true, Alex will be finishing preparations and trying his best to fly under the radar. If we don’t find him soon, there will be literal hell to pay.”
“I’ve called in a team to collect evidence. I’m going to take a few pictures before I go.”
“Let me know when you leave. I’ll meet you at your house. We need a plan.”
He ended the call, then switched to camera mode to take a few pictures of the pot. The sofa was next, then the bedroom, and the open window. He lifted a picture off the bed, holding it up to the light. Meredith’s graduation from college. She stood between her mother and her father in her cap and gown. He remembered Meredith’s father; his bright red hair was something you didn’t soon forget. Grayson. He was a high-ranking member of Crescent Star. He’d never met Meredith’s mother, who stood on her other side. What was her name again? He didn’t remember. In the picture, he couldn’t help but think she looked like a gypsy with her black hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. He could see where Meredith got her brown eyes and red hair, a rare combination, but not surprising seeing her parents.
Should he call Meredith’s mother? It was possible she’d go to her to hide. He chided himself for not insisting he meet her. He’d have to check with the Lycanthropic Society secretary for her name and address. He returned the picture to its place on the bed and left for home, right as the crime-scene team arrived.
“Be careful.”
Silas jumped at the whisper, turning from his car to find Grateful standing behind him in his driveway. “When did you get here?”
“Just now. Hey, didn’t you give Meredith a free pass through the enchantment around your house?”
Silas frowned. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. So I say again, be careful.”
He crept up to the front door. He could hear Maggie run to the door, her nails clicking on the hardwood. If Meredith had been there recently, he couldn’t tell. What traces of her scent he could pick up could have been from before. He entered the house with one hand on his gun.
“Looks okay,” he said.
Grateful nodded in agreement but didn’t lower her sword as she entered his living room. Silas scratched Maggie’s head, sniffing the air. “What the hell?” He turned the corner into his kitchen, shaking his head.
