Dread bloomed in my stomach, a certainty they had come to deliver the results of the challenge. I didn’t want to know, but I couldn’t hide anymore. I had to face the hard truths. That included learning the man I had believed was my father might have lost. And, as confident as Mercer sounded when he told me his plan, I knew he wouldn’t risk his new position by allowing Carmichael to live.
“Sorry I bailed earlier.” Sloane gripped my shoulder. “I had to check out a hunch.”
“I had Jess, so it’s fine.” I studied her. “It’s not like our timeline for reopening is set in stone either.”
“You also had Seamus, who will be in charge of my training as an enforcer starting next week, but he was chilling outside to monitor the situation until I got back.”
Though currently acting as my bodyguard—and, depending on what breed I became, she might get stuck in that role forever—she was also required to have a formal rank and title within the clan. I had expected her to get tapped as an enforcer, but Liam enjoyed yanking her chain enough his nomination could have ranged anywhere from sanitation worker to daycare center teacher.
Ignoring the pang that she hadn’t told me about the appointment sooner, I focused on the problem at hand. “Why would I need him when I had Jess?”
“She lied about where she was and what she was doing.”
Trust in Sloane trumped any defense I might have mounted for Jess. “What do you mean?”
“The restaurant she mentioned is human owned, and it’s closed until next week. She couldn’t have been there. The container she brought in with her? Those weren’t leftovers. I don’t know if she fished it out of the trash or had it with her, but it was full of pebbles like the kind used in landscaping or for drainage.”
“Maybe she’s secretly a rockhound and didn’t want anyone to know?” People who collected rocks didn’t stop at what they found in nature. Any cool shapes or colors were fair game, no matter their origin. Even if that meant pocketing a neighbor’s landscaping material. “Hold on.” I was missing something. “Why did you open the lid?”
“Steaks don’t rattle.” She heaved a sigh. “I sniffed the lid and smelled dirt, so I took a peek.”
Hand to my forehead, I rubbed away a headache. “And a box of rocks sent you running to Liam?”
Flicking a wrist in his direction, she dismissed him. “That’s beside the point.”
“There are a lot of besides in this conversation but very little point.” I lowered my arm. “Speak plainly.”
“A few days ago, I caught her coming out from under GSG. The crawl space. She had a box then too.”
“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
“I asked what she was doing, obviously, and she claimed she’d heard scratching under the floor and wanted to make sure there weren’t more goblins in sink drains or whatever.” She stuck up a finger. “The box, she claimed, held her leftovers from lunch. She planned on using them to lure out whatever was under there.”
Not a bad plan. The goblins—er, kittens—would have come running had there been any more. “Okay…”
“As soon as I realized the box from today was a fake, I got to thinking about it and decided to investigate where I had seen her. We know someone is passing information to the Sartoris about the Walshes, and I can’t think of a better place to spy on you than GSG now that you don’t live at home.”
“She volunteers, though.” I couldn’t picture someone so timid working for the opposition. “She’s always hanging aroundthe clinic. She wouldn’t have to hide under the house to listen in when she’s right there with us.”
“That’s why we’re going to snoop around and see what she’s been doing.”
“You’re a better judge of character than I am,” I conceded, still unsettled, “so I trust your gut.”
With Sloane angling me away from Rían, I had almost forgotten he was there, he had gone so quiet.
“What do you think?” I twisted to invite him into the conversation. “You know her best.”
“Jess is a good person, but even good people make mistakes.” His forehead pinched. “I’m not willing to risk you, Ana. She passed a background screening before I recruited her to come to Brentwood, but I’ll have Liam dig deeper into her past. With your life on the line, we can’t afford any surprises.”
“I should head back to GSG before it gets dark.” Sloane was already eyeing the door. “I’ll grab some flashlights from the potting shed, and I’ll bring my phone to record what I find.”
“You’re going in alone?” I gripped her arm. “Do you think that’s wise?”
“If she’s working for Sartori,” Rían weighed in, “she might have set traps to protect her secrets.”
“I’ll go with you.” I dusted off my hands. “Problem solved.”
“No,”Rían and Sloane forbade me in unison.
