“She gave us directions, and we couldn’t find it, but when we took her out there with us, it was right there, right in front of our faces, right where we’d already been looking.”
“Who owns the land?” Trevor asked.
“This is where it gets interesting. Eldred Van Crimson owns it, and he bought it from Abigail White in 1950 for $10, when it was worth $5300.”
Canyon pulled up all his info on Eldred. “Eldred “Dred” Van Crimson’s birth certificate says he’s 82.” He grunted. “That shit’s been forged somehow. We think he was born closer to 1890. Thefoxenin Serenity are hard as fuck to find, but we’ve talked to some Van Boeson’s in Chicago and they say he’s at least 120.”
“You keep saying this place was abandoned,” Trevor said. “But what if they all moved into the Pravus, and they’re marked and ready for war, just waiting for Khain to give the order to invade?”
Canyon shook his head. “Nah, they don’t go willingly.”
“Once they’re marked, maybe they do.”
“I don’t think all of them do—Rex and Soren, sure, but they’re long-time criminals.”
Trevor considered. “Soren didn’t want to go, that’s why Rex took Rogue, to force him.”
Canyon leaned forward. “That proves my point exactly!”
Trevor sat back in his chair, saying nothing.
Canyon shook his head and leaned back in his chair, thinking. He’d never had negative feelings aboutfoxenlike some of the otherwolven, but he’d never really thought about them much at all. They kept to themselves.
“And Boeson,” Canyon said. “He wasn’t there willingly.”
Trevor shook his head. Boeson was a special case—an anomaly maybe. He’d lived in the Pravus as Khain’s servant for most of his life, possibly hundreds of years, and he’d escaped when he’d had the chance, but he was an old man, meek and wasted, obviously beaten down and broken hundreds of times over. He didn’t remember much.
Trevor’s cell phone rang, and then his desk phone rang. Trevor silenced his cell phone and put his hand on his desk phone. “Your next step is…?” he asked.
“Break into the community building for overnight surveillance. If that turns up nothing, we’ll set up cameras and move on to our next target.”
“Which is?”
“We’ve got a lead on a possiblefoxencamp north of the river, but if Abigail White is priority now, we’ll head up Morning Bluff and find the Morning Wood Inn first.”
Trevor’s expression looked doubtful. “If it exists.”
Canyon nodded. “If it exists, we’ll find it. We’ve got Seb’s notes.”
Trevor nodded. “Keep me updated.” Then he picked up his phone, and Canyon was dismissed.
30—Witch Games
Sebastian Breese checked his laptop and wrote his hourly notes in a house near downtown Serenity. He was on demon-baby duty, waiting for someone to relieve him so he could go nose around Trevor’s place for the witch. Sebastian had worked the Abigail White investigation for almost six months before he’d been put on demon-baby duty, and he knew the witch better than anyone.
His monitors showed traffic on the street: Timber in an unmarked truck.
Sebastian called Timber inruhi.Park on Chestnut Street. Blue house behind the gas station. Back door’s unlocked.
Within a few moments, the back door opened and closed.
Upstairs,Sebastian said. He was set up in a back bedroom, where he could see the house the demon babies were being raised in. His workstation was a door laid across two sawhorses, and single laptop set up on top of it, with a five-gallon bucket for a chair. Behind him was a mattress and a pillow.
Timber walked in. Sebastian lifted his chin.
“Seb,” Timber said, looking around. “The department went all out for you.”
Sebastian hooked his thumb out the window. “Gotta stay mobile… and ready. They move around a lot.”
