“I was thinking the same thing,” Eric said.
“Even so, why let Allie go?” I asked, lowering my voice. It wasn’t a secret, but Allie and Celia had already been through so much.
“Probably because she knows that if she keeps Allie with her, you two will never rest,” Eliza chimed in. “You’ll be hounding her, searching for her. And you’re good. You’d probably find her.”
I looked back at Eliza, who shrugged. “Just telling it like it is. This way, she buys herself some time with out you constantly riding her back.”
“It’s a good theory,” Cutter said.
“Yeah,” Ren said. “It makes sense to me.”
“The downside is that she runs the risk of something happening to Allie,” Eric said. “But under the circumstances you’re probably right. But Allie,” he said, raising his voice to catch her attention, “you’re going to have to stay vigilant.”
From the very back seat, Allie said, “What? Were you talking to me?”
Everyone in the van began laughing as Allie looked around, bewildered. Then she shrugged, shot me a grin and snuggled back into Jared’s arms.
I bit back a smile as I turned in my seat to face forward, trying hard not to look at Eric.
“We are so going to have a talk,” he murmured.
I was distracted from thinking about other ways to torment him with the fact that his daughter was growing up when his phone chirped with an incoming text. “Want me to check that?”
“Sure. Read it to me.”
I opened his phone and found the text message at the top of the list. “I don’t know who it’s from. Just a number and I don’t recognize the area code. But it says,Record found. Sale 27 yrs ago to TM, as u suspected.
I shifted in my seat to face. “What does that mean?”
“It means that Theophilus Monroe purchased the Remnant. And since we’ve found no other transaction, it’s a good bet he kept the stones.”
“Right up his alley,” I said. “That’s for sure.”
Eliza leaned forward, apparently having overheard the conversation. “Was he living in the mansion then?”
“I believe so,” Eric said. “If not, he had access. It was owned by his family or extended family for generations.”
“You think the Remnant’s in the mansion,” Eliza said. “Theo, you crazy old bastard.”
I choked out a laugh.
“Are you surprised?” Eric asked. “The man collected every supernatural item he could find.”
“Okay, but where?” Eliza asked. “The place has been remodeled a zillion times over.”
Eric didn’t answer. Instead, he pressed the accelerator. I held tight to the armrest as we raced through traffic, the van not going nearly as fast as I wanted it to.
“It’s probably nothing,” I said aloud, hoping to calm my nerves. “We have no way of knowing if Lilith has this information too. I mean we’ve been searching forever.”
“She’s probably been searching forever too.”
“If she thought she could get her hands on the Remnant, she wouldn’t have left Allie behind. She needs Allie most of all.”
He let up on the gas. “That’s a good point.”
“Well, yeah, but don’t slow down. I mean, I could be wrong.”
He increased our speed, but not so fast we would break the sound barrier. “We need to take more care vetting the staff,” he said. “If she learns that Monroe possessed it, she’ll try to find it on the property, and that means getting inside. She’ll send whatever minion is housing the piece of her essence in as part of a delivery team or a new addition to housekeeping. All new staff holds the ruby. Deal?”
