Matt’s eyes go wide. “Why the fuck would he think that?”
“Because Elliot’s clinic was one of the regular buyers of the drugs.”
“Oh, god. The killer has gone completely off the rails. Didn’t you say there were over a thousand buyers?” he argues.
I don’t miss his slip, but I don’t blame him. “Matt, listen. This is hard to believe, I know. But can we just—can you just trust me?”
Matt nods. “Always. What do you want to do now?”
I sigh in relief. “Do you have Dominic’s Bureau-issued number? Call him,” I ask him when he shows me his phone.
It goes straight to voicemail. It would have been weird if I wasn’t expecting it because we’re not supposed to keep it switched off. “Maybe it got discharged,” he says, voice small like he’s trying to convince himself.
“I tried him yesterday, too. He didn’t pick up,” I tell him.
My phone buzzes with a text.
Serena: Officer Adler applied for an unplanned leave yesterday.
Where were these instincts when I was following Elliot, or when I literally had him in my arms, being his normal contrary self? Trying to pull me in and push me at the same time.
My breath comes in hard. No time for this right now. I’ll get to deal with him later.
“Dominic applied for leave yesterday,” I tell Matt. “Let’s start with checking his home.” I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope he’s there.
We walk back to my car. “I’ll drive,” Matt says.
“No—”
“Dude, I want us to live long enough to find Elliot. Just give me the keys.”
I sigh and hand it over. I need to make more calls, anyway. It would be easier if I didn’t have to focus on the road.
Serena texts again.Do you want me to take the team to Elliot’s place?
I get another call before I can respond to her.
“Bree?” I ask, confused.
“Oh, thank god, you picked up. I found something I think you need to hear,” she says.
I put the phone on speaker even though Matt can hear everything well enough without it. Force of habit. “Go on,” I say.
“So, since we didn’t find any suspects in the last pool of people related to the werewolf victims, I decided to go deeper. I’d collected the wills and past marriage certificates of all the victims,” she says. “I was going to look at them later, but then Meena called a few minutes ago, so I thought I’d take a quick look before we wait for further instructions. Guess who was on the will of the woman who was killed by the Vigilante Wolf Hunter before we could arrest her for multiple murders?”
“Dominic,” Matt breathes out.
“Yes, how did you know?" she asks.
“No time,” I interrupt Matt. “Listen, can you get me the addresses of every property Dominic owns or rents around here?”
“Sure. I’ll get right on that,” she says.
“Thanks, Bree,” I say and disconnect.
“He must have deleted all his traces from everywhere we could have looked because he knew we were on the right track,” I grumble.
“But I still don’t get why he went after Elliot,” Matt says. “Oh, wait. He knew you were stalking him.”
