Instead, I carried a thread of Silas’s scent. Fortunately for my sanity, much like bad breath, that wasn’t something I could actually smell on myself.
“Billy loves us. He’s one of the family. He would never do that,” Davey insisted.
“He might, if he were following orders from the only parent he had left.” Austin glanced at me over his mug. “His mother’s dead, right? And you didn’t know Silas was his dad?”
“I had no idea.”
“None of us did,” Tucker confirmed.
“So, what did Billy tell you about his dad?” Austin asked. “What did Eamon say about him?”
“Nothing,” Davey said. “Billy’s never mentioned his dad.”
“When Eamon asked me to hire him, all he said was that Billy’s mom had died and school wasn’t his thing. He kind of implied that there was no father in the picture, and I never pressed for more information, because that seemed like none of my business. He said he thought it would do the kid good to have some responsibility. A job. And I agreed.” I shrugged. “Davey and I bussed tables, mopped floors, and flipped burgers long before we could drive.”
“He had a birth certificate, right?” Tucker said, clicking away at his laptop, at the other end of the bar. “He’d have to, if you’re reporting his wages.”
“Yeah.” I set a steaming mug in front of him. “And ofcourseI’m reporting his pay.” The last thing a shifter-run business needed was a government audit. “I have a copy of his birth certificate on file in the office. I can get it if you want. Or you can just trust me that it says his name is William Bullen, and the date of birth confirms that he just turned twenty. Though he wasn’t quite seventeen when we hired him.”
“I do trust you,” Tucker said. “But I still need to see the birth certificate.”
“I got it,” Davey said before I could even set my mug down.
“Thanks!” I called after her.
“Birth certificates are easily faked,” Austin said, with one look at the irritation on my face.
“And I can’t confirm that Billy’s is real—that William Bullen actually exists—without driving down to the Vital Records office in Nashville or waiting two weeks for one to be shipped,” Tucker said. “But Icantry to confirm that Billy Bullen and Denny Morelock are the same person.”
“If you can’t confirm it’s real, why do you want to see it?” I asked.
“Because the most convincing lies usually have at least a grain of truth to them, to make them easier to remember and stick to. Which means there’s a possibility that some of the information on the fake birth certificate is real. Including the name of his mother and the county where he was born.”
“Okay, I got it.” Davey emerged from the kitchen with a piece of paper in one hand. “And it’s as boring as you might expect. But can you guess whose birth certificate isnotboring?” She aimed a grin at Vance.
He groaned. “Whywere you looking at my birth certificate?”
Davey shrugged. “I glanced at all of the ones on file.” She turned to the rest of us. “Did you guys know that Vance’s middle name is Purvis?Purvis! He is VancePurvisCooper!” Her gaze landed on him while I stifled a smile. “Your name is basically Perv, and that’s never going to not be funny!”
Bishop whistled. “Ouch. Sorry, man.”
“Can we get back on topic?” Tucker held his hand out for Billy’s birth certificate. “I’m working on under three hours sleep, which is likely three more than Charley’s had.”
“We’re all exhausted.” I grabbed the paper and handed it to Tucker, who went back to his keyboard, and I got the impression he was basically tuning the rest of us out.
“I just can’t see Billy doing this.” Davey grabbed a handful of peanuts and crunched into several. “He’s never so much as looked at me weird. And he’s practically still a kid now, but he wasliterallya kid when this all started.”
Austin shrugged. “Kids do what their parents tell them.”
Davey snorted. “Youclearlyhave no children. If I’d been on fire and my dad had told me to jump in the lake to put out the flames, I’d have rolled around in lighter fluid just to avoid doing what I was told.”
“She is not exaggerating,” I assured him. “And that pointless rebellion has been conferred upon me, in our parents’ absence.”
“False,” Davey snapped back at me. “I’m an adult, and you are not my boss, so there is nothing for me to rebel against. But my point stands. I can’t see Billy being behind all this.”
“He knows the zone members, right?” The firm dip in Bishop’s brow worried me, as did the clench of his fists. “And they trust him?”
“Because he’s harmless,” Davey insisted. “And he didn’t know either you or Austin, right? So then how would he know about Yvette?”
