The vampire looked like the only one who’d had any sleep.
Bo circled twice and flopped down by my feet as Samuel closed the door.
“Right,” my alpha said. “What do we have?”
We traded glances.
“You first,” Didi told Barney.
The vampire inclined his head and slid the folio to the center of the table. “Cornelius granted me access to the restricted section of the Alliance archives last night. The Thornwick records are limited since most were purged after the exile. But I found a file the archivist had overlooked.” His dark eyes glinted. “Or more likely, deliberately buried.”
He opened the folio to reveal aged documentscovered in spidery handwriting. There was a family picture among them.
I reached for it.
“That was the last Thornwick family portrait, taken a year before their exile,” Barney said.
Cordelia Thornwick sat like a queen in the middle of the photograph. Even though she was in her sixties, she was a beautiful woman. A pretty girl stood beside Cordelia, her hand on the older woman’s shoulder. I knew instinctively that I was looking at Esmeralda Thornwick.
“Cordelia owned several properties in and around Amberford prior to her family’s banishment. Most were seized by the covens. But one parcel of land on the northern outskirts was never formally cataloged in the confiscation records.” Barney paused. “Neither was that warehouse.”
My pulse quickened. “Because no one knew about them?”
“Or because someone made sure they were forgotten.” Barney tapped a faded deed. “Both properties were listed under a trust entity, not the Thornwick name directly. They wouldn’t have shown up in a standard search.”
“The Thornwick Family Trust,” I said flatly.
Barney looked up sharply.
I told them what I’d uncovered that morning. By the time I finished, Gavin’s horns were smoking.
“Barney messaged me the lot number for that plot of land last night. I’ve got the county records for it.”
The dragon newt uncapped the cardboardtube he’d brought with him and unrolled a printed map across the table. Bo came out from under the desk and propped his paws on the table to take a look.
Didi raised an eyebrow at Gavin. “The county clerk’s office is open that late?”
“One of my friends works there. He owed me a favor.”
We rose to examine the map as he weighed the corners down with Didi’s coffee mug, Barney’s folio, a stapler, and Bo’s squeaky toy that had somehow made it into the conference room.
“Can I see the lot and county designation numbers you found for the trust?” Gavin asked me.
I gave them to him.
The dragon newt frowned. “They’re the same. The trust filings matches a parcel here.” Gavin pointed to a spot on the map. “North of the Crossroads, past the old industrial district. It’s about twelve miles out of town.” He straightened. “The area is heavily forested. No residential development. The property records show a structure on the land, but there’s no building permit on file and no utility connections registered in the last thirty years.”
My wolf went still.
“So, a house that technically doesn’t exist,” Didi muttered.
“On land that technically belongs to no one,” Barney added.
“Except it does belong to someone,” I said in a hard voice. “I suspect it is Esmeralda Thornwick we’re dealing with after all.”
Samuel frowned at Didi. “Did you get anywhere with Arthur Holt?”
“He gave me the configuration of all the ley lines he knew of.” The witch was already reaching for the item she’d brought. It was a rolled sheet of thick paper that she spread across Gavin’s map.
