“You’ve told him?” Dash asked Emerson.
Emerson nodded, holding Dash’s gaze. “He knows… about me.”
Dash had so many questions for Emerson. Questions that would need to wait until after Randall was gone. He saw fatigue in Emerson’s eyes and coupled with the fight he’d walked in on, he knew the man was besieged with emotion.
Yet Randall was opening up, so there was hope. He hadn’t walked away after finding Emerson there. Dash hadn’t heard scorn in Randall’s voice when describing the missing alphas. Sex workers were often looked down on, especially by the Guard, so he’d expected it.
The guy wasn’t making it easy to figure him out.
“Emerson might have insight we don’t,” Dash said to Randall. “I think he should be included in this conversation.”
Randall glanced at Emerson for a moment before saying “Fine.” He didn’t sound too pleased Emerson was joining them, though.
Dash’s heart ached for Emerson. He slid over and made room. Emerson sat beside him and searched through the sheets,eyeing the faces looking back. Dash slid one foot over and tapped it against Emerson’s.
Emerson tapped his back before rubbing one knee against Dash’s.
“I’ve seen most of these men at the Dragon from time to time. I didn’t know any of them well.” He pointed to one and focused on Dash. “He’s an escort. I’ve seen him on the arm of your missing alpha multiple times.”
“Mind sharing the name of who’s missing?” Randall asked.
Dash looked between them. Randall had opened up his files. Dash supposed he needed to be forthcoming, but that was complicated. “I signed an NDA. I need a promise this won’t be shared with your buddies at the Guard.”
Randall frowned. “Do you think anyone there knows about my little off-book investigation? I’d likely be the next missing alpha if they found out.” He scoffed. “Your NDA’s safe with me.”
Dash searched Randall’s face before looking at Emerson.
Emerson had seemingly been right about his brother, so the slight nod he gave convinced Dash to share. “Jaye Lachlin, the younger.”
“A Lachlin?”Randall asked, eyebrows rising before he whistled.
“You never mentioned his name was JayeLachlin,”Emerson murmured, wide-eyed.
“What?”Dash asked, confused by their reactions. Sure, the family was rich and well-known, but that didn’t change much in his mind. Missing was missing. In that way, they were like any other family, desperate to learn where their son was.
“You said wealthy. I didn’t realize you meantowns a third of the provincekind of wealthy. A name like that will bring a lot of heat to this,” Randall said. He paused a moment. “But maybe not. That family definitely won’t want the world to know the heir to the Lachlin fortune is alpha-attracted. No wonder they hireda P.I. and didn’t come to us.” He scrubbed his lightly-bearded jaw with one hand before lifting his gaze to Dash. “None of the others missing are this high profile. I don’t know if he fits the M.O.”
“What if he was using an alias?” Dash said. “Someone might not’ve known Jaye was a Lachlin when they grabbed him.”
“I never heard it mentioned at the club,” Emerson said. “Trust me, theylovegossip at the Dragon. Had someone found out,everyonewould’ve known shortly thereafter.” He eyed Dash. “I doubt he ever shared his real last name.”
“I considered that. It’s why I went into the Records Department,” Dash said. He flipped through the rap sheets. One face after another. Meade’s story was now corroborated, it seemed. “I was looking for his face amid the arrest reports, but so many mugshots were missing.” He focused his attention on Randall. “Is there a reason behind that?”
“Previous raids had them,” Randall said. “I’m not sure what happened that night. I didn’t want to ask and raise suspicions that I’ve been snooping.”
“What happened that made you notice something wasn’t right?” Dash asked.
“About seven months ago, one of these alphas had a friend come in to report him missing. Another patrolman took the report—and I was seated at the next desk. I heard the entire statement. As soon as the friend left, things shifted. The other patrolman apparently recognized the missing man from a previous raid he’d worked and told everyone around us that the guy was alpha-attracted. The other guys piled on, using slurs and making snide comments. They basically insinuated that the missing alpha was probably dead—and if so,” Randall paused, glancing at Emerson. “If so, he’d gotten what he deserved.”
Dash drew in a breath with difficulty. It was only eased by Emerson’s hand sliding onto his knee.
“When the report was tossed in the trash, I was at a loss.” Randall sorted through the files and pulled out a handwritten sheet that seemed more tape than paper. “I fished it out and held on to it for some reason, unsure who to talk to about it. Or if I even should.”
He sorted through the files again and pulled out another rap sheet and pointed to the mugshot. “That’s the friend who made the report. A few months later,hewas reported missing. I took that report myself, and I immediately recognized him. I went to Cap with the new missing person’s report, not mentioning the previous, but I told him I thought there was something there and I wanted to investigate a little.”
Randall winced. “I was told to drop it. Cap took my report, tore it up, and tossed it himself.” He pointed at another sheet. “Fortunately, it was just a copy.”
“How have you gotten all this, without anyone noticing?” Dash asked, looking at the pages and pages around the table.
