"Yes." She nodded eagerly. "It feels like home."
I wasn't sure what that meant about her former living arrangements but questioning her on it would have to wait.
I walked over to where Lilith stood by the door. "Thank you. I didn't mean to drop her in your lap."
"I don't mind. She's self-sufficient and doesn't get in my way. It's kinda nice having her here."
"Good. We're heading out to see what we can find in the storage unit Alexander told us about. Hopefully it has some of the answers we seek."
"For your sake, I hope so." Lilith slid by me and headed over to Krista. "Don't worry about us. We know how to keep busy."
I had no idea what busy even looked like for a teenager anymore. Let alone one who was stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. But if that was what Krista wanted, then who was I to deny her.
I found Sloane waiting for us outside the common area. "Hawk got us access to the storage unit. I'm going with you. Nyx will stay here with Lilith and Krista."
"Works for me, but I want to roll out now."
Sloane stepped aside and held her hand out. "Waiting on you."
Beckett had yet to say a word since he demanded to come with me to visit Krista. I wondered what he thought of the dynamic. I would have to wait to ask him until we were alone again. And I had a feeling that wasn't going to be for a little while.
My gut told me the storage unit wasn't going to have the answers I wanted, but maybe, for once, it would be wrong.
It was more likely that, once again, I would be disappointed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
BECKETT
For Anita's sake, I hoped the storage unit contained the answers she wanted. I doubted we would find Nova's body. Seven years was a long time to keep remains hidden without someone noticing. Especially because the smell was awful once it decayed.
That wasn't to say there weren't ways to cover the smell. I just didn't think a storage unit would suffice. But I had been proven wrong before.
When we pulled up to the storage facility, Sloane rattled off the code to get through the gate. "Five one five is a climate-controlled unit inside the building."
Anita pulled into the first parking spot and stepped out. It was after office hours, so there was no one at the facility except for us.
Sloane held an electronic tablet in her hand, so we followed her when she motioned which way to go.
"An electronic lock, huh? Too fancy for a traditional padlock." I joked as soon as I saw what I'm guessing Alexander considered a more secure way to guard his stuff.
"Yup. Too bad he chose to use a device to open it instead of a biometric which would've required his fingerprint. Hawk was able to hack into his phone and get what we needed."
"Who's Hawk?" I had yet to hear that name.
"I'll tell you later," Anita answered impatiently. "Right now, I want to see what's behind door number one."
Was that a joke? Who knew Anita had it in her.
It took less than five seconds for the lock to flash green and for us to have access. To say what we found was anticlimactic would be an understatement of the year. In the middle of the small unit was a metal table with a heavy-duty storage file box sitting on top of it.
"What are the chances it's a bomb?" I asked no one in particular. To be fair, I was mostly just thinking out loud.
Pulling a small flashlight out of her many pockets, Sloane squatted down and shined the light into the hand holes. "No wires connected to the lid." Apparently that was all the proof she needed to take the lid off. "Well, that's disappointing."
Anita and I both leaned over to get a look. Sitting in the bottom of the box was a small thumb drive.
"That better contain all Alexander's secrets, or I'm going to bring him back from the dead just to kill him again."
