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“That wasn’t me,” I told him. “That was Isla’s choice. I’m glad she’s working out. Hopefully, my little muffin thief can find some semblance of normal.”
“Well, normal right now looks like her wanting to grow up to be you, so we’ll see.”
“Fuck.” I chuckled. “I’m sorry about that. We’ll find her a better role model.”
“I’m not sure you’ll ever find a better role model in her eyes after what you did for us.”
“You know you don’t have to keep thanking me,” I reminded him. But he would. Every time we chatted and every time I popped in for a visit, he thanked me. I pointedly stared at the computer to avoid my family. I could feel the heavy weight of them watching me.
“You know I always will,” he said. Clearing his throat, he shifted in his chair and leaned closer. “It’s funny you got in touch. Your name came across my desk this week.”
“In a good way or a bad way?” I asked tentatively.
“Was there a reason you were following James Macoy?” He stared at me expectantly. Fuck, I should’ve known this would’ve come back to bite me in the ass. With the amount of time I’d spent following Macoy around Boston to understand him, it didn’t surprise me I’d been caught on camera. Didn’t fucking help me but didn’t surprise me. “Was he my kind of bad or your kind of bad?”
“My kind of bad,” I said.
“Good enough for me,” Grant replied. “He’s been reported missing. Your name came across as a person of interest because you were following him. Is he going to come back?”
“If he does, you’re going to want to give me a fucking call because zombies are real, and they fuck shit up,” I muttered.
“Zombies are real?” Raven exclaimed behind me, and I bit back a smile. I glanced over at her and nodded.
“I don’t want to know,” Grant told me. I didn’t fucking blame him. “I’ll make sure your name is taken off the interest list. Tell me what you need?”
“I need your help finding out everything you can about someone,” I began and flipped open the file. Joey had emailed me what little he had from the bounty—she’d never been caught. No fucking surprise there. I had a driver’s license and a warrant, but I had a feeling the first was bullshit. “I don’t fucking know if any of the information I have is accurate, but it’s all I’ve got. I need everything you can find on her. Names, aliases, associates, everywhere she’s been, family history, whatever the fuck you can find me and fast.”
“How fast do you need it?”
“I need it yesterday.”
“How bad are we talking, Killian?”
“Let’s just say she’s hunting my pack, and I need help finding her.” That was all he needed to know. I’d spare him the gory details if I could. “It’s bad, and the body count is climbing.”
“Do you need backup?” Grant asked.
“I’ve got backup covered,” I replied. I knew he’d offer in a heartbeat. “You just stay home and take care of Lizzie, all right? And get me whatever you can find on her.”
“I’ll do some digging while we watch Star Wars,” he told me. “I’ll send you whatever I can find. If you need help, I can be on a plane tomorrow, so you just let me know.”
“She’d kill you in a heartbeat, Grant,” I said honestly. “I don’t want you anywhere near this, you understand? And make sure she can’t trace your shit, do you understand?”
“Okay, but you better be safe. Tell me when it’s over. And after you get this shit taken care of, me and Lizzie will make the trek out to visit.”
“I will,” I promised. “And send me a picture of my muffin thief. It’s been a hot minute.”
“You won’t recognize her. She damn near grew half a foot since we saw you last,” he beamed. “Girl’s nothing but a beanstalk.”
“I believe it.” Considering how fucking tall he was, that didn’t surprise me. “Thanks again, Grant.”
“Anytime.”
I closed the laptop as I ended the video chat and stared right back at my family. All eyes were on me—not fucking surprised. There was a fuck ton of things that happened.
“Benjamin Carter was a troll,” I began with a sigh. “He kidnapped little girls between four and eight years old while using magic to pretend to be a school teacher. I knew he kept the girls somewhere remote, I knew he tortured them for over a week, and I knew when he was done with them, he’d cut out their organs before leaving them in the middle of a backroad.”
“Oh, my God.” Mom covered her mouth.
