He turns back to the phone immediately.
“Evelyn,” he says. “Check for anything tied to land near the forest outside the warehouse. Property purchases, deliveries, anything he’s searched or accessed connected to that area.”
We wait.
The silence stretches.
Elijah is still moving in the background, still tearing through what’s left of the space even though there’s nothing here.
Jackson doesn’t speak again until Evelyn does.
“There’s something,” he says, his voice sharpening. “Six months ago? Delivery to that area?”
My chest tightens.
I nod once.
“That’s it,” I say. “It has to be.”
Christian looks at the map, then back at me.
“That’s a massive area,” he says. “We can’t just—”
“We don’t have another option,” I cut in.
The words come out steadier than I expect.
“We go there. We figure it out when we get there.”
Because standing here isn’t doing anything.
Because this...this is something.
“I know it,” I add, quieter now but no less certain. “He’s out there.”
There’s a moment where it could be questioned.
Where it could be argued.
It isn’t.
Elijah stops moving and looks at me, then nods once.
“Move.”
That’s all it takes.
We’re already heading back to the car, the shift immediate, the energy changing from static frustration to something sharper, something forward.
Jackson is still on the phone as we move.
“Keep searching,” he says. “Everything you can. Lucian, see if you can get satellite, traffic cams, anything that leads out there.”
The warehouse disappears behind us as we head toward the forest, the road stretching out in front of us in a way that feels endless and too short at the same time.
We’re close.
I can feel that much now.
