I glower at him. “Then you should know better than to aggravate me. I’m going in, are you coming or not?”
Lachlan’s sigh is world-weary, but he follows me around the side of the house. The gate to the backyard is unlocked so I push it open and find the patio path that leads to the back door. Either Danny is an idiot or he doesn’t think he’s going to be gone long because that too is unlocked.
A cat meows as I push the door open and I step in quickly, blocking the little dude’s exit. He brushes up against my leg, a purr rumbling through his body. Maybe I should get Hazel a cat.
Lachlan follows me inside and we look around the kitchen. Everything is pretty neat, aside from the dishes and pots Danny must have used for dinner.
Lachlan heads to the stack of paperwork on the table and I take a moment to top up the cat’s food from the can left by the sink.
“What are you doing?” Lach asks, looking over at me in disbelief.
I shrug. “He sounded hungry.”
“Cats don’t sound— never mind. See if you can find his computer.”
“The cat’s?”
“Flynn,” Lach warns, and I smirk because even when it feels like everything is wrong in the world, I still get a kick out of annoying my big brother.
I laughed,Hope says in my head, which is why she was my favorite sibling.
I cross through the open door into the living area and spot Danny’s laptop on a corner desk. The screen comes to life when I open it, but it wants a password and I don’t have the time to try and hack it right now.
I go upstairs to his bedroom and scan the collage of photos pinned up on a corkboard. I turn my phone’s flashlight on to get a better look. There’re photos of a younger Danny with friends and a couple of him with a girl who could be his girlfriend, but I don’t see any of Hope. Everything about his room seems fairly mundane, copper bed frame, navy sheets, dirty laundry piled up over the basket. He also doesn’t look that well off, nothing to suggest he’s part of a secret society that sets you up for life, but then maybe he’s just too low down in the group at the moment.
“Find anything?” Lachlan asks, his shadow appearing in the doorway.
I shake my head just as my phone buzzes.
“Hazel?” Lach asks.
“Carmen.” The pressure in my head tightens. I open the message and scan over it. “She’s managed to hack Claren’s personal email. She’s sending through what she’s found. Says it’s urgent.”
I wait for the next few messages to arrive then click to enlarge the screenshots. It’s a series of emails between Claren and someone addressed [email protected].
Sounds like a cool guy,Hope mutters and I hold back a snort as I skim read through the emails. Then I get to the last one.
Tonight. 3am. You’ll find what you need at the address below.
241 Pear Tree Avenue, Ballard, Seattle
Any amusement shatters. That’s Hazel’s address.
Another message pops up on screen.
Carmen
I don’t know who ‘suck it’ is yet, but I’ll keep digging.
I check the time. It’s 2:55am and Danny just left his house in the middle of the night.Fuck.We should have followed him.
“We have to go,” I say to Lachlan. “Now.”
“Care to fill me in?” Lach asks as I head to the front door, not bothering to sneak out the back because we don’t have the time.
“I think Danny’s going after Hazel.”
We leg it across the street and Lachlan gets behind the wheel while I take the passenger seat. He pulls out into the road and I open the surveillance app on my phone to check the cameras I have in Hazel’s place, only the screen comes up black, a no connection symbol flashing in the center.
