“Can they know you’re on their system?”
Sam narrows his eyes. “Who do you think you’re talking to? One of those clueless tech billionaires who get praised for their team’s work?Of course, no one will know I’m on their system. No one will know I have access, even if they find this laptop and hand it to their best hackers. Everything is so encoded. They’ll spend years detangling it.”
I raise my hands in surrender. “Just checking.” Nicholas canneverknow about this. “You have the list, you say?”
He nods, turning his laptop so I can see a series of folders on his screen, each marked with a person’s name.
“That’s not a lot.” There are only seven folders.
Sam turns the laptop back. “Yes, and it’ll automatically populate with a new folder every time they start a new investigation. For now, we need to find these seven people.”
“And you’ve already hacked into the street cameras around their homes?” I ask, knowing the answer already.
“I got bored last night, and you won’t let me go play with the sexy werewolf. I’ll have their phones in my control soon, too,” He says confidently. “Sharing the feeds with you right now, so you can keep an eye out while I figure that out.” He gets busy with his laptop.
The jolt of excitement I felt at the prospect of snooping on unsuspecting people? Yeah, I wasn’t made for a normal life.
***
Adrian calls me in the afternoon while I'm hunched over my laptop, tracking everyone entering our targets' buildings and doing my best to ignore the lack of texts from Nicholas. Why would he even text? He’s said his piece already. So have I. There isnothingleft to say. It’s over like I always knew it was going to be.
Now, if I can find the real killer, I’ll at least get to go back to my illusion of normal life. Or we’ll have to flee, and I’ll never see Nicholas ever again.
My screen is split into seven camera feeds with the best angles of the main entry points to their homes since there weren’t any signs of forced entry in any of the victims’ places. Besides, the killer was copying me, and sneaking into anyone’s home isn’t my style.
I preferred to watch their homes, stalk them, and convince them that they wanted me in their homes. Then kill them in cold blood.
I pick up the call, confused. “Hello?”
“Hey, are you at the clinic today? Minka has swallowed some paint. Do you think it’ll make her sick? Can I bring her over?”
“Is she behaving any differently? It’s probably not a problem if she’s normal.” Wait, what the fuck am I doing? “I should still take a look, though. I can come to your place. The clinic’s closed today.”
“If it isn’t a lot of trouble?” He says quickly.
“Hey, anything for a pup as perfect as Minka,” I say honestly.
Adrian laughs. “I’ll send you the address.”
“Perfect. See you in thirty.” I say and disconnect, only to realize I shouldn’t know how long it takes me to drive to his place. I shake my head. I’m just being paranoid. The man has shown no signs of evil. I’d know if he did. I have a pretty good evildar.
I shoot a text to Sam about the recent development, hoping he won’t come after me when he wakes up from his afternoon nap, that’s practically a proper sleep.
Changing into an appropriate T-shirt and jeans, I consider whether to wear a tracker. I mean, I already know where I’m going, and now Sam does too. I doubt that if Adrian wanted to harm me, he’d take me to a second location, leaving his giant, soundproof house behind.
Besides, I’m not going completely unarmed. I sneak in two full syringes of Valmeron and Myocardiner along with a taser in my to-go vet bag. I leave the gun out in case he could sniff it out on me. The medicines can be easily explained away, a gun can’t. And I don’t want to put him on the offensive right away, I want an opportunity to run if it looks like things might go south.
After checking the contents of my bag one last time, I slip out, closing the door softly behind me.
I drive fast, following the address Adrian just sent. Now that I don’t have to worry about judgments from Nicholas, I feel much lighter as I move closer to what can easily become a dangerous situation.
I don’t have to worry about his disappointment if he finds my body in a werewolf’s house and immediately realizes I wasn’t up to any good. Maybe knowing he was right all along will give him some peace. He should never have trusted me because I’ll keep lying to him, as I have throughout our relationship.
I accused him of not trusting me, but as I drive to my abuser’s son’s home, it hits me that I probably never trusted him either. Was it the fear of judgment that kept me from sharing what I’m doing, or was it my fear of rejection? Did I ever really give him a chance?
It doesn’t matter now. As I enter the neighborhood we triumphantly escaped just a few days ago, I feel a renewed sense of determination. I need to find Raymond and get rid of him. I can never truly let myself trust while he lives on, hurting more people.
I pass through the mansions with huge yards until I reach the cream colored villa that’s already too familiar. The gate opens automatically when my car reaches it. I drive inside and park in the driveway.
