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“Thanks to everyone for joining in,” I said, ignoring him and looking at their boxed images on-screen. “This is a weird, supernaturalBrady Bunchview, but it’s appreciated. Long story short, Levi remains on the loose, and Nicole Heart is coming to Chicago to deal with Clive and question me. So we’ve got a stalker and a bureaucrat.” And hopefully no Testing.
“You look like you’ve got an idea,” Gwen said approvingly and crossed her arms. “Let’s hear it.”
“I have a sandwich of an idea,” I said, “made up of the information and ideas that everyone else has contributed. So thank you for that.”
“Leave it to your daughter to use a food metaphor,” my father said to my mother.
Theo smiled. “And taking responsibility for your problems doesn’t mean you have to solve them alone.”
“It’s appreciated. Let’s start with you—I assume Levi hasn’t been located?”
Theo got Roger’s nod, reported. “No. He wasn’t at the hotel, and it appears some of his personal effects are missing. Some clothes, some shoes.”
“He’s on the run,” Connor said.
“Most likely,” Roger said. “We’ve also identified the two AAM vampires who assisted him—Klaus and Sonder. They’re gone, too.”
“What did Clive have to say about that?” I wondered.
“Still in denial,” Theo said. “Gwen and I talked to him, and he’s still talking about false accusations and perfidy by Chicago’s vampires.” He rolled his eyes.
Gwen took the reins. “We searched the hotel, including the Bureau’s suites. We found nothing that links Levi’s stalkingactivities to the Bureau. But we did find a set of bloody clothes in the closet in Levi’s room.”
“Blake?” I asked.
She nodded. “Housekeeping had cleaned the space, but we found traces of his blood in the sink, shower. That’s still being tested.”
“It will be Blake’s,” I said. “It would have been very messy work.”
“Another reason to use the Pedway,” Petra said. “So you don’t attract attention while you’re literally covered in blood.”
“We didn’t find a sword,” Gwen continued, “probably because he’s taken that with him. But given his sloppiness, there’s a good chance we’ll find traces on that, too. When we get him. Which we will.”
“What about the letters Levi sent to Cadogan House?” my father asked. “Do they help?”
“Not yet,” Theo said. “There were some references to Chicago—including a friend who’d lived here once, who we thought might have offered him a place to stay. But the friend moved to Philly ten years ago, and his apartment is now home to a very nice human family. We didn’t have any more leads until he sent you that very sloppy message.”
“That’s our ticket,” I agreed. “I think we pick a time and place, and we lure Levi out. Maybe send him a fake newsletter saying Connor and I will be there for some kind of event. Something that will make him think he can get to both of us at once.”
My mother frowned. “He may be too smart to fall for that.”
“Not if we add one more element,” I said. “Not if we tell him we’ll be at Cadogan House.”
There were sounds and nods of agreement. “He’ll want to come back here,” Dad said. “He can close old wounds.”
“That’s my thinking.”
“And we’ll be there to wrap him up,” Gwen said.
“How does this help with the AAM?” my father asked.
“We know the AAM only selectively enforces the prohibition on making new vampires. When I talk to Nicole, I can offer him up in exchange for her dropping the issue.” I leaned forward. “He’s killed another vampire, attacked a human, stolen a car, hit a shifter. He’s doing damage throughout the city, attracting human attention. She’ll want him wrapped up. And that might be enough to have her drop her claims against me—especially if I offer not to press charges.”
“It’s a good argument,” my father said. “I don’t know if she’ll agree, and it presumes you can get Levi to Cadogan House, but it’s a start.”
“Clive isn’t going to like that at all,” my mother said. “Assuming he’s been released by then, he might see his brother’s arrest as your fault, regardless of what the AAM does.”
“I think there’s a pretty good risk of that. But I also think, if we can get Clive to Cadogan House and he sees his brother, maybe he’ll have a reckoning.”
