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“Vanessa,” I whispered, my fingers shaking as I rubbed them across my face. Everyone froze at the one name, the one suspect that I was bringing forward.
“Your psycho-physician?” Lucas asked, leaning forward on my left side.
I nodded, looking up at the dazed faces surrounding me. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Haven’t you been going to her for a while?” Nolan asked, his brow creased. “It wouldn’t match up with Elliot’s timeline.”
“No, Vanessa and I only started talking about a month ago now…it matches perfectly.” I shook my head. “Plus, she was here in Seathra for a good two months before she started taking patients. It would give her enough time to get that first kill in before I saw her.”
“But she was assigned by the High Faction, I thought,” Beckett said carefully. “It might not be her.”
“Maybe she’s a part of his Clan,” I pointed out. “There’s no one else who would have had access to these details, told or untold.”
“Untold?” Eden questioned.
“We haven’t gotten too into Logan and who he was,” I said, my fingers tapping against the table. “But I had with my last psycho-physician, and like an idiot, I signed a release form allowing Vanessa to take a look at my last physician’s notes and treatment plans.”
I dropped my head forward, banging my forehead lightly on the table. How could I have been so stupid—trusting a complete stranger with all of those detailed, intimate parts of my life they hadn’t earned? My chest was burning, tearing at me from the inside, a growl rising in my throat, but I forced it down. I was happy my wolf was back, but this was not the time to let her free.
“You’re not an idiot,” Emric said. “You trusted the recommendation of the High Faction and your last psycho-physician, anyone would have done the same.”
“All of these ideas are circumstantial, Kas,” Beckett said warily. “Without something to bring us doubt, we can’t search her office, arrest her, even set up some kind of sting without more solid evidence to imply motive or opportunity.”
My shoulders perked up. “What if a patient stumbled across something suspicious? Would that witness be enough?”
“No.” Taylor was the first to speak, his blue eyes flashing with worry. “You aren’t going back there.”
“I am,” I said, leaning back in my chair, spine straightening. “First off, if I’m right, it will look suspicious if I stop going to my High-Faction-mandated counseling. We can’t risk that. Second, Vanessa willingly invites me into her space. I can figure out a way to get her to leave the office for a while so I can search it.”
“What makes you think she keeps anything in there?” Taylor asked. “Why not at home?”
“The area she works in has a lot of security,” I said. “If she was trying to hide something, it would be safest there.”
“Anything you find in there without a warrant would be evidence most likely dismissed in court,” Greyson pointed out. “You would compromise it by searching without a warrant.”
“But if I find something and give a witness statement, it should give us enough tangible doubt to get permission for a sting operation,” I urged, filling my words with equal amounts logic and passion to drive the point home. They needed to listen; they needed to see this was the only way. “If we can do that, I can go into a session bugged and get her to admit to something that gives us cause to arrest her.”
Silence fell again, a mixture of tense emotions filling the space between us all. This was the right move, the only move at this point. We had gotten nowhere, but Elliot had finally shown his weakness—and it was me. We couldn’t let this opportunity get away from us, it was our only lead and we needed to see it through. This was the perfect way to do that.
By the wandering gazes, I knew I wasn’t the only one to think so, even if others weren’t ready to say it out loud.
“I say we vote.” I looked around the room. “Keturi vote first. Beckett?”
He looked at me from across the table, his onyx eyes swirling with pain. “I’m sorry, Kas, I can’t send you into a risky situation without more tangible evidence. I vote no.”
My heart fell, my jaw tensing.
Beckett’s concern came from a place of love, and in some ways even trauma. He had been the one to find my almost-lifeless body bleeding to death, he had been the one to feed me and stabilize me so I could survive. He had every right to want to keep me as safe as possible, to keep me away from the person who was apparently calling me out.
Still, it stung. But I didn’t have time to think about it.
“Emric?” I turned to him, praying to Lunestia he was on my side.
His face was stern, lips in a thin line. “I’m sorry, no.”
Damnit, Emric.I wanted to question him, but I didn’t think my quivering heart could take it.
One last chance. All of my hopes rested on the man who I thought I despised, yet came to adore and admire. Would he try to keep me safe, or would he trust in my strength? Only one way to find out.
