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“Fair enough,” I replied, chuckling softly.
“In Ashley’s defense, I didn’t find anything to indicate she wasn’t a happy teenager, more or less. At least from the social media.”
I hummed. “I’d agree with that, at least from what I saw.”
“What’s with all the questions?”
“I don’t know if you’ve watched any recent press releases, but I thought Ryan’s behavior was a bit weird. Catherine has been sharing all over social media; he’s reposted a few of her posts, but I don’t see any new ones after the first day. And in the videos, he’s usually standing in the background. Catherine always talks. He wasn’t even in the last one. I assume he didn’t seem abnormally shy to you?”
“No, not at all,” Eli rumbled.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so. That’s not just me, right? That seems like weird behavior from someone whose eighteen-year-old daughter just disappeared into thin air?”
He huffed. “I’m not a father, but yes, that seems very weird.”
“We should follow him.”
“I… okay.”
“And not your goons,” I stipulated, glad Eli couldn’t see the smug smile I knew I was wearing. “They were terrible at keeping themselves hidden. I mean us.”
“That’s fine,” Eli huffed. “But we’ll have to take your car. I drove mine to the Sanders’ house already, he’d recognize it.”
“Sure,” I agreed. A moment later, I frowned. Had I cleaned my car out recently? Hopefully. “I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up before he could argue.
Eli arrived an hour later.I locked the motel room and led him to my car, cringing as I realized that it was… cleanish, for me, but having ridden in Eli’s car… Yeah. Probably not great. Not ideal.
Before I could say anything, the alpha opened the passenger side door, slipping in. I caught a slight wrinkle of his nose and frowned, but… It didn’t smell like much to me. Maybe it was a little stale — it had been sitting out in the Austin sun all day — but didn’t everyone’s car get a little muggy in the summer?
Finally, he glanced over at me, his expression unreadable. “What’s that smell?”
I scowled and took a sniff. “What smell?” I replied. “It’s just — I dunno, hot car.”
Eli grimaced and shook his head. “It smells like… stale French fries? Fast food?”
“Maybe?” I shrugged. “I ate on the road driving down here. A French fry could have escaped.”
The alpha leaned down, and I assumed he’d spotted the offending fry, but when he leaned back up, there was a piece of something black and lacy pinched between his fingers. “Cute,” Eli teased, raising a brow.
I scowled, snatching my underwear out of his hand and tossing it into the back seat.Damnit, I thought I’d gotten all the clothes this time.
“Do you ever clean this car?”
I turned the key, smiling a little as my Crown Vic rumbled to life. She was always so damn reliable. “Of course I do. I did, like — a few weeks ago.” Maybe a month.He doesn’t need to know that.
“Uh-huh.”
I put the car into drive and put Ryan’s work address in the GPS. It seemed as good a place as any to start. “Look, I spend a lot of time in my car, okay?”
Eli hummed. He was quiet for a few minutes before speaking up. “Have you ever considered living in one town and not being so nomadic?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Austin’s a big city,” he said. “I’m sure there are enough people here that a private detective business could be supported.”
I thought for a moment, chewing the inside of my mouth. More than once, I’d considered the possibility of settling down somewhere. It wasn’t easy, driving all the time. It was tiring. “It probably would,” I replied, shrugging. “But someone has probably already set up a business here. Besides, I’d have to petition to join a pack, and… I don’t know. I don’t want to bethatwolf. The one everyone is always talking about.”
