AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Greg cocks his head, and I know I’m not going to like what he’s about to say.
“She could be telling the truth. Like you said, you don’t know her. A year ago, if you told me that you met a woman who could heal people, I would’ve assumed you hit your head or started taking drugs. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not ready to write her off just yet. And the thing is, if she is telling the truth, then she drove all the way here for no other reason than to help Salem. And look what we’re doing to her for her efforts. You think if she has another vision, she’ll be as forthcoming with it?”
He walks away, leaving me to think about what he said. The thing is, he’s not wrong. I’m not sure why I’m being such a dick, but there is something about that girl—
My cell rings. I pull it out and see that it’s Evander, so I swipe to answer. “What did you find?”
“Car is registered to Astrid Montgomery. Address is out in Beverly Hills, believe it or not. She’s twenty-two years old and has a couple of arrests for disorderly conduct, assault, and vandalism. She was a minor at the time, so she was let off with a warning and community service. Her parents are some kind of philanthropists. They spend a lot of their time flying around the world, helping those less fortunate. They are both trust fund babies, and from what it looks like, their marriage was an arranged one.”
“What is it with rich people? Do they really think they can just buy love?”
“I don’t think love factors into it. They would have been thinking about legacies and inheritances. Of course, that doesn’t mean that love can’t come out of the arrangement. Thousands of cultures around the world have arranged marriages, and they make them work.”
“Right, whatever. I don’t really want to get into the pros and cons of this right now. Anything else on Astrid herself?”
“Nothing of interest since she was a teen. Seems she went from somewhat of a wild child to a recluse.”
Something happened. I don’t have anything to base it on other than a gut feeling, but then what do I know? Kids do stupid shit all the time. Maybe she was just acting out to get mommy and daddy’s attention. The question is, did she grow out of it, or is she still seeking attention in all the wrong places? I shake my head and snort at how different our teenage years were. It’s hard to drum up much sympathy for a pretty little rich girl crying in the front seat of her Porsche when, at the same age, I was sitting in a prison cell, wondering if I’d make it through the night.
“Slade?” Ev says my name, and from his tone, I’m guessing he’s said it more than once.
“Sorry, just thinking. What does she do? And if she’s really gifted, how would she have kept it under the radar? Sounds like the family is pretty high profile.”
“Yeah, but that can work in her favor too. Money can go a long way to paying off people and making them recant or forget things.”
Anger hums in my veins, making it hard not to draw parallels between this situation and my own.
“As for what she does, I can’t find anything. Her family moved a lot when she was a kid. She went to more schools than an army brat, but for the most part, it looks like she was homeschooled. I can’t find any traces of a formal education after that.”
Yeah, well, the CIA tends to recruit them young, when possible, and train them.
“Maybe she helps her parents out with their charities?” Ev suggests, as if he can hear the direction my thoughts have gone.
“Helped them spend their money more like it. Focus on that for now. I want to know what she’s been doing since she graduated. Young, rich, pretty girls don’t just disappear from the society pages. Keep me posted if you find anything else.”
“Will do.”
He hangs up, and I shove my cell phone in my pocket as Hawk and Creed walk through the door.
“Ev give you the heads-up?”
“Yeah. Are you buying her story?” Creed asks, looking the car over.
“Not even for a second. Here.” I toss him the keys. “Search her stuff. She has a laptop in the back, probably a cell phone somewhere in there, too, since we didn’t find one on her. Search for trackers and shit as well.”
“On it.”
I turn and leave them to it, needing to get my eyes back on this girl. It’s the only way I can be sure she’s not up to something.
When I walk into the main living area, Oz and Salem are gone, but Astrid is sitting back in the chair, her head tipped down so her long white-blonde hair covers her face as Jagger looms over her. Greg watches with a cautious expression on his face.
Zig looks up when he sees me. “Everything good?”
“Ev is doing his thing. Hawk and Creed are going through her things now.”
I watch Astrid as I speak and see her body tense, but she keeps her mouth shut for a change.
“Alright. The question is, where do we put her for now? She’ll run, given the—”
