Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Theo I held the feelings of triumph and rage back. Inside the small closet was a stack of boxes. They were file boxes. The same kind that was in the archives department at the library.

This was it.

But we needed to confirm what was in them before I could act. I grabbed one of the boxes from the top and opened it. I pulled out a file, and inside was a stamp with the library name and property of Greytooth Pack.

Call Detective Mortin,” I told Briggs as I began pulling all the boxes out.

Briggs pulled out his phone. When he answered, he relayed what we found. I texted him a picture of Randall, and we told Mortin he would likely be at the university. They would send squad cars to pick him up while he and his team headed to the house. I didn’t want to wait for them, though. I had pulled some of the boxes out and started to look through them. Briggs joined me as soon as he hung up.

By the time Mortin arrived, we had determined a couple of the boxes were from two of the other packs that had experienced the fires. I would have to reach out to them once we had more information. I kept searching through the boxes and the closet to find anything that would give us an idea of what Randall was looking for. I didn’t bother delving deep into the contents of the files. We would get to that later.

We heard footsteps above us, and then voices carried downstairs.

“We’re down here,” I called.

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15:23 Vouchers Detective Mortin and two uniformed officers came down.

“Kid, I know you’re not contaminating my crime scene,” Detective Alex Mortin said as he saw us hunched over the boxes of paperwork. I didn’t even blink at the informal address. That was Alex Mortin. He’d seen and taught me enough to call me whatever he wanted.

“You’ve got our prints on file,” I replied shortly.

He shook his head with a chuckle. “Anything pop out at you?”

I shook my head. “These were all locked in the closet over there. So far, it’s just the missing files. Nothing to indicate why he took them yet. But they do include files from the Moonvalley and Wildtail Packs.”

“So this guy is likely tied to all of the incidents,” Mortin said. “Are we turning this into a cross-pack investigation?”

“I have to reach out to them,” I confirmed. “We’ll see what they say. But considering two of them also had murders, they likely will want a part in this. Have you heard anything on Randal yet?”

“We have a bolo out for him. Two squads and security are searching the campus for him. We don’t want to sp*ok him, so it may take a little while.”

“Just find him and get him in a cell,” I said. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and sighed heavily. It was my mother.

Again. “Keep a twenty-four-hour guard on this place until I say.”

I headed up the stairs as I answered the call, walking out to the middle of the yard.

“Yeah?”

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15:231 “Want to try that again, young man,” my mom scolded.

I rolled my eyes. “Hey, Mom,” I replied. “What’s up?”

“I need you to come up on Sunday,” she said. “I’ve got a surprise for your father. I want you to be here.”

“Mom,” I groaned. “I don’t think I can make it. We just had a break in the Walport case. I’ll probably be tied up in things...”

“Theo Arden,” she interjected, “You can take a few hours out of the day to see your parents.”

“Mom...”

“Nope,” she insisted. “You will be here. End of story. I will message you with a time.”

She hung up before I could argue anymore. I knew it would be futile anyway. When Luna Grace told you to do something, you did it. And I really didn’t want to deal with the consequences of defying her right now. I wasn’t excited about the visit, though. I hadn’t really wanted to be around my mother since she came home from the Alpha Gathering with nothing to show for it. At least, nothing she would tell me.

I knew they were keeping something from me, but from the way they all avoided talking about certain events of that weekend, I didn’t think it was anything good. To me, that meant I missed my best chance to speak to Ayla. Briggs kept assuring me she would be here to visit Mina soon, but he couldn’t give me a time frame.

I was running out of time. Who knew how long Kingston would wait to make them official and mark her. If that happened before I had an opportunity to see her, there would be nothing I could do. Our bond would be destroyed entirely. I know I couldn’t blame my mom for the situation, but that made it harder to be around her.

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15:23 Chapter 62: Theo 1288 ¡Vouchers I was lost in thought when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Everything good?” Briggs asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Mom’s just being Mom.”

“What is she up to now?” he teased.

“Who knows.” I shrugged. “She’s got some surprise for Dad. She wants me to be there when she gives it to him.”

“Are you going to be there?”

“She didn’t give me much choice,” I said, gripping the bridge of my nose. “She’s still pi*sy that I’ve been avoiding her. If I don’t show, she’ 11 probably be up my a*s for the next year.’

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Briggs chuckled. “You’ll need to go up there soon anyway to update Alpha. Might as well be sooner rather than later. When does she want you up there?”

“Sunday sometime,” I replied. “Let’s head back to the packhouse. Mortin has everything handled here.

“I’m good with that,” he said. “Mina is waiting for me, and you should get some rest. I have a feeling you’ve got a long couple of days ahead of you.”

“Hey, Boss,” Mortin called from the basement door, “we got a problem.”

Sh*t. What now?

We rushed back to the covered porch where the detective stood.

“What’s wrong?”

288 Vouchers “I just got a call from the officers at the school,” he began, “our guy bolted. It seemed like he may have known we were coming for him. I had no idea how that was possible, then we found this...” He backed down a couple steps and leaned over to point out a small black device attached to the wall against the door jamb. “It’s a sensor. He would have been notified once you guys walked through the door.”

I worked to keep my anger in check.

“F**k,” I gritted out. “I’m sorry, Detective. This was my st**id mistake.”

He shook his head. “We would have never gotten in here legally. You finding this was our best option. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll find him. At least we know who we’re looking for now.”

“Yeah,” I said. “And I’ll reach out to the other packs as soon as we’re back at the packhouse.”