Page 39 of Moon Claimed

Maybe my initial judgement was way off base. “No problem. I’d like to look at the footage outside my office in the last three hours, please.”

“You got it, dude.” Typing rapidly, she cast me a look. “RememberFull House?”

“Uh, no. TV show?”

“Ha!” she barked. “Yep. More of aTruth Rangesfan myself.”

Hated that show.“Oh, cool. I’m not a big TV person.”

“Well, someone’s frozen eggs just got stolen. Like,eggeggs. Only the town serial killer can find them. I really hope he decides to help despite the murder addiction. I want her to have kids, and it’s nice to see a bit of redemption now and then, you know?”

She twiddled some intense-looking gear and pointed to a screen in the middle. I could see the entire hall. Herc’s office was halfway down.

“I’ll set it to triple speed. Let me know if you want me to stop,” she said.

“What are the security measures on the manor?” I watched the screen.

“Frequency generators, obvs. Heat detectors. They span the entire north side of the valley, covering all steward homes. There are cameras throughout the manor, and around. Everywhere but the bedrooms and bathrooms—because sex and nakedness. Ha!”

I blinked several times. “Of course. The grounds themselves?”

“Just the perimeter. Same with steward homes. Too expensive to have cameras everywhere. We just enclose our territory. Personally, I think it’d be nice to have audio capabilities on our security, too, but that’s another expense. Guess people deserve their privacy, but it would make my job a whole lot more interesting.”

Props to Sascha. He got through all that stuff undetected. “It’d be like real-lifeTruth Ranges.”

“Ha!” She covered her mouth. “Sorry. Not sure why that happens. People, I think.”

I struggled to keep a smile at bay. She had a disarming manner.

On the screen, someone entered Herc’s office. “Stop there.”

She paused the footage, rewinding a way.

I leaned forward and identified the person. “Oh, that’s no problem,” I lied. “Keep going.”

The footage kept rolling to the end, and I faked interest.

“Sorry you didn’t find whatever you were looking for,” Heather said.

But I did.“That’s okay. I really just wanted to pick your brains on security anyway. If you have any ideas on how to tighten the manor against werewolves, I’d be happy to hear them. We can’t have Luthers sneaking in.”

“It’d be pretty impossible for them to penetrate our defences, but I do have some ideas.”

Mmm-hmm. Impossible.

“Could you speak with Eleanor to arrange a time?”

“Ha!”

I’d take that as a yes. Leaving the security office, I strode away, clutching Ragna’s journals tightly.

Reaching the meeting room, I entered without preamble and sat, setting the leather-bound books on the desk.

She took the bait. Pascal’s eyes went straight to them.

And no wonder.

I’d mentioned Ragna’s journals to her in passing just before the head team left for pack lands. She’d either rushed straight to the office—forgoing the search for Rhona—or raced to search prior to this meeting while I was outside.

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