Page 47 of Blood Pack Beginning

Pierrot stared at her so long he could have been a statue before slowly saying, “I think you need to explain.”

It took Sasha only a moment to recap what they’d found in the woods and their interview with Anabel.

Pierrot shook his head. “Bel wouldn’t do something like that.”

“That’s what I’d like to think, but the evidence is damning.”

“It’s circumstantial, at best. I agree with Diego. Seems like an attempt to deflect blame. Easy enough to clear up. I’ve got cameras watching every single way in and out of this place, and that includes the walls. We’ll soon see what Bel did or didn’t do,” Pierrot boasted, only to be cursing minutes later.

“What the fuck?” A video played, scrolling at ten times the usual speed, showing one of the exits into the forest. An exit that should have shown some activity, but nothing on the screen ever changed. Not one person used the door, despite him playing several days’ worth of footage.

Diego leaned close to Sasha. “Is it me, or does it seem to be replaying the same day over and over?” He’d noticed how the area lightened with dawn and darkened with sunset, each day identical, the shadows never varying, the level of light remaining consistent, which was impossible given they’d had more cloudy days than sunny of late.

As Pierrot’s fingers flew on his keyboard, he cursed. “Fucking hell, someone took that camera offline and has it playing a closed loop.”

“And you didn’t notice?” Sasha rebuked.

“No, I didn’t,” snarled Pierrot. “I don’t have time to watch the more than fifty camera feeds. I’ve got the ones outside the compound set to notify if the facial scan doesn’t recognize a person. Of course, that only works if they’re fucking recording.”

“How many cameras were taken offline?” Sasha asked, her tone tight.

“Three,” a grim Pierrot replied. “The one at the top end of the road leading into the compound, the west exit into the forest, and the one on the tunnel.”

“Can you use some of the other camera angles to see who’s gone through the west exit?” Diego asked.

“I don’t have a perfect blanket of all the areas. Didn’t think it was needed, but I might be able to piece something together. However, it will take a bit of time. Once the boys get back from their dinner, I’ll have them review footage while I try to find out who put the cameras on a loop. Once I figure it out, they’ll wish they’d walked into the sun themselves.” Pierrot’s cold promise.

“It has to be our traitor vamp.” Sasha crossed her arms, and Diego noticed her hands clenched into fists. She was pissed.

“Yeah, it’s most likely them because, until a week ago, no one but flock members could use the computers, and this appears to have started well before that.”

“Could it have been Anabel?”

Pierrot snorted. “Highly doubtful. She can barely use the apps on her phone. Whoever did this must have some serious hacking skills since they got past my firewalls without me noticing.”

“Anabel claims Jorge traded training for her forest patrols. Could be he’s our culprit?” A doubtful note hued Sasha’s statement.

Pierrot snorted. “Jorge is a lazy fucker whose idea of exercise is chain-smoking a few cigarettes while watching porn for an hour. I have a hard time believing he could pull off something so elaborate and strenuous. More likely, the traitor knew Jorge wouldn’t do his job and took advantage.”

“Tim?” She mentioned the last of Thaddeus’ core loyal group.

“It’s really not in Tim’s wheelhouse to just let bodies sit there.” Diego had learned that Tim was the one who burned down Moon Dew after they’d departed. Thaddeus’ residentpyromaniac was an asset to the flock, as he fully enjoyed destroying all evidence of vampirekind to keep them out of the public eye.

Not what Sasha wanted to hear, judging by her grimace. “Thanks for shooting down all the possible suspects.”

“I’m not saying it’s definitely not them, but it seems more likely they’re being used as a shield for the real culprit.” Pierrot offered his theory, and Sasha sighed.

“Until we can figure out who’s behind those murders, we need to keep this quiet. We don’t want the traitor to know we’re on to them.”

“In that case, better not clean up those bodies in the woods quite yet.”

Her lips pursed. “Wouldn’t matter if we did. They’ll know we found it since we messed up the pile.”

“I’d suggest fixing it, and when you do”—Pierrot reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a camera—“attach this to a tree so I can monitor.”

Sasha took the camera from him and headed for the door before stopping to ask, “What about Anabel? If I leave her locked up, it might tip off the traitor that we’re on to them.”

“Bring Bel to me. I’ll have her watching some old feeds. She’ll be very vested in proving her innocence,” Pierrot suggested.

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