Page 25 of Marked

“Nate, here,” I answered.

“Good afternoon, Nathan,” the modulated and distorted voice said.

I had no clue who the person on the other end was. Years ago, a mutual acquaintance had helped me make contact with this computer expert. I didn’t even have a name to go off of. Every interaction with them was through text or with this strange robotic voice distorter they used. Though, from the way they spoke and the inflection of their voice, I had a hunch they were female.

“I assume you got my picture?” I said.

“Indeed. Your friend looks like he could use a shower and a barber in the worst way possible.”

“Not my friend, but I do need to know who he is. Can you help?”

“The CCTV footage isn’t very clear. The cameras were probably operating at 720p. Factoring in the distortion you created by magnifying it, it makes things more difficult. I’ll need to clean that up first. The hair and beard will interfere with any facial recognition software I have, but I can work on deconstructing that with a few other tricks I have. It may take some time, but I should be able to get you identification in a few days.”

“The sooner, the better,” I said.

“Art takes time, dear Nathan. One cannot rush perfection.”

“Always modest, aren’t you?”

The line went dead.

“Yeah. Nice speaking to you, too, buddy,” I said ruefully, then called Ollie.

Ollie’s voice was strained. “Nate? Have you found anything yet?”

“Still working on it. I might have found a picture, though.” I cleared my throat. “Have you had a chance to talk to your alpha?I want to see if some surrounding packs may have any missing members. Could be someone went feral and left the pack.”

“I talked to the alpha yesterday. We discussed that very thing when I presented him with the evidence. He made some calls, but no one’s missing a pack member. This lone wolf had to have been outside pack life for quite a while.

“JC’s getting stressed about this,” Ollie continued. “He’s riding me hard to come up with a solution. He’d have his hands all over it personally, but it’s become a human police matter now. It’s up to you and me, and a couple other guys on the force to get this sorted out. Having you poke around is pushing it enough. A second random dude getting involved will only raise more human eyebrows.”

“I get it,” I replied. “No alpha wants this kind of shitstorm on their turf. None of this makes sense, though, Ollie. Why would a feral come into another alpha’s territory? It goes against everything his survival instincts would tell him to do.”

When a shifter went feral, they succumbed to their animal side. They became more skittish and tended to stick to the wilderness. Entering the territory of a strong alpha should have been nearly impossible for this feral. The fear of retribution should have kept him out.

I’d hoped our suspect would be someone from the area. I hunted ferals for a living, and I’d never seen anything like this. A typical feral was almost always an exiled pack member who’d lost their mind. This was the first time I’d hunted one in a large city. Too many people and too much noise should have scared him off, too. This entire thing was fucked up.

“That’s part of what makes this really weird,” Ollie said. “Did you say you had a picture?”

“Yeah. Security-cam footage. Kinda fuzzy, but I’ve got someone trying to clean it up.”

“Send it to me. I’ll take it to the witness and see if she recognizes him. It could tell us for sure whether her attack was connected or not.”

“The witness? The Torres woman, you mean?”

“Yeah. As far as we know, she’s the only person who may have seen this guy in action.”

Again, that pretty face filled my mind. That fire she showed when I spoke to her and the way she’d resisted my charm intrigued me.

“I’ll go with you. We can both question her,” I said, the words tumbling from my mouth before I could stop myself.

“You don’t need to do that, Nate. I do this for a living.”

“No, it’s fine. Besides, she knows me. I told you yesterday that I talked to her. It’ll be okay.”

“Why do you want to bother?” Ollie said with a sigh. “From what you told me, she wasn’t very, uh,receptiveto your questions.”

I ignored that. “Let me know when you’re going. Perhaps I’ll pick up on something you don’t, okay?”

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