Page 80 of Awakened
Body found on August 4th—Jane Doe
- Estimated to be 20-25 years of age
- Found in Illinois on the Blue Moon/Crescent border
- Evidence of sexual assault—DNA samples taken from nails & mouth. Results due back 8/17
- Forced mark on the neck
- Broken neck
I took a shaky breath. Marking was a tradition that went out of style around the 1970s during the rise of feminism. The bite served no purpose other than to show ownership and, surprise-surprise, was only ever given to female wolves. Outside of fringe groups, very few wolves still practiced marking. I shivered, imagining just what this woman went through.
- No missing person’s report with her description
- No database hits on fingerprints/dental
- No missing women in the Crescent Pack. According to officials, all members are accounted for
- A piece of paper was found on the body withthe name Zach Cain and phone number 314-222-0234
- Called Cain
- Got a name—Grace Perkins
- He tried to report Grace as missing
- The sheriff has him as his number one suspect—I don’t see it
- He was heading toward Crescent, but I told him to go home
I shot out of my seat.
What the fuck? Why was Zach’s name and phone number on an unidentified dead girl’s body?
I tried to hold on to my trust in Dad’s judgment, but someone’s number on a murder victim never bodes well.
- Meeting set with Cain for 8/18 in St. Louis
Why hadn’t Zach ever mentioned that he had met my dad? I was getting more and more uneasy. Dad’s notes from the meeting with Zach were hard to read, but I was able to decipher parts of the chicken scratch.
Meeting with Zach Cain on August 8th
- Jane Doe=Grace Perkins
- Crescent Pack
- Daughter to the gamma (gamma claimed no missing daughter)
- Met on a business trip to CP
- Mates
- Gamma Perkins disapproved
Mates? Another fucking mate?
I’d gone my whole life knowing only one mate pair, Aiden’s parents. Mates just didn’t happen, yet here I was in the middle of a mate-a-palooza. Life was playing a cruel joke on me. I was like the guy who worked at the gas station that sold all the winning lottery tickets but couldn’t win himself.
