Page 98 of Moonlit Nights & Northern Lights
“I think we’re done for now,” I declared.
“That would be good,” Felix said. “I want to see what I can recover from Dev’s phone.”
14
Theodore
Hours later, we collapsed into the cottage living room, a tableau of muddy exhaustion. I sank into the armchair, my muscles protesting every movement. Rory sprawled across the sofa, one arm flung dramatically over his eyes. Felix hunched over his laptop at the dining table while Priya perched on the floor, her back against the wall.
“I could murder a cup of tea,” Felix mumbled, not looking up from his screen where Dev’s phone sat connected by a tangle of wires.
“On it,” Priya announced with surprising vigor, pushing herself up. “I have loose camomile in my bag. Perfect for stress and exhaustion.”
“I’ll just have one of the normal teabags,” I requested.
“No, let me make everyone this. You’ll love it.”
I lacked the energy to argue further. She clearly wanted to read everyone’s leaves—I’d have to wash my mug out before she could.
The cottage fell into weary silence, broken only by the gentle clicking of Felix’s keyboard and the distant whistle of the kettle. My eyes drifted closed. I was going to need to take an actual holiday when I returned to London, to recover from all this.
“Oh!” Felix’s exclamation jolted me awake. “It’s working!”
We all gathered around his laptop where Dev’s phone screen, still in an evidence bag, had flickered to life, displaying a lock screen with a photo of a sunset over London.
“Do you know his password?” Felix looked to Rory.
For the first time since finding the phone, Rory’s face brightened. “Yeah, I still remember it!”
I passed him a plastic glove, and he carefully slid the phone out, placing it on the table.
Rory’s fingers hovered over the screen. “It’s his mum’s birthday and the last two digits of his postcode.” He tapped in the sequence, then frowned as the phone vibrated and flashed red.
“Incorrect password,” Felix said, rather unnecessarily.
Rory sighed. “He’s probably changed it to his new boyfriend’s birthday or something,” he said moodily.
“Don’t worry about it,” Felix said quickly, already connecting another cable. “I don’t actuallyneedthe password. Give me twenty minutes, and we’ll be in.”
I accepted the steaming mug of tea that I didn’t actually want from Priya. “You’re not reading my leaves.”
She pouted, eyes wide with mock innocence. “What about if I get to see, but I keep it to myself?”
“No.”
“But what if it’s helpful for the investigation, Maxwell?” Rory chimed in.
I glared at him. “Keep out of it. And you should use these twenty minutes to call Kit. He keeps texting me. He’s going mental.”
Rory groaned. “He’ll just beg me to come home. He’s so tightly wound about this whole thing.”
“I was surprised when he refused to come with you,” I admitted, blowing on my tea.
“It’s okay. I understand it would be too much for him. Kit’s…” Rory paused. “He’s sensible to stay away.”
“Kit had an equally tough time growing up here?”
“Oh yeah, for sure. He refuses to talk about it, and as a kid, I didn’t see it that way at all. I thought he was loving life—golden child, favourite of the entire pack, future alpha—had it all. Even popular at our local high school. Played football, made girls drool, you know, the lot.” Rory’s voice softened. “I used to think it was so unfair. Me, hating everything about my life, thinking I was a broken thing until I finally got my ADHDdiagnosis, whereas he just sunnily breezed through everything.” He stared into his mug. “But looking back at it through an adult lens, and from the brief things he’s said… he had a tough time of it, for sure. I mean, obviously there’s a reason why he ‘randomly’ upped and left one day.”
