Page 59 of Verses and Blooms
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Do you recognize her?”
“She was there at the old facility. They didn’t keep her like the rest of us. She was known as the caretaker. We weren’t allowed to know her name, but she fed us sometimes, dealt with us when the guards didn’t want to. She always whispered encouragement and advice, and made sure a lot of us didn’t give up hope.”
“That sounds like her,” the chief choked out.
“Her last words to me were to keep fighting, to not let them win. She said the most important weapon we have…”
“Are our emotions,” he finished for her, taking a steadying breath and trying not to break. I’d never seen the chief show emotion like this before. Right now he was just a man finding out his baby girl might still be alive out there somewhere.
“We have to find those rollerskates,” Kane said. “Do we have computers or anything we can use to help? I’m dying here not being able to do something productive.”
“The other team is working on it,” the chief argued, but my pack wasn’t having it.
“I have a computer,” I said, leaving the room and heading for my things. I pulled my laptop and phone from my duffel bag and came back.
“How far did you travel to get to ARC?” I asked.
Audrey shrugged. “I have no idea. They dragged me here, and I wasn’t even coherent. I was hallucinating a pack.”
“Good point,” Kane said. “That makes it a little more difficult.”
“Well, let’s narrow it down,” Ledger sighed, looking at Audrey. “Was it a city or a small town?”
“City, then I think small town? she asked more than answered.
“Wait,” I said, her mention of the small town reminding me of the news reports. “The incident that led to you being on the news with that pack, it was in Rockwood Valley, right? Let’s search the nearest cities from there.”
“That does narrow it down,” I said, relieved to finally have somewhere to start. “At this rate, we could check a three-day-walk radius. Skating rinks aren’t exactly huge anymore, but they still exist in nearly every major city.”
Audrey stood up and started pacing as I searched. I could feel her frustration and eagerness through the bond as she likely racked her brain for any other clues.
“Wouldn’t my court record say where I was found?”
“Yes,” the chief said. “But it was farmland originally, out in the middle of nowhere. What you saw was likely on the way there.”
Of course, he had the records memorized. If my pack was surprised, they didn’t show it. Me, I knew how invested he was in this.
“They wouldn’t have dumped her close by anyway,” Ledger said. “It’s smarter to travel at least a couple hours, then maybe a few more in the opposite direction to be seen somewhere else for an alibi. People like that cover their bases. They’re smart.”
I listened to the conversation, but most of my focus stayed on the computer, seeing if I could get any hits for the single clue we had. When I didn’t find any within fifty miles of Rockwood Valley, I expanded the radius.
“Wait,I might’ve found it,” Ledger said with a whoop.
I looked up, confused and shocked to see him with a phone in hand. “Where did you get that?”
He shrugged, unrepentant. “Lifted it off the guard outside.”
I glanced at the chief, but he wasn’t the least bit concerned. He and Audrey were both leaning over to see what he’d found.
Chief glanced up at me and shrugged. “Guard should have been watching better.”
“That’s it!” Audrey exclaimed, slapping Ledger’s shoulder excitedly. “Zoom in on the street view. Is there a vet or a pet store or something? I swear I remember paw prints, too, now that I’m looking at it!”
Ledger tilted the phone sideways, zooming in and out as they studied the buildings around it.
“There,” she said. “Three stores down.”
Ledger grinned. “You’re right, Wilding. There’s a pet groomer right on the corner.”
