Page 39 of The Evening Wolves

“Thank me later. What else?”

“Even without database access, identifying physical characteristics could be helpful. I didn’t see any, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“We didn’t strip him to his skivvies,” North said, “if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Emery said. “What else?”

John shook his head. “Dental records, DNA—”

Emery made an annoyed grumble.

“Well, I don’t know, Ree. If it’s a murder victim, you examine their personal possessions, try to reconstruct whatever you can—a geographic area, a timeline—”

Emery let a tiny smile slip out, and John stopped.

“And if we have some photos and a starting place,” John said slowly, “we work backward, and we try to build out every angle of this guy’s life.”

“That sounds like surprisingly good police work for someone who doesn’t have access to a single database.”

“How long does it take before you stop hearing the snark and just recognize how adorable he is?” Jem asked.

“About a week,” Tean said.

“A week,” John said in a tone that might have meant anything, his eyebrows crooked, the lines around his eyes deepening.

“He’s got some utilities in his name,” Shaw said, “all of them for the address on the license. But there’s not much else—an account at Wahredua Savings and Trust. No loans.”

“Because it’s a cover,” North said. “It’s not his real name. You’re not going to be able to dig up anything useful on there. Meanwhile, I made this kickass spreadsheet—”

Theo scratched his beard and, in that annoying way teachers had, found a way to make his silence pointed.

“—that shows half a dozen stops our boy made yesterday afternoon. And we’re just getting started.”

“We should start with his house,” John said, “before the police—”

Emery shook his head. “You were right about one thing: last night exposed you in a way that’s not acceptable. We have to be smarter, particularly because things are only going to get more dangerous from this point. North?”

“On it. Come on, spunk musket.”

Something must have happened on the way to the front door because Shaw started giggling uncontrollably. When the door shut off the sound, Theo let out a long slow breath and gave Auggie a look.

“One year, they made Theo teach freshmen,” Auggie said.

“Thank you, Auggie.”

“And every day he came home looking like that.”

Theo scratched his beard again.

“We went through a lot of beer.”

“You two are good with working the social media angle?”

Auggie nodded, and the relief on Theo’s face was transparent.

“We can keep an eye on Evie and Colt,” Tean said. “We can’t forget about that other guy, the one who’s come after us before.”

“And I want to dig into this anti-trafficking organization Vermilya supposedly runs.” Jem frowned. “It stinks, and I want to know what’s really going on.”

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