Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“You could not pay me enough to work in management.” I try to smile.
“So what am I going for tonight? Mafia-wife chic? Demon-hunter street-wear?”
“Wear whatever makes you feel comfortable,” Xavier says, which is annoyingly supportive and completely useless.
“My pajamas it is.” I grin. “I’m kidding. I’ll wear a dress and sandals. Something I can run in.”
“Okay.” He kisses my forehead, then heads back toward his office. Mabel and I start the sequel to the movie we just finished. I’m still exhausted, but my mind refuses to slow down. The anxiety keeps building, making it impossible to focus on anything happening on the screen. We’re not even a quarter of the way through the movie when Leo and Devon come back into the room.
Leo is on the phone.
“Thank you so much, Officer Schaffer. And if you ever need anything, just remember you’ve got friends here at the Bureau.” He pauses, listening to whatever is being said on the other line. “All right. Have a good night. You too. Thanks.” He ends the call and looks around triumphantly. “The people at the Chestnut Hill Police Department are Chatty Cathys.” He grins. “Must not be a lot of crime happening in small-town Ohio.”
“What did you find out?” I ask. I know if I let him, he’ll stand there gloating for another five minutes before telling us anything useful.
“Claire snuck out and stayed with a friend for about nine days,” he says. “The friend’s parents eventually found out she was there and called the group home.” I sit up straighter. “Claire agreed to let them drive her back. But when they got home from work that day, she was gone.”
“Of course she was,” I mutter. “She showed back up at the café where she worked two days later to pick up a paycheck.” Leo glances at his notes. “She got the check, and it wasn’t until the assistant manager heard from another employee that Claire had been there that anyone reported it.”
“So she had money.”
“Yep. She cashed the check the next day at a bank in town.” He starts counting through the timeline. “That puts us at day twelve after she ran away.”
I nod.
“A girl matching her description was then seen at a train station two towns over. There wasn’t a direct route to the East Coast, but she bought a ticket to Pennsylvania. I’m guessing her plan was to transfer from there.”
“To Connecticut,” I say.
“Probably,” Leo continues. “Facial recognition picked her up in Pittsburgh on day eighteen, so she was there for a while.” My heart jumps. “And today is day nineteen.”
“So there’s a really good chance she’s still in Pittsburgh.”
“I’d say there’s a decent chance,” Leo says. “It’s a big city, though. She could’ve hitched a ride, booked a ticket, or found another way out.” He shrugs. “But as of right now, I will be notified if anyone sees her. But the bad news is they’re issuing an Amber Alert in just a few hours.”
“Why is that bad?” Mabel asks.
“It gives away info,” I explain. “It lets everyone know where she was last seen.”
“Ohhh, and Vivian could hear this.”
“Yeah. I’m sure she has notifications set to alert her if Claire’s name is mentioned online,” I say. “If it is, we’ll just have to make sure we get to her before.” For the first time all day, it feels like we actually have something. Not much. But a direction. Pittsburgh.
“So are we going to Pittsburg?” Mabel asks.
“Yes, but, ummm…” I start and let out a breath. “I need to fill Marie in. Come up with some sort of plan, and go to this meeting with the wolves. Can you curl my hair?”
“Of course!” Mabel says excitedly. We get up and go to Mabel’s room. She picks out a black dress and flats for me to wear tonight, and then films a “get ready with me” video for her channel since she hasn’t in a while. Marie calls like she says she would as I’m getting into the car with Xavier.
I fill her in on everything we found out, and she says someone inside the Covenstead is going to scry for Claire’s location with a black mirror. I don’t know what that is, but she said it was safer than doing a locator spell and can give us a general idea of where she is now that we have a broad location narrowed down.
I’m feeling just a tad lighter as we pull out of the driveway. Since the sun hasn’t fully set yet, we’re being driven in one of the light-tight limos Xavier always has at his disposal. He puts his arm around me and I lean in, resting my head on his firm shoulder. Theo and Zeke are with us, and everyone is rather calm on the drive over. If there’s food and drinks at this event, I’m getting a glass of wine right away, needing something to steady my nerves.