“Can we get their contact information anyway?” Jesse asked, looking at Sharon.
She nodded, looking terrified as she clumsily scrolled through her phone’s contacts and held it out so Jesse could copy her sons’ numbers. “When you find him, please don’t hurt him, all right?” she begged, her eyes flicking back and forth between Jesse and me. “He’s a good boy, he’s just . . . a little different, is all.” She focused in on Jesse. “You won’t let him get hurt, right? You’re police, you have to protect him even if he does . . . know something about those girls.” Her beautiful eyes flicked away uncomfortably and then came back to fix on Jesse again. This time he squirmed. Detective or not, he wasn’t used to making promises he couldn’t keep.
That was my department.
I stepped forward and took Sharon’s hand. “No, ma’am,” I said solemnly. “We won’t hurt him.”
Chapter 36
Back in the car, Jesse asked, “What was that about the Sequoias?”
I hesitated for a second, unsure how much to tell him. I didn’t want him to know that I’d killed Ana, or that I’d slept with Eli. But didn’t he deserve to know both of those things? Was I protecting him from having that weight on his conscience, or was I just protecting his opinion of me? Was there even any point in that anyway?
“Lydia came to see me this morning,” I said finally. “She mentioned that she and Ana drove up to Kings Canyon a couple of weeks ago and changed.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jesse exclaimed. I didn’t answer, and after a moment’s thought he added, “So one of them changed the nova.”
“Yes, that’s what I think. My guess would be Ana, because Lydia didn’t seem to know anything about an attack on a human. But I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”
“But was she also the one who called the Luparii?” Jesse asked, talking mostly to himself.
The Luparii. Shoot. I’d been so focused on the nova, I’d almost forgotten that there was another player in the game. “It’s possible,” I said. “But it’s also possible that Ana told someone about the nova, and they called the Luparii.”
“Terrence,” Jesse concluded. “Terrence and Drew were the one who met with the scout at the cemetery.”
Lydia had said that Terrence and Ana were scheming. “Okay, but how did he know to do that?” I wondered. “I kind of doubt the Luparii have a number in the Paris phone book.”
“When I went to see Terrence before,” Jesse said slowly, “he had these scars on his arms.”
“I remember those.”
“He said he studied in England for a year, practiced fencing with real swords.” Jesse shook his head in amazement. “I wasn’t sure I believed him, but if he really was in Europe for a whole year, he may have made some connections.”
“Who may have known about the Luparii,” I concluded.
“Maybe. I don’t think it matters, at this point,” Jesse said, shrugging. “That link is broken. Terrence is dead.”
“We need to call Will,” I said firmly. It was time for an update. Jesse nodded, and I pulled out my phone. While I was finding Will’s number, he gave me a sidelong glance. “Are you going to tell me why Lydia came to see you?” he asked quietly.
I put the phone to my ear. “No. It’s personal.”
Will picked up on the third ring, and I filled him in on what we’d learned at the Remus house. “So you’re pretty sure this is the guy?” he asked anxiously.
“We’re pretty sure Remus is the guy, right?” I said to Jesse, holding the phone away from my chin.
“You know, if we were in my car, we could put him on Bluetooth,” he reminded me.
I blew him a raspberry. Then: “Oh, wait, I think I’ve got speakerphone.”
Jesse rolled his eyes as I figured out the button that would let us all talk to each other. Once I had everything set up, he and Will greeted each other, and then Will repeated his question.
“Yeah, we’re sure,” Jesse said loudly. I told Will about Remus’s weird camping habits, and his interest in the outdoors.
“That makes sense,” Will said thoughtfully. “I couldn’t figure out how someone could turn into a werewolf, keep it a secret, and just . . . go about his life.”
“But this guy was off anyway,” I finished for him. “I wonder if that’s why he ended up becoming a nova. Maybe all novas are created when a crazy person becomes a werewolf and then gets ditched?”
There was a long pause, during which I squinted at my phone’s screen to make sure the call was still connected. “Maybe,” Will said at last. “As far as I know, no one really understands the relationship between a nova and his pack. Or if they do, word hasn’t gotten out about it.”
“So we have to figure out how to find him,” I said aloud. “Hey, Will? Can I ask you a hypothetical?”
Will knew me well enough to be wary. “I guess.”
“Let’s say you’re the nova wolf. All you want in the world is create a massive werewolf pack and murder the shit out of the current one. You’ve finally found a mate. What do you do now?”
He sighed. “It’s hard to say. We’re getting into a magical gray area here. The female—”
“Lizzy Thompkins,” Jesse said, looking irritated.
“Lizzy Thompkins can’t be feeling very favorable to him right now. He kidnapped her and killed her friends, maybe in front of her, and now she’s going through physical hell. And he intends to keep her as his mate. I don’t know if that’s even possible against her will.”
“So he’s gotta have a place where he can contain her,” Jesse reasoned.
“Yes. He can’t order her around as her alpha until she’s completed her change,” Will finished.