I said, “The guy’s a planner. He fancies himself a scientist; that’s why he gives the school presentations, why he marked all their backs like it was a controlled experiment. He must have come up with a hidey-hole where he can restrain her.” I thought back to the silver-barred cage I’d seen back in September, the one in Jared Hess’s basement. I shuddered.
“If he’s got her in some big wild area he could just dig a really big hole and put her inside until the change is over,” Jesse pointed out.
Will said, “My guess is that he’ll park her somewhere for the full moon so she can finish her change, then he’ll go attack as many people as possible, hoping to build a pack. He’ll kill a lot more people, but his chances of changing them increases during the full moon.”
“It’s a numbers game,” I said thoughtfully. Jesse gave me a glare, but I just shrugged defensively. It was.
“Where will he go to find his victims?” Jesse asked the phone. “He’s got his mate, so I assume he’ll be less discerning.”
“Good question,” Will said slowly. “Probably an outdoor area somewhere because he’d be too conspicuous as a wolf running around a movie theater or something. A place that he knows well, that’s public enough for people to be around but private enough that he can pick them off one or two at a time. No huge crowds.”
“Okay, thanks, Will,” Jesse said suddenly. “Any luck with the Luparii?”
“Not yet,” Will answered heavily. “But Kirsten and I are both still working on it.”
There wasn’t much Jesse and I could do about the Luparii, especially if we were gonna find Henry Remus before the full moon. But . . .
“Will, what happens if the scout is still in town when the moon goes up tomorrow night?” I asked.
There was a pause. When he finally spoke, his voice was miserable. “I don’t know. It’s possible that he’ll be so busy tracking the nova that he’ll ignore us . . .”
His voice drifted off, letting Jesse and me fill in the blanks. If the scout was still in town and he couldn’t get to the nova, he would probably come after the LA pack.
“Can you guys get out of town?” I asked hopefully.
Another long sigh. “I’ve urged those of us who have another safe place to go during the full moon to do so. The problem is that there just aren’t many of us with a second secure location.”
“I could come sit with you guys,” I offered hesitantly. In theory, I could hang out with the pack on the full moon, and as long as they stayed in my radius they wouldn’t have to change at all. But we’d never done that before. Will had told me once, a long time ago, that the pack needs the release of changing during the moon. They already spend so much time tamping down their instincts, and if they don’t get a chance to change, it makes everything worse. In these desperate times, though, it seemed like a viable one-time option.
But Will said, “No. I thought about that, but you’re our best chance of stopping the nova before he attacks or kills more people. I can handle the pack.” His voice betrayed his uncertainty, but he just continued, “For now, you just worry about finding the nova.”
I had been planning to tell Will and Jesse about Lydia’s ultimatum—really. But in that moment, when Will sounded so broken, I resolved to keep it from them. It was my mess. I needed to figure out a way to clean it up. Again, I wondered what had happened to Eli. I needed to call him as soon as I got a moment alone.
“Okay. Let me know what you find out,” Jesse said shortly, in a telltale “I have an idea” tone. He nodded at me, and I shrugged and hung up the phone.
“What is it?” I asked.
Jesse looked at me. “Griffith Park.”
I frowned. “I thought the LA parks close at sunset. If the guy wants people around . . .”
“Not Griffith. It stays open until ten thirty, because of the Observatory.”
Oh. I thought that over. “A few people around, lots of dark, an area he knows well,” I said slowly.
Jesse nodded. “It’s our best guess. But that’s plan B.”
“What’s plan A?”
He glanced at the dashboard clock. “We’ve still got thirty-some hours until the full moon rises. Let’s see if we can find the bastard before he tries to attack the public.”
“How?”
Jesse gave me a pleased little smile that said, You’re gonna hate this. “Old-fashioned police work,” he proclaimed.
Yep. I was probably going to hate it.
Jesse explained that we needed to start calling everyone involved with the animal rights organizations to see if they knew where to find Henry. There was a good chance that one of them was hiding him, or knew of a place he would go. Calling almost one hundred and fifty people sounded horrible, but I didn’t have any better ideas.
Since Jesse’s phone battery was low, he suggested we head for the nearest residence that had a landline and where we would be more or less welcome: his parents’ house in Los Feliz. Which would have been fine, except I really didn’t want to meet Jesse’s parents.
“What’s the big deal?” Jesse asked when I demurred. “My dad will probably be in his studio anyway. And my mom’s really nice. And,” he added, “I know you want to see Max.”
Well, he had me there. I had a serious pet-crush on Jesse’s parents’ pit bull mix. But I was also still a little raw from Jesse’s comment the night before about living without my parents, and I didn’t want to see him—or anyone else—being part of a happy family just then. It would hurt too much.
But I couldn’t actually say that out loud, of course. Not my style. “Didn’t you say your brother was in town too?” I objected. “They’ll be distracting. Besides, though I love him, Max will probably knock me down and hurt my leg,” I added piteously.
We were at a red light, so Jesse took his eyes off the road long enough to search mine. I don’t know what he saw there, but his expression softened almost imperceptibly and he nodded. “So we’ll go to Molly’s.”
Oops. We’d been so busy talking to the Remuses that I’d forgotten for a moment that I’d murdered someone at Molly’s the night before. And that Lydia had put Eli and me on a ticking clock. And I still didn’t know where Eli was.