89. Information

89. Information
Torin’s pov

“So, what have you two learned?” Willow asked with her head tilted and her eyebrows raised. She knew we had spent some of the time we were supposed to look for clues doing, um… other things?

We’re making up for lost time! Sue us!

Besides, it’s nice to finally be able to have sex in a bed after living in a tent for weeks. We had to be quiet or wait until Willow and Enya left on their grocery runs.

“I learned that there’s even more bureaucracy when it comes to human affairs than I thought,” I replied, ignoring Willow’s facial expression.

While I do interact with humans quite often because of my job, I don’t know everything about their world.

And while I understand there’s a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to human affairs, I didn’t think all of this would be so difficult.

I thought as their daughter Raelyn would be able to view her parents’ medical files in person, but there’s a whole lot that needs to be done first.

I continued, ”the hospital was a dead end for now, at least.”

Instead we went to try and find people who might have known Raelyn’s parents and could tell us something about them.

With the help of Colton, we were able to narrow down some leads, but they had tried to stay hidden, so of course finding out information about Raelyn’s parents wouldn’t be easy. We decided it might be easier to find information on Cerce and work from there.

It wasn’t until we ran into a wolf that we got some answers.

Whenever a werewolf runs into another werewolf in a human setting, we give each other a nod. And when it’s an alpha or someone with a strong aura, you don’t just nod; you give a small bow of your head.

Raelyn nodded along with me, “we ran into a werewolf on the street who was helpful.”

A low growl escaped me.

Even though I was the one who spoke to him first, it was Raelyn who he kept glancing at while baring his neck. He was practically showing his belly to her!

I have to admit my jealousy got the best of me at this moment and back then.

Enya rolled her eyes at me, “so what did he say?”

“Well, we thought we’d ask about Grandma and not my parents. In case the pack he belonged to was the one that killed them. I mean, we don’t really know what happened exactly. Only that the police said they died in a car crash.” Raelyn said.

My private detective had sent us the police reports, and while most of their injuries could have been caused by getting into an accident, some were less likely to be caused by a crash. Like some of the wounds looking more like claw marks, for example.

Their bodies were heavily burned, and there was no reason for the police to suspect foul play. According to the report, they slipped on some black ice, their car ran into the railing, and because of the damage to the fuel tank, the car exploded.

My private detective did state that he thought they did some sloppy work and that he assumed the police might have been paid off. But that guy always assumes the worst. It’s kind of part of his job to assume people are lying.

Although in this case, I think he might be right. Raelyn’s parents were on the run for a reason, and something caused Cerce to go into hiding in another town across the country.

“And?” Willow asked.

“His parents belonged to the Moon Valley pack then and said he’s too young to remember a witch but gave us the number of his parents. It seems a lot of people left the Moon Valley around the time that the alpha heir disappeared,” Raelyn replied. “Torin and I are meeting them tomorrow.”

“Wow,” Enya replied, “that’s great.”

“And what did you two find out?” I asked, and Enya’s face lit up.

“Well… We found your grandma’s old house!” Enya said excitedly. “Willow did some spell and looked for houses that were near the woods, since that’s the kind of place Cerce liked to live in. I wanted to pretend we were real estate agents looking to buy the house, but Willow used some magic, and I paid them some money, and now we own the house.”

“What?!” They what?

“We bought the house. Well, your sister did. Or maybe you did? She used your family's bank account. We paid cash, by the way. I wish the bank would have printed out more dollar bills so it looked like a lot more money. And put it in a briefcase. But well, they wouldn’t do that,” Willow whined.

Enya chuckled, “so now we own a run-down cabin near the woods. The people who owned the house just used it whenever they went on hunting trips or whatever, so they can be moved out in a few days.”

“And what is the purpose of having that house? Is there still stuff left behind from when Cerce lived there?” I asked.

Willow sighed and rolled her eyes like it was obvious, “walls hold memories, Torin. I might be able to see some glimpse of the past in that house.”

“Alright then. Good job.” I gave them two thumbs up.

Enya smiled and sat on our hotel bed before realizing we had probably used that bed today. She wiped her pants clean with her hands and found a chair instead.  “So… Um, we’re getting close, right? Or not?”

“It feels like it.” Raelyn replied. “But I’m trying not to get my hopes up. It feels too easy.”

Willow laughed, “easy? We were in the woods for weeks, traveling across the country, and have been walking around all day in search of clues. I say we’re owed some answers. Or you are owed some answers.”

“I don’t think it works like that.” Raelyn laughed. “The universe doesn’t just decide that people are owed something.”

Willow didn’t seem so sure. “What goes around comes back around. If not in this lifetime, then in the next.”