Part Eighty-Three

Adrian arrived at his house and threw his duffel bag on the floor next to the couch. He had found out so many things in the last week. He looked at all the dossier files on his dining room table. He knew he had them!

The day before yesterday he had gone back to the hotel. He knew that they weren’t there. He walked up to reception and smiled at the woman behind the counter.

“Hey Rebecca,” Adrian had greeted her. He had taken her out to dinner the previous night and had behaved like the perfect gentleman. He had set his plan in motion.

“Hey Adrian!” She greeted him back with a perfect smile. He knew that she had had a great time since she had invited him in for coffee, he had obliged.

“I need a favor from you, sweetheart,” he told her.

“Anything for you, Adrian,” she replied, flirting a little.

“I need the hotel guest lists for these dates,” he handed her a piece of paper consisting of a few dates from September to December. She looked at the list and then looked back at Adrian.

“Adrian, hotel guest information is confidential. I could get into a lot of trouble if I gave this to you,” she said to him.

“Look, I know, sweetheart. The problem is, I’m working on a very sensitive case right now and I can’t let those criminals know I’m coming after them. If I go to the judge to get a subpoena, you know, it becomes public record, and I can’t let these bad people get away with their crimes,” he said to her.

“Okay, Adrian, but only because it’s you,” she said and winked at him. She went through a door from the reception area and came back half an hour later with four thick brown envelopes.

“There you go! I went ahead and printed you the list with their addresses and telephone numbers on them,” she said and he beamed at her. He kissed her on the cheek, thankful that he would not have to take her out again.

“You know they all live right here in Seward,” she beamed at him.

“You don’t say. Thanks, sweetheart,” Adrian winked at her and smiled as he walked towards the door.

Her voice screeched in his ears and her pathetic optimism irritated him. He left the hotel with a smile on his face, this time he had gotten much more than he had bargained for. A list with all their information on it. He wouldn’t even have to go look for them now.

From the hotel he went to the town’s deeds office and pulled the property file for Karani Sinclair and then for Malachi Sinclair. As a cop, he knew that men sometimes purchased property in their wives’ names. Malachi had not done so, Karani owned some property in town, but they were mostly stores being rented out and a few warehouses.

Malachi on the other hand, he had property all over. Adrian whistled through his teeth as he read and reread the records. Between him and Karani, they owned about sixty percent of the property in Seward including a non-descript warehouse ten miles from the hotel’s location.

Most of Malachi’s property were houses in low-income areas being rented out for next to nothing. Playing the good Samaritan, he snorted at that thought. He made a copy of the warehouse deed and neatly folded it before he hid it in his jacket pocket.

He went home and felt victorious. He sat down at the dining room table and started to work. He filled out name cards. He was only interested in the VIP guests on the nights when there was a full moon from September to December.

He found fifteen names on the VIP list for the morning of 29 December, they had all checked out at noon the following day. More strangely, they all lived in Seward. Why would they book into the hotel for one night? That made no sense, but it made sense to him.

He double checked his name cards and he felt positive that he had it right.

Alpha Male Malachi Sinclair (lawyer)

Alpha Female Karani Sinclair (property owner)

Alpha Boy Kiran Sinclair

Best Friend James Thomas

Girlfriend of KS Adara Kinkaid

Girlfriend of JT Shoran Mitchells

Best Friend of MS Garrick Thomas (Chief Medical Examiner)

Wife of GT Stephanie Thomas (Doctor)

Pack Members

John McDonald (Tax Auditor)

Peter McPherson (Construction Company Owner)

Gary Johnson (Data Scientist)

Rudolf Hessman (Financial Advisor)

Marrick Goldman (Software Developer)

Frank Ronalds (Professional Boxer)

Jeff Smith (Children’s Book Author)

Carl Winters (Professional MMA Fighter)

Charles Woods (Dentist)

Patrick Black (Pharmacist)

Phillip Jeffreys (Physical Therapist)

Rick Shephard (Professor of History)

Travis Michaels (Psychiatrist)

Lionell Young (Chiropractor)

Richard Gardner (Judge)

These were the VIP men traveling in the same group according to Rebecca. He did not add their wives and children to this list although he had their names on file, it wouldn’t be hard to find out where these kids went to school and where the wives were during the day.

He would put in for his leave days and go visit each house, tracking them, watching, making sure they were indeed wolves, although his gut feeling told him that they were.

He looked at the list again, they were all wealthy, successful men. He could hardly believe that Judge Gardner’s name was on that list and he made a question mark next to his name.

He went back to the dining room table and started circling their addresses on the different street maps and placed a name tag with their names on it. He had found their work addresses online and had pinned those addresses too.

His mind was racing, he knew that what he knew was the truth, but to prove it, that would be more difficult. They were smart and they seemed to have covered their tracks well. He looked at the wall in his living room. He had filled out all the cards and put them in order, outlining the wolf pack of Seward.