the four businesses they had caught him in. They were all still shots from traffic monitoring cameras, accidentally catching him coming out of businesses. It took some money to get a facial recognition program to constantly look through them since those cameras didn’t take photos. The program had to monitor the footage twenty-four-seven and grab a screenshot once it found a possible match. The problem was it generally found thousands of matches, and someone had to go through and check each one.
No wonder they want him caught. They’re probably sinking millions each year into this. It’s amazing their company stays in the black.
I knew what I had to do. I needed to get on the ground and see if I could find him. All I had was a general area and a picture from ten years before. The photos they had weren’t good enough for me to want to use, so I had to rely on recognizing him myself.
I checked the time. It was three. The sun was going to go down in only three hours, and I was going to have to hoof it to find him. I needed to move. My bag was still ready from the night before and on the passenger seat of my less audacious car.
This is the perfect time to back out, Kaliya. Paden would tell you that if you called him.
I jumped behind the wheel after locking up and pulled out the moment my garage door was open enough.
7
Chapter Seven
I found a place to park at the town’s local ballpark at three thirty. Two-and-a-half hours until sundown. Grabbing my bag, I got out of my car and locked it, making sure by jiggling the handle. I used my phone to guide me to the locations where Raphael had been spotted, keeping my eyes open for either him or any supernaturals. I needed to know if a fae or witch was scoping the area before Sinclair woke up.
I chose to hit up the local construction first, hoping I could catch him at work. I didn’t intend to approach him if I saw him, not immediately. If I called him out in public, the chance of him splitting was high, and I wouldn’t be able to explain. In private, I could at least try to explain what was going on, and he might listen…if he didn’t run the moment he saw me.
Walking fast, I entered the subdivision and headed down the roads. It wasn’t a short walk, but it wasn’t the worst, either. I saw the construction sites within thirty minutes of parking. Two hours until Sinclair was going to be awake and ready to get moving.
I didn’t pause as I walked by the new houses going up, generously looking at the construction workers as if I was interested in the men building houses, getting sweaty. Some women are into that, so I shouldn’t look too out of the ordinary. Maybe I should dye my hair though, which made me stand out, but none of them paid me any mind. I looked through the different groups, working on the six homes going up, but no one stood out and none of them resembled the young man in the photo. Frowning as I hit a cul-de-sac, I turned around, hoping to find him on the way back.
“Hey, miss! You lost?” someone finally called out. I stood and tried to look as doe-eyed as I could.
“Maybe?” I said, hoping to find the man who spoke. I caught him walking out of one of the sites onto the sidewalk about ten feet in front of me, wiping his hands off. I hurried toward him. “I’m looking for an old friend. I heard he might be working around here?” I twisted my hands uncomfortably. “All I have is an old picture of him.”
“Yeah, let’s see it.” He gestured for me to give over the picture, and I pulled my bag to my front to dig Raphael’s outdated photo from it. Handing it over to the guy, his eyes went wide.
“You’re looking for Manuel? He’s off today,” the guy said, handing the photo back. “That’s a really old picture, miss. He’s a lot older now.”
“I’ve been looking for him for a long time,” I said softly.
“He’s pretty closed lipped about his life, but man, he should have told me he knew a pretty woman like you.” The guy smiled. “I’m Pedro. I’m in charge of everyone here.” He extended a hand, and I took it. He did that weird thing