Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,53

patted his egg-shaped grill. “This baby makes all the difference.”

Vlad glanced at the sliding door and the living room beyond. After it had gotten hot outside, the ladies had taken their plates into the dining room to enjoy their meal in an air-conditioned space.

Out of solidarity with Roni, Vlad and Jackson stayed in the backyard to keep him company and to wolf down the remaining steaks.

It was a good opportunity to talk with Roni about searching for Wendy’s mom, but Vlad still wasn’t sure that he should. The problem was that he knew his reason for doing so was selfish, and all the excuses he’d come up with to justify it morally were kind of lame.

If Wendy’s mom was still alive and they found her, they could bring her into the village. She was a confirmed Dormant, and since she’d had Wendy at a young age, she wasn’t too old to transition.

That would be wonderful for Wendy, as well as for some lucky male whose mate she could become. If the mom was half as pretty as the daughter, she would be a great catch.

Even if she was indeed a drug addict, and Wendy’s father hadn’t invented the story to make her seem like a bad person, they could help her with rehab. Many of the trafficking victims that the clan was rescuing were addicted to drugs when they were brought to the sanctuary, and Vanessa had a team of therapists who helped them. Wendy’s mom could start there.

“Do you have a stomachache?” Jackson asked.

“No, why?”

“You’re grimacing.’

“It wasn’t about my stomach.” Vlad patted his belly. “It’s very happy at the moment. I was thinking about Wendy’s mom.” He glanced at the sliding door again, verifying that it was closed, then turned to Roni. “I’ve been thinking about asking you to help us find her.”

Roni paused scrubbing the grill. “Is she missing?”

Vlad nodded. “According to Wendy’s father, who is an abusive jerk, she left when Wendy was a baby because she was addicted to drugs. I have a bad feeling that it was a cover-up story and that he’d murdered the mom. But in case he didn’t, if we find her, she can join the clan. She had Wendy at nineteen, the same age Wendy is now, so she should be only thirty-eight. She could still transition.”

“Not without risk, but yeah.” Roni resumed the scrubbing. “Give me any information you have on her, and I’ll do some snooping. Does Wendy have a picture of her mom?”

“No. But I thought that maybe we could access her high school yearbook and get it from there. Maybe Dalhu could draw an age-adjusted portrait based on that?”

“Dalhu can’t do that, but Tim can.” Roni dipped his brush in a cleaning solution and went back to scrubbing. “He’s a forensic artist from my old office, and he charges a lot for his services, but if anyone can draw a portrait that a facial recognition software can identify, it’s him.”

“No problem. I have the money.”

Roni shrugged. “But I can also use a computer application that takes a photo and ages it. Maybe it will do the trick even better. Tim’s method is asking someone who knew the person a million questions, and he draws the portrait from their memories. Wendy probably doesn’t remember her mother.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Give me the mom’s name and anything else you have on her.”

“I’m afraid that it’s not much.” Vlad pulled out his phone. “I don’t want Wendy to know that I’m looking for her mom, so I can’t ask her too many questions without her becoming suspicious. If we find out that her mom is dead, I’d rather not tell her. Besides, she doesn’t know much. All I have are the mom’s married name and her maiden name, provided that she really was Simmons’s sister, and he didn’t make it up. I’ll text it to you.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Roni dropped the brush in the solution bucket and examined his work. “Good as new.”

“Do you always clean your grill so meticulously?” Jackson asked.

“Of course. It’s my baby.”

Vlad chuckled. “I can just imagine how you’re going to treat a real baby. It will have the cleanest bottom.”

Roni picked up the bucket with the cleaning solution and started walking toward the house. “No babies for Sylvia and me. We are not jumping on Merlin’s loony wagon anytime soon.”

“Why loony?” Jackson arched a brow. “It gives many couples hope.”

“First of all, Sylvia and I are too young, and secondly, I think that Merlin is a