Shadow of Doubt - Hailey Edwards Page 0,38
here.” I wrinkled my nose at Deric and sheathed my blade. “Happy humping.”
Ford waited until we had put distance between us and the horndog in charge. “On behalf of my gender, I apologize.”
“What a waste.” All this emotional scarring for nothing. “His brain might be the size of a hickory nut.”
“Do you want to interview his beta?”
“You’re giving him too much credit. Nothing about this pack screams organized hierarchy. I’m bumping them to the bottom of the list until we get a report that indicates otherwise.” Oh, how I wished for hand sanitizer even though I hadn’t touched Mendelsohn. “Unless you disagree?”
“This is your show,” he deferred. “For what it’s worth, I agree with your preliminary assessment.”
“I appreciate you letting me handle him.”
“Momma would have beat me with her dishtowel if she heard him talk to you that way.”
A prickle of unease stiffened my shoulders before I could loosen them. “Why would she beat you?”
“For not breaking him over my knee.” He chuckled. “After he apologized to you first, of course.”
“Of course,” I breathed, reminding myself his mother wasn’t like mine.
Sweet as he meant it, I couldn’t afford to let a man stand in front of me. Not the POA, and not Ford.
We made it almost back to the truck before a preteen girl, thankfully fully dressed, ran up to us.
“Are you here about Tammy?” She caught me by the arm. “Please, ma’am. Are you?”
A cold stone sank to the bottom of my stomach at the bright hope burning in her eyes.
“I’m here about Shonda Randall. Do you know her?”
Her shoulders slumped, defeated. “No.”
“All right.” I guided her to the rear of the truck to give us privacy. “Why don’t you tell me about Tammy? Why did you think I would be here about her?”
Worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, she checked to make sure no one was paying us any attention, though no one appeared to care how the underage crowd entertained themselves. “Do you mind if I hold your dog while we talk?”
“Snowball, do you mind?”
Butt swishing, she padded right up to the girl and reared on her shin.
“I’m guessing that’s a no.” I smiled like it was a joke, but it was far from it. “So, who’s Tammy?”
“She’s my big sister.” She glanced up then. “I’m Jessica.”
“Nice to meet you, Jessica.” I leaned against the tailgate. “Where are your parents?”
“They died.”
Must not have been recently based on her matter-of-fact delivery.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I noted her clean face and neat clothes. “Who takes care of you now?”
“The pack.”
From what I had read on wargs, most packs shared parenting duties. That must be the case here. She was a healthy weight, showed no physical signs of abuse, though I knew from experience how easily those could be hidden, and gave no indication she was afraid of approaching outsiders. She appeared healthy and well-adjusted, which meant the Mendelsohn pack was doing one thing right.
“When was the last time you saw Tammy?”
“Two days ago.” She set her jaw. “Tam’s birthday is tomorrow. She’ll turn eighteen, and she was worried the alpha might…”
I connected the dots, and my gut twisted. “The alpha wanted her.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Tam didn’t have a boyfriend or anything, but she didn’t want to…you know.”
“No woman should ever be forced to have sex.”
“Yeah,” she said, stronger this time. “That’s what I think too.”
Heart breaking, I made a promise to myself that we would find a way to sever her ties with this pack and situate her with a new one. “Do you have access to a phone?”
“Tam bought me a pay-as-you-go cell before she left,” she said quietly. “No one knows I have it.”
The radio silence between them bothered me given Tammy’s forethought in ensuring Jessica could stay in touch. With so many unclaimed bodies from Perkerson waiting on an ID at the morgue, I had to acknowledge there could be a grave excuse for Tammy not contacting her sister to let her know she was okay.
“Keep it that way.” I pulled a card from my back pocket. “Here’s my number. Call if you hear from Tammy, or if anyone tries to make you do anything you don’t want to, okay?”
“Okay.”
Our chat had finally drawn notice, so I got her number before she scurried away to where three other girls about her age congregated in a tent too small to hold all the cots lined up in neat rows. Jessica draped her arms over the shoulders of two of the girls and led them inside