“Email copies of your security camera feed for the last forty-eight hours and your personal recordings to this address.” Linus passed him one of his business cards. “I’ll wait.”
More time slipped through his fingers, but it was worth it to ensure there was no tampering with the evidence. With time on his mind, he checked his phone and decided Tisdale would be awake and dialed.
“I’m not wiring bail money,” Tisdale answered, “if that’s why you’re calling so early.”
“Not at all.” He allowed himself a strained chuckle. “It’s come to my attention that Mother is using your services to maintain her grounds.”
“I’ve already given her the family discount,” she growled. “What more does she expect?”
“The problem isn’t with your service.” He shot Orin a measuring glance. “We have a delicate situation on our hands. It’s time sensitive, and I would prefer not to go into detail just now, but I require your help.”
“All right.” Her temper cooled. “I’m listening.”
“I need to interview any pack members who have visited her home in the last year.”
“The last year?”
“Will that be a problem?”
“Not at all.” She snorted. “Your mother handpicked her team, so they never changed. One time the head gardener’s kid had the flu, and he called out sick for a week. Without asking permission, she paid a nurse to stop by his house and sit with his kid so he could make the drive to Savannah.”
“That does sound like something she would do.”
“Most of her team is out on individual jobs right now. They work early to beat the heat this time of year. I’ll have them each give you a call this afternoon.”
“Thank you.” He made a mental note to expect the calls. “I appreciate your help.”
“You’re pack,” she said gently. “I’m always happy to help family.”
The call ended, and Linus texted Lethe permission to brief Tisdale with the details after his mother had been recovered. As alpha, Tisdale would want to know about any trouble that might spill over onto her pack, though he doubted they had anything to fear from such a targeted attack.
“There you go,” Orin announced from where he hunched over the laptop. “I’ll see if I can’t bring up the feed prior to its malfunction.”
“Or its deactivation.” Corbin said what Linus was thinking.
Orin inclined his head, awarding the point. “I’ll call if I find anything. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
After Linus checked his email for a link to the massive files, he saved them to his personal cloud then returned the man’s nod. “I appreciate your cooperation.”
Corbin followed him out with a frown. “Who are you going to dump that footage on?”
“A friend.” He got out his phone and dialed Bishop. “I have a job for you.”
“Must be good to put that ice in your voice,” he said jovially. “Send it over.”
“Thank you.” He ended the call and forwarded the data. “He’ll be in touch if he can isolate any new information.”
“The sun is up,” Corbin pointed out. “We ought to call Leisha and give her a heads-up that we’re on the way unless we want to risk pissing her off by waking her.”
“We’re not giving her advance warning.” Linus got in the van. “You have her address?”
“Yeah. Well, no.” A blush pinked the tips of his ears. “I’ve been there once, but I can find it again.”
“You two were intimate.”
That explained who he had met at the bunker, and why he kept flushing, a condition Linus could sympathize with given his own pallor and tendency toward romantic embarrassment.
“Yeah.”
Though it wasn’t any of his business, he couldn’t help saying, “You don’t sound happy about it.”
“First time with anyone since…” He mashed the buttons on the door, rolling the window up and down. “I thought we were doing one thing, but she had other ideas. Know what I mean?”
“No,” Linus confessed, unashamed his sexual experience was limited to Grier. “I don’t.”
“She was more curious about my biology than me. We did get intimate, eventually, but it was all so…”
“Clinical?”
“Yes.” He exhaled. “That.”
A romantic attachment might have made a difference, or not. Most High Society necromancers with accomplishments as vast as Leisha’s were cerebral. Linus had no trouble imagining her trading sex for the chance to examine a specimen, but she ought to have made her intentions clear.
Unfortunately, it appeared she had neglected to inform Corbin that was the exchange she had in mind.
“You can wait in the van if you like,” Linus offered. “I can question her alone.”
“I’m here as your backup. You’re not going anywhere by yourself.” Corbin rubbed his nape. “I’ll manage.”
From his miserable tone and his twitchy fingers, Linus doubted Corbin believed what he was saying any more than Linus did, but he would only make the situation more awkward if he didn’t let it drop. “All right.”
They spent the next ten minutes navigating an older neighborhood in search of Leisha’s home. The shotgun-style house was painted purple with yellow trim and green accents that reminded him of Mardi Gras. The lawn was landscaped, the property immaculate, and a wreath hung on the door with a wooden cutout of the first letter of her last name.
“This home blends into the neighborhood well,” Linus remarked. “I’m surprised Leisha chose it.”
“I’m not.” Corbin settled his expression into neutral lines. “It’s got social experiment written all over it.”
Given what he recalled of Leisha’s predilections during their overlapping years as students at Strophalos University, and how she had treated Corbin, Linus was inclined to agree with him.
The front door opened on a curvy woman wrapped in a flannel robe two sizes too large for her. “Yes?”
“Do you have a moment?” Linus took the lead, allowing Corbin the shelter of his back. “I would like to discuss a time-sensitive issue with you.”
“I was about to go to bed but…” Her drowsy eyes brightened as her gaze slid past his shoulder. “Corbin.” She wet her lips. “What a surprise.” She opened the door wider. “Come in, both of you.”
“Thank you.” Linus entered alongside Corbin to shield him from their eager hostess. “We appreciate your hospitality on such short notice.”
“On the topic of cooperation...” She pinned Corbin with a playful stare. “You never called me back about the blood samples.”
“Blood samples?” Linus quirked a brow. “You asked him to donate?”
Corbin shifted closer to Linus, farther from her, but she didn’t appear to notice as she said, “Yes.”
“I see.” Linus awarded her his full attention. “Any particular reason why?”
“I have a theory…” Her voice trailed to nothing. “May I ask why it’s any of your concern?”
“Corbin is a member of my family, my wife’s only progeny. We take an eager interest in his welfare.”
“I did hear that somewhere,” she murmured, but her mind was too sharp to fool him. “Your wife’s blood must be—”
“My wife is not a topic for discussion.” He shut her down quick. “Neither, for that matter, is Corbin.”
Folding her arms over her chest, she studied them. “Then what brings you to my humble abode?”
“You were hired to do some work for my mother.”
Her gaze darted to Corbin, who nodded, which Linus found even curiouser than when Orin deferred to him.
“Yes,” she admitted, her chin tipping up in defiance. “Is there a problem with my work?”
To spare Corbin from interacting with her, Linus took point on questioning. “How long after a ward has been keyed for entry does it remain open?”
“Sixty seconds.” A frown knit her brow. “That was the agreed-upon limit.”
“Long enough for one person to open the ward and two to enter under a single time stamp.”
“Ideally, each person would use his or her own key to gain access.”
“I wasn’t asking a question,” he said conversationally. “I was making a point.”
“I took Linus down there earlier,” Corbin mumbled. “I opened the ward, and he followed me through.”
“I see.” Leisha clutched the halves of her robe together. “Rather, I don’t. Why are you here?”
“Do you have any ties to the wards? Are you alerted when they’ve been breached?”
“No,” she said slowly. “I was hired to do a job, and I did it.” Her fingers tightened. “I cut all ties after.”
“Mother disappeared last night at dusk.” He told her the rest and watched for her reaction. “We believe she’s with Boaz Pritchard, and that they reached the safety of the bunker before they were overcome.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” She sank onto her sofa. “You think I had something to do with it?”
“Who else, in your opinion,” he asked, “could have gained access to the tunnel and then the bunker?”
“The construction crew had their memories wiped. Aside from the keyholders, there’s only Orin and me left with full recollection of our participation. I can’t think of anyone else who was directly involved with the project. I was the first contractor brought in, to cloak the site during construction, and the last one to leave, after I brought down the original wards and keyed new ones to the Grande Dame’s handpicked few.”
How his mother acquired blood samples to key himself and Grier to the wards concerned him, but she was nothing if not resourceful. During her pregnancy, Grier had testing done weekly. He had too, when his blood was required to create a baseline for LJ’s paternal gifts.