Since Rafael was the only one missing, it was obvious who he was referring to.
“He’s got sources in the area,” Zoe replied sourly. “He’s checking in with them.”
“Sources?” Graham didn’t look impressed. “I don’t suppose you know who those sources are, do you?”
“No. He refuses to squeal. I’m thinking of torturing him to get the information.”
Graham’s eyebrows rose. “Like ... with knives?”
Zoe wrinkled her nose. “No. I’m going to make him watch the Kardashians on a twenty-four-hour loop. He’ll be ready to crack within two hours.”
Gunner almost choked on his chicken but remained silent. Graham, on the other hand, shifted his gaze to me.
“That’s what you did to the minion, right?” Graham asked. “You made him watch that show until he was begging to give you answers.”
“Dawson’s Creek,” I acknowledged. “He had it coming.”
“Great minds think alike,” Aric teased, poking his wife’s side. “As for Rafael, give him a break. He’s trying to keep us safe without burning his contacts. We’re hardly the only people in his universe.”
“Oh, you’re standing up for him,” said Zoe, “even though you’re not best friends, right?”
He scowled. “Stop spreading that rumor. You’re my best friend.”
“Uh-huh.” Zoe turned her attention to Graham. “What’s in the big, scary file?”
His mouth full of chicken, Graham held up a finger until he swallowed. “It’s info on the missing girls. I made a copy of our files. I’m having zero luck. I figure our new secret weapon might have a better shot at uncovering something.”
I frowned. “Who told you Zoe was a secret weapon? Has someone in our group been talking? I bet it was Marissa. I’m going to drown her in that creek myself if she’s not careful.”
Graham’s eyes lit with amusement. “Actually, I wasn’t referring to your friend Zoe, although I’m sure she’s fantastic.”
I was confused. “Then what secret weapon were you referring to?”
“You, dummy.” Gunner flicked my elbow and grinned. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’ve managed to uncover a whole pile of secrets since you landed in town. He wants you to go through the files and see if you can come up with something.”
“Oh.” My cheeks burned. “I ... um ...”
“She says ‘thank you for noticing,’” Zoe teased, grabbing the file on top of the stack and opening it. “What can you tell us?”
Amusement wafted over Graham’s features. “I didn’t realize you’d joined the team full time.”
“It’s more of a temporary placement.” Zoe glanced at her pouting daughter. “That one won’t last much longer without her dog. She’s already melting down under the pressure.”
“I heard that,” Sami snapped.
“That’s good,” Zoe shot back. “I wasn’t whispering. I’m glad you heard it.”
“Whatever.” Sami shoveled a heaping forkful of potato salad into her mouth and chewed with methodical exaggeration.
“She gets that from you,” Aric complained as he stared at the image of a sunny blonde over his wife’s shoulder. “Are all the missing still shifters?”
Graham nodded. “At least that we know of. It’s possible others have gone missing and we haven’t heard yet, but that doesn’t seem likely.”
“No,” Aric agreed. “Whenever a young woman goes missing, people tend to report it.”
Graham was all smiles as Sami stomped in our direction, her lower lip jutted out. He seemed amused by the girl’s antics and didn’t look away as she tossed her paper plate into the trash. “What’s your problem, little spitfire?”
Sami rolled her eyes until they landed on him. “Parents are stupid.”
“Of course they are. That’s a rite of passage. What did your parents do to you?”
“They laughed when a skunk threatened to kill me.”
Graham’s lips quirked. “A skunk threatened to kill you?”
Sami nodded, solemn. “It’s the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
“Oh, please.” Zoe was having none of it. “You were chased in the woods by a pack of ravenous vampires, separated from Rafael at a time when you didn’t know if we were still alive, and had to live under a dome by yourself for a night. Us laughing at the skunk is hardly the worst thing to happen to you this week, let alone ever.”
“I also had to watch you and Dad kiss in front of my teacher when you dropped me off at summer camp the other day,” Sami added darkly, her gaze drifting to me, as if looking for sympathy. “There was tongue.”
It took everything I had not to laugh. “That must have been traumatizing.”
“It was.” Sami glared at her mother. “Everyone at school thinks my parents are sex maniacs.”
“That’s only because your friends come from frigid families,” Zoe said. “That one friend of yours — Butterscotch or Peppermint, whatever her name is — is lucky her mother managed to unclench the one time her parents had sex.”
“Gross.” Sami shook her head. “For the record, her name is Hershey.”
“I fail to see how that’s different from what I said.”
Sami ignored her. “Also, you guys were seen ... doing stuff ... outside camp two years ago. People still bring it up.”
“Hey, if we hadn’t shown up that day, you would’ve been killed by your little zombie friends,” Aric argued.
“You didn’t have to get dirty in the truck while you were watching!” Sami was shrill enough that Graham started chuckling.
“She’s at the funniest age ever,” Graham cracked. “I love it.”
“Yes, it’s like living in an episode of Roseanne on a daily basis. The original, not that abomination of a reboot,” Zoe said. “Let’s focus on real issues now. What’s up with the missing girls? How many are we talking about?”
“We’re up to eight,” Graham replied. “All the information is in the file. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone where you got that from. It might cause some blowback.”
“No problem. I like lying to people.” Zoe’s forehead furrowed. “What about the people in the wrecked vehicle?”
“We’re nowhere on that right now. We’re still trying to track down information. The vehicle was a rental and only one person,
