There was no obvious pattern except the three Liz had been at were isolated.
The two crime scenes Mason had been at were closer to the edge of towns. Vampires weren’t at all of them.
I crossed my legs and leaned over the map. I needed something to connect it all. I pulled my phone out and called Mason.
“I hear you’re on lockdown,” he muttered. “Not much help.”
“Don’t worry about that. You know I won’t stop working. Listen, do you have the crime scene pictures?”
“I have copies, yes.”
“Email them to me, please. I want to take a look at them. I think we’re missing something.”
“I agree. Also, the little girl? The state has taken her in and given her a name.”
“What did they name her?”
“Hope,” he answered. “I found it somewhat fitting since she survived the horrors we found.”
I agreed. “Did any of the other scenes have signs of children?”
“No.”
That was good. “Okay, send me those pictures, and I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up and called Liz.
“I’m not out of the hospital yet,” she muttered.
I laughed. “I know you aren’t. Be patient, and they’ll get to your paperwork when they can. I have a question. The first location you sent me, we found a little girl.”
“A little girl?” she muttered. “There shouldn’t have been any children there, Abby.”
Dread filled my stomach. “She said someone matching your description freed her.”
“There was no child there. I would have known. I killed anything that moved because Adrianna…” She paused. “Where’s the child now?”
“Mason said she was in the custody of the state. What did you think of?”
“That she’s planted by Adrianna. Was the child human?”
“As far as I could tell, yes.” My heart pounded in my chest. Had we made a mistake without realizing it?
There was a muffled sound. “I have to go. The doctor is here to sign the paperwork and give me follow-up instructions.”
I tried to call Mason back but didn’t get an answer. I sent him a text instead, letting him know what Liz thought. Maybe we’d get lucky, and that wasn’t the case. Maybe the child was hidden when Liz went on her killing spree, and Liz didn’t realize it.
Of course, she’d done a pretty thorough job since she’d put a note out to tell me there were vampires there.
The door to my chamber squeaked open, and I looked up to see Simon standing there.
“All clear to come in?”
I nodded. “Yeah, no magic, just maps.”
“More maps.” He gave a dramatic sigh, and I smiled.
“How’s Travis?”
“He needs a break. I’m going up to pack lands.”
I leaned back on my hands and looked up at him. “Duty calls.”
He nodded. “That it does. Now, since Levi threatened to kill me if you leave, please stay here?”
“I don’t plan on going anywhere today, and if I choose to leave, I’ll make sure I let Levi know that it is of my own free will.”
He leaned down and kissed me. “Seriously, Abby.”
“I’m not going to leave. Mason is going to email me what I need, and Liz is still in the hospital.”
He straightened and chuckled. “Good, besides, Levi hid all the keys, including the ones to the Hummer.”
“He better be thankful that I haven’t mastered the transportation spell yet.” I shook my head. “Then he wouldn’t be able to keep me locked up.”
“I wouldn’t put him to that challenge. Remember, he has Oliver on his payroll too.”
I frowned. That was true. I stood, and Simon kissed me again. “I’ll check in when I get back to pack lands.”
“Thank you.”
I watched him go back up the stairs before I went back to my map.
When dusk fell, I still hadn’t had an email from Mason, and I was going stir crazy in the house. I’d paced the mansion, visited the back yard, came back in, tried to distract myself with television, went back to the map, but without anything from Mason, there was nothing I could do to move forward.
Liz had given me little updates through text messages. She’d been discharged from the hospital, but she wanted to check out a few things before she came up to the mansion.
When Levi found me, I was nursing a cup of coffee in the kitchen, playing a game on my phone.
“Glad to see you’re still here.” He sat down in front of me. “Without me having to call another person to make sure you stayed.”
“I’ve been trying to work on the case all day, but Mason hasn’t sent an email or answered my text messages. Liz should be up here in a little bit, though.”
“They let her out this early?”
I nodded. “Oliver healed her a little bit before Merick took her to the hospital.” I swirled my coffee. “Liz wants to go after Adrianna.”
Levi took a deep breath. “I can’t let you leave the mansion until after your party.”
“That sounds like a fairy tale threat.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
He didn’t answer me.
“Levi?”
He glanced up at me.
“He can’t say, Abigail. But I can.” Mario walked in, and Levi looked at him.
“Mario, you swore to stay out of this.” Levi looked at me. His gaze went to my hip, where my gun wasn’t.
I raised a brow. “Would it help if I promised to not shoot the messenger?”
“Yes,” they both said at the same time.
“I don’t have my gun. It’s in the safe in my room.” I folded my hands on the table.
“No circles,” Mario added.
“You take the fun out of this. Fine, no circles.”
“Samuel has demanded Levi keep you in the mansion. Levi has no choice but to comply.”
I locked my jaw. “So
