“Exactly.” Lily steps between us. “The Beaumonts, I'm sure, have been expecting hunters to keep an eye out for them in neighboring towns. Addie saw me. She did not see Riley or Olivia, just a homeless girl who was easy prey.”
I'm glad that altering the Truebloods’ perceptions worked, that I've got a knack for this after all. “So, what do we do next, other than track the Beaumonts?”
Riley's back to life and the hope shines in his eyes. “We just have fun around town and keep an eye out. I must hunt before then, but there are plenty of woods around here and we can drive some distance away to do that. I don't think the Beaumonts will try anything again tonight with a hunter around, but they'll start getting desperate by tomorrow night. If they don't drink for a day, they'll get weak.”
“And that's good,” I say. At least his confidence is back.
“I'll stay online for now,” Lily says. “I'm glad this hotel serves coffee down in the lobby. It's going to be a long night. And just in case, we should sleep in shifts.”
* * * * *
Of course, Riley and I don't leave Lily alone when we drive well out of town to hunt, stopping on a distant dirt road. The area smells like plenty of game, and I know that even regular hunters don't come out here often. We take down a deer quickly and enjoy it while Lily waits near the car, within our hearing, but not without the crossbow.
And after we get back two hours later, it's well after midnight. We settle back into the hotel room and sleep in shifts. I watch the outside through the curtain, waiting, listening. But the town of Shacklesburg is dead. The Beaumonts are lying low after the attack, and I hear and see no evidence of them on the beach below.
What if they decide to move on and start terrorizing another town?
We've got to find them, and fast.
“I want to call my family about this, but if they descend on this place, the Beaumonts will flee for sure,” Lily says once we head down to the continental breakfast the next morning. “I should call them, since they're still after the Beaumonts. They broke the truce.” Today, she wears another puffy sweater capable of hiding some serious firepower.
The continental breakfast turns out to be a bowl of fruit, bagels, a few containers of milk, and a pitcher of orange juice. Breakfast of champions. Lily and I dig in and settle at a table in the small dining room, and Riley joins us a moment later, barely blinking at the light coming through the windows.
Lily opens her laptop. “During my shift last night, I found something else interesting. The credit card use from the new accounts has stopped, when it was frequent before.”
“That means the Beaumonts are lying low,” Riley says with a grin.
“But there's one account frequenting the cafe across this town,” Lily says. “And that new one hasn't stopped. This person visited a clothing store early this morning, and picked up some fast food from the burger joint, too. It could just be a new resident who has nothing to do with all of this, but it's from someone named Martin Kavalar. And this Martin Kavalar has appeared nowhere else until about a week ago.”
“So, new identity?” I ask, leaning across the table and almost spilling my orange juice. My heart thumps. It could be anything.
No. Dad wouldn't have run to the same town as the Beaumonts. That makes no sense.
But checking it might be worth a shot. For all we know, this new identity is Dominic himself.
“When does this person go to the cafe?” Riley asks, rolling an apple across the table.
“Usually late morning,” Lily says. “Between ten and eleven. It's eight-thirty right now. We have time to settle down at the place. Whether this guy shows up will depend on whether he's a Beaumont. And if he is, then we can follow him back to their secret base.”
We've already ruled out that abandoned store as the base when we disposed of the bodies. That turned out to be just a hiding spot to wait for prey. All we found inside that last night was some empty shelves and counters, and a few posters showing it used to be a tax place.
We head to the cafe as soon as we finish breakfast, just in case this mystery Martin Kavalar shows up early. Once again, I send out the image of me being that homeless girl, though slightly better dressed today. I'm just a would-be victim who Lily saved and pulled off the street last night. Now she's trying to be my friend. Riley dresses in a hoodie he went out and bought early this morning. He has his hood down over his face, giving him almost a criminal look, but I can't tell his identity at a glance.
The three of us order flavored coffees and sit among older people who don't look out of place at all. Some read newspapers. Others try to flirt with the young servers who carry themselves like they're used to it. No one gives us a second glance, and I smell nothing suspicious among the patrons. The cafe itself carries no bad vibes, either. It's got the same nautical theme as the other places in this town, down to the fake anchors and the strings of white lights.
We wait until eleven and then twelve, just in case, and as the place clears out, it’s clear that whoever Martin Kavalar is, he's not showing up today.
Lily frowns at her laptop. “Well, that's not usual. I think this guy is Dominic. Why else would he not show up here after a hunter attack?”
“Does he know you guys have a badass database and hacking tools?” I ask.
Lily shakes her head. “Neither party
