Chapter 213: SCUFFLE FOR INFORMATION
Author’s POV
Keisha reached Elder Osric’s house after making sure nobody had followed her. The house was larger than she had expected, surrounded by a high wall and several security lights that made it difficult to move around without being seen.
She stood outside for a moment, studying the area before deciding that going through the main entrance would be impossible. With the pregnancy already making some movements more difficult, climbing over the wall was not easy, but she managed to pull herself up and get to the other side without making enough noise to attract attention.
She had barely landed when she noticed a guard walking along the side of the property.
Keisha immediately moved behind a large section of the wall and stayed there, holding her breath as the guard came closer. She waited until he walked past before moving again, keeping low as she crossed the compound. She found a way toward the back of the house and eventually managed to get inside through an unlocked door.
The downstairs rooms were quiet and she searched carefully, checking cabinets, drawers, shelves and other places where documents might have been kept, but there was nothing that immediately connected Osric to Vera or the Heat Incident. She checked the sitting room, the dining area and another smaller room before realizing that she was wasting time.
If Osric had been hiding anything important, he probably wouldn’t have left it downstairs.
Keisha headed upstairs immediately and the first room she entered was a study.
She closed the door behind herself and looked around. Books covered several shelves, while files and papers were arranged across the large desk.
Bingo. This was exactly the kind of place where she expected to find something useful.
She began searching immediately. One drawer contained old financial papers. Another contained documents relating to pack affairs. She went through them one by one, checking names and dates whenever something looked relevant. Several papers mentioned Elder Osric’s official responsibilities, but nothing connected him directly to Vera.
Keisha moved toward another cabinet and continued searching.
Back at the estate, Orin was becoming increasingly angry.
He had searched the entire upstairs area and still hadn’t found Keisha. He checked the rooms again, convinced he must have missed something, but the mansion remained strangely quiet.
Finally, he decided to leave. He reached the stairs and started down.
The moment he stepped around the corner, he nearly walked straight into Callum.
Both men stopped and Callum’s expression changed immediately when he recognized him. "Orin."
Orin cursed under his breath before turning around and running.
Callum cursed and went after him. Orin rushed down the stairs, but Callum was close behind. He managed to catch him before he reached the entrance, and the two of them struggled near the doorway. Orin tried to pull himself free, but Callum held onto him long enough to stop him from getting farther inside the mansion.
Orin shoved him away and managed to break free but Callum immediately followed him outside.
By the time they reached the courtyard, Dane had just arrived at the estate. He stopped when he saw Callum running after someone.
His confusion lasted only a second before Callum signaled toward Orin. "It’s Orin! Catch him!"
Dane understood immediately.
The two of them split up and chased after him from different directions.
Orin tried to get away, but having both Callum and Dane pursuing him made it much harder. He changed direction several times, attempting to lose them among the buildings and trees around the estate, but neither man stopped following him.
Eventually, Dane caught up first and tackled him to the ground, both men scuffing as Dane pinned Orin easily to the ground.
Callum reached them moments later, his expression twisted into anger. "Fucking bastard."
Orin was finally trapped.
Dane bent slightly, breathing heavily from the chase, before looking at Callum. "It’s fine. We’ve got him now."
Orin struggled against the person pinning him down but to no avail.
This was it. He had been caught.
Meanwhile, Keisha was still inside Osric’s house.
She had searched through most of the study and had found very little that could help her. Frustrated, she moved toward another cabinet and opened it.
That was when she noticed something tucked behind several old files.
A phone.
Keisha picked it up and examined it. It wasn’t the kind of phone she had seen Osric using around the pack. There were no obvious personal items beside it, and it appeared to have been kept there deliberately.
Her suspicion immediately returned and she wondered if there could be anything useful in it. With that in mind, she slipped the phone into her clothing and continued searching but she found nothing else in the study.
Keisha eventually left and checked the remaining rooms upstairs. Most of them contained ordinary belongings, and none gave her the information she needed.
The final room she entered was Elder Osric’s bedroom and she opened the door carefully and looked around.
The room appeared empty. Then she heard water running from the bathroom.
Keisha froze.
Osric was still inside.
She quickly looked around the bedroom, knowing she couldn’t stay there for long. Her eyes moved across the nightstand, dresser and nearby shelves until she noticed a journal sitting beside the bed.
She walked toward it quietly, her heart pounding in her chest. The journal looked old, and there were several markings along its cover that made her immediately suspicious. This could be exactly what she had been looking for.
Keisha reached for it, but before her fingers could close around the journal, another hand from behind her grabbed it.
She jerked back in shock not expecting someone to have snuck up on her.
Someone else had entered the room. The person was dressed completely in black, with a hood pulled over their head and most of their face hidden. They had apparently been waiting for the same thing she had come for.
For one second, Keisha simply stared at them.
Then the stranger pulled the journal toward themselves and turned to run.
Keisha’s eyes widened. "Oh, shit!" she cursed under her breath.