“We need them. We want to circulate as many pictures as possible.”
“Can’t we just keep this quiet? It’s terribly embarrassing for us. You say she’s accused of treason. What has she done, specifically?” Mr. Mosswood asked.
“No, we can’t keep it quiet, and we’re not at liberty to give out any more details of what she’s done,” Chief Warden Redthorne said.
Mrs. Mosswood cast a beseeching gaze at Chief Elder Blazetail. “Hartley…”
However, in a case like this, even her wealth and influence only went so far. If Isadora was collaborating with humans to help kidnap shifters, she had to be stopped, and the whole sordid affair couldn’t be swept under the rug, no matter how much the Mosswoods might wish it.
“Mrs. Mosswood, I know how difficult this is for you,” Blazetail said soothingly. “The faster she’s taken into custody, the faster this whole thing can be put behind you.”
“Very well,” Mrs. Mosswood said with distaste.
The Mosswoods stood up, and moved stiffly towards the garage.
“We’ll accompany you,” Warden Redthorne said.
“That won’t be necessary.” She shot him a look as if he’d just tracked wolf doo doo into the house.
“But we will anyway.”
She looked at Blazetail again.
“I’m sure they don’t need any assistance,” Blazetail protested.
“I run my investigations as I see fit. I’m sure that your Pride Patrol does the same,” Warden Redthorne said coldly.
Blazetail hesitated, and then nodded at the Mosswoods. “Just let them do what they need to do, Mrs. Mosswood, and then they can be on their way.”
Dash and Warden Redthorne followed the Mosswoods out to their garage. It was pristine, and there were four cars parked there. A Ferrari, two Beamers, and a Porsche.
There were no boxes anywhere. The Mosswoods stood there, glancing around uneasily, their faces flushed with humiliation. It was clear that they’d lied, and they had no pictures of Isadora to share.
“I could have sworn we had some old boxes of Isadora’s things,” Mrs. Mosswood muttered.
“Really? It’s hard to picture any old boxes in this house.” Redthorne shot her a reproving look. Dash barely managed to suppress a smile. Redthorne could be a real hardass, but sometimes he was actually quite all right. Like now.
“We’d like to look at her bedroom,” Dash said.
“Oh, we converted that to a guest room as soon as she moved out.”
“Where do you send her money?” Dash asked. “What bank does it go to? We know she gets an allowance from you.”
The Mosswood’s glanced at each other.
“We cut her off months ago,” Mr. Mosswood said.
Now that was news. “Why?” Dash asked.
“We told her that now that her sister was getting married, she needed to clean up her act. We gave her the choice of dressing and behaving in a more appropriate fashion, and associating with a more appropriate crowd, or never receiving another cent from us. She said she hoped Diana had a lovely wedding, and hung up on me. We haven’t spoken to her since. That was six months ago.”
Mrs. Mosswood let out a self-righteous sniff.
Dash and Loren glanced at each other.
That is odd, Dash thought. Isadora didn’t have a job that he knew