The Secret Holder

XXIII: Time Bomb

It's getting late, and Stiles has pulled the shades down in the sheriff's office so that no one comes in and bothers us.

The sky has grown dark and we still don't know why the Desert Wolf targeted Deborah Hale's pack. If we find this out we might have a shot at figuring out why she wants to execute Scott and the rest of us.

"Okay, I think I have an idea," Stiles declares after minutes of silence.

"Alright. I'm all ears."

"This is all like, speculation, but remember when we were talking about panic awhile back? Maybe we don't know about this because Derek doesn't know about it...or doesn't want to talk about. If Deborah was-what, only a few years younger than Peter, she was relatively young and so was her pack. What if the Desert Wolf killing Deborah and her pack was a vendetta against Peter? Or like hazing of some kind because they were new? I don't know, the time frames don't really match up, but-"

"No, I think you're right, I think you're on to something."

"Really?"

"It's only been a couple of months since Scott defeated the Alpha pack and went against the grain by fighting Deucalion. I think Scott has unintentionally broadcasted himself as a force to be reckoned with...And now the Desert Wolf feels threatened because even if she was away from it she felt like she owned Beacon Hills. But Scott runs this town now, and she loathes the fact that she doesn't have all the power anymore...like hazing,"

"We should go find Scott," Stiles tells me.

I start to gather my things when Stiles's phone rings. He picks it up. "Hey. No, I left hours ago. What? Why? No, he's not in town. Okay, okay," He hangs up. "That was Malia. She wants us to go to the hospital because..."

"Because what?"

"She said she found my dad..." Stiles starts tidying up the mess on the sheriff's desk and he hands me the files. "Here, take these with you...my dad will never notice they're gone,"

"But Stiles—"

"Just take them. We need to go." Stiles locks up the safe and turns out the lights of the office, almost leaving me behind.

I close the door of the office with the files in hand. Stiles is two steps ahead of me as he approaches the deputy at the entrance of the police department.

"Do you know what case my dad was working on?"

The woman looks up from some paperwork, and looks at Stiles, perplexed. "Sheriff Stilinski is especially secretive when it comes to revisiting cases. But, as for the current situation, I assure you, we trying as hard as we can to find him,"

"Wait—what? To find him?"

"Sorry, Stiles...I thought you knew; we haven't heard from or seen your father for two days...he's about to be reported missing,"

...

Stiles jumps in the jeep and I jump in right next to him.

"Can you tell Scott to meet us there?" Stiles asks me as he tries to fire up the engine. Even after several tries the engine simply sputters. "Damn it!!" He hits his steering wheel, and puts his forehead against it, his eyes closed.

"Stiles?"

"What?" he responds sharply, without opening his eyes. He's still leaning his head against the steering wheel, but his breaths have become shallow.

"Look at me." He doesn't move from his current position. "Look at me."

His eyes dart to mine at my more commanding tone.