Cursed by the Fountain of Youth

Chapter 35

Nick sat at his former boss's desk, furiously searching through this year's auto sales of '66 Chrysler Windsors. There were a good number of them, but none around the area where Jenny was kidnapped.

Thomas paced the floor and once again stopped to glance at the clock. "It's six o'clock, we have—"

"An hour and thirteen minutes. I know."

Nick turned his focus back on the case. Perhaps the car wasn't bought but stolen. Nick started a new search. Results popped up immediately. Young had a wicked fast computer. "Ah ha!" he shouted.

"What?" Thomas said.

"I've got something. There was a report of a missing black '66 Winsor fifteen miles from the location of the kidnapping, and it so happens the theft occurred the day before Jenny disappeared."

"But if it's stolen, how do we find it?"

"I haven't gotten that far."

Thomas swore. "We have to find it before sunrise."

"I know." Nick's fingers flew over the keys. "Let me just check a few things." A strange pattern emerged as he searched reports in and around the area where the car was stolen. "This is odd. There was a missing person's report that was never properly followed up on."

"So?"

"Apparently, the person who reported it turned up dead the day after the report. The police didn't put two and two together because the man filing the report lived two hours away and died of so-called natural causes—a heart attack."

"A heart attack doesn't sound strange to me."

"The man was twenty-five."

"So, he was young. That's not unheard of."

Nick dug deeper as he pulled up related files. "And here's another strange coincidence. The man who was reported missing signed over the deed to his house to someone named Mark Hansen. But it happened just two days before the man disappeared."

Thomas breathed a curse. "Mark? Marcus? That can't be a coincidence. I think we're looking at another alias. Where is the home located?"

"Sixty-eight miles south from here."

Thomas grabbed his jacket and jogged toward the door. Nick followed on his heel.

"This better be it," Thomas said. "If we're wrong, Avira is dead."

Nick wanted to assure him that he wasn't wrong, but he couldn't. This was the best lead they had, but it wasn't a sure thing by a long shot.

They averaged a hundred and fifty miles an hour down I95. Nick was shocked they didn't see any flashing lights along the way. Finally, they turned off and made their way through rural forests and swamps.

The sky began to brighten as the sun approached the horizon. Nick glanced over at Thomas. He clutched the steering wheel so tight, there was blood dripping down his wrists. He hadn't retracted his claws since he noticed the first glimmer of sunlight on the horizon. He also hadn't said a word.

Nick was worried himself about Fae. He had no way of knowing if she were alive or dead. He only knew one thing: if Lafayette has killed her, Nick would rip him apart with his bare hands. He didn't care if it landed him in prison. If Lafayette had harmed her in any way, he would pay for what he did.

Nick glanced over when he heard a low rumbling growl coming from Thomas. Nick had a feeling Thomas was thinking along the same lines—though Thomas was more equipped to rip people to shreds than Nick was.