The Tracker's Secret: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 2) by Ingrid Seymour (the gingerbread man read aloud .txt) 📗

happen when they let him go?” I asked. “I’m sure he’ll make bail, too. If I refuse to help him, he might take offense and come after me. Maybe if I just talked to him and played nice, he’ll leave me alone.”

“If he comes after you, I’ll kill him.” The tone in Tom’s voice left me no doubt he would do it.

“I appreciate that, Tom, but you can’t be with me twenty-four seven. And Ulfen has plenty of people he can send after me.”

Tom winced. He knew I was right. Still, it went against his integrity as a cop to bend to a criminal’s demands. After a long moment of consideration, he said, “I guess it can’t hurt if you hear him out. Just don’t agree to anything, okay?”

I nodded.

“Wait right here,” he said and walked out of the office.

He came back ten minutes later and led me down a narrow hall. He opened the last door on the right, and we walked in. Ulfen was handcuffed, his wrists fastened securely to the table, which in turn was bolted to the floor. He also wore a thick electronic collar around his neck, a device designed to impede shifting. His dress shirt looked crumpled, and his red hair stood on end.

I stopped a safe distance away from him. Tom closed the door and stood a step behind me.

Ulfen inclined his head. “Thank you for coming, Ms. Sunder. I had my doubts you would.”

“Well, I’m here. What do you want?”

“I already told you. I need you to track someone for me.”

“Who?”

Ulfen smiled coldly, then said. “Blake Foster.”

I blinked and exchanged a confused glance with Tom. Blake Foster was dead. Ulfen and I, along with a bunch of other people at his charity function, had seen Blake’s body hanging from a rope with the word WAR carved in his chest. Why would he want me to track a dead man? Had they misplaced his body?

“You’re wasting my time,” I said. “I don’t track dead people. It’s not very pleasant.”

“Blake is not dead.”

“Curious,” Tom said, “because I recall his body lying in the morgue and the physical examiner’s report listing the cause of death as strangulation.”

“That was not Blake,” Ulfen said.

“Even you, at the time, positively identified his body. Did you not?” Tom scoffed.

“I made a mistake,” Ulfen said between clenched teeth.

I scanned his hard face, searching for any signs of manipulation, but I didn’t see any. Ulfen truly believed Blake was alive.

“What makes you think he’s not dead?” I asked.

“Because I saw him.” Ulfen lifted his chin and pointedly met my gaze.

“Where? When?” Tom asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Ulfen answered. “Just track him for me. A hundred thousand dollars upfront, no strings attached. You can keep the money either way, but if you find him, I’ll double that.”

Holy shit!

With that kind of money, Rosalina and I would be able to pay our loan outright. And not just that, there would be some money left for advertising, better security, a helper. Hell, there were a million things we could do.

Except, taking money from someone like Ulfen was wrong.

“Maybe you saw someone else,” I said. “Someone who looked like Blake.”

I expected him to say something like “I know what I saw,” but instead, doubt flashed across his blue eyes. I peered back at Tom. He was frowning and looked as confused as I felt.

Why would a man like Ulfen grasp at straws this way, asking me to find a man that everyone knew to be dead—a man whose death Ulfen, himself, might have ordered if he was responsible for Stephen’s kidnapping?

It didn’t make any sense, unless... Ulfen was innocent. Well, no, he could also be trying to muddle the situation, but I didn’t think so. He would’ve come up with something less moronic than this if that were the case.

“What game are you playing, Erickson?” Tom asked. “If this is meant to be some sort of diversion, it won’t work.”

“It’s not a diversion,” Ulfen said, his voice rising in anger. “Just find him, so we can figure out who’s behind all of this. I didn’t kidnap my son, and I sure as hell didn’t order that mage to kill him. Someone’s trying to frame me, and I think Blake Foster is involved. He’s not dead. He’s very much alive, and he may be working with my enemies.”

Ulfen took a deep breath, reigning in his emotions, and flexing his neck around the collar as if it pained him.

“Now, will you help me?” he asked, turning to me. “Or will you help those who want to get rid of an innocent man because he stands in the way of their goals? What will it be, Ms. Sunder?”

I shook my head, at a loss for what to say. “I... I don’t know. I need to think about it.”

Ulfen nodded. “Good, at least you didn’t say no. Text my assistant, and she’ll get you the item you need to track Blake.” He rattled off a number, which I memorized. “If you find out that he’s dead, then you prove me wrong. But if he’s alive, you’ll understand that there’s more to this than what some would have everyone believe. The city is changing. I’ve felt it. You’ve felt it. Someone is pulling the strings, trying to gain control. And whoever they are, they don’t care about the citizens of St. Louis. They only want chaos.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I knew in my bones that what he was saying was true. I could see it in the news every day, and this new drug, it only spelled disaster.

Despite the awful foreboding that trickled down my spine, I took a step back and maintained my resolve. “I’ll need to think about it.”

Ulfen didn’t look happy, but there was nothing he could do to force me to change my mind—not here anyway. Though, I doubted he would have acted so restrained if he wasn’t cuffed to the table.

“One more thing, Ms. Sunder,” Ulfen said. “Please, leave my son out of