Hidden Pursuit by Melissa McShane

Author:Melissa McShane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Night Harbor Publishing

Chapter Thirteen

After learning Campbell Security’s progress against the Savants, I spent the weekend expecting an attack every moment, as if the Savants knew they’d been found out even though I was sure that was impossible. By Sunday night I was so keyed up Malcolm insisted I go to bed early. “And stop fretting,” he added. “You’re being superstitious. We weren’t detected.”

“You know that because the Savants didn’t attack?” I said.

“I know that because no one on the team wants to face the oracle and tell her they failed.” Malcolm kissed me on the forehead. “Go to sleep. You’ll feel better when you’re rested.”

He was right. A peaceful night’s sleep restored me. But Malcolm volunteered for carpool duty anyway, and he took Jenny with him and the boys. “You’re still wound too tight, love. Relax.”

I didn’t fight him. I did feel the aftereffects of having been wound so tight. So I turned on the morning news with the television on mute and reclined on the couch, enjoying the sound of the light rain pattering on the patio roof.

The doorbell rang.

Groaning, I rolled off the couch and checked the camera display on my phone. It was Viv. Curious, I hurried to open the door. “What’s up? Don’t you have work?”

“Not yet. We’re still between jobs.” Viv unwound her colorful scarf from around her neck and followed me back to the great room. “I came over with news about the Hubbards. Talk about weird, Hel.”

I sat on the edge of the couch. “So they are in Witness Protection.”

“I don’t think so. But they’re hiding something.” Viv sounded intent, not at all as carefree as I was used to. “Based on that one time we stumbled on someone in Witness Security, I knew what signs would indicate the Hubbards were under government protection. I didn’t see any of those. So after I eliminated that possibility, I went back to basics. Checked all their records from when they lived in Denver. And they’re totally clean. Too clean.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” Viv said, “that either they have miraculously never had a single run-in with the law, not even a parking ticket, or someone scrubbed their records. It’s like—well, whoever it was wanted to make them completely unremarkable, so there wouldn’t be anything to raise suspicions if someone like the police, or like me, investigated them. But that kind of perfection is suspicious all by itself.”

“I think I understand. But I still don’t know what it means. Who would need to be that unremarkable?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that there are no records of them in Denver other than the official ones, like marriage certificates and driver’s licenses. Anyone who grows up in a place—and there’s also no record that they lived anywhere else—has things like school records or a job history or sometimes notices in the local paper. None of that exists.”

I was starting to feel nervous. “What about Maddy’s job? She said she worked as a chemist—there has to be a record of that.

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