Page 75 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

“Yes, go on.”

She starts flashing the reports again, my eyes clinging to them, until—“Stop,” I call out.

The three of us look at the report in front of us. It’s a young girl, seventeen, her body was found in the Seine. They probably tried to have it disappear in the water, but it didn’t work properly. She is… “Claire. There is a brief mention of a man who could be her father,” Emilien mutters. “But he disappears from the records. Seems like they thought he could have done it.”

“He could be the presume rogue,” Zoé agrees.

“She is AB negative,” I mutter.

Emilien stares at the image. “We need to see her.”

“Is that possible?” Zoé asks.

“Eric will make it possible,” he mutters. “Arden, are you confident enough to pretend you are a doctor or student of the medical faculty interested in her autopsy report?”

“Yes,” I say.

“Arden.” Aurelia’s voice interrupts us. “We have found something too… or rather someone.”

“Who?” I ask, standing up to approach them.

Gustave shows me a police report and puts one of our own folders next to it. “We found him in the US database. His name is Francis.”

“One of our kidnapped omegas,” Aurelia says. “AB negative. He isn’t orphaned, but his parents live far away from him and are estranged.”

“They found his body a year ago,” Leila says.

“Do you think your father can use his contacts to check on the body?” Emilien asks. “That is if they are still keeping it. If not, they can at least ask for the reports.”

“I think it’s better to ask Liam,” Aurelia muses. “He has a lot of contacts with humans.” She wrestles with the folders, glancing at them.

“Should I call him?” Leila offers. “You look like you still have data you want to check.”

“That would be awesome, thank you.”

“So,” I turn to Emilien, “when can Dr. Arden Shoal-Dupont visit the facility?”

“I will make sure it can happen today, the latest tomorrow,” Emilien says. “Will you take yourassistant,Emilien, with you?”

“Obviously, I need backup,” I say.

“Assistant Gustave can come too,” Gustave offers.

“Good, but no more,” I say. “We can probably argue why there are three people visiting at once. Anything more will just raise suspicions.”

Everyone seems to agree, and Emilien and Leila depart to make their phone calls while the rest of us continue to work. I hope this will mean a breakthrough, though, because the work here in the office is draining and tiring, and not always rewarding.

I hope we can finally move out of the office and focus our search.

“I hope you are prepared,” Emilien says when he returns. “Because they expect us in an hour.”

“So soon!?” Gustave gapes.

“Yes, Eric’s friend at the police will manage to squeeze us in. Most of the team will have a meeting, so it won’t be too weird when some of us are around. We won’t meet him at the police, though, but at the forensic mortuary.”

“Wait, what!? It’s been six years. Have they been keeping her body for so long? That’s very unusual!”

“Apparently, due to scientific reasons,” Emilien says. “Her body decomposes way slower than usual, and the reason for her death is a mystery to boot.”