Ezra leaned back in his chair, staring at the scattered docunts on his desk.
Hyde's finances were a tangled ss, obscure and deliberately hard to trace.
He had spent hours combing through the ledgers and transaction records he was able to get his hands on but the deeper he dug into it, the harder it beca to even point out what he was looking for.
It was clear that Hyde had done all he could to hide whatever he was involved in, and Ezra was hitting dead end after dead end.
Frustrated, he leaned forward, rubbing his temples. This wasn't sothing he could do alone, not without a clear lead.
He needed more information, and there was only one person who could provide it. Green.
With a sigh, Ezra stood and made his way back toward the cells. He needed answers, and Green would be the one to give him the next piece of the puzzle.
When he arrived at Green's cell, he found the vampire sitting in the sa position as before, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.
The fear he had previously displayed had subsided sowhat, but the tension was still there.
Green looked up when he saw Ezra, his eyes narrowing slightly, as if he was trying to gauge whether Ezra was there to help or to finish the job.
Ezra didn't waste any ti. "We need to talk about Hyde's finances."
Green blinked in confusion. "His finances?"
Ezra nodded. "You said you found sothing. Sothing about Hyde's funds. Tell exactly what you discovered."
Green hesitated for a mont. "Why should I tell you?"
Ezra crossed his arms raising a brow. "Who else has the power to help you get out of here alive?"
Green licked his lips at his words, his eyes darting around the room as if soone else might be listening. But after a mont, he sighed and leaned forward, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"I was working on so of Hyde's financial transactions, routine stuff at first. But then I noticed sothing odd. Funds from his logistics company were being funneled into so kind of… organization. A human organization."
Ezra's brows furrowed. "Humans? That's not exactly a reason to be suspicious."
"Right? Green said. "But it wasn't so kind of business move or sothing. He was draining money without receiving anything in return and that is unlike Hyde. So, I decided to look into it."
"But Hyde was careful. He didn't want anyone to know about it and went out of his way to make sure the transactions were obscure, but I noticed the pattern."
"When I tried following the trail, that's when everything fell apart. Hyde frad for breaking the Law of Secrecy. He couldn't risk finding out whatever he was doing."
Ezra crossed his arms, the gears turning in his mind. A human organization.
Hyde had been involved with sothing that he didn't want anyone, especially his own people, knowing about. But why?
What could possibly be important enough for Hyde to fra Green to keep it hidden?
Green shifted nervously on the bench. "So… what happens to now? Hyde's dead. Does that an I get a trial, or-?"
Ezra's eyes flickered back to Green, keeping his expression neutral. "That depends on the evidence. I'll investigate, and if there's no reasonable evidence of your cri, you'll be released. But for now, you stay here. That's what I can do for you."
Green swallowed hard, nodding slowly. "I understand."
Ezra turned, walking out of the cell without another word.
The door clanged shut behind him as he made his way back through the underground halls of the peacekeeper headquarters. He had managed to narrow down the financial search. He'd look into Hyde's logistics company instead of wasting his ti on the other businesses.
There was sothing there, sothing that would point to the human organization Hyde had been secretly sponsoring.
But before he dug into that, there was sothing else that needed his attention.
The list of those executed for breaking the Law of Secrecy.
If Hyde had really been using the law to fra others and eliminate threats, there would be a trail.
And that trail would likely lead to more than one person who had reason to see Hyde dead. He needed to find those nas, and the people left behind.
He descended deeper into the peacekeeper HQ, heading toward the Room of Records.
Peacekeepers always keep physical records only. As the local protectors of Secrecy, digital files would be too easy to hack or manipulate.
The Room of Records was a vault of history, containing the detailed reports of every cri, including all vampires who had ever been executed in Faewall for breaking the Law of Secrecy.
The door to the room creaked open as Ezra stepped inside. The space was very large with tight rows of shelves like a library, stacked with docunts and ledgers.
He moved to the far corner of the room, where the most recent records were kept. He ran his fingers along the shelves until he found the one he was looking for, the records on executions in the city.
He pulled the stacked files from the shelf and set it down on the nearest table. The string tying the old docunts together was thick and strong.
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Ezra raised his hand, intending to summon Olivia's throwing knife to cut through the string with ease. But as he focused on the weapon, a sharp pain shot through his soul, causing him to wince.
He stopped, abandoning the attempt.
Ever since they had arrived in Faewall, sothing had been wrong. His soul bond, his connection to the stolen tattoos and his access to his wives' abilities had begun to gradually weaken.
And now, trying to summon powers that weren't originally his, brought with it the risk of breaking his soul altogether.
He knew with certainty that there was sothing in this city that was interfering with the bond, destabilizing it. He couldn't even feel his wives' souls through the bond again and they too could not use the bond.
He gritted his teeth. Whatever was affecting him had to be the sa thing that had drawn him to Faewall in the first place.
He had followed that strange, instinctual pull here two decades ago, hoping to find what he was looking for. But with every passing day, it looked like he'd have to leave the city before the thing affected his soul directly.
Pushing the thought aside, Ezra summoned his claws instead. They extended from his fingertips with a slick sound, the dark, sharp talons gleaming faintly under the lights overhead.
He used it to slice through the string binding the docunts and started with the first one at the top of the stack.
He scanned the records, his eyes narrowing as he saw the long list of nas, all vampires who had been executed for breaking the Law of Secrecy.
One na after another, most under Hyde's authority.
But what stood out the most was the pattern. Many of the victims were male vampires under Hyde's command. And in almost every case, those left behind were won.
And so of those won, seeking protection, usually entered Hyde's personal coven.
Ezra frowned as he studied the docunts. This seed like the more likely pool of who the killer might have been.
One of the won might have joined his coven in order to get closer to him and seek revenge.
He closed the docunts, retying the stack and rose to his feet. The list had given him his next lead.
Hyde's widows.
It was ti to pay them a visit.
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