The Wife's Resolve

Chapter 17: A Warning

Hours after midnight, Paxton was finally making some connections into the past. Reviewing old pack records of his grandfather and cross-checking those of what he knew was leading him nowhere. It was not too surprising. If the authorities had been able to tie anything to his grandfather, he would not have caused such pain in the family for years. Even when he killed his own son, there was no trial. All of a sudden, it was like the pieces just fell into place when searching for Evelyn Iris in the police records. Besides a police report about her death and apparent suicide, he noticed another older file from the year before. The department had a sealed juvenile record about Evelyn Iris.

While he could not access the record himself at home, he could look at similar files in connection with which were not sealed. The public record included a file about a human trafficking ring that was broken up about eleven years before. The file mentioned a total of thirteen girls who had been rescued. Four of them had a sealed juvenile record, but the other nine had files he was able to access.

Opening a file for Katrina Knight, he discovered secrets that had been buried in time. Katrina describes being abducted from a pack with four other girls eight years before. Katrina described acting as the mother of the group to the younger four girls, who all came from the Silver Fang Pack and were under ten years old. She talked about how the girls were forced to work in the clubs owned by his grandfather. She described how the younger girls were considered investments and were not allowed to be touched. They were brought around for show, dressed up, and paraded for auction. During her time, she testified that once the younger girls reached sixteen, they were auctioned off to the highest bidder. The older girls were used to satisfy the needs of men in the club. They were kept drugged and often suffered abuse. Some girls even died from their injuries. The night of the auction for the four girls from her pack was interrupted by a police raid. Only thirteen girls were rescued, but freedom did not seem like freedom after everything they had been through.

No further information was given about the girls or whether they were returned to their families. Though Paxton knew that for Evelyn, that was not possible. She had stayed here even after her freedom was granted. He could not understand why she would choose to stay in a pack run by the very man who had abducted her. She apparently had made friends with his Aunt Drea and had fallen in love with his Uncle Devyn shortly before her death.

For the first time in weeks, he had a concrete lead. Evelyn had come from the Silver Fang Pack. Paxton almost felt disappointed when he discovered where she came from. Elena came from the Red Moon Pack. Valerie was not wrong after all; just having the same name did not mean a real connection after all. He saved the information he had found in digital and hard copies before closing his computer. He had promised Valerie he would sleep.

Unfortunately, an hour later, he was back at his computer. He could not sleep with all the questions in his mind, so he might as well keep working. He began with what he did know. He started with the Silver Fang Pack. He researched childhood disappearances. He found her missing persons file, which still listed her status as missing and assumed dead. The file showed 8-year-old Evelyn Iris. The file described four teenage girls taking four younger girls and three boys to a nearby park. While two of them took the boys to the bathroom, the others disappeared. There was no clear sign of a struggle. Police had no real leads. The file was thin, but her older brother Evan Iris appeared to be the last one to have seen them before they left for the park. He had not reported anything suspicious. He was also suspected of being involved, though no evidence was able to hold him for the crime.

Further research showed that only three of the girls were returned to the pack and reunited with their families. The other three were suspected of being dead, as no details could be provided for their whereabouts. Paxton rubbed his eyes. There were still two missing girls. Could they have died in the pack just like Evelyn did?

He was about to close his computer when a newspaper picture showed a picture of Evelyn with her family. In the photo, mother Morgana and father Eric Iris desperately seek information about their beloved daughter, the caption reads. The picture showed Morgana and Eric in the background. Evan and Evelyn, but the biggest surprise was the toddler in Evelyn's arms, whom the paper identified as Elena. She could not have been more than 4 in the picture, but that would make her 23 today. He had found the link, but how did he prove the baby in the picture was actually Elena Iris in their pack today?

Having found a hot lead, he could not possibly stop now. He needed to understand Elena’s connection. Did she come here for revenge, or did she come here looking for her sister? The evidence that they were one and the same was undeniable, but he needed more to show Valerie. The only way he could prove it would be to find out why Elena's family changed packs and how pack records show she was from the Red Moon Pack.

He began his research into the Red Moon Pack. He found a pack registry which included a list of pack members. Number 28 showed Eric and Morgana Iris, along with their son Evan and daughter Elena. The registry showed a family photo which Paxton printed and compared to the photo from the Silver Fang Pack. Even though almost twenty years had passed between the two shots, there was no doubt in his mind that Eric and Morgana were the same people. He searched the records for the Red Moon Pack and could not find any information about their daughter, Evelyn. It seemed to him that when they switched packs, they chose to forget their long-lost daughter as well.

What he did repeatedly find was problems with Evan Iris. He was constantly in trouble with the law for petty crimes. He seemed to have spiraled out of control, and the last report he had read showed that he had been reported missing and a person of interest in an unsolved robbery. The suspect was last seen driving a large black SUV with tinted windows. Suspect is considered armed and dangerous. Police backup would be advised should any person identify him.

Paxton felt that Evan would hold some answers that were still missing from the file, but with his whereabouts unknown, it was not likely that he would find him. Police had thoroughly run down leads according to Evan’s file, but all trails had run cold. Paxton had one play left. He pulled the records of Elena's phone and compared them to the pack records. He looked for calls on the night of the charity ball and found four calls to an unknown number. Though he did not know for sure the number belonged to Evan, he foolishly sent out a message that was carefully worded. Then he waited.

Paxton felt his phone buzz three hours later. He looked at the time. He had half an hour to get to the church. He put on a suit, and prepared to leave the house. He stuffed the photos he printed in his shirt pocket and then buttoned his suit coat. The last thing he did was check his phone. There were two messages.

Message one was from Valerie- Hey, hope you got some sleep last night. See you at the church.

Message number two was from an unknown number- Stop digging into Evelyn's death. Some secrets are meant to stay buried with the dead.

Paxton dropped the phone and realized his searches must have triggered something. Someone else was monitoring the information surrounding her life, and whoever it was knew she was dead. The number did not match the number he had texted the night before, which, for the first time, caused him to feel alarmed.