Someone had planned for crying children.

One of the state officers lifted a stuffed rabbit from beneath the bench seat. A tiny microphone had been sewn behind its plastic eye.

“They recorded the kids,” he said.

I took the toy with gloved hands. The fabric was worn where a child had gripped it.

Harlow saw it and looked away.

“How many children held this?” I asked.

“Lawyer.”

“You knew frightened children would be inside this van long enough to need calming down.”

Sweat appeared above his mouth.

Ronan crouched beside the open doors. For once, he did not offer a joke. He removed his vest and draped it over the restraint bar so the cameras could photograph the cage without displaying the club patch.

“Why cover it?” I asked quietly.

“When this gets shown in court, I want people looking at their cage. Not deciding whether they approve of mine.”

The answer altered something I had been trying not to name.

Behind the driver’s seat, we found a black binder.

Harlow began shouting for a lawyer.

“Good choice,” I told him. “Keep making those.”

The binder listed transfers by number. Beside each number were columns for age, dependents, medication, pickup officer, referring physician, and fee.

Women with children cost more.

Women related to law enforcement carried a red mark.

At the bottom of the final page, someone had written: WOLF INDICATORS—CALL BEFORE INTAKE.

Ronan read it over my shoulder.

The humor vanished from him.

“Silas needs to see this.”

“After it is photographed, logged, and copied to a server Mercer cannot reach.”

“Someone is shopping for wolves.”

“That is an inference.”

“It’s a good one.”

“Yes.”

I hated how much the word changed the case.

Until then, corruption explained the machinery. Abusive men paid other abusive men to erase women. Nolan supplied diagnoses. Darla separated children. North County supplied vehicles.

But the notation suggested another customer.

Someone who knew what Silas was.

Someone who expected women like Evelyn to pass through intake.

Harlow watched us from beside the patrol car. His face had gone gray.

I carried the binder toward him.

“Who receives patients with wolf indicators?”

“Lawyer.”

“Who told you Evelyn Quinn was a wolf case?”

His gaze moved to Ronan.

“Lawyer.”

“Who is Kara Wells?”

That did it.

His eyes shifted left before he recovered.

Toward the damaged van.

Ronan saw it too.

We searched again.

The spare tire compartment contained three passports, a ring of facility keys, and a cheap phone wrapped in plastic. The phone had one saved voicemail.

A woman whispered through static.

“My name is Kara. If you find this, they moved us underground. The doctor says nobody comes back after the red door.”

The recording ended with metal striking metal.

Harlow closed his eyes.

The state investigator took him aside and explained the difference between a witness who cooperated and a defendant charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and trafficking.

Harlow lasted four minutes.

“I only drive,” he said.

“You put restraints on mothers,” I replied.

“I never picked the names.”

“Where is Kara?”

“North County Women’s Renewal. Old wing. The public building is clean. The transfers go through the laundry entrance after midnight.”

“How many women?”

He looked at the binder in my hands.

“More than that book.”

Ronan turned away before the wolf in his eyes became visible to the humans around us.

I followed him behind the tow truck.

“We got Dana out,” I said.

“This time.”

“And we got a location.”

“After how many women disappeared?”

There was no answer that would make him feel better.

So I did not offer one.

I reached for the bandage on his arm and pressed down the edge that had come loose.

He watched my fingers.

“Operationally relevant?” he asked.

“You are bleeding on evidence.”

“There she is.”

“Who?”

“The woman who definitely does not hate me.”

I tightened the bandage until he winced.

“Ow.”

“Still uncertain?”

His grin returned, smaller this time.

My phone rang.

Silas answered on the first vibration.

“Did you find the woman?”

“Dana and her son are safe,” I said. “We caught the transport crew. But you need to get Evelyn away from every window and public entrance.”

Silence.

“Why?”

I looked at the words in the binder again.

WOLF INDICATORS.

“Because Grant was not the only person trying to acquire your mate.”