“How long until they have to release or charge him?” Hart asked, his voice, despite the straightforward question, uncharacteristically gentle.
I turned my head to look at the clock. “Nineteen hours,” I answered.
Elliot wasout getting take-out Thai food when Lulu called.
“Seth, ohmygod, they’recharginghim.”
“What?! On what grounds?!” My heart immediately started pounding,
“Sh-shifter saliva and shifter blood,” Lulu half-gasped out. “Found at the scene.”
“Is either of it Noah’s?”
“I d-don’t know!”
“Where are you, Lulu?”
A thick sniffle. “Hotel in Charlottesville.”
I wondered why not Staunton, since Charlottesville was about forty-five minutes away from where Noah was being held. So I asked them.
“Noah—Noah wanted us to stay here. H-he said he didn’t want to be too close to where you grew up.”
“That makes sense,” I said gently.
“W-why?” Lulu asked. “Whathappened?”
I guess Noah hadn’t explained our childhood to Lulu. Or at least not the details. I couldn’t say that I blamed him—I hadn’t told Elliot about any of it either. Not until this happened, and I felt like I really didn’t have a choice. I didn’t regret it, but it had takenthisto force me to it. I figured Noah would probably tell Lulu as much as they wanted to know if—when—he was released.
“Noah should be the one to tell you,” I said. “But let’s just say that there are very good reasons neither one of us ever talks about our childhood.”
Lulu sniffled again. “He didn’t do it,” they said.
“I know,” I replied. “We’ll figure it out.” I had no idea how.
“How?” Lulu asked, of course.
“I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “But we’ve got Momma’s lawyer and Hart working on it.” It was a little bit of a lie—Hart wasn’tworking-working on it, but I knew he’d be thinking about it. And that was something.
“O-okay.” Lulu sniffled again. “Should I come out there?”
“No,” I answered. “Because when we get Noah out, he’s not going to want to stay here.”
“Okay,” Lulu said again, clearly miserable.
“Call me if you hear anything else, okay?”
“Okay,” they repeated. “And call me if you learn anything?”
“I will,” I promised.
I immediately called Hart.
“What’s up, Mays?”
“They found shifter saliva and blood at the scene,” I told him. “According to Lulu. They’ve charged Noah.”
Hart had several creative things to say about that—and I didn’t disagree with a single word of them. “Have they crossed it against Noah’s?”
