"It's been, like, two days," Laney reminded her sister, who was still endlessly circling the blocks where they had previously seen Giovani's car. "Maybe he's moved on. Can we please try to get some assistance?"
"No!" Laura exclaimed. "We do not need any help. We'll find him."
Laney was exasperated. "Well, what about that other guy? What if I get some information on him? If we knew who he was, it might lead us to Giovani."
Slamming her hand on the wheel, Laura asked, "How is that not getting help?"
"I just want to know who Jack Cook is, where he came from, anything that might let us know another location where Giovani might have gone. I'm not going to ask for tracking assistance or . . . anything. Come on!"
Laura actually considered the request, something she hadn't done in about a decade. This was the coldest the trail had ever gone in all of that time, however, and no one was volunteering anything. Usually, she'd pick up some chatter from somewhere on the newsfeed, the poster not even realizing they were talking about Giovani, just a Rogue Vampire. Now, there was nothing. After a long pause, she asked her sister, "Who are you planning on asking?"
Laney couldn't tell her what she'd actually been considering. There was no way she'd let her talk to Aaron. It just made sense that, if she were going to ask for help, it would be from him. But Laura would never go for it. "Who do you recommend?"
There were not a lot of members of the LIGHTS team that Laura still trusted. Over the years, she had turned away from most of her former friends when they had offered support. A few years ago, however, a new member of the team had contacted her, wanting to talk about some similarities they had, hoping Laura could help her get over an awful break up with the same ex. Laura couldn't offer her any advice, however. She still didn't know how to get over Aaron.
"Ask Eliza--nobody else!" Laura finally permitted.
"Okay," Laney agreed. She would start with this Eliza person, and if she didn't know anything, she was going to Aaron. She knew he wouldn't tell anyone she had asked. Hopefully, it wouldn't be necessary.
Before they even rounded the next corner, Laney sent a request to Eliza for a convo via the IAC. It only took a few seconds to receive a response.
"What's going on, girl?" Eliza's chipper voice sounded in her head.
Laney wondered what her sister must have said about her to make her feel like they were long lost pals. Perhaps, Eliza talked to everyone this way. "Hi," Laney began. "My sister, Laura, and I are looking for some information on a newbie and we were hoping you could help us out."
"Jack Cook?" Eliza inquired.
"Yes!" Laney replied, wondering how she knew so quickly exactly who she was referring to.
"Yep. What do you need to know?"
"Well, we have been trailing Giovani for quite some time now. He showed up in Lincoln a few days ago with this new guy, Jack, and now we can't find Giovani anywhere. We know he went back to Omaha, but then we lost him. Any ideas where they might have gone to? Do you happen to know where this Jack is from?"
"Sure do. Shenandoah, Iowa. That's probably where they are headed," Eliza responded.
Laney had chased Giovani most of the way around the world, but she had never heard of Shenandoah, Iowa. "Okay. Great, thanks for the tip. Any other info you might be able to share?"
It took a moment for Eliza to respond, but when she did so, the information she shared Laney found to be both invaluable and potentially dangerous, at least when it came to Laura and how she may now view this Jack fellow. "Jack Cook is Cadence Findley's ex-boyfriend. He was infected by Holland at an Eidolon Festival in November, but it took a very long time for him to Resurrect. In fact, Cadence doesn't actually know that he's a Vampire. Aaron will be enlightening her soon, but he wanted to do so in person, and we're in Billings, Montana, right now. I guess he hasn't had a chance to tell her."
"Wow," Laney replied. She knew that Cadence was the new Hunter on the block and that everyone was talking about how incredible she was. In fact, Laney had heard early that day about how Cadence had taken out Barbarosa, something no one had been able to do for centuries. "Okay, thanks for that info."
"You bet," Eliza replied. "Let me know if you need anything else."
Laney thought about that for a few minutes before deciding to go ahead and ask one more question, even though she wasn't particularly convinced it was any of her business. She thought, eventually, her sister might need to know. "Eliza, are Aaron and Cadence dating?"
There was a long pause and Laney thought, perhaps, Eliza wouldn't answer. She had heard that it might be a sensitive topic for Eliza, as well. Finally, the message came back. "Well, if you ask them, they will tell you no. That being said, I know he slept in her bed last night. So . . . I'm not a genius, but I think that's pretty clear."
"All right. Thanks. Sorry, I just thought Laura might need to be a bit prepared, if we end up in a situation where she has to see the two of them together. Regardless of what she says, that still might be difficult," Laney explained, hoping not to have said too much.
The only response she received in return was, "Tell me about it."
"Thanks again," Laney replied, hoping she hadn't put a damper on that chipper attitude.
"No problem," Eliza sent back before turning the IAC feed off.
Laney turned back to her sister, who had been driving in silence, endlessly orbiting the same four block area, over and over again. "Shenandoah, Iowa," she affirmed.
Laura's brow furrowed. "Where"
"Exactly," Laney replied. "I have no idea. But Eliza's almost positive that's where he went. Jack grew up there."
"Okay, then," Laura replied. "Any other useful information from Ms. Eliza?"
"No, that's all she said," Laney lied. She'd fill in the other information if it came up, but for now, Laura didn't need to know what Laura didn't know.
