Caspian was so focused on figuring out how to unlock the secret compartment that he didn’t realize he was no longer alone in the room until someone spoke right beside him.
"What are you doing?"
Caspian was certain his heart shut down completely at the sound of someone else, somehow managing not to freak out and pull out his gun on them.
He clutched a hand to his chest, slowly getting to his feet to look up at Noah.
He supposed he should be relieved that it hadn’t been Luna Tammy or Alpha Warren, but he wasn’t.
He barely saw those two, but the scars that Noah had left on him ran deep.
"I was admiring Luna Tammy’s vanity, it’s really lovely." He bullshitted, breathless from nerves.
The suspicion in Noah’s eyes cleared at that, "She’s always going on about that shelf." He scoffed. "I don’t know what she sees in it, it’s old and chipped."
Caspian said nothing to that, relieved and a little baffled that he had bought that.
"She must have locked you in here by mistake because the door was locked when I got here," Noah went on, making excuses for him.
"Oh, I didn’t even notice," Caspian lied in a soft voice, like he hadn’t belly crawled through a vent to get in.
"You really like the shelf that much, huh?" Noah moved a little closer.
Caspian backed up, gently bumping into the vanity, "It’s more of a dresser but yes, it’s very aesthetic."
Noah took a step forward and then cursed, "Shit, I was sent to get something." He complained, "Just when I finally get to have a private conversation with you."
Caspian slipped around him and put some distance between them, "We can always talk later, and you don’t need to tell your mom about this."
"Right," Noah smirked like they had made an agreement.
Caspian wasn’t sure exactly what the arrangement was but he needed to get back to his apartment before someone else showed up.
He caught his reflection in a mirror as he hurried out of the apartment, and he really did just look like himself wearing a wig.
Yet Noah clearly couldn’t recognize him, it was like playing charades with a child.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to find anything. He might have made a bit more progress if Noah hadn’t walked in.
Because it was just as he was sure that he had gotten the right knob that the Alpha showed up.
There was nothing left to do now but sit back and wait for Asher to get back.
He hoped that his agreement with Noah involved him not telling his parents that he had been in their apartment.
The Alpha was stupid enough for that to be a likely possibility.
Asher kept to his words and was back in a scant few hours, he slammed open the door like he expected to not find Caspian.
Caspian just slowly raised his head up from his phone, concern clearly written on his face.
"Find anything?" Asher asked into the silence.
Caspian propped his face up with a hand, his expression troubled. "Noah walked in before I could-"
That made Asher freeze up, "Noah?"
"He still couldn’t recognize me and I was able to lie my way out of it," Caspian quickly added.
"My mom used to have a hidden compartment in her vanity table, and I was trying to get to it." He went into detail. "They moved into the Alpha’s room after my parents died." He explained at the frown on Asher’s face.
"What’s the key?" Asher asked quietly.
"The third drawer on the left. Just twist the knob and it should pop free." He explained.
Asher didn’t stay very long after that, slipping out of the room again.
Although it wasn’t a part of their initial plan, he found himself wondering if he was going to the Alpha’s room.
It was a silly thought because Asher didn’t even know where it was.
He sat tight once more, it felt like they were on the cusp of something, even though he didn’t know any more than he did the day before.
Well except the confirmation that Noah was rather slow.
Asher wasn’t gone for more than ten minutes but it somehow felt longer than when he had to wait for hours.
It was nerve-wracking.
The door finally opened, Asher walking in with Jael right beside him.
Asher looked unharmed and his clothes weren’t bloody so he would take it that the mission had gone well.
"Jael, I think you should go first," Asher immediately sat beside him.
"You found something?" Caspian asked with wide eyes.
"Hardly," The Beta muttered, looking rougher the further the day went on.
"The police station was a bust, and the auto repair shop was only able to tell me the store your dad used to frequent." He explained shortly.
"I went there and they were generous with their records, and there was allegedly nothing out of place on the most recent visit before the accident."
Jael hadn’t been expecting that, everyone else was tight-lipped about the matter but the owner of Motorbay had been the one to personally show him the records.
"It’s strange that they handed the records to me without even verifying if I was who I said I was." He went on, "I can’t tell which is more suspicious."
"And I found a couple of things on Warren’s computer," Asher spoke up in the silence that followed, waving a flash.
Jael took it and brought out a laptop he prepared for this, "What’s in it?"
"Caspian’s birth records..." Asher trailed off, "And pictures," He added.
"Pictures?" Jael repeated, the contents of the flash showing on the screen.
"That’s my mom," Caspian whispered, the screen reflected in his eyes.
There were hundreds of pictures of her, a lot that he had never seen.
There were a lot of them of her while she was a teenager, and the most recent one was on the day she died.
Her pale blonde hair was down to her shoulders, a smile on her face as she stared at someone off camera.
That someone had to be his father.