Chapter 5
“Argh.” Toni collapsed back on her sofa. “Where the fuck is she?”
Toni had returned to her condo soon after the discussion about Nik’s mothers and found Sylvia and Val waiting for her. Their presence reminded her that she needed to concentrate on Sydney, not Nik’s weird parental issues.
She was missing something, something basic, and it was driving her crazy. Thinking of Nik didn’t help, but she couldn’t seem to stop. The man had invaded every aspect of her life. Worse, she needed him to help her find Syd.
It was a conundrum she hadn’t found the solution to.
Val sighed. “The fact that she wasn’t at Frederica’s bothers me.”
Sylvia bit her lip. “Could Grimm have gotten her?”
“It’s possible.” Val stared at the wall where Toni had been putting up Post-It notes in various configurations. If she’d had a wipe-away board she would have rather used that, but she was working with what she had.
She had a timeline going, along with suspects and notes on each, including their movements if she was able to discover them. So far, she had Frederica, Grimm, Nadine, and Adam.
“If Syd were human I’d be looking at motive.” She tapped the legal pad in front of her. “There’s no ransom note, so it’s not about money or to force us to divulge information. There’s no body, so we have to assume she’s alive, leaving murder out. With no communication from her kidnappers we have to assume Sydney was the one they wanted to take, and we still have no clue why. But, no, nothing about this is normal.” She rubbed her tired eyes. “Damn it. I’d rather go back to chasing that serial killer.”
“No, you don’t,” Sylvia scoffed.
“Uh, yeah, I do. Serial killers have patterns, ones you can figure out. It’s like putting puzzle pieces together until the picture begins to form.” She pointed at Sylvia. “You people—”
“You people?” Val muttered, his brows furrowing as his attention turned to her.
Toni ignored the interruption and kept right on talking. “…are like those impossible puzzles with the picture printed sideways on one side so you can never tell what the fuck you’re looking at until it’s completely done.” She tilted her head. “Oh look, it’s a…doggie?” She tilted it the other way. “Nope, a sailboat.” She gasped dramatically. “Ah, it’s a penis!”
Val sputtered out a laugh. “Damn it, Toni.”
She yawned. “Honestly. Being a cop is part logic and facts, part intuition, and you have to figure out how to balance them or you fuck up. When you’re a homicide detective and you fuck up, people die.” She tilted back in her chair and stared at the wall filled with yellow, blue, and pink Post-Its. “Frederica doesn’t have Syd at her home. Does Frederica have any other places to stash a kidnap victim other than her McMansion?”
Val glanced back at the notes. “Fensalir in Asgard, but I doubt she’d take Syd there. Nik would be able to find Syd if she had. Besides, she’d probably want to keep her activities secret from Grimm. Taking Syd to Fensalir would definitely ping Grimm’s radar and put her far too close to his grasp.”
“Are we sure Grimm isn’t working with his ex?” Toni twirled the pencil between her fingers. “Adam chased me all the way back to the condos and Grimm tried to pretend to be my boss.”
Val and Sylvia exchanged glances. “I don’t think so, but it’s possible.” Val shrugged. “Anything is possible with the Old Man.”
“Thanks.” She reached up to one of the blue notes and jotted the name of Frederica’s Asgardian home down. “We’re pretty sure Grimm doesn’t have Syd, right?”
“Right.” Sylvia pointed to one of the sticky notes. “It was Nadine who took her, not Adam.”
“She wouldn’t hand her prize over, either, not with how sour things have gotten between them.” Which left her wondering just what Adam had been up to. “So it’s safe to assume that she wouldn’t have handed Syd off to one of her minions, unless they have the magic behind making themselves invisible to Nik.” She wrote that down on Nadine’s note, adding to the Post-It line as she needed.
He snorted in disgust. “I doubt it. Frederica keeps her cards close to her chest. Not even her most loyal allies are told what she’s scheming until it’s far too late.”
“Sounds like she and Grimm are birds of a feather.” Toni rubbed her eyes. She needed to get some sleep soon or she’d be of no use to anyone, let alone Syd. It had taken hours to set up the crime map on her wall. She glanced at the computer screen, checking just in case Syd had managed to get a message to them.
Nope. No messages. With any other missing person’s case Toni would be worried the victim was dead by now. Syd had been missing for seventy-two hours and Toni was no closer to finding her. But Syd wasn’t human. If she’d shown up in Helheim, Hel would have come to inform them if only because Syd’s death would upset her family. Logan might not be married to Syd any longer, but she was his friend. Fenris and Slade would miss her as well, as they still considered her their stepmother. Neither of them had blamed Sydney for their own suffering at the hands of Grimm. In fact, they were grateful to her for taking care of Logan even after he’d asked for a divorce.
No. They’d never keep Sydney in Helheim, not without Logan’s approval. And he’d never give it.
“If she’s not with Frederica at her estate, she’s either stashed somewhere else or being held by Grimm. I can’t tell if Nik can see her and is keeping quiet on her location or if he’s completely blind to her whereabouts.” Something about that was nagging at her but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“He plays his cards close to his chest. I doubt he’d volunteer the information unless we ask him for it.” Sylvia’s tone was tart. Sydney’s silence was starting to get to her. They’d all hoped she’d contact them again somehow, but no dice.
“Mm.” Something else was bothering her, too. “Why take Syd? Why not Travis or Jamie?”
“Hmm?” Sylvia blinked, then widened her eyes. She appeared just as exhausted as Toni but she refused to leave until they had a plan of action. The fact that Syd hadn’t been in Frederica’s home was freaking Sylvia the fuck out.
“They both are good with computers. Hell, they’re in security, both physical and cyber. They should be better with them than Syd, who’s an amateur.” She stared at the wall and tapped the notepad with her pen again, her mind churning with half-formed theories. “What made Syd the best choice?”
Neither one of them responded.
“What made her vulnerable?” Toni leaned forward, her vision blurring a bit. She widened her eyes, trying to focus.
Sylvia sighed. “This is just a theory, but…she’s the only one capable of hacking. The others might be familiar with computers, but it takes a special set of skills and programs to hack a computer.”
She nodded, adding that to her wall with another Post-It. “Are you sure about that?”
“No, but we could double-check with Travis to make sure.” Sylvia flopped down into one of the chairs around the fireplace.
“We could.” Toni rubbed her eyes. “Nik thinks that whoever has Syd wants her to hack into Yggdrasil.”
Appalled silence met her announcement. “What the fuck did you say?” Val finally whispered, utterly gobsmacked.
“Somehow he thinks Yggdrasil can be hacked like a computer network, giving the user access to all of the realms and allowing that person to alter things at their whim.” It sounded insane to Toni, so she could only imagine how Val and Sylvia were taking it.
Sylvia looked horrified and sounded worse. “Oh dear.” She stood, her knees wobbling. “This is bad. Very, very bad.”
Val had turned pale as ice. His lips kept parting as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
“You two think it’s possible, don’t you?” As crazy as it seemed, maybe Nik was on to something.
Val finally spoke. “I think so, but I’m no expert on Yggdrasil.”
“Who is?” Toni glanced between the two.
“Maybe the Norns, since they tend Yggdrasil’s roots, but other than that?” Val shuddered. “Probably the Old Man. He hung from Yggdrasil and gave up an eye to gain knowledge. We have no idea what Grimm learned while he hung there.”
Toni swallowed. “If he can do that, hack Yggdrasil, then he could truly kill Kir, couldn’t he?” That would be bad, all right. If Kir died, then…
What would happen if Kir actually died? “The prophecy is all skewed. It speaks of Grimm’s death, but it doesn’t really give details.”
“Because of Skadi’s involvement, yes.” Toni thought about Morgan’s fiancée, Skye, who’d once been Skadi, the Norn of the Future. Because she’d changed the prophecy she’d been banished, her memories erased, and her title of Skadi stripped from her. She was just another Norn now, but Morgan loved her despite her fall from grace. “Plus, we’re pretty sure Grimm lied when he gave the prophecy to the humans. It would have meant nothing to him to deceive everyone.”
“And since he’s the only one who has the real prophecy, maybe Kir’s death has something to do with stopping his own death.” Sylvia rubbed her forehead. “We need to get Logan and Kir in here. They need to hear this.”
“Not tonight.” Nik’s deep voice reverberated through Toni like the purr of a content cat. “Toni needs sleep.”
“Toni needs to do her job.” She wasn’t certain why she was arguing with him. Maybe it was because he’d startled the fuck out of her. Maybe it was that stubborn tone in his voice.
Maybe it was because she just loved butting heads with the man.
Her upper arms were grabbed from behind and she was lifted out of her chair as if she weighed nothing. “Off to bed with you.”
Nik carried her in front of him like a freaking door, ignoring her struggling until she was in her bedroom. He placed her gently on her feet.
Toni turned and swung at him, absolutely furious at the way he’d simply hauled her off despite her attempts to free herself. He staggered back as her fist connected with his chin. “How dare you do that?”
Those brilliant silver eyes of his narrowed. “You’ve been yawning and rubbing your eyes long enough. If you’re too stubborn to go to sleep, I’ll make sure that you do it anyway.” He pushed at her chest, forcing her back a step. “Get your ass in bed, Toni.”
“Nik—”
“Now.”
There was something in his voice, on his face, that told her not to fuck with him on this. His jaw was clenched, his eyes slightly narrowed, and there had been magic in his voice that shook the walls.
That last one had her scrambling for the covers on the bed.
“Good.” Nik nodded in satisfaction. “Get some rest. You’re going to need it.” He stalked toward her, covering her still-dressed body with the coverlet. He kissed her forehead. “I’m going to go kick the others out. We can start again in the morning.”
Now that she was horizontal she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. His face blurred as her lashes lowered. “We?”
“We.” He kissed her forehead again. “You’re not alone in this, Toni. Let us help.”
“Mm.” She curled up on her side, her preferred sleeping position. “Need to get into PJs.”
“Later.” Nik stroked her hair. She almost purred at the soft touch and even softer tone of voice. “Rest, love. I’ll take care of Val and Sylvia.”
She might have nodded her assent, but she wasn’t sure. The covers were too warm, the bed too soft, and before long she was fast asleep.