Jessa laughed. “I was a lot more carefree in those days.” Her smile faltered, then brightened again. “Anyway, he used a carbon fiber carabiner to carry gear.” She pointed at some numbers engraved into the side of it. “See the loading strength?”
“Uh, sure?”
“It’s too low to be a carabiner used for climbing. This is military grade. I have no idea what the card with the barcode is for, though.”
“Me either. What does the TB stand for?” Seyla pointed at the letters engraved on it.
“Not sure. That’s not standard. Initials?”
“I don’t know anyone with those initials.”
Jessa rocked back in her chair, tapped a finger on her lip. “What if they’re somebody’s first and middle name initials, instead of last name?”
“Travis. Theo, Janet’s son.” Seyla ticked the names off on her fingers.
“We have to find their middle names.”
“Should be easy enough with Theo. Arrest records are public. We can search for his name and see if his middle initial is there.”
“Travis Yoder is going to be more of a problem. I doubt he has a record, with his connections.”
Warm hazel eyes slid into the foreground of Seyla’s mind. Jax. He might be able to find out. She’d gotten the impression he had plenty of his own connections. How to approach him,though, considering she planned to keep her distance from him? A text? Would he actually respond?
Matt. She’d have Matt ask him.
A voice inside Seyla’s head accused her of cowardice. She did her best to ignore it. She needed to know. That said, she refused to go anywhere near Jax after his cold dismissal at the cat colony. She intended to stay far away from Jax Marcum. “I’ll come up with a way to find out.”
“I’ll call Chase and ask him about the carabiner.” Jessa dialed his number. “Voicemail,” she whispered. She left a message and hung up, sighing. “I wish there was more I could do.” She squeezed Seyla’s shoulder, then dropped her hand. “Whatever you need, I’m here for you, okay? Even if it’s to talk endlessly with Allen while you check his phone again.”
They both giggled.
“So, did Vanessa ever get to the colony?” Jessa asked.
Seyla waved it off. “No, I texted her not to bother since Matt was there. She called later to make sure I was okay.” Seyla hadn’t told her anything about what happened, either. The news would most likely have reached her family. They’d have shown up, in force, to save the fragile doll in the clan.
While she’d succeeded in convincing Vanessa to keep the trail incident a secret, her cousin’s warning was clear—she wouldn’t do it again. Especially after Matt found out from Jax anyway. According to Vanessa, her silence had resulted in several heated discussions with Matt, his parents, Seyla’s parents, and her own parents. It wasn’t fair to put Vanessa in the middle like that.
She’d handle her own problems.
She didn’t want her family fighting her battles anymore.
“Did you file a police report yet?”
Seyla ran both hands up over her face and into her hair, then dropped them to her shoulders. She swept her lids down over her eyes, sighed and reopened them. “I can’t. You know thedirector doesn’t like the feral cat program. What if he uses this as an excuse to end it? What’ll happen to those cats?”
“True, and he’s so worried about bad publicity right now, he wouldn’t hesitate. You’re right. We can’t risk that. At the same time, I don’t want to jeopardize your safety, either.”
“I have to uncover who those initials belong to as quietly as possible. This is one more problem the sanctuary doesn’t need. I planned to talk to Ethan, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea now.”
“I doubt he’d tell you anything, whether he was directly involved or not. If he is, wouldn’t it be better to let him think you don’t suspect him? That gives you the upper hand.”
“True.”
Jessa leaned closer to her. “Like I said, I’ll help any way I can. I can’t stress this enough, though—be careful, girl. I don’t know about Allen, Theo, or Ethan, but Travis Yoder is dangerous for sure.”
“I’m beginning to realize he’s worse than I thought.”
“What does Matt think?”