“That doesn’t make sense,” Park said, sounding genuinely shaken. “Why would he...it doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s an abundance of nonsense in this case and yet that doesn’t make it less true,” Cola said briskly. “Now, do you know where Eli is or not?”

Park said nothing, still looking off into the middle space, but something about his posture and the stillness of his body made it seem like he was waiting for Cooper to speak first. Like he was waiting to see what Cooper would say.

Cooper looked back at his own family, still watching, and then at Park again, who was staring back at him with an almost pleading expression.

“No,” he said finally. “No, we don’t know where he is.”

It wasn’t not true. As Cooper had half expected, half feared, when he and Park returned home well into the early hours of the morning, the only one there was Boogie, who greeted them at the door with a series of sounds that meant she knew exactly what time it was and she was disgusted.

Cooper cuddled her into a better mood while Park disappeared into their bedroom, closing the door behind him. After a few moments, the sound of him arguing on the phone with Helena leaked through.

To give him privacy, Cooper wandered around the bottom floor with Boogie draped over his shoulder doing her best Death of Marat impression. He wasn’t necessarily looking for a note, but he didn’t feel particularly surprised to find one tucked into his closed laptop either.

I’m sorry. She knows, but I’ll fix it. Take care of him.

That seemed a clear indication that Eli had been the one to tell the wolf Park fought—who Cooper was fairly positive was the blond makeup assistant—their suspicion that Arthur Crane had taken the phone from Cooper. Seeing as she had been standing right outside the wolf exhibit that first day and could surely tell a werewolf from a wolf-wolf, Cooper suspected she and Eli had been in contact from the beginning. But Eli had kept her existence secret. Why?

He had a guess.

When Cooper didn’t hear any more noises from the bedroom for a good while, he put a drowsy Boogie to rest on the chair and ventured upstairs. The door had been cracked open and he entered with a small knock, which seemed silly, as Park could surely hear him approach.

Park was lying facedown on their bed, naked under the sheets, and didn’t so much as twitch as Cooper undressed and got ready for sleep. It wasn’t until the lights were out and Cooper was lying beside him that Park moved, rolling over into Cooper’s arms, resting his head on his chest.