“From what we’ve gathered, she moves around, but her scent has been strongest at the old book depository, the former Packard auto plant, former Central Station, and the old church on East Grand Boulevard.”

“Thanks.”

Then I faced the ghosts, who drifted closer at my beckoning wave.

“I need you to find a little girl for me,” I told them. “She’s about four feet tall, auburn hair, and her eyes might glow. She’s probably hiding in one of the places my friend just mentioned. If you see her, only tell me or this ghost here.” As I nodded at Fabian.

My entourage dispersed as soon as I finished speaking. Fabian left with them before I could specify that he wasn’t included in the order. Tate shook his head in disbelief, but a knowing look crossed Ian’s face.

“You’re back on Marie’s sauce.”

Bones flew up to the roof. I followed, landing with only an additional extra step to balance myself.

“Yes,” I said shortly.

“What sauce? And who’s Marie?” Tate wondered, reminding me that he’d missed a lot while working for Don these past years.

“Not relevant at the moment,” Bones stated. “These new developments are.”

I said nothing while he brought them up to speed on Richard Trove’s being a demon and why he’d backed Madigan for nearly a decade. I still didn’t speak when Bones disclosed that Katie was my biological daughter, and how that was possible. Only after Ian asked, “If she’s the mother, who’s the father?” did I break my silence.

“The records Trove published never gave a name. Since the sperm donor was a hundred percent human, he was considered . . . unimportant.”

Then I paused. I’d gone back and forth over revealing this next part, but so much had been kept from me that I couldn’t do the same to someone else. Especially a friend.

“I asked Madigan, but all we got out of him was that it was one of the soldiers I was working with at the time,” I finished.

Tate let out a disgusted snort.

“That’s why they kept getting samples of every fluid in our bodies. Don said it was to make sure no one was drinking vampire blood on the side, so even he must not have known what it was really for . . .”

His voice trailed off as the dots connected. Then he sank to his knees as if buckling under the weight of the realization. I wasn’t as affected because I’d already done the math. About two dozen soldiers had been working with me during my first year. Some had been killed on missions, more had dropped out from the stress, and some had transferred to other divisions, but only one had been there the entire time.

“My God,” Tate breathed.