Page 53 of Collected By the Crow

“Was he born with this condition?”

“Could you expand on eradicating incurable diseases?”

“Why were your findings not shared?”

“Okay, okay!” Layla stood to rescue her again. “One at a time! Dr. Billing, please start with Jacinda’s question. Where can we find the data from your experiment on this man’s venom?”

There it was. The question she knew she’d face.

“I have a detailed analysis of the synthesized serum. It has already been submitted for peer review and successfully replicated.”

“Okay. That’s great, but what about his, specifically? Surely you tested it before synthesizing it and putting it in a treatment for our dogs. For Zero.” The look of disbelief on her peers’ faces bordered on amusement. They either thought she was nuts or thought she was setting them up for a punch line.

“I did. But in the interest of Qadaire’s safety, I will not be sharing those results.” A collective gasp. “I deemed it safe to synthesize for experimentation.”

She couldn’t share those results. They would cause an upheaval in the scientific field. Qadaire’s true venom would rock the world. Scientists would lose their shit. The craziest of them would hunt the woods of Nebraska until they found him and drove a stake through his heart. So no. She didn’t have any proof. She had a voice recording and her word.

Which clearly wasn’t enough. All hell broke loose. People she’d worked with for years stood, pointing fingers, laughing, shouting their opinions. She snatched her laptop from the table and took another step sideways, feeling the hostility grow.

“Come on,” whispered Ali, suddenly by her side. Cass allowed them to drag her from the room. She followed them dumbly all the way out the front doors and into their truck.

“Thank you,” Cass panted. She took some calming breaths and held her hands in front of her, watching them tremble. A few more breaths and she forced herself to meet Ali’s worried gaze. “I’m not lying.”

Ali scrutinized her. If anyone would believe her, if anyone would let her keep her secrets with faith that there was good reason, it was Ali. So she let them stare at her as long as they needed.

“Okay.”

“You believe me?”

“Obviously.” They rolled their eyes. “Are you okay?”

A tear fell to her lap, the tension in her shoulders easing a bit. She reached over and pulled her best friend in for a hug, her chest a little lighter to have them on her side.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She sat back. Her phone buzzed in her lap. She knew it was Mark checking if they were still on for lunch. “I think I have to move away now.”

“Where would you go? Sweden?”

“Not exactly.” Cass glanced at Mark’s text. “But I am really glad I’m on speaking terms with Mark.”

“Definitely. Better late than not at all.” Ali gently placed their hand on hers. “You should probably wait for this to settle down. I mean, don’t check your email for a couple days, and maybe come up with a better story. Even if it’s a lie. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Cass repressed a smile. What she’d told them was the lie. There would be no more lying her way out of this. She refused to wonder if that’d subconsciously been her plan all along.

The Mexican restaurant the Billing household had always gone to for birthdays and celebrations was not as busy as it’d been in Cassandra’s childhood. She easily spotted her brother, his tall, slender frame stuffed into a plastic-y red booth, knees pressed against the bottom of the table. Cass nodded at the hostess and walked right past, the nerves from her meeting lending to the knots in her belly.

“Cassie!” Mark whisper-shouted. He gathered his limbs and scooted out to greet her. “Cassie.”

Cassandra’s hand flew to her mouth, tears blurring his all-grown-up face. Last time she’d seen him, he was picking a college. Now, he had distinguished gray hairs on his neatly swooped hair and a tasteful amount of facial hair. He reached for her, and she saw his lip quivering. Then she was in his arms, and she slid hers around him, both shaking with the effort to keep from making a scene.

After a few moments had passed and Cass wrested control of her tear ducts again, she leaned away and gave her brother a big, albeit still wobbly, smile.

“Mark. I’m so happy to see you.” She sniffed an ugly sound and left his embrace to grab a napkin from the table. They both scooted their way into the booth and kept smiling at each other with damp cheeks. “I couldn’t believe it was you when you called.”

“I know.” His voice was heavy with a grief she shared in her soul. “I can’t believe I put it off for so long.”

“Don’t worry. I know where you inherited the art of stomping on your feelings,” she joked wryly. They scoffed together. “But seriously, your timing was just fine. I’m in a good place right now.” It was funny how true that statement was, considering the meeting she’d just come from. “Tell me about you.”

Mark’s face lit up. He regaled her with stories of Sweden, from feats of environmental justice to funny moments with friends. It made her heart swell to hear how well he’d been doing, despite some of the harder to listen to moments. She wished they’d been able to talk like this while things were happening, but that couldn’t be changed.

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