It was time to bring out the big guns. I jerked my iPad back toward me, my fingers shaking as I brought up the video. “Whydon’t you take a look at this and tell me if I’m crazy.” This time, I made him take the device from my hand.
His jaw was still clenched, but his eyes were twinkling. He thought I was nuts. Yeah, the jury was out on that one.
But he looked.
Then he really looked, even reversing the video to watch a part of it again.
And again.
“And? What do you have to say for yourself?” My question was more of a demand.
“Why did the FBI come to you to perform the autopsies?”
Was he kidding? He wasn’t going to address the elephant in the room? At least I noticed his demeanor was entirely different. Not just concerned, but angry.
I had to ask myself if there was any reason to lie. Or should I run out of the office, moving to somewhere safe? If there was such a location. Not according to the agent.
I’d even tried to contact her again and the phone had done nothing but beep continuously. Not a good sign. “I was going to be a big game veterinarian. I guess management of the FBI thought I might be able to provide some answers.”
“And did you?”
“Are you freaking kidding me right now? I watched a man I’d dissected return to life and destroy my office. What kind of answers can you achieve from that? I’m going to run tests, but I don’t know which ones to run. Maybe I need one of thosedummy books. You know the ones. How to turn a dead man into a werewolf in three easy lessons.”
His sigh was heavy, his jaw remaining clenched.
“There are some things in this world you aren’t aware of.”
“Ya think?” Yes, I got into my sarcastic moods when I was being stonewalled.
“Come back to my condo with me and we’ll talk.”
“How in God’s name do I know you’re not going to eat me for lunch?”
Jax cocked his head, allowing the lock of hair to fall onto his carved forehead. I was momentarily distracted, but got myself together.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sedona.”
“What would you call the video? Science fiction? A bad movie? What?” I jerked the iPad from him, fighting once again to drive it into my purse. Why did women always try to fit something too large inside their bag?
“A story that you need to hear.”
“You know what’s hysterical? Mattie made me get one of those tarot card readings for my birthday the other day. The girl pulled up all kinds of weird cards including death and the wolf card. She didn’t know how it had gotten into the pack of them. I take it the wolf card is included in another deck for another type of reading. She was frightened, so much so that when I went back to grill her with questions, she basically threw me out. But not before she warned me that I was in danger because of a powerful man who would come into my life. I take it that was you.”
“Our meeting was coincidental,” he insisted with absolute conviction. I wanted to believe him.
“What about the two men who accosted Mattie and me? What did you really do to them? Maybe you have some kind of Wolfen threat mechanism. Yes?”
“Come with me to my condo. As I said, we will talk.”
“I’m not a pushover, Jax. Contrary to what you might have seen, I’m a big girl who can take care of myself. Why should I go with you?”
“Other than obtaining the truth you’re determined to find?”
I nodded.
He stepped closer. Try as I might, I couldn’t back away.
“Because now that you’ve been exposed to this world, you’ve been marked.”