Page 52 of Wolf Bane
Wisher’s brows crunched together.“What book?”
“Uh.Phone book,” Ethan muttered.“Before your time I guess.”
I barely managed to swallow a bark of laughter, instead turning to a bemused Wisher.“I was visiting folks out of town yesterday and didn’t get back in till around two this morning.When did this happen?”
“Around two,” Ethan muttered.“The fire trucks last night.”
Wisher nodded.“That’s when the first alarm went off.Um, Doctor Babin, Sheriff Nelvin wants to question you himself.He, um.He seems to be concerned that you were out of touch for the incident.”
“Oh, good lord,” Ethan muttered.
Wisher nodded again.“Yeah.Um.So, I can ask you some questions, but it’s not official, okay?”
“Where’s Nelvin now?”I asked.“Because I need to make some calls myself and start the process of… whatever needs to be done, I guess insurance?Is that who I need to call?”
Wisher glanced around, waving at one of the firefighters still on the scene.They were poking around inside, looking for hot spots apparently, and didn’t seem in very much of a hurry.He came over and filled me in on the damage: water, smoke, some vandalism inside.Filing cabinets and computers broken open, my office specifically trashed.“You’ll need to go through and take inventory of what’s missing, if anything, and what’s damaged.Insurance will demand an accounting, as will the clinic owners.Speaking of…”
Ethan to the rescue again.He held up his phone.“I’m in a conversation with one of the owner’s reps right now.They’ll be down this afternoon.In the meantime, what do we need to keep the site secure?”
Wisher cleared his throat.“Me and Smythe will stay on site for the shift, then you’ll need to arrange for security until everything is boarded up.”
My head gave a steady, strong pulse of pain as people started filling me in on all the nitty gritty.Gina Perrin and Reba joined us.A firefighter went over some protocol with me and handed off some paperwork I’d need to fill out.Someone else handed me the same paperwork but told me the owners would need to fill it out.Reba made a strangled sound, asked if she could get the appointment books from her desk and was led off by a young firefighter with his turnout coat hanging open, and a bright smile on his too-young face.
Everything was a buzzing blur by the time I’d nodded enough and made the right sounds.Gina Perrin was the one to finally lead me away to a quieter spot in the parking lot.
“What the hell?”she hissed.“I don’t buy for one second this was some random teenage gang.”
I shook my head, forcing myself not to look at the spray-painted word on the storefront.“It definitely wasn’t.”
“Where the hell were you?Reba nearly lost her mind trying to get hold of you!”
“Jesus,” I groaned.“How much time have you got?”
Gina Perrin’s glare would’ve been able to scorch that spray-paint right off the building if she’d turned her head just a few degrees to the right.“Talk.”
Sheriff Nelvin’s voice was loud and cut across the parking lot, drawing both of our attention away.“What’s the matter?He toosensitiveto have a conversation with a man?”
“Oh, fucking hell.Of course he’s one of those.Of course.”
Gina Perrin raised a brow at me.“We’re in rural Texas.Are you surprised?”
“Honestly, yeah.Most folks here live in the twenty-first century and either don’t care or are openly accepting.”I shrugged.“The few phobes I run into these days are usually in the bigger cities.Go figure.”
“Safety in numbers, hm?”She straightened her spine as the sheriff marched over with Ethan in tow.
A very red-faced, stiff-necked Ethan.
Thechatwent as well as could be expected, which wasn’t very.A lot of very thinly and not so thinly veiled suggestions about my culpability in the damage, despite the fact security cameras showed it wasn’t me and the cameras from the surrounding businesses showed it wasn’t me.
“Those aren’t official,” Nelvin sneered.“Not without the right paperwork.As it is, that’s just hearsay until we subpoena the footage.”
I rolled my eyes.“Alright then.Subpoena it.In the meantime, I’ll do what I need to do to make sure the owner is able to restore the clinic, and I have my job.”
Nelvin snorted.“Last thing the community needs is you touchin’ on people, spreading that influence.”
Gina Perrin made a low, threatening noise in her throat but Nelvin glared at Ethan instead.“What’d you say, son?”
“Your line of questioning is an excuse to threaten,” Ethan said smoothly, a hint of a growl in his words.The very faint lisp—barely discernible unless you heard him talk often—told me his teeth were trying to lengthen, to become sharp canines instead of human appropriate ones.“If you have actual cause, you can contact his lawyer.”
