Page 61 of Bears Behaving Badly
“Yes. And no. We didn’t go after Shifters, so Bob didn’t care. Which is horrible, by the way,” she added. “We should have at least been reprimanded. Or sent to our rooms without supper. Something. My point, David, is that Nadia would never be complicit in Shifter trafficking of any kind, if for no other reason than she wouldn’t be able to feel superior to Stables if she was helping Shifters be just as bad.”
“Okay, you make a good point about your occasionally violent partner,” David admitted.
“Uh, yeah. Occasionally. That’s it. She definitely doesn’t make a habit of going for the eyes.”
“But you have to admit, Nadia can be a little, uh, volatile. Even for a—”
Annette’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t generalize.”
“—person who is prone to being volatile.”
“Good save.”
“But is it any weirder than Gomph being the culprit?” David said. “Nobody knows anything about Nadia. Not where she was born or where she went to school or if she has family—”
“Nobody knows those things about you, either.”
“Stillwater, the U of M, only child, parents are dead.”
“Me, too! Except for the Stillwater part. And the U of M. You’re looking at a proud alumnus of St. Olaf. Wait, why am I giving you my résumé?”
David ignored her posturing, which was a relief. “Plus, nobody knows why she can’t go back to the UK except the higher-ups. Which tells me that whatever she did, they didn’t think it made her unemployable.”
“Which would have been reassuring,” Annette realized, “before this week.”
“Right.”
“So. Let’s ask her. But we should wait until she gets the yelling out of her system.”
David flinched. “You—you don’t think she got it all out earlier today?”
* * *
“And to further compound your raging idiocy, you strutting morons, you came to the hospital! Where you know people are looking for you!”
“You asked us to come!”
“Exactly my point!” Nadia shrilled. “And you’re late! You were to have been here thirty-five minutes ago. No, don’t tell me, I can smell the bacon-and-swiss burger with mushrooms and the onion rings from here.”
“It was bacon and cheddar. And we’re not in the hospital!” Annette realized she was shouting and lowered her voice. “We’re in the parking garage across from the hospital,” she murmured. And like all parking garages, it was chilly, gloomy, and smelled like concrete, gasoline, and the scraps of discarded snacks. Parking garages always made her feel like she was in a concrete cocoon and made her crave gas and chips.
“Idiots!” (Nadia was still mad.)
“You’re mad because you missed the fight, aren’t you?”
“No.” Sullenly, followed by “Maybe. Why didn’t you call me?” She was pacing back and forth in a small circle in front of them, so frazzled she’d skipped makeup and had simply pulled her dark hair into a neat ponytail, though her deep-green suit was immaculate. “Why would you take them on by yourself, Annette?”
David pointedly cleared his throat.
“There wasn’t time to take them on by myself. And I was with David.”Also, there’s a teeny tiny chance you might be one of the bad guys.She could barely think it, much less give it voice.No. Impossible.
“Such nonsense. As it happens, I have the perfect punishment for you.”
Annette was immediately suspicious, because Nadia did not throw around words likepunishment. Before she could ask the woman to elaborate, she heard the fire door open and, behind her, an all-too-familiar voice: “Hiya, gang!”
“Hey, you’re fully dressed,” David said. “Congratulations.”
“Do I have to tell you to take care with Pat’s clothes?” Annette asked as Oz loped over to them. “Because you need to take care. You really, really, really, really need to take care. Wait, what am I doing? I should let you find out the hard way.”
