Page 11 of Bears Behaving Badly
“Look, it was partly my fault. I must have provoked her. Or reminded her of someone else. You know, from her past. I mean, she’s clearly had a hard life, poor cub. And no harm done. In general, I mean.”
Annette glanced sideways at David to see how he was gauging this. Lund was downplaying at best, lying at worst. Lying and in a rush to leave the hospital, but not too much of a rush. Almost as though he wanted to linger long enough to assure them all was well, get his refusal to press charges on the record, then vanish. Or was she reading too much into this interview?
She cleared her throat. “We’ll be in touch, of course.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got to get back to work. There’s so much paperwork, it’s worse than a nightmare when I can’t file on time.”
“Falling behind in your paperwork is worse than a werewolf biting off your fingers?”Good God. How many reams of paperwork are we talking about?
“Well, it’s not just the paperwork. I’ve gotta get down to the warehouse. There’s customs to deal with, overseeing the quarantine facilities, clearing the charter flights for the imports…” At their blank expressions, he added, “I’m an importer and exporter of exotic pets.” When they had no comment, he stood straighter and added with no small amount of pride, “Self-made man.”
“Okay.” From Annette.
“The paperwork’s a nightmare, but the money’s unbelievable.”
“Okay.” From David.
“So I’m sure you can see why I need to get back to it.”
Annette cleared her throat. “Your work ethic is commendable, but going forward, Mr. Lund, we’ll likely need your testimony. For the trial.”
Lund hissed in pain; he’d tried to grab his wallet with the less-than-whole hand. “Why?” he managed. “I’m not pressing charges.”
David shrugged. “Good thing we don’t need your permission, then.” People who watched too manyLaw & Orderreruns often got the idea that if the victim wouldn’t press charges, their assailant could just march; the system would have no alternative but to let him go. Fortunately, life was not run by the rules as written by Dick Wolf. (Who was Stable. Not a werewolf. Irony?)
“Well, whatever.” Lund took a last look around his room. “I think that’s it. Listen, it was nice meeting you both—”
“It was?” Annette would have imagined that every aspect of Lund’s last fourteen hours had been wildly unpleasant.
“—and just get in touch if you need anything. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“It’s really not okay,” Annette said, then added, “Listen, if you’re signing out Against Medical Advice, do you at least have someone here to take you home? Did you want us to call your family?”
A bark of laughter. “No. They know all about it. I’ll be getting shit over this for a while.” At their stares, he added, “I’m kinda the black sheep. They know my business is the most important thing to me.”
“All right. Well. Thanks for your time.”
“Welcome.” Lund gathered what was left of his belongings with what was left of his hand and marched past them. Annette obligingly stepped back as he stomped out, then glanced at David, who was staring at the slowly closing pneumatic door with an expression that likely matched her own.
“Bad guy.”
She snorted. “Bad, dissembling, downplaying guy who doesnotwant anyone looking into anything.”
“Yeah. Like I said. Bad.”
Chapter 5
“Upstanding citizens who have done nothing wrong don’t generally lie about an attack that could have resulted in their grisly death. Oh, no they don’t. Oh, no theydon’t. Isn’t that right? Hmm?” Annette cuddled the Spencer cub a little closer. “Look how well he’s healing!”
“It’s weird,” David agreed, remaining unmoved despite being surrounded by astonishing levels of cuteness. Took some effort, but he was up for it. And watching Annette in her maternal sweetness wasn’t doing anything for him, either. Nope. Not a thing. “The Lund thing, not the healing. That could get messy,” he added, because cubs weren’t known for their continence. And putting a diaper on them wasn’t an option. “You sure you want to keep holding him?”
“You and your silly questions. I’ll risk it.”
“It’s your shirt.”Oh my word, seeing how maternally sweet she is just makes her sexier, DAMMIT.“And yeah, Lund’s being shady as shit. But that doesn’t let Caro off the hook. She still went for him. She could’ve killed him. Lockup’s the best place for her.”
“That’s your takeaway from the interview?” Annette said, inadvertently tightening her grip. The two-month-old werebear, orphaned by a fire and recovering from smoke inhalation and second-degree burns, let out a squeak. She eased up and leveled David with a glare, and he felt his heart rate pick up more than a little. “A traumatized teenager should stay in a cage?”
