Chapter 20 #3
“Electrical outages, a couple tornadoes, but it doesn’t even have to be that big. The magic will give you a heart attack or food poisoning. And even if you do manage to get the words out, they won’t be able to hear you. And if you print it, they won’t read it.”
She looked at him, her mind whirling. There was something his words sparked. Something important that she couldn’t quite remember.
It didn’t take him long to notice. She was staring at him while she grasped at his words. What had he said?
“Cecilia?”
“Say that again.”
“What?”
“What happens when people try to talk.”
He looked at her oddly but complied. “Heart attack. Food poisoning. Electrical problems—”
“Food poisoning! That’s it. Someone I know had food poisoning. Someone…”
She grabbed her phone and dialed. Dennis answered immediately. “Yeah?”
“Who was it at that last conference we went to? The one in New York. Someone had food poisoning.”
“What?” Dennis had obviously been deep in something else.
“Just answer the question. Who had food poisoning?” She started to remember.
“He was a speaker. Presenting some paper about junk DNA turning people into wolves.” Oh my God.
How they’d laughed about that. The wolf part hadn’t been in the title.
It had been something about DNA adaptation in previously blah, blah, blah.
She couldn’t remember. But when the speaker had started talking, he’d definitely been talking about werewolves. She was sure of it now.
“Oh yeah,” Dennis said, his voice getting lighter. “Poor bastard was hallucinating on stage, remember? Kept throwing up and yet still trying to talk. Had a bucket and everything, but—”
“What was his name?”
“What?”
“Dennis, it’s important. What was his name? Where is his lab?”
A pause. “You’re losing it big time.”
She sighed. “Just look it up for me. Please?”
“I am.” There was clicking in the background as he typed. “FYI, no more bodies last night. I think it’s slowing down. We’ve gone eighteen hours without a new case.”
She nodded, waiting impatiently. She could have looked it up on her own phone, but she didn’t remember as much as Dennis did. He’d attended the guy’s lecture and had been laughing about it for weeks afterward. She’d just about given up when Dennis abruptly laughed.
“Got it! The guy’s name is Dr. Oltheten of the Gunnolf Lab in…Well, look at that. It’s right here in Detroit.”
Of course, it was. “Text me the address, will you?”
“Sure. Are you going to tell me why?”
“I think he’s got data that can help us.”
“Werewolf guy? Please.”
“He was sick, Dennis. I’m sure you say all sorts of crazy things when you’re feverish.”
Dennis snorted. “Yeah, but the poor bastard is always going to be known as werewolf guy. His career is finished.”
“Yeah, maybe. Thanks.”
Her phone dinged, telling her the text had arrived. She ended the call with Dennis and showed the address to Hank. “Take me here.”
He frowned as he scanned her face. “You sure you’re up for another confrontation?”
“He’s a scientist and he’s been trying to get the word out. There isn’t going to be any confrontation. He’ll likely kiss my feet in gratitude.”
Hank didn’t respond, but she could see the skepticism in his eyes.
“Look, I’ll never doubt your paranoia again.
You were right about the wolves from the first moment.
But this guy…he’s a scientist. These are my people and we don’t…
” This morning’s violence reared up in her head, and she choked the words and the images down.
She wasn’t going to think about that yet. Maybe not ever.
“Shifters aren’t generally violent, Cecilia. Not more than normal people, except maybe at puberty. But this stuff in the water and the quarantine…” He shook his head. “We’re all going a little crazy.”
She believed him. Which made it all the more important for her to talk to this guy and put an end to the madness.
“Dr. Oltheten will have our answers. I’m sure of it.
” And that’s what she needed. The security of one scientist talking to another about measurable data.
It was the world she knew, and it didn’t include people changing into werewolves and trying to drag her out of her hotel room.
Data didn’t spurt blood or get disemboweled right in front of her.
Science was sane, and she desperately needed some sanity right then because she was still shaking.
It helped that Hank was right here beside her.
His presence was the only thing that was keeping her from running screaming to the nearest airport.
She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted to stay by his side and really work on their relationship.
But she couldn’t do that in the middle of all this Detroit Flu chaos.
“The hospital is safer,” Hank began.
“The answers aren’t there. If they were, I’d have already found them.
I need to talk to a scientist who knows about shifters.
That’s Dr. Oltheten.” He would help her make sense of this.
He would put everything into a data-driven box, and together they’d solve the problem of the Detroit Flu.
Then all this madness would end, people would stop trying to abduct her, and she could focus on being with Hank.
That was her plan, and nothing was going to stop her from executing it.