Fox Dish (Madison Wolves #6) (18 page)

"After that meeting, everything seemed fine. Michaela seemed resigned, even her old self again. The babies came, and she was a perfect mother, far more than anyone could have hoped. While we understood she was still troubled, she seemed to be getting past everything. She was handling her duties and responsibilities and, by and large seemed cheerful. We learned later that was a sham."

It hadn't been, and characterizing it as one was unfair. I opened my mouth to say something, but Daniel held up a hand. "You will have your chance later."

Lara explained that she knew I was troubled. "She kept asking me if the babies would be okay if something happened to her. I ordered her to make sure nothing happened."

I took notes. She hadn't made any such order. She had only said, "Nothing will."

She finally got to my disappearance and the subsequent efforts to retrieve me before I did anything that couldn't be undone.

And then she finished, and I didn't have a clue what she had said that was supposed to correspond to any of the charges against me.

Lara sat down. Daniel consulted the clock and frowned. "Elisabeth, will your testimony be as lengthy as Lara's?"

"No, Alpha," Elisabeth said. "Perhaps twenty minutes."

"Proceed, please," he told her.

Elisabeth repeated some of the things Lara had said, but she had details Lara didn't have. She made a point of stressing how much I resented my security detail, which didn't seem like the correct word. "She even made us promise not to tell the alpha what she was doing and threatened to escape us if we didn't agree to her demands."

I had done that, but Lara had agreed with me. Elisabeth didn't mention that. I made another note.

"Serena, I believe you are next," Daniel said, consulting his list.

"I know it's early, but could we break?" Lara requested. "I would like some fresh air."

"So would I," I muttered, and if looks could kill, she would be hurting. Lara had the grace to look chagrined at her choice of words.

Daniel declared a break and announced we would resume at one.

I stood up and turned my back on all of them, standing by the door while waiting for Wendy and Cameron.

* * * *

Serena spoke after lunch. She reiterated many of the things Lara and Elisabeth had said, but then she began to dwell on events in Bayfield. "I knew something was going on, as well," she said. "It was subtle. She was too willing to accept our protection. She was too complacent, almost meek. Michaela is anything but meek! But the real clue was a conversation we had while shopping in Bayfield."

She paused, looking around,
then she turned straight towards me. She hadn't looked at me all morning, but she looked straight into my eyes. "She called me in the morning and said we were going shopping for prizes for the fishing contest."

"Booby prizes," I said.

"Yes," she said "Booby prizes."

"Ms. Burns," Daniel said.

"My apologies," I replied. "An involuntary reaction."

"Control yourself," he said. "Go on, Serena."

"We were shopping for booby prizes. She was picking out the silliest things. I pretended like I wasn't paying attention, but of course, I was." She smiled. "Trying to figure out how her mind works is fascinating and frustrating. She bought several cheesy fake moose fur hats with fabric antlers. I couldn't understand why anyone would buy something like that. But once she started giving them out for prizes, people began competing to win them."

She paused and shook her head. "I digress. My apologies. It was while we were shopping that she asked me the strangest question." She looked away for a moment,
then returned to look straight at me. "She told me I made her feel safe. I didn't understand at first. That was my job, and I didn't understand. I told her that Lara makes her feel safe, too. She told me that she knew that was temporary, that she'd go too far one day, and Lara would stop loving her. She said she knew I cared about her for other reasons, and that those reasons would never change."

Serena paused. "She was right about that. Those reasons will never change."

She looked down at her hands for a moment, then looked up again. "But I told Michaela that she was crazy if she ever thought Lara would stop loving her, that no matter what she did, Lara would always love her. And I know that to be true."

She paused.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking back at Daniel. "I have a point. The thing is, Michaela was sure she was going to go too far. She was absolutely sure of it. And the reason she was sure of it was because she was planning everything that has happened since. She planned all of it, and she was planning it for months."

Serena looked down. "That's why she was happy. She had a plan. I think she was waiting for Lara to be strong enough. She was waiting to make sure the babies would be cared for. And then she did what she was planning." She looked directly at me again. "She did exactly what she told everyone she was going
to do. She promised Brody Mortens and Johnny Mack that they would die by the hand of the Madison alpha. She thought that would be Lara, but she is Lara's right hand as much as Elisabeth is. She told us, clearly and repeatedly that she was going to kill them. And then, in spite of all of us forbidding her to do so, that's exactly what she did."

I stared at her.

She looked up at Daniel. "I'm done."

"May I request a bathroom and water break?" I asked immediately.

"Ten minutes," Daniel said immediately.

I climbed from my seat and strode to the door, waiting for Wendy and Cameron.

* * * *

I didn't figure out what was niggling at me, but I knew I was closer. Serena had been telling me something. Whatever she was telling me was important. But the fact that she was telling me something was important as well. And I was sure Lara and Elisabeth knew what Serena had been trying to tell me.

Why was Angel here?

Why had Lara been so afraid of what I would do to myself if she wanted me dead? She was not acting like someone who was out for vengeance.

Why was Christopher West here? That was a big question. Why wasn't Ron Berg or Vivien here?

I finished in the bathroom and stepped out. Wendy and Cameron escorted me back to the hearing room. When I got there, there were fresh pitchers of water on the table, and a glass at my seat.

They hadn't let me near glass since this had started. I stared at it. They suddenly weren't afraid I'd use it for nefarious reasons.

Wendy and Cameron released me as soon as I was inside the hearing room, and Greg didn't do anything to avoid me when I stepped past him to reach my seat. Wendy and Cameron retreated to their place along the back wall, and no one could have stopped me if I'd grabbed the glass, shattered it against the table, and gone after Greg with it.

They didn't think I had cause to kill him.

There wasn't a wolf in the room
who remotely thought I wouldn't kill someone who I felt deserved it.

They didn't think Greg deserved it, and they thought maybe I realized it, as well.

But he had been exceedingly deceitful. They all had. And they were trusting me.

I stared at the water glass. I looked around the room. A few people were watching me, but no one was remotely close enough if I had decided to do something.

I went around and around, puzzled over what was going on.

I studied Serena. She wasn't watching me, but I was sure she was aware of my eyes on her. She was always aware of what I was doing, and I didn't think that had changed.

I realized something. I was sure she still loved me. And if she did, did that mean Lara did, too?

I felt tears crawl into my eyes. I brushed them away, then collected my glass and pulled one of the water pitchers closer. I filled my glass and sat down.

Daniel didn't rush me. Everyone was in the room, but he let me sit there, thinking, watching everyone.

Finally he caught my eye, and I nodded to him.

"Let's continue," he said. Greg returned to his seat, and everyone settled down. "Angel," Daniel said. "I believe you are next."

Angel nodded and looked into her lap. Then she looked over at Lara. She stared at Lara for a long time, and I wondered if perhaps she was hoping for a reprieve.

"Enforcer," Elisabeth said gently. "Give your testimony."

And Angel stood up. She talked about how she knew me, how I was a teacher at the school, how much the kids relied on me. I wondered what that had to do with anything. She talked about my school duties at length.

Then she talked about Celeste and Rebecca, talking about them at length as well.

She talked about both my kidnap nights, how I didn't understand the first time, but that in the end, as troubled as I was, I had honored the tradition as best I was able. "For the second
one, she was unbelievable. I couldn't do what she did. I don't think even Elisabeth could."

"Not and lived," Elisabeth said.

Angel talked about how I had fooled almost everyone during my second ransom night, that everyone had underestimated me.

She told me about how she and Scarlett wouldn't be together if it weren't for my influence. I brushed away tears. She watched me while she said it. And I knew she was telling me something, just as Serena had been.

Finally she talked about my tricking her the first time back in October. She told the entire story without embellishment, including how she had tricked me to return. "But I had to. We didn't know she was in a plane, but there was a storm coming, and if I hadn't tricked her, she would have flown into it. She wasn't a good enough pilot for that."

Then she
told about the events from a few weeks ago, how she had learned I escaped while she was preparing to go to school, but how everyone knew I'd been gone for hours.

"How did you know it was hours?" Daniel asked.

"She sent an email," Angel said. "To Mrs. Lassiter."

"Did you see this email?" Daniel asked.

"No."

"I did," Lara said. "It was stamped as 3:47 AM, which would correspond to a three AM feeding, burping time, then giving me a little time to fall asleep, followed by the time to travel to the school, collect her things, write a note to me, and write a note to Michele."

"All right," Daniel said. "Continue, Angel."

"I knew Lara and Elisabeth would try to reach her. But I thought she would be more likely to talk to me than to either of them. So I asked Elisabeth what to do, and she said, 'be her friend. For now,
be her friend. Remind her she is loved.' So that is what I did." Angel looked at me. "Short of dragging her back to Madison by her hair, it's what I most wanted to do anyway."

Angel told the rest of the story, relaying the conversations she and I had. She worked from notes, and I realized she must have been taking them while we had been talking. Her recollection was better than my own. She quoted me fairly accurately.

Angel finally finished. She sat down and stared at her hands.

"Thank you, Angel," Lara said gently.

Angel looked at her, and she had a fierce expression, but then she looked back at her hands again.

"Greg, I believe you are next," Daniel said.

"Yes," Greg said, standing up. "I will consume the most time and will present the most testimony. We will hear Michaela's own words as she describes how she destroyed the leadership of the Iowa City pack. It will take some time to go through everything. Wendy will give her testimony partway through mine, then I will wrap up."

I stared at him, suddenly wishing I had used the glass.

"I take it wolves don't recognize Miranda rights," I said.

"No," Daniel said. "We recognize truth."

Greg then laid out every single detail of how I killed the wolves in Iowa. He spent hours at it that Friday afternoon. It grew late, and there were a couple of breaks, and finally Daniel said, "Greg, can you reach a good point to break for the night?"

"Now is fine," he said.

"We'll gather in the morning," Daniel said. "Nine AM."

I was the first one to the door, Wendy and Cameron stepping up to flank me.

"Bathroom, please," I said, tight lipped. They gave me a bathroom break. I enjoyed the solitude then stepped back out into the hall. I faced both of them. "Tell Greg for me, if I get another chance to kill him, I am taking it. I should have taken the one you gave me earlier. I will not bypass additional opportunities."

I stepped past them, not waiting for them to escort me, and walked directly to my cell door. I spun around and looked at Wendy. "And the same goes for you."

She looked down at me from a foot away.

"I don't make idle threats," I told her. "And you know if I get a weapon in my hands, I can do it."

Cameron opened the door. I entered the cell and spun around again. "If you attempt to bind me the next time you see me, just put me down, or I swear, I will see how big a mess I can make of the conference room by opening every artery in my body all at once. These proceedings are a sham. Get the fuck away from me."