"Funny, I could have sworn that you just set him up to be killed." "I got him out," she said.
"I ran in after him with Darryl and pulled him out." "Not soon enough, Mary Jo," I said.
"He could have easily died in there." I had to take a breath so I could maintain my relaxed posture.
He could have died.
But I had to keep up the momentum, make her listen to me, make her listen to herself.
"Who was it that was out there with you?" I asked coolly.
"Ben says whoever it was, he has to be more dominant than you.
It wasn't Warren or Darryl." Ben would have noticed if Darryl hadn't been at the meeting.
He'd have said something to me because if it was Darryl who was running the show, it would have been too dangerous to hold his tongue.
The same was true of Auriele.
"How does the pack run from there?" I watched her sweat.
Ben was right that it was someone higher up.
She was expecting me to name him soon, so not too far down the pack hierarchy.
"Auriele.
It wasn't her either, was it? She likes Adam.
She'd never send him into a burning building to rescue someone who wasn't there." She stiffened at the dig.
"Then there is Paul." That got her--wasn't that interesting? But I knew better.
"It wasn't him, though.
Adam doesn't trust Paul at his back.
He'd have kept him right here through the whole pack meeting." Paul had been my pick for the jerk who'd influenced me at the bowling alley before I'd understood how angry Mary Jo was.
He'd probably been Adam's pick, too.
Paul was still angry about losing a fight to Warren, and he'd put the blame on Adam for that.
Like Ben, Paul was a bitter and difficult person who didn't like many people.
Mary Jo was one he did like, her and her boyfriend, Henry.
I watched her face closely.
She was worried I'd guess.
Not Paul, then who? Further down the ranks things could get murky to an outsider as I had been and really still was.
I ran the wolves I knew well through my head, then stopped.
Henry? He was a nice guy.
Smart and quick.