Shadow of Doubt - Hailey Edwards Page 0,58
when I told Midas what I found, and then he called you.”
“You’ve been able to shift for a while now, haven’t you?”
“I wasn’t tricking you that first morning. I was terrified, so afraid Siemen was watching, waiting for me, I couldn’t switch back. I’m safer as my other self, and I didn’t want to face him like this.”
“I need some air.” Midas rose in a fluid motion and strode for the door. “Ford—”
“—keep an eye on her,” I finished for him. “I need to confer with Midas.”
As Ford stepped aside to let us pass, he flared his nostrils and swore under his breath, but I didn’t have time to stop and grill him if I wanted to catch Midas.
“Go back in and finish your interrogation,” he ordered, like his title meant boo to me. “You’re not done yet.”
“I’m done when I say I’m done, and I’m not pack. Your Jedi mind trick doesn’t allow you to boss me around, Goldilocks.”
The jaw I had admired earlier began grinding. Audibly. “You overstep.”
“Pretty sure the vow you made means not only can I say whatever I want, I can look you in the eye while I do it.” I bet he was regretting that decision in record time. “What is your problem?”
“I found her,” he said coldly. “I welcomed her into my pack, into our den.”
“I welcomed her into my home, into HQ.” Thank the goddess for her magical gag order. “So what?”
“This whole fiasco is—”
“Tell me it’s your fault, and I’m going online to purchase the world’s smallest violin to play for you.”
“She knew she was being hunted and said nothing. Thanks to me, a killer is—”
“—in Atlanta?” I folded my arms across my chest. “Try again. You found her here. Her son, if that’s who we’re dealing with, was always going to come after her. Atlanta was always going to suffer. It stands to reason that since she’s gwyllgi, and our initial tests show he’s warg, half warg anyway, he was always going to target the same demographic.”
“You told me yourself it was personal. That he was calling me to—”
“—brag? In light of what we’ve just learned, I better understand why the calls were placed to you. He watched her, found out you had taken her in, given her a job, and he discovered how to get in touch with her through her capacity as your PA.” I stepped closer. “This is not your fault. All you did was show kindness to a woman in need. There’s no shame in that. There’s no blame either.”
Midas speared his fingers through his hair and tugged on the ends. “Can I talk now?”
“The floor is yours.”
He stared at me, but he didn’t say anything.
“Well?” I cupped a hand to my ear. “I’m waiting.”
“You derailed my entire argument.”
“You’re new to the leadership thing. I am too. Believe me, I get it. It’s easy to accept the blame for every little thing that goes wrong. The thing is— We’re only human.” I snorted when he arched an eyebrow. “It sounds better than we’re only a necromancer and a gwyllgi, okay?” I sliced my hand through the air. “My point is this. We’re going to make good calls, and we’re going to make bad ones. We’re going to help some people, and we’re going to hurt others. We’re going to do our jobs to the best of our abilities, and there’s no room for looking back. The past is past. Chin up, eyes forward, head in the game.”
“The decisions you make don’t impact—”
“—a large group of people I’m sworn to protect?” I tapped my chin. “Hmm. It’s almost like being the POA means every heartbeat in the city is your responsibility.”
“Can you please stop—?”
“—cutting you off?”
“You are the most frustrating woman I have ever met,” he told me, not unkindly.
“The feeling is mutual,” I assured him. “Except the woman part. I’m, ah, pretty sure you don’t qualify.”
“Pretty sure?”
“I’m not a booster seat for the male ego. Ask Ford.”
Mentioning Ford struck a chord with him, and his expression shuttered. “Finish questioning her.”
“Yeah, okay.”
He took the elevator down, and I walked back to my apartment, knocked on the door, and let myself in.
Ford kept his eyes averted, and it gave me the creeps. “What crawled up your butt and died?”
“He can no longer hold your gaze,” Bonnie said to the vicinity of my navel.
“We’ll sort this out later.” He brushed his fingers down my arm. “Work, don’t worry about me.”
Bonnie had moved to the futon while I was out