When we got back to the car, Jesse wouldn’t meet my eyes. I didn’t blame him. All three of us were subdued and quiet on the way back to Will’s.
Finally Will spoke into the terse silence. “I’ll call a pack meeting for tomorrow night to try to get things stabilized. What do you two need to hunt the nova?”
I looked at Jesse, who said promptly, “We need a roster of all the pack members.”
Will’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t just go around interrogating the pack,” he objected. “That won’t exactly help them trust me again.”
“Tough shit,” Jesse said shortly.
“Jesse!” I hissed.
He looked at me. “I’m past being polite, Scarlett. One of them made a monster. He has to answer for it.”
The alpha looked between us for a long moment, and then nodded reluctantly. “All right. Talk to the pack,” he said quietly. “But Scarlett can’t go.”
I understood, but Jesse looked puzzled. “They all hate me right now,” I explained. “They think I have a cure and I’m keeping it from them.”
“Isn’t that . . . sort of true?” Jesse asked, not unkindly.
It stung anyway, and I worked to keep my face straight. “Yes. But Will’s right. I can’t go rubbing their faces in it.”
Jesse looked uneasy, and I realized he was a little afraid to track down the werewolves without me around to negate them. I understood, but there wasn’t really anything to be done, and finally he nodded in agreement. “If we’re going to split up,” he said slowly, “You can at least make yourself useful.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“If I’m getting this, there are two ways to stop the nova,” he said, glancing at Will. “Either we find out who made him, or we find out how he’s choosing his victims.”
“You want me to go talk to the victims’ families?” I blurted out, my eyes wide.
Jesse nodded. “You can start with Leah Rhodes’s roommate and go from there. I’ll help you come up with a cover story and give you some questions.”
“What if—I don’t know if I can—” I sputtered. I had interviewed people without Jesse before, but only Old World people. Talking to civilians had always been Jesse’s purview, not mine.
“You’ll do fine,” Jesse said curtly. “You’ve done two major police investigations already. You can handle this.”
Not wanting to freak out any further in front of Will, I just nodded.
We arrived back at the alpha’s house. I had been a touch nervous that there would be flashing police cars waiting for us when we arrived, but the nova wolf hadn’t called the police the night before, and he hadn’t called them tonight. Whatever was going on, he was keeping it in the Old World for now.
Will went inside to get a pack roster for Jesse, who carried my duffel bag to the van for me and loaded it in the side door. When the door clicked shut, I asked, “While we wait, do you want to talk about those interviews tomorrow?”
“No,” he said without hesitating. “I just . . . need some space, Scarlett. I’ll go in and get the list from Will, and call you first thing in the morning.” He abruptly turned on his heel and marched toward Will’s front door, leaving me standing there with my mouth ajar.
I’d seen Jesse mad, distraught, and worried before, often at me, but I’d never seen him be cold. Maybe he was regretting taking the deal with Dashiell. Or maybe he just didn’t want to be my partner anymore. Focus, Scarlett, I chided myself. Jesse was going to do what he was going to do; there was no use worrying about it.
No matter how many times I told myself that, the nagging fears stayed with me the whole way home.
It was nearly eleven when I parked the White Whale in the structure near Molly’s house and limped my way to the back door. My leg felt far away, as if the big lump of pain that had wound itself around my knee like a tentacle was actually separating it from me. I wanted nothing more than to go to bed with several ice packs and some of the good drugs. As I rounded Molly’s decorative shrubbery, however, I saw a small figure with shoulder-length blonde hair huddled on the concrete step leading to the doorway, arms hugging her knees, her head turned away so one ear was resting on her legs. I tensed, gripping my cane hard like I might use it for a weapon, but took a few cautious steps forward—and felt her hit my radius. Not a werewolf, not a vampire. It was like my radius had been thrust into a prism.
Another null.
She felt it when I did, and the blonde bob tilted up to meet my eyes. “Corry?” I asked incredulously.
Chapter 14
“Scarlett!” The teenager’s face broke into a beautiful grin I’d never seen on her face before, and she jumped up and ran for me, throwing her arms around my shoulders. Her momentum rocked me back a step onto my bad leg, but I ignored it, shifting my weight to my left instead. I was smiling stupidly, and to my great annoyance, I realized I was blinking back tears. “It’s so good to see you!” Corry said into my hair.
“Yeah.” I released her and leaned back, swiping my eyes as quickly as I could. The pain from my knee, which had been at a low running-refrigerator hum before, now roared into focus, and I fought to keep it off my face. “You too. Come on, let’s get inside.” I had a dozen questions, but was anxious to get her out of sight first. I didn’t think any of Will’s pack had found Molly’s house, but I didn’t want to wait around to find out. If anyone saw Corry here . . .