I nodded and took a few steps back, just to be sure. “Mind if I sit in your office a minute?” I asked Will. I wanted to be away from the carnage, and I had no interest in seeing Will and Matthias handle the doctor’s payment. Will nodded. I leaned down and carefully extracted my wallet, Jesse’s keys, and my phone from the bloody pile that used to be my jeans, hoping to find a plastic bag or something for them in the office.
Will’s office was unpretentious and comfortable: a solid old wooden desk and matching chair, a bulletin board with pictures of Will, his family, the pack. There was some debris in here too, from when Caroline had first changed: papers and office supplies scattered over the floor, trash cans upturned. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the bar, though. Her first instinct had probably been to get to a more open space.
Caroline. Caroline was gone.
I pulled back the chair, which seemed to weigh a hundred pounds. I was so tired. Before I could even sit down, though, my phone buzzed in my hand, making me jump. I looked at the screen cautiously. Unlisted number. I answered it. “Bernard.”
“Scarlett, darling,” Olivia’s voice cooed. “Did you get the cookies I sent?”
Now I did sit, my body dropping into the office chair without me really noticing. “Where are you?”
“Oh, come on, baby, where are your manners? Didn’t I teach you anything?”
I felt a familiar little sting for the briefest moment—I had disappointed her! I hadn’t followed directions! As soon as I registered that thought, however, it made me even angrier. I was not a little girl. I was not her Barbie doll. And I didn’t have to play her games. “Where are you?” I repeated, through gritted teeth. Then I remembered the psych report and the background we’d collected: Olivia wanted a family. She wanted me with her. “I—I really want to see you,” I added, letting my voice break with emotion. “I don’t know what else to do.” Well, that was honest.
There was a pause. “I’m afraid tonight’s not a good night, darling. Plans, you know. But we’ll get together soon,” she said coyly. “You can count on it.”
I moved the receiver away from my mouth so she wouldn’t hear me taking a deep breath. That was bullshit. She’d called me, she wanted me to see her fingerprints all over the wolfberry. She wanted me to know she was still in control, still the puppet master—and she wanted me to see her finest hour. Whatever she was planning with Mallory, she wanted to show it off, or she wouldn’t have called tonight.
She wanted me to beg for her. Fine. I could beg. “Please, Livvie?” I pleaded. In a very small voice, I said, “I don’t know where else to go anymore.” Thanks to you, you deranged harpy.
Another long pause. I was still calming down from my earlier crying jag, and I made no attempt to hide my jagged breathing.
“Well…maybe it’s a good night after all,” Olivia said, her voice a little smug. She had won, and she knew it. “Things are going to change now, Scarlett. The way this whole city works is going to change. Would you like to see it happen?”
I waited a beat, and simply said, “Yes.”
“Everything’s going to be better now, Scarlett,” she said soothingly. “We’ll be together again. I have so many new things to teach you.” She rattled off an address. “But you must come alone,” she added.
“I will.”
Olivia hung up without another word. I set the phone down on Will’s desk. She didn’t actually care if I brought backup or not—in her mind, there was nothing that could stop her and Mallory now. Kirsten would have been the biggest problem, and Kirsten had been shot. But it didn’t matter—I wasn’t going to bring anyone with me. Olivia was not going to hurt anyone else.
I was going to stop her first. Or die trying.
I looked around the office, and spotted Eli’s jacket hanging on the back of Caroline’s chair. I dug in his pockets until I found his keys. He wasn’t going to need his pickup anytime soon, and I was guessing that Jesse’s car had the GPS-LoJack thingy. And apparently it was my day for cruising around in half-borrowed, half-stolen vehicles. After a long moment of indecision, I picked up the handset of Will’s office phone and dialed Jesse’s cell phone number. He didn’t pick up, which was a relief, really. I waited for the voice mail tone.
“Hey, it’s Scarlett,” I began. “Listen, I know where she is, and I’m going after her. By myself. Nobody else is going to die because Olivia wants me, and I’m not going to spend one more day as a bargaining chip, or a toy, or bait.” I paused. “I know you think I’m just going to surrender and let her kill me, Jesse, but I promise, I’ll fight. You…you make me want to fight. So thank you for that, I guess. I…I’m sorry it didn’t work out between us.” I rubbed my eyes, thinking about the broken werewolf in the other room. “I’m sorry about a lot of things. But not about this. Good-bye, Jesse.”