“What is it?” Annalise asked.
“Predator,” I said, my voice low. She tensed and leaned toward me. I had her attention. “Inside Emmett Dubois. I don’t know what it is, but I’d guess his brothers are infected, too.”
“How do you know this?”
I removed the scrap of wood from the inside of my jacket. She frowned and took it from me.
“Did he see this?” she asked, holding up the slowly moving design.
“Yep.”
Annalise nodded and pocketed the scrap of wood.
“You have your next assignment,” she said, and walked toward the elevators.
I went back to Cynthia. She was, apparently, my next assignment. Spending the night with her wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, but I didn’t like that Annalise had
“Is that your wife?” Cynthia asked. “Your girlfriend?”
I was honestly confused for a moment. “Who?”
“That redhead. The one you were just talking to.”
I laughed. “Sorry,” I said. “But that’s funny. She’s actually my boss, and she hates my guts.”
“Oh.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Well,” she said, “I’m glad she’s not your girlfriend.”
That was my cue to say something smooth. Before I could think of something, the door to Frank’s room opened and Miriam stepped out.
“Are you Ray?” she asked me.
I stood. “I am. Is there something I can do?”
“He wants to talk to you.” Her lips were pressed together in disapproval. She pointedly did not look at Cynthia.
I moved toward her and the door. “Is he well enough for that?”
“No, he isn’t. The gunshot wound was minor, but he had a heart attack in the ambulance. The surgeon is on his way to the hospital now. But he insists on speaking to you.”
“I’ll be quick,” I said, and went into the room. She shut the door behind me, remaining in the hall.
Frank lay in the hospital bed, tubes running out of his nose. Peter Lemly stood by the side of the bed, and another man stood beside him. He must have arrived during my interrogation, because I didn’t recognize him. He was tall, straight, and serene, with graying hair carefully styled. He was the third of the four men who had met with Emmett Dubois beside the van when I saw Charles have a seizure. He turned toward me without meeting my gaze, and I saw that he was wearing a clerical collar.
It made sense for the reverend to be there. But I didn’t understand why Lemly was in the room.
“We meet again,” Frank said. His voice was hoarse and weak.
“Let’s do it without the ambulance next time,” I said. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”
He gasped between breaths. “I wanted to thank you.”
“Forget about it. Relax. You’re going to undo all my hard work.”
Miriam had entered the room just in time to catch that last word. She narrowed her eyes at me. No one else seemed to care. Ah, well, I’m the bane of respectable women everywhere.
“Anything I can do for you,” the mayor said.
“When you’re stronger, I want to talk about Hammer Bay.”
“He needs his rest,” Miriam said.
“Of course.” I backed toward the door. I was trying to think of a way to compliment him, to tell him, in front of his wife and a reporter, that I thought he was a damn brave man, but he spoke before I could.
“Hammer Bay,” he said. His voice was low and a little angry. “My town. So rotten and corrupt. It’s time I did something about it.”
Miriam glared at me. Peter Lemly lunged forward, his tape recorder in hand. “Would you repeat that, Uncle Frank?”
Miriam snatched up a clipboard and thumped Peter on the top of his head. He wasn’t deterred. The mayor began to say something else, but the reverend grabbed Peter’s elbow and steered him out of the room after me. Within a couple of seconds, we were both out in the hall.
Cynthia was not sitting on the couch. She wasn’t anywhere in the hall that I could see. Had she stepped out for a second, or had Miriam shooed her away while I was in Frank’s room?
“Did you hear what the mayor just said?” Peter asked me. The door closed behind us. “Did you hear?”
“I heard that the mayor is your uncle,” I said.
