Page 37 of Tell Me Why
The door locks began to thump their way out of place, and Tina tried not to look out of her mind with boredom.
How long had it been?
All night, or just a few minutes?
How had it been thatfastthat she’d lost her sense of time?
Tell went to lean his shoulder against the wall about two-thirds of the way between the door and the bathroom.
Isabella came in, watching as the men behind her pulled the door back to its frame without locking it.
“You always have been nervous like a cat,” Isabella said. “There are a hundred things to do in here, and you pace while she sits. How strange.”
“Are you here to provide clarity or just give orders?” Tell asked. “I know you’re involved in something complex, but it’s not like you to be rude to guests.”
Isabella laughed again, looking back at the door.
“I don’t know who I trust and who I don’t,” she said. “So I’m keeping them separate while I figure it out.”
“You have enemies out there?” Tell asked, and she nodded.
“I have enemies everywhere,” she answered. “I’ve turned off the recordings in this room. I need you to tell me how you found me. What does Keon know?”
“I found you because he couldn’t,” Tell answered, his voice smooth, calmer than Tina felt.
Isabella, rolled her jaw to the side, considering that for a moment before going to throw herself across the arms of one of the armchair couches.
She sighed, tipping her head back to look at the ceiling.
“Been a long time,Oscar,” she said. “And Keon has offered you a rather substantial reward for coming through for him.”
“Have you ever known me to have my head turn because someone offered me the rightprice?” Tell answered.
Isabella laughed.
“I haven’tknownyou in a hundred years,” she said. “There’s no telling who you are now.”
“Nor you,” Tell said. “And yet, here we sit on your dungeon, me and my very young acolyte.”
Isabella sat up to look at Tina.
“Why?” she asked. “Why her? Why now?”
Tell shook his head.
“You aren’t a friend like that,” he said. “Might have been, a long time ago, but not now.”
“They tell stories,” Isabella said. “About what you’re up to, dug down into your little corner of nothingness like you are. They say that you’re angling on the strings that no one sees that tie everything together.”
Tina almost laughed.
Only thing was, sitting herenow, if someone had made a compelling case that Tell really did have political aspirationsthat had been invisible to Tina up to now… she might have believed it. She hadn’t thought thatsystemicvampire politics existed, before now.
“They’ve always feared what they don’t understand and suspect it of cleverer attempts at their own ambitions,” Tell said, and Isabella nodded.
“That sounds like the man I knew,” she said. “You’re still just the wanderer maverick?”
“I seldom wander,” Tell answered.
