Lib Novel Page 118
“I wasn’t. I just saw it lying there. I remembered that I had helped you buy a phone, so seeing a different one got my attention.”
She’s quiet as she picks up a piece of the broken phone. “It’s a burner. I don’t know where you got this, but I don’t know who it belongs to. And I don’t think I’m answerable to you about why I have a second phone.” Her voice is curt now. “I didn’t let you into my home so that you could start snooping around, Sophia. I expected better from you. And I didn’t give you any aphrodisiac. I have no reason to. I was just trying to help you out. I have to say, again, that I did not expect this from you.”
She sounds disappointed, and I try not to let it affect me. There is no other place I could’ve gotten the aphrodisiac from. But Rita is insistent that it wasn’t her.
I hadn’t expected her to deny it.
Now what?
I’m about to say something when my hand accidentally hits my bag and a paper falls out onto the ground. Rita picks it up and looks at the content before I can stop her.
“The Silver Wolf?” She raises her head and looks at me. “Why are you looking into this legend?”
“The Silver Wolf is a legend?” I ask cautiously.
She scowls at me. “Of course. If the Silver Wolf actually existed—”
Just then, a terrible expression crosses Rita’s face, and she falls silent.
“Rita?”
She sets the piece of paper down on the table in front of her, her eyes narrowed as if deep in thought.
“You know something about the Silver Wolf, don’t you?” She doesn’t answer me, and I snatch the paper back from her. “Why are you avoiding the question?”
“The Silver Wolf is nothing more than a legend, Sophia.” Rita frowns at me disapprovingly, snapping out of whatever daze she was in. “And you shouldn’t be looking into things that don’t concern you.” She gets up, taking hold of her walker again. Her voice icy cold, she tells me, “I think it would be best for the time being that you don’t come over to my house.”
She leaves me at the table, stepping off the restaurant’s patio and walking away. I purse my lips, trying to stem this feeling of shame. I have no reason to feel guilty, but I can’t help it. It feels like I accused her of something she might not have done and hurt her feelings in the process. But her reaction when she saw the information I had jotted down about the mysterious wolf early this morning was more than a little bizarre.
She has to be lying. She must know something.
But for the life of me, I cannot understand two things: why she wouldn’t tell me if she knows something about the Silver Wolf, and why she gave me that aphrodisiac. Where else could I have gotten it from?
I leave the restaurant quickly, planning to apologize to her to alleviate some of this guilt. I see her walking down the street. I’ve only taken a few steps toward her when I see her open the door to the Dancing Bear and walk inside. I come to a halt. She’s probably going to complain to Elsa about me. Or maybe she just wants to get away from me right now.
Aside from being a friendly gossip, Rita has never spoken a harsh word that I know of. In fact, she is very well-liked in town.
I can’t imagine that she would hurt me for any reason.
I have to be barking mad to think she would deliberately try to do something nefarious to me. I stare at the bar, my feet glued to the sidewalk.
I should clear my head before I do something else to destroy my relationship with Rita.
Hands in my pockets, I make my way toward the trees. There’s a lake about an hour’s walk from town. My thoughts are all jumbled up, and I just want to sort them out in peace and silence.
The Silver Wolf.
The aphrodisiac.
The female shifter in the cage fighting ring.
Mathew’s strange behavior.
And now Rita.
Not everything is connected, but stuff like this doesn’t happen in Oakrest Town. This place is as dull as it can get. So, why are all these strange things happening at once? Why are they happening now?
*** **