“It’s why I chose this suite after my injury. Do you think I turned to ash in the sunlight? I’m sure your husband had you convinced of that.”
Irritation spiked through me at the ironic way he’d said husband. I started to give an irritated response when my gaze landed on the coffee table. An electronic box lay on it, about twelve by four by eight inches. There were wires… and a cap of what looked like electrodes or sensors.
I glanced up at him in stark disbelief. It was the Analyzer. Surely it was. He’d placed it brazenly on the coffee table, for me to see. He’d done it to set me off balance. To taunt me.
Test me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You act as if you’re offended by the fact that Evan might call you a monster.” I glanced down at the equipment on the table with disgust. “Or a vampire. But you’re not really, are you? You know what you are.”
“I know exactly what I am, Anna. Self-knowledge is power.” His blue eyes blazed at me through that skull-face. “The question is, do you know what you are? I don’t believe you do.”
“I couldn’t care less what you believe.”
His smile seemed like it would crack his face wide open.
“But you should,” he said. He turned, and I realized Ima had entered the room. She carried a tray with two iced teas on it. He waved vaguely at the coffee table.
“Set them down and go.”
“Yes, Dr. Madaster.”
Anger spiked through me at the demonstration of his casual superiority and Ima’s submission. Did Madaster use the Analyzer on his nurse? The thought disgusted me. I hated this place.
I hated him, even though I barely knew him.
He leaned forward and placed a glass in front of one of the upholstered chairs next to him. He glanced at me expectantly.
“You aren’t going to have this conversation standing, are you?”
“I’m not going to stay for long.”
“However long you stay, it will be enough. Please, join me,” he said, waving gracefully with his left hand toward the chair.
I hadn’t come here to just to stare at him. Feeling highly uneasy, I walked over to the chair.
“You take it without sugar, I assume?” he asked, nodding at my glass of iced tea.
I didn’t know why he would assume any such thing.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, even though I did, indeed, drink my iced tea straight. I took a gulp of it to soothe my raw throat and set down the glass, keeping my gaze averted from that ugly device on the table. I laced my hands over my stomach, trying to still the panicking butterflies in there.
“You seem upset, Anna,” he said, his brow creasing in concern. False concern. Anyone could see that. “Learning that you’re the double of my daughter Elizabeth must have come as quite a blow to you.”
“How did you find out about that?”
“I have my ways.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Wes Ryder told you, didn’t he? I said something to Valeria, his girlfriend. She must have been alarmed enough by my shock that she mentioned it to Wes. And he told you. Or maybe that librarian called you?”
“It doesn’t matter how I found out. It only matters now that the truth is out. How did Evan explain his manipulation of you?”
“He told me that he’s been planning revenge on you, ever since Elizabeth disappeared. He believes that you murdered your daughter,” I admitted bluntly. “Did you?”
His laugh had nothing to do with mirth.
“I knew he couldn’t resist turning me into the villain of this affair. I knew it. The man is so predictable,” he said, shaking his head and taking a healthy swallow of his iced tea. “Did Evan say anything to you about the tunnel? The one between the Twins?”