“The Fury, Letitia Rebec, captured us,” I continued, to stall her next segue. “I was knocked unconscious and—”

“I’m aware of those proceedings.” Vause waved a thin hand, appearing eager to reach a specific point in my narrative. “I have an eyewitness account of every moment from the time you left the hotel to the time you were taken into custody by Mr. Graeson and his associate, Adele Preston.” She leaned forward. “You were missing for several days, unwilling or unable to return any of my phone calls, and the next I hear of you is through a liaison informing me that you were in Abbeville and asking for me. What brought you to Abbeville, Camille? How did you end up in the middle of a crime scene?”

I told her the truth. “Graeson believed that area was the next location where the kelpie would strike.”

“How did he come across this information?”

“He gave a scale we found at the Brushy Creek site to—” despite my irritation with them, I covered for the Garzas anyway, “—a witch. He used it to power a divination spell.”

“Interesting. Not many packs employ witches.” Her gaze sharpened. “What else did this witch divine?”

“All I know is what Graeson told me.” I spread my hands in a helpless gesture. “He claimed the kelpie would take its next victim in Abbeville, Mississippi, and that’s why he brought me there.”

That Charybdis had been predicted to make an appearance in Tennessee, I kept to myself, unsure whether that timeline had been negated by the kelpie’s death.

“What did he hope you would accomplish that his own people could not? He didn’t allow you access to any resources, which means your conclave contacts would have proven useless.” When I didn’t immediately answer, she gave a knowing nod and her lips thinned. I glimpsed the tip of an emotion too vast to be labeled as anger there, but she blinked, and her mask slid back into place. “I see. I suspected that might be the case.”

Angry he beat you to the punch? The words almost flew out of my mouth, but I clamped my jaw shut and caged them. Pissing off a magistrate was far more dangerous than yanking Graeson’s tail ever could be.

“Wargs are practical beasts. Graeson saw Lori, and he began plotting a way to use her.” Vause rubbed a finger over the creased skin between her eyebrows. “That was my fault. I acted…rashly…in allowing him to sit in on the McKenna girl’s interview. I apologize for sharing your secrets with him so openly.”

“I would have agreed to help if he’d asked.” The urge to defend Graeson loosened my jaw. “I could have escaped if I’d wanted to.” I amended that to, “He would have released me if I’d asked.”

Her hand dropped, and she stared at me. “Why didn’t you?”