I want to jump across the table and throttle him, but I stay where I am, trying to show him as little as possible. It’s a pointless thing to do. Wells knows me well enough to know what I’m feeling and what I’m thinking about.
“Nothing to say?” he says. “No clever quips or animal violence?”
I look at him hard.
“How many people do you have outside?”
“Enough to put you down like the dog you are.”
“And the innocent people in here?”
“They’re your responsibility. Do something dumb or just sit there and listen.”
I reach for my coffee, and almost imperceptibly, he flinches. Unfortunately, I think that’s all the satisfaction I’ll get out of him tonight.
I say, “I have a friend coming over soon, so make it fast.”
“Then listen hard, Mr. Stark,” he says. “The first thing I want from you is my scroll.”
“I told you. I burned it.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Would you believe me if I told you it was a mistake?”
He turns his head slightly and says, “What does that mean?”
“The scene at the drive-in? My coat ended up in the fire. And the scroll was in my pocket.”
He stares at me.
“Why should I believe you?”
“It’s the truth.”
“You told me you’d burned it before the drive-in.”
“I did. That was a lie.”
“But now you’re telling the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth is so stupid,” I say. “You see everything in gigantic, CinemaScope Old Testament terms. Plagues. Seas parting. People turned into pillars of salt. But the truth is smaller than that. I fucked up.”
Wells hangs his head for a few seconds. When he looks up, he’s as hard and mean looking as I’ve ever seen him.
“Listen to me. Things are coming. They’re bigger than you or me or any of the pissant sinners around us. I know that you think I’m going to tell you to stay out of the way. But I’m not. Feel free to jump into the fray anytime you want, James. I welcome it. I long for it. You think you’re protected from on high by Thomas Abbot and his pixie friends? Let me tell you, he won’t be able to help you. There is no one you can turn to, nowhere you can run where I can’t find you. And when I do, I’ll burn you down and everyone and everything you’ve ever loved.”
I look at him with my heart racing.
“You know what I’m thinking?”
“I don’t, James. What are you thinking?”
“I think you’re a cheese Danish guy. Cherry would be too sweet and decadent. No, you’re definitely cheese. Admit it. I’m right. Why don’t you get some coffee and I’ll buy a whole box for you and your lackeys outside? What do you sa