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and in the evening. I was at home.”
    “Computer facial recognition software has matched your face with the face of this person in Calgary. It’s matched you two with 98.7 percent accuracy. Unless you have a twin sister, that’s you in Canada last Thursday.”
    “Are you kidding me?” Erin cut in. “My client is a college student who was home with her family studying all day and you want to believe a computer program that matched an airport security camera picture? Have you even looked at the picture or are you only listening to your computer? The woman in the photograph is deathly thin; Reagan is a healthy young woman. And don’t get me started that you likely didn’t obtain permission from the Canadians to be in their database.”
    “The United States has a global responsibility to safeguard against terrorists, Miss Weston. We don’t need permission to access a database when it comes to matters of national security,” Agent Quintana stated.
    “Whoa. Are we still talking about Reagan Lockhart and a mass hysteria event here or are you trying to implicate her in something bigger?”
    “Miss Lockhart isn’t implicated in anything right now,” Quintana said. “We’re just trying to establish her location.”
    “Okay, we’ve done that. She was at home and you have a picture of a girl who looks like her. Next question.”
    The two officers looked at each other and then Quintana asked, “Do you have any pets, Miss Lockhart?”
    “Don’t answer that,” Erin ordered. “Why does it matter if she has any pets?”
    “No, it’s okay,” Reagan said. “Yes, we have a cat.”
    “Has your animal ever attacked anyone?” Simms asked.
    She thought for a moment, “Not that I can remember.”
    “Do you know anything about the events in Alabama and Georgia over the past couple of days?”
    Erin held up both hands. “Wait. Events in Alabama? You were just asking her about being in Canada. What’s going on here?”
    “What events?” Reagan asked, ignoring her lawyer.
    “Animals are attacking humans all over the state. It’s been on the news,” Simms answered.
    “I haven’t seen much about it, really.”
    “So far thousands of people have been injured. Lots of fatalities as well,” Quintana stated. “Possibly as many as a thousand people have died so far.”
    “Oh my gosh!” Reagan exclaimed. “That many people have died from animal attacks?”
    “The animals go crazy and begin attacking in packs. They kill whatever is around them,” Quintana replied.
    “Kind of like the partiers at the Razor’s Edge,” Simms cut in.
    “Are you saying that the people at the club had rabies, like those animals down there?” the girl asked.
    “The animals don’t have rabies. They’ve done extensive testing on them. There are no signs of any abnormal diseases in the creatures. They’ve just gone crazy and begun killing indiscriminately.”
    “Just like the people at the club!” Reagan exclaimed.
    “Exactly. Don’t you think it’s strange?” Simms asked.
    “What are you trying to get out of my client, detectives?” Erin asked. “Because frankly, I don’t understand why you’re asking her about these things.”
    “We wanted to know what she knew about the animal attacks and determine whether she’d been out of the country recently,” Agent Quintana replied straight-faced.
    “And I think that you’ve determined that she doesn’t have any idea about either. I think it’s reprehensible that you’ve treated her this way for alerting the authorities about the incident at the club.”
    “Don’t you find it strange that besides the doorman, everyone in the club turned into a violence-crazed animal?” Simms asked.
    An idea hit Reagan and she blurted out, “Wait! Slade wasn’t affected. I’d forgotten that. The vestibule that he works in has soundproofing blankets all around it to keep the noise from bothering the neighborhood.”
    “I’m listening,” Simms rolled his hand to keep her