“I already knew he was a dick,” I replied, then sighed again. “Oh well, thanks for all y’all’s help.” I suddenly felt insanely weary and nauseated. “I guess I need to hit the books or something and see if I can shake anything loose.”
I had a feeling Ryan wanted to suggest some course of action that he could help out with or participate in, but as much as I enjoyed his company, I also desperately needed to not be around him for a while. Too much craziness going on, and unfortunately the mysteries surrounding him made up a big chunk of it. Maybe he could sense that, because after a few heartbeats Ryan gave a reluctant nod. He drove us back in silence to where my car was parked, put the car in park. Eilahn got out of the car, murmuring softly to the cat in her carrier.
“Thanks for all the help,” I said to Ryan. I gave him a smile, but it felt brittle and forced.
It must have looked it too, because his eyes seemed to darken with a tired worry. “I’ll check with you later, all right?” I thought he was going to give me a hug, but he seemed to check himself at the last second and instead merely gave my arm an awkward pat.
I nodded, then climbed out of the car. As soon as Ryan pulled away I turned to Eilahn. “Do you know anything about the locations that Rhyzkahl pulled up on my computer.”
“I do not,” she replied. “You wish to investigate them?”
“The local ones, at the very least.”
The demon gave a slight nod. “I am curious as well. You remember where they are?”
“I do.”
“Then let’s rock.”
I blinked at her, then grinned. “?‘Let’s rock’? Where did you pick that up?”
“There was a movie about humans fighting aliens on your television the other night,” she said. “And one of the female warriors shouted it right before she unleashed her mayhem upon the creatures.” A smile curved her lips. “I rather liked it.”
“Well,” I said, “if there’s anyone who knows about the proper format for unleashing mayhem, it’s you.”
Unfortunately, there was no mayhem to be had, at least on this particular expedition. The first location we checked was Leelan Park, however I had zero idea where, in the park, we were supposed to look for whatever it was we were looking for. I was going on the theory that these locations had something to do with portals, but it was equally possible that Rhyzkahl had looked them up for some other reason entirely. Hell, maybe they were places where he’d shagged a previous girlfriend. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d meant for me to figure out what he’d been searching for. If he was oathbound against telling me something that he wanted me to know, he was certainly devious enough to find a loophole.
Leelan Park was a sprawling mix of sports fields, playgrounds, and picnic areas that took up nearly a mile of lakefront on the eastern end of Lake Pearl. There weren’t too many people out and about, even though it was around lunchtime and the sky was fairly clear. But school was still in session for another couple of weeks, plus the temps were probably in the low forties—a bit too brisk for most southerners to want to sit and eat their lunch outside.
I stood by the boat launch and zipped the collar of my coat higher. Now there was an impulse decision I was happy about. I couldn’t be sure if the purchase of the coat had been affected at all by the influence of the let’s-make-Kara-nuts drug, but I was fine with it, either way. Here by the water the wind did its best to find a way beyond this black leather armor, but my coat held its ground beautifully and kept me comfortable and warm. The wind had to be satisfied with whipping my hair into my face and mouth while I fidgeted and watched Eilahn scan the surroundings for any sort of arcane signs or residue. We’d already tried several other random locations within the park and came up empty, and I had little reason to believe that was going to change now.
As expected, after a few moments Eilahn sighed and shook her head. “I cannot detect anything untoward,” she said, “but that does not mean nothing is here. If there is a concealed portal, I would need to be nearly atop it in order to sense its resonance.”
I gave a thoughtful nod. “Which is likely why our bad guy is using people to pinpoint it.”
I already knew about the portal underneath the Beaulac PD parking lot, so I didn’t bother wasting my time going there. The only other site within reasonable driving distance was east, near the parish line, which was also in the middle of the swamp. We went ahead and drove out there, but soon realized that without a boat there’d be no way to get within a mile of where Rhyzkahl had indicated.
I stood on the side of the road and hugged my coat around me, frowning out at the swamp. “Bodies are found out here all the time,” I said, as much to Eilahn as to myself. “I mean, not all the time,” I corrected, “but it’s not unusual at all for people to die out here. Hunters or hikers who get lost or have accidents. And the occasional murder victim gets dumped as well, of course.”