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.”
Eilahn hiked herself up to sit on the hood of my car, crossing her legs tailor-style beneath her. “Tell me your thoughts.”
A low breeze ruffled the grasses by the edge of the road, bringing with it a moist scent of algae and mud. “I’m aware of these last three victims, mostly because I was on call. But what if there’ve been others?”
“But would not those have been mentioned by whoever is seeking to frame you?”
Pursing my lips, I considered that for a moment. “I guess so. If they were connected to me.” Then I sighed, rubbed my eyes. “I dunno. I’m stuck. Let’s go see my aunt. Maybe she has some ideas.”
The demon hopped nimbly off the car. “And I think you should contact the others and have them meet you there. At this point you need as much input as possible, as well as people around you in whom you trust.”
My spirits lifted slightly at this reminder that I did have people around who I could trust—which was most likely Eilahn’s intent.
“Sounds good. Let’s rock.”
She paused with her hand on the passenger door, gave me a quizzical smile. “You are teasing me?”
“A little,” I said.
She chuckled. “Now we unleash mayhem.”
* * *
I wasn’t terribly surprised to see two Crown Vics and a Beaulac PD Crime Scene van parked in front of my aunt’s house. I made the appropriate greetings and expressions of thanks—which earned responses that were variations of, “Don’t be stupid. You need help. Of course we’d come.”
With that out of the way, our posse trudged up the steps of the house. I gave a desultory knock, waited for the answering yell, then pushed in, with the others following behind.
Tessa was in the front room in practically the same position she’d been in when I last saw her, though today she was dressed in a bright red caftan and the book in her hand was Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. She took in the sight of us, eyes finally resting on the carrier in Eilahn’s hand. “You’re bringing me a cat?”
Shaking my head, I flopped into a chair and pulled the cuff off. “It’s my cat. Well, technically it’s Eilahn’s since the cat hates me.” The others took seats as Tessa moved to crouch by the carrier. It was small consolation to my mood that the cat snarled and tried to claw her.
“Lovely creature,” she said with an arched eyebrow as she resumed her seat.
I stood up from the chair and shifted to sit on the floor on the other side of the room. “She seems to hate people who have arcane ability,” I told her. “I thought that the mayor might be my big bad summoner since he seems to have such a hard-on for me, but the cat loves him.” I glared at the cat.
“Kara,” Ryan said, frowning, “why did you just get up and move?”
I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it. “I’m not sure,” I replied, abruptly unsettled. There were seats available on the other side of the room. Jill and Zack had taken up the loveseat on that side, while Ryan, Tessa, and Eilahn occupied the available seats on the side that faced away from the lake. But there were two armchairs facing the other way that stood empty.
My throat felt oddly dry. “It feels more right to face this way,” I said.
“And you sat in the chair you don’t like at your house,” he pointed out.
“Moreover, you changed seats after you removed the cuff,” Eilahn added.
Tessa set her book down and tilted her head. “Perhaps this summoner wants you to find something for him,” she said.
I got to my feet. “I need a map!”
“I have one in the kitchen,” Tessa said, and scurried off.
Closing my eyes, I pivoted very slowly, trying to feel which direction felt the most right. “There,” I said, opening my eyes. “It’s super faint, but now that I’m looking for it, there’s definitely a…pull, so to speak.”
Jill stood and handed me her smartphone. “Compass app,” she said. “Point where you think you need to go. You can’t actually go look for whatever it is, but we can triangulate. Right?”
“Jill, you’re a fucking genius.” I took the phone from her and allowed her to note down the bearing. “My house, the PD, and here are all places where I either tried to rearrange the furniture or I changed my seating preference. And, in some welcome good news, they’re all warded.”
Zack frowned. “Can you get into the PD?”
“Sure,” I said with a breezy assurance I wasn’t sure I felt. “I’m on leave, not fired.”
Jill carefully marked the points on the map where the three bodies were found, and then took a pencil and drew a line from my aunt’s house with the bearing she’d just taken. “All right, saddle up, folks. Time to do some triangulatin’.”
Zack, Jill, and Fuzzykins stayed behind at my aunt’s house while Ryan, Eilahn, and I sped back to my house to take a bearing. It felt weird to close my eyes and let myself feel which way was “best” but when I opened my eyes I was once again facing my back door. Ryan took note of the bearing and texted it to Zack.
“Next, the PD,” he said as we all piled into his car again.
Even though I knew I was allowed back into my office, I still felt a silly fluttering of nerves as I stepped through the door marked Investigations Division. With Ryan by my side I walked down the hall to my office, breezing past my sergeant’s door without glancing in. I didn’t want to put him in an uncomfortable situation, plus, the sooner we got these bearings, the sooner we could figure out what all this was about. At least I sure as shit hoped so.
I slipped into my office and closed the door as soon as Ryan was all the way in, then moved behind my desk—mostly since that was the largest “clear” area in my tiny office, and that was only if you defined “clear space” as about two feet by two feet. I pulled off the cuff, closed my eyes and slowly turned, relaxing and allowing myself to feel which direction felt right.
I finally opened my eyes, took the phone from Ryan and told him the bearing. I put the cuff back on and waited for him to send the text to Zack. At least now I knew why I’d been struck by the urge to rearrange furniture in here.
“Okay, done,” Ryan said. “Jill’s factoring in some margin for error, so even with three readings we’ll still probably have a good sized area to search.”
Grimacing, I nodded. Even one or two degrees would probably make a big difference over such a large area. “All right. Well, let’s head back and see what we have.”
We left the office to make our escape, but my sergeant was standing in the hallway by his door, a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Hi, Sarge,” I said brightly. “Forgot a couple of things in my office. Just came by to collect them.”
He gave me a slight nod that told me he wasn’t fooled one bit. “Everything all right?”
“Sure,” I said. “It’s been a perfectly lovely day. How’s everything going here?”
He snorted. “Well, gee, my best detective is on leave, and somehow Pellini and Boudreaux haven’t been able to pick up the slack.”
“You know I’d help you if I could,” I said.
He took a sip of his coffee. “I figure whatever it is y’all are up to will help out. Then he gave me a sour look. “Please tell me that you’re close to figuring all this shit out?”
I shoved my hand through my hair. “I don’t know if we’re close, but I think we’re on the right track.”
“Well, hurry the fuck up,” he grumbled. Then a whisper of a smile crossed his face. “Oh, by the way, you might be interested to know that the mayor went to the emergency room a little while ago.”
I gave him a guarded look. “Um. Why?”
“Somehow, the mayor accidentally ingested a substance he thought might be poisonous.” His eyes lit with a fierce amusement. “And when I say ‘ingested’ I mean ‘inhaled through his nose.’ ”
I allowed my eyes to widen. “How awful. How on earth did he accidentally snort what he thought might be poison?”
He shrugged. “It’s a mystery. I’m sure that the fact that the alleged poison was a white powder is completely beside the point.”
“Gosh! That’s so odd!” I started to grin, then sobered. “Is he going to be all right?” That was actually a serious question. As much as disliked the man, I didn’t want to see him hurt. Would snorting powdered sugar be dangerous?
“He’s completely healthy,” Sarge assured me. “But I’m not sure his tenure as mayor will be doing as well. Twitchy fucker. I’m not surprised he’s a cokehead.”
“I’ll be sure to send him a get-well card,” I said. “Maybe even a Christmas fruitcake.”