“I can’t find Dev,” Erin announced when I walked into the office.
“What?”
She sat at her desk, frowning worriedly at the computer. “I transferred the SIM to the new phone and it’s all working, but there are no messages from Dev. So I called his hotel. They haven’t seen him since you picked him up yesterday morning.”
“That doesn’t sound too good.”
“No.”
“But it doesn’t scream panic to me,” I added wryly. “I think he’s been looking for a chance to ditch me since the first day. Maybe he’s just doing his own thing, now that he’s a bit more familiar with the place.”
Yes, I did worry that he was off planning a ghoul-raid, but seriously, if he was more worried about that than this rogue sorcerer, then he had his priorities all twisted around and lodged firmly up his arse… eh, ass. That, or whatever Kermit had done was very bad indeed.
“Perhaps,” Erin said, though she didn’t really sound agreeable.
Oh, that’s right. She was part of the Texan Twang Appreciation Society.
“Anyway,” I announced loudly, “I got the info from Kermit.”
Erin watched, mildly amused and not so mildly annoyed while I cleared a space on her desk. Taking out the misshapen map, I spent a minute unfolding it and then laid it out.
“Right. I think we can safely disregard the Botanic Gardens, New Farm and Coorparoo.” I grabbed a pen and put a cross through those red circles. “Leaves us four places to check out.”
Erin made note of them in her phone. “Kangaroo Point, Salisbury, Coopers Plain and Acacia Ridge. At least they’re relatively close together.”
“See this,” I said, tapping the map. “The Coopers Plain address is the QEII hospital.”
Erin met my gaze. “Does that mean something?”
“Perhaps. The earth sorcerer had to come into contact with Tanqueray somehow. A public place is more likely than somewhere private.”
“Right.” She tapped at her keyboard, then nodded. “Apparently, Tanqueray was there at the beginning of the week, dedicating a new rehabilitation ward.”
I frowned. “So, he was potentially caught by the sorcerer before I ran into him. Literally.”
“See. Coincidence.”
“Whatevs.”
“And if my memory serves,” Erin said musingly, tap tap tapping again. “Henry Tanqueray lives in Kangaroo Point.”
“So that cuts us down to two locations. Should we get this barrel in the river?”
“I’d rather have Dev with us,” Erin said as she went to the office safe and opened it. “He was incredibly helpful yesterday.”
I watched curiously, since she had her shoulder holster on, Glock in place, already. “You say that, one, like you expect us to run into trouble, and B, as if I’m about as useful as tits on a bull.”
“Look at the common denominator in your two examples.”
Thinking it through, I came up with, “Me?”
She just smirked at me and handed over a Glock.
So, we’ve established the fact they’re not my favourite gun, for various reasons. That didn’t mean I didn’t know the differences in their models.
Erin carried a Glock 19. What she handed over was a Glock 26. Should be bigger than a 19, right? Wrong. The 26 is also known as a Baby Glock.
I eyed it sceptically. “Didn’t I make my point last night?”
“No, you just made a stupid, reckless mistake in a fit of melodrama. Take the gun.”
Trying not to sound sulky, or as if I agreed with her estimation of my tossing the Cougar, I said, “I don’t want the little gun.”
“Well, you’re not getting mine.”
Grumbling, I took the Glock 26. She also handed over a belt holster. Thankfully. I put the gun in it and tucked the smallish leather package in the back of my jeans. Okay, it felt a bit reassuring. A bit, only, because it was practically half the size of the Cougar. Well, slight exaggeration, but it was lighter and I’d become very used to the weight of the Cougar.
We left in Erin’s car. A safer prospect than the Blue Whale. I noticed, almost immediately, that we weren’t heading to either of our ghoul-sponsored destinations.
“Where are we going?”
“To Dev’s hotel. I want to check his room.”
I groaned but didn’t protest. Maybe he had slipped in the shower.
At the hotel, Erin walked right past reception and to the elevators.
“You know which room he’s in?”
“Yeah, he told me.”
I guess the growl wasn’t as sub-vocal as I thought, judging by the way Erin snapped around and frowned at me.
In the elevator, where it was just us and an elderly couple, Erin murmured, “What is wrong with you? I mean, apart from all the other things we’ve already discussed. You’ve been acting weird about Dev since he arrived in town.”
The old guy slid me a sidelong, sympathetic look.
“I’m not acting weird,” I replied, even and totally cool. While my hands curled into fists.
“Yes, you are. Is it some sort of alpha male thing?”
“Alpha male thing?”
“Yes, a thing. A stupid, pointless man thing.”
“Amen,” the other woman muttered.
I was too busy sharing a what-can-you-do look with the husband to get an answer in before Erin carried on.
“You’ve spent so long being the only…” She gave the other couple a mildly irritated look and went with, “person of your skills in the city that the moment someone else shows up, your ego goes into overdrive.”
“Hah, like anyone can have an ego around you.”
Um, hello, filter? You used to be there, stopping me from putting my feet in it, mostly. Sort of. Well, with Erin, at least. Usually.
She either ignored that or, more likely, stored it away for a tactical strike at a later date.
“You can’t tell me it hasn’t entered your head that the reason Dev hasn’t got in touch is because he was…” Another annoyed pause. “You know.”
I knew? Erin, and the oldies, were looking at me, waiting for the light bulb to go on.
Ding.
No. Not the Idea Ding. The elevator door ding. They opened and the married couple got out. The guy gave me a discreet thumbs up as he went.
Erin thumped me the moment the doors closed. “What if Dev was caught by the earth sorcerer?”
“Ow.” And, “Oh! Yeah. I guess that’s a possibility.”
“And?”
“And what? We’re doing what we can to find this bastard. Which, might I remind you, neither of us are getting paid for. Technically, it’s got nothing to do with either of us.”
Ding.
Same ding as before.
I stepped out of the elevator and looked both ways up the corridor. “Which number is he?”
Erin stared at me. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“Do you really not care if Dev’s in trouble? He could be hurt, or dead. And you’re worried about a paycheque?”
“Look, Dev hasn’t been exactly forthcoming about this whole thing, has he? He’s made it pretty clear that he’s suffering me on Aurum’s insistence. I’ve dropped everything else to help him and what have I got out of it? Potential charges for destruction of public property and aggravated assault. Memories of a couple of deaths I’m not likely to forget any time soon. My best friend’s car smashed up. A near drowning and my vampire’s neck broken. Not to mention the rats. I don’t know about you, but nothing in there sounded like a thank you to me.”
Yeah, seemed like the filter was completely gone. But, you know what, I didn’t care. I was tired of being used and abused. This was the second time Aurum had put his meddling fingers in my life and it was two times too many. And where did Dev get off, swaggering in and thinking he was all that, flinging his sorcery all over the place? It was his fault Mercy was lying in a neck brace right now. She could have died. She could be goo soaking into the ground at Dutton Park Cemetery, all because of Randy Devan-fucking-tier.
Teeth gritted, I demanded, “What number?”
Erin had gone pale, but she didn’t budge. “Not until you calm down.”
“I am,” I bit out, “perfectly calm.”
“No, you’re not. Matt, your eyes, they’ve gone silver.”
“I don’t care if they’re shooting flames. You want to find Dev, then let’s find Dev. What fucking number?”
She shook her head firmly.
“Fine. I’ll start knocking on doors.”
Spinning, I stalked to the first door. I raised my hand, ready to knock, and looked at Erin, giving her a final chance.
“Matt, you’re not acting like yourself. Calm down.”
“No number? Right.”
I stepped back, judged the distance, and blasted the door with a burst of telekinesis.
The door frame shattered around the lock and the door smashed inward so hard it bounced shut again. I shoved through it.
“Randy? Randy Devantier?” I called in a singsong voice.
“Matthew,” Erin hissed from the doorway as I wandered in. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Wow, so they spent all the money on the chandelier downstairs, huh.” I kicked open the door to the bathroom. “Nope, hasn’t fallen in the shower. Next room?”
I turned to leave and came face to gaping black hole with Erin.
She closed the broken door behind her with her foot and shoved the small hall table in front of it to keep it that way, all the while keeping me in the crosshairs of her gun.
“No next room until you tell me what’s going on. You aren’t usually this…”
I looked past the barrel of the gun and cocked an eyebrow. “This what? Honest?”
“No. Heartless. I think it’s more than Dev. I think it’s part of what you were talking about last night, about your arm. Maybe this is something neurological.”
“I’m fine.” Waved my fully functional left arm to prove it. “Whatever it was, it’s gone.”
“Maybe it’s just changed targets.”
I laughed. “Get a grip. Come on, put the gun away and let’s find Dev.”
Erin eyed me warily.
“I promise not to break anymore doors.” Crossed my heart and everything.
Slowly, she put the gun down, then holstered it. “All right. No more door breaking.”
I waved grandly and she lead the way out of the empty room. Her shoulders were stiff though, as if she expected me to plunge a knife between them. I sneered. Of the two of us, she was the proven backstabber.
Erin went to room 812 and, with a quick look at me, knocked on the door. We waited. No answer. She knocked again, a bit harder.
“Dev? It’s Erin and Matt. Are you there?”
Still nothing.
“You want me to knock?” I asked innocently.
Her back went perfectly straight. “I think if he was in there, he would have answered.”
“Not if he’s slipped in the shower and cracked his head open.”
“I’m pretty sure he hasn’t slipped—”
Tired of this game, I shoved her aside and blew the door in.
“Oh look, it was open all along.” I went in.
Swearing under her breath, Erin followed.
The room proved to be as empty as the first one. I knew it was definitely Dev’s because there was his jacket hanging on the back of a chair and a packet of burn dressings in the bathroom.
“No sign of disturbance,” Erin said because apparently she was the only one with eyes.
“He hasn’t been back since yesterday morning.”
One eyebrow raised, she asked, “How can you be so sure?”
I pointed to the untouched bottle of Bundaberg Rum on the bench, a ‘With Compliments’ card tied around the neck. “He was pretty keen to have that waiting for him when he got back. If he’d been back, he would’ve opened it for at least one drink.”
“That’s pretty thin. Maybe he didn’t feel like a drink.”
“And maybe he gave up and went home.”
Erin glared. “All right. Let’s go.” She did, however, pull out a business card, scrawled ‘call me’ on it and left it beside the rum.
As Erin walked out, I swiped the card and put it in my pocket. Then grabbed the rum as well and followed her.