I licked cannoli cream from my finger. “So you left them in Switzerland with the mad scientist?”
“Basically, but I’m not buying that she can help them. Just doesn’t fit, you know?”
I shrugged. “What else is there?”
“You. You were asking about different supernatural things, but that was only what Reilly knew. What if there was something he didn’t know about?”
“Very possibly.”
“Okay, so what is it?”
I shrugged. “No idea. I’m not a divining rod, here. But I’ll give you your money’s worth, here,” I waved at the empty takeout containers. “First, someone did this to him deliberately through some means, he just didn’t see anyone. Second, he interacted with something that did this to him, and he didn’t recognize that it was a thing. Mystical artifacts can look like anything. Third, well, there really is no third that I can think of, right now. But your options are basically the same when it comes to figuring this out: Go back to the source. You’ll need to go back to where he got whammied and see what’s what.”
I stuffed the last of the cannoli into my mouth, chomping away at it as she thought about what I said.
“Okay. That makes sense. Knew coming back to talk to you was the right move. So I can have us in the Dakotas in less than an hour. Let’s go.”
“Whoa there, slow your lobster roll. This fee, as good as it has been, is not enough to drag me behind lightning bolts at terrifying altitudes for the likes of Reilly Hawkins and Jack Dailey. You go and check it all out. Take pictures, we’ll do the video phone thing, and I’ll consult from here, okay?”
“Coward?”
“Smart and fiscally-minded,” I corrected.
“Next time I’ll bring a bigger fee.”
“Much bigger,” I said. “But I still may not take the case. I really do not like flying Storm Rider Class.”