"Horror?"
He shrugged. "Something like that."
"He's playing with you, my dear," Ida said. "He can't help you."
"Oh, yes, I can," Patrick said. "Not in here, though. Too many nosy senior citizens. How about we take a walk to the park, and you can test my knowledge of arcane occult trivia. See how helpful I can be."
"I need to be back by five," I said as I rose. I could feel Ida's and Walter's chilly displeasure, but with Gabriel gone, I couldn't afford to turn down help.
I murmured a good-bye to the others, and let Patrick lead me from the diner.
Coexistence
Patrick glanced back at the old folks as he shuttled Olivia out the door. Their scowls deepened, just in case he was unaware of how much they disapproved. He knew, of course--he lived under a perpetual cloud of their disapproval.
It had been like this since they'd settled Cainsville. He'd been the sole dissenting voice when they'd devised their silly rules for coexisting with the boinne-fala. They had presumed he would come around, and eventually do things their way. He had not. He never would. Which annoyed them to no end. T
hey could simply have asked him to leave. That, however, would be ... unwise.
Yet it was his very flouting of the rules that allowed him to waltz off with their prize today. He had to laugh at their clumsy attempts to discover Olivia's progress. She looked at them and saw old people, beyond the ability to help, particularly with something so disturbing. It might stop their aged hearts.
They were curious, of course. Concerned, too. Would Olivia find anything? Was there anything to find? The problem was that none of them knew. When Pamela Bowen and Todd Larsen were arrested for killing those four couples, the elders of Cainsville heard only rumors of what had happened, from those who lived outside the town. They helped when they could, like the brunaidh who gave Grace's address to Olivia or the spriggan who scared her out of Chicago. Both had been quick to contact the elders, like eager puppies expecting a scratch behind the ears. They might not live here, but they knew it was wise to ingratiate themselves with the residents of Cainsville.
Now Olivia was investigating her parents' crimes. Gabriel was helping ... Or he had been. Their apparent estrangement concerned Patrick, which was terribly annoying. He hated to be concerned. It wasn't in his nature. He had a soft spot for Gabriel, though, more than he usually did for his epil. If Olivia was to discover anything of interest, it would behoove Gabriel to be there, at her side, to reap the benefits.
Patrick hoped the situation between them would resolve itself. He was sure it would. But if it didn't, he might give it a little push.
Chapter Forty-five
"So you write horror?" I said as we walked to the park.
"No. Paranormal romance."
I glanced over.
A mock-offended look. "You think I'm kidding?"
"I'm not sure, because I have no idea what that is."
"Exactly what it sounds like. Vampires, demons, witches, and the like. With romance. It's a hot market."
"So you're trying to break in by writing it?"
"Break in? I have six books out already. How do you think I can afford to sit in a diner typing all day?"
"Sorry. You just seem young to be published."
"I'm older than I look."
We turned onto the path to the park.
"Do you publish under a pseudonym?" I asked.
"Have to, being a guy writing romance. Shall I tell you my pen name, so you can pretend you'll get one from the library? Let things become horribly awkward when you don't and I ask how you liked it?"
"So you won't tell me your pseudonym?"
"I'll do one better. I'll bring a copy of my latest to the diner. Just to make it even more awkward, because you won't have any excuse for not reading it."