Page 50 of Smoky Lake

“Ill?” Nyx narrowed his eyes. “What kind of ill?”

“Feverish. Rambling. Sweating. Does that mean something to you?”

Nyx folded his lips together and shook his head. “I told you I don’t want to get him in trouble.”

Ani leaned forward and spoke more urgently. “Then give us some idea of where to find him. That’s all we want.”

When he didn’t answer, Gil wanted to throw something at the wall, like maybe that leftover vindaloo. At least that mess would be easier to clean up.

He shifted gears. “Why do you think Victor could be in trouble? Has he done something wrong?”

Nyx glared at him. “Why would I fucking tell you that even if he did?”

“Okay. Okay. Let’s start somewhere else. What were you working on with Victor?”

Relaxing, Nyx finally answered a question. “We have a research grant to study the relationship between mycelium and permafrost. Mycelium is my area of study, that’s why he hired me.”

“Mycelium?”

“Fungus. Mushrooms,” he said impatiently. “There’s a whole world under your feet, a massive network of billions of miles of mycelium. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies, and that’s generally the only part we see. Victor wanted to learn more about how mycelium behaves in permafrost conditions. That’s the official grant.”

Official grant. That phrasing struck Gil as odd. Was there an unofficial study going on at the same time?

He thought about the pouch of notes. Maybe they had stumbled across some kind of hallucinogenic mushroom during the course of their research, and Nyx was worried it would get them into trouble.

Should he show Nyx the notes?

Why hadn’t Victor at any point mentioned Nyx—to Gil on the phone, or to Ani in the note he’d tucked into her pocket? Don’t trust anyone.

He decided not to share the notes just yet.

“What exactly was Victor working on at the Smoky Lake Institute? Did you hear what happened to it?”

Nyx’s face closed up. “Yeah. That sucks.”

Something about his reaction struck Gil as off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “What was he working on there?” he prompted.

“Look, you two should just leave this alone. Whatever Victor’s into, it’s his business. He knows what he’s doing.”

Without a doubt, this guy knew something. Gil just had to shake him up. “Does he know that he could have been exposed to a zombie virus?”

Nyx’s chair, which he’d been tilting on its back legs, came crashing to the floor. “Who told you that?”

“So you knew.”

Nyx looked at him as if he was an idiot. “You’re really in over your head here. Of course I knew.”

“How? Did the CDC test him?”

Nyx didn’t answer. Gil pushed further.

“Is that what he was working on in Firelight Ridge? Some kind of indigenous plant-based treatment?”

That would make sense, but then why wasn’t he in contact with the CDC instead of running from them?

Ani took over, stepping into the “good cop” role—or maybe the attractive, slightly older woman role, judging by the glint in Nyx’s eye. “I hope you weren’t exposed too, Nyx. Were you working in that area as well?”

Nyx snorted. “I’m not worried about that.”

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