The Pepper in the Gumbo (Men of Cane River #1)(65)

“Then why the sparkly vampire impression?” At Paul’s look of confusion Andy said, “You know, dead guy wants live girl, they can’t be together and so he exiles himself away from humanity.”

Paul stood up. “I’m not in exile. I just get tired of being stopped everywhere I go and harassed.”

“You didn’t mind it so much until she filed those papers.” Andy stretched out in the chair, hanging one leg over the arm.

He shot him a look. “It just brought it home, that’s all. She’s serious about fighting the store even though I thought she might be softening up toward it.”

“No, buddy. She was softening up toward you. Big difference,” Andy said. “You have to hand it to her. She stands by her convictions. Any of the other girls you’ve dated would have given up whatever hang-ups they had way before now.”

Paul walked to the window and looked out at the river. “We’re not dating.”

“Whatever it is. And please don’t call it hooking up.”

“No worries. Not saying anything.”

“Okay, you’re not a bad roommate, but I’ve got to get some gear in here.” Andy heaved a sigh. “I feel like I’m being forced into the life of a Luddite hermit, only with Southern food and a cranky hutmate.”

“The cable’s being hooked up today.” He couldn’t resist a smile at Andy’s description. He wasn’t a social butterfly but he was a far cry from a hermit. They still had their laptops running from a mobile hotspot, but Andy needed his bandwidth. You just couldn’t run the big raids on a spotty connection.

“Thank you,” Andy said, lifting his hands in the air. “I was about to book tickets home.

I’d go commercial just to get somewhere that supports streaming bit torrents. Don’t worry, I’d come back for the opening.”

Paul came back to the chair and said, “About the opening…”

Sitting up, Andy fixed him with a look. “Oh, I don’t like that expression. Are you thinking of canceling all of this? Can your Chief Technical Officer remind you of how much we’ve invested in this project?”

“No, don’t worry.” Paul frowned. He wouldn’t say it hadn’t occurred to him, but he still had a little bit of logic left in his brain. “I was thinking of a new strategy for the opening. A sort of scavenger hunt.”

“Sure, okay. I’ve seen those before. People usually start a week ahead and go everywhere on the list, and then at the opening they show the pictures of themselves at the site, or bring something, and then get a special prize.” He grinned. “I actually like this idea. You’ve got all sorts of inside knowledge. You could send these people into some pretty weird places, like frog gigging, or whatever you were threatening me with.”

“Right.” He cleared his throat. Those plans he’d made back in New York City seemed a lifetime away. “But I have an idea for the big granddaddy treasure.”

“Catch a catfish with your bare hands?”

“No, but that’s a good one. I was thinking of Alice’s necklace being the last on the list.”

Andy sat back. He didn’t say anything for a moment. “The one she lost? How would that work?”

“Look, we know that it’s somewhere between here and city hall. Think of all the people we could get looking for it. We went up and down the boardwalk a few times, but think of the hundreds of gamers that come to the opening.” Paul knew it sounded ridiculous.

“Why not just offer money? We could offer a reward and half the town would be out there.”

“No.” Paul remembered Charlie’s change of attitude. “Money is a good way to get attention, but to find this thing, we’re going to need some real detail-oriented people. We need them to show up, armed with treasure-hunting gear.”

“All for a bonus pack and a free passport to the outer worlds? I can’t see that happening.” Unless you’re going to fly in bigger celebrities, which will be hard to get, last minute.”

“I was thinking of offering an early-access the a pass to all the bonus prizes. The player wouldn’t have to repeat any raids because the rare-spawn would just drop right out of the wall. Any special gear or power, automatic.”

His words dropped into the middle of the room like stones down a mine shaft. He watched Andy’s face go from amusement to incredulity and then worry. “You’re serious.”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.” Andy slumped into the chair. “Wow.”

“I know it’s a crazy idea but―”

“No, it’s a good idea. I bet it would work.”

“So, you agree?”

Andy looked over at him. “If I said not to, you wouldn’t listen to me.”

“I would.” Paul fought the disappointment. He’d wanted Andy to be on board.

“No, you wouldn’t. You’re a goner. This girl has…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what she did but you’re sunk. Nothing I can say would change that.”

“I just want to help her find her necklace.”

“Why? What’s so important about it?” Andy burst out. “You can’t fix the entire world, Paul. People lose things. It happens. What about the time I left my favorite watch in that London hotel room and I never got it back. You didn’t offer an early-access pass for that.”