-37: Along the River-

Naturally, Kureo hustled us out of the office and back through his favorite side door like a kid dragging his parents through an amusement park. Thus far the closest I had been to the main entrance was when we had first discussed the students in the lobby. Given the equipment there, it was probably for the best. Even noting that ugly truth, I couldn't help but enjoy the weather; cool and crisp, with the slightest of breezes. One of the better climates to be stuck wearing a suit in

The 'riverside' looked more like an open-air storm drain than river; it was sunk down in a trench about ten feet below street level and was only accessible via a set of metal bars embedded into the concrete. Truly a classy design, if one had a thing for the crudely efficient.

Descending, I felt something...unsettling. Was it knowing that this would end in yet another death? Was it the yawning cavern created by the nearby bridge? Was it knowing I'd be working in close proximity to the socially acceptable serial killer?

Too close of a race to call. Kureo was steadily becoming a bigger burden on my being able to stay detached from this case.

"Guess we'll each take a bank." I noted. At least the water was mostly clear.

"Rock paper scissors, loser takes the far bank?"

I had to do a double-take; that was a sentence I never expected to come out of Amon's mouth. Also unexpected was the swift loss he handed me.

Now I had to cross ankle deep water. Eh, its not all bad, these aren't my best shoes anyway—but you should've brought boots instead of dressy footwear. I went through the underpass first, following Amon's lead. The banks were about three feet wide on either side, so I doubted we'd find anything as overt as a campsite or even a bedroll. Under the bridge was even more confined, with a row of fat columns spaced out across the middle of the current. The whole space was almost like an urban cave

The whole space was oddly barren; no graffiti on the concrete, no mud on the concrete riverbank, and not a single wrapper or any other trash. Lack of garbage items wouldn't be an indicator of the child's presence; ghouls didn't exactly need to stop at convenience stores for a snack.

"Anything on your side?" Amon's voice bounced weirdly off the concrete.

"Not even trash."

We emerged on the other side into a much more pedestrian-friendly area; wide and steep but accessible banks, with walkways up top. This would've been an easier way to get down to the river for a child and certainly less conspicuous than climbing down a maintenance ladder. The river itself here was about twice as wide, but still quite shallow. Looking up for a change, I noted that it had gotten a bit cloudier since we had descended to the river.

"Is it usually this low?" I called across the trickle.

"The river? Usually, but when it rains it gets high really fast."

Which meant that she couldn't have been down here the day Kureo…happened.

"I'm going to make a second pass and head back" Amon declared.

I gave him a thumbs up and followed his lead back in. finding nothing again wasn't a surprise; this space was confined, yeah, but there was basically nowhere to hide unless somebody squeezed up against a pillar and hoped for the best.

Next, we followed the current down in the other direction. Again, nothing. After watching divers retrieve evidence from the Chicago river, the cleanliness felt weird. This wasn't even a river. It was just a glorified storm drain with barely three inches of water. Maybe I was spoiled a bit from working in a city with a shipping channel.

"Find anything?" Kureo queried, as I sloshed across the stream to rejoin the duo.

"Not even trash." I repeated.

"So, as expected then; a prank." Amon gave a rock a halfhearted kick. "The student's identities were fake and the information was bullshit."

"That may be true." Kureo shrugged, as if finding out his clothes needed a bit more drying time. "Better to check and be disappointed, rather than miss out on a good lead. My apologies about getting your shoes wet, Allen."

"They'll dry out fine. Should've brought boots for this trip anyway." I probably should buy boots at some point.

"Still," Kureo continued, "you and Amon can go ahead and head out; it's getting late."

He was right there; it had gotten darker since we had arrived, between encroaching cloud cover and dusk.

"What are you going to do?" Amon looked up from buttoning his jacket.

"I have an idea."

Four words scarier than 'the explosive is unstable'.

-Author's Note-

Bonus reading today! Instead of taking up page space, I've put it up in the forum.

topic/213523/172597421/1/Ch37-Bonus-Common-Searches-on-the-BGA-Informational-Website