Page 63 of The Seeker
“Nothing.” He saw the turnoff for the research center and moved to the right lane. “I’m making a joke.”
“Is that what that was? I’ll keep an eye out for them from now on.” She cleared her throat. “And yes, my parents might have been considering you as a potential mate for me. They believe in arranged mating.”
“Mighthave been? I think I’m still in the running.” He tapped the steering wheel and muttered, “Fairly sure your mum approves of me.” He couldn’t stop the smug smile.
Meera continued speaking as if he’d said nothing. “Which of course means nothing to me. I make up my own mind about these matters, and right now our focus should be on finding Atawakabiche and healing Sabine, not my mating status.”
“But you did kiss me.”
Her lips twitched.
Rhys smiled. “And you’re thinking about doing it again.”
“Can we focus on this biologist, please?” She sounded flustered. “You said she had information that might narrow the search zone.”
Rhys could live with flustered for a while.
“She tracks bird populations in the basin,” he said, “so they have monitoring stations set up throughout the swamp. They’re remotely operated, and all the recordings are stored here. I have a theory.”
“Which is?”
He spotted a small brown sign for the center nearly hidden behind Spanish moss. “I’ll explain after we see a map of the stations. I don’t want my theory to influence your observations. We’re almost there.”
“Very well.” She opened a small backpack and checked several notebooks she’d tucked inside. “I’ll bring my notes if you don’t mind. This is an avenue I hadn’t considered before.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” He drove slowly down the narrowing road, watching for rough spots as Meera fussed with her backpack and checked the points on her pencils. “I think I might keep calling you princess.”
“Please don’t.”
“I make no promises.” He reached over to the back seat and slapped Roch’s knee. “Wake up, Cajun. We need you to speak to your people so they don’t feed us to the alligators.”
Roch didn’t open his eyes, but he was awake enough to flip Rhys off.
Becki the bird biologist was,in a word, delightful. It was clear she didn’t often come in contact with people as excited about bird population tracking as she was. Of course, she thought Rhys and Meera were visiting researchers from England and Roch was acting as their guide.
“As far as whooping cranes go, the wild population hasn’t rebounded in the Atchafalaya.” The petite Caucasian woman with a slight Cajun accent ushered Rhys, Meera, and Roch down a hall framed by pictures of researchers in various habitats. Becki was in a few of them, but there were also three men who appeared in many, along with large groups of what looked like community or volunteer groups.
“Where has it rebounded?” Rhys asked.
“Southwest Louisiana right now,” Becki said. “The flock that’s there is a result of a federal reintroduction program. Some success, but it’s been limited. So while we occasionally get excited by a call that might be a whooping crane, for right now we’re focused on monitoring other species.”
Meera was looking at a picture of a large group in narrow boats and kayaks. “You do a lot of work with the local communities about cleaning the swamps?”
“The bayous are where there are more cleanup operations,” Becki said. “Bayous and rivers have more open water, so they get more traffic from people. People equal trash.”
“Indeed.” Rhys stopped to examine one male researcher posing with a metallic-and-plastic contraption with antenna sticking up. “Is this one of the listening stations you utilize?”
Becki walked back to Rhys and nodded. “Sure is. We have these scattered all over the basin. They take weather readings, record birdcalls, and we’re gradually setting all of them up with camera traps.”
“How many?”
Becki blew out a measured breath. “We put a new one out every time we get funding. I’m not sure what the exact number currently is, but I can show you a map.”
Rhys smiled. “That would be helpful. We’re considering setting up a similar program in Yorkshire, and I’m specifically looking at what kind of coverage would be necessary.”
She waved them toward a set of double doors. “Then come on back. I’ll pull up a map.”
Meera walked over to Rhys as Roch chatted with Becki about local news.
