Who: Ford Harper What: Pondering some information in his possession When: Friday, May 24, 2019 | late morning Where: His rental house Warnings: None
Ford had spent the week mostly holed up in his rental house, resting and doing some not-so-light internet stalking. He'd started with his primary assignment, which was looking into the increasing population of cross-breeds in Snowcap. Well, that wasn't precisely his assignment, but more the enticement for it. He had something pro-Being to say in pretty much every podcast he did, but no reason to talk about this area of the country in particular until his new sponsor had brought it up—with the additional lure of information about his twin brother, who had been elusive up to that point. Except now he wasn't quite sure what he was doing.
He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, which was a printout of names, and then looked at the search results on his computer screen: the AWC Being Registry. Given that it was a government database, it wouldn't have surprised him if the location data wasn't entirely up to date. Even with that, he wouldn't have expected a huge discrepancy. And even with that...how had his benefactors gotten a list of Beings who were supposedly located in the Snowcap area if not from the Registry?
For one, Rory was on his printed list, but not on the Registry, even when he searched by name. There were a handful of others, too, people he'd met or heard discussed who were not actually Registered.
He tapped his fingers lightly on the keys without actually pressing them down, something he often did when he was thinking. He normally wouldn't have taken an anonymous sponsorship in the first place, but this one had come recommended from one of his best regular sponsors—Imps for Inclusion—and they had excellent sources to back up their desire to fund him.
And, well, could anyone blame him for being distracted by finding Thorne?
Ford grimaced at that thought and closed the lid of the laptop a little too hard. Even excusing that particular wizard's behavior, something wasn't right about this whole setup. Sure, he wanted to help the pro-Being movement. He'd already been drawn into local discussions around it, and that was all for the good. But the idea that this group had the names of people that the government did not? Not only that, but they'd handed them to Ford without any thought toward those individuals' privacy. Even if it ultimately aided the greater good, he was not okay with outing anyone who didn't want to be outed. As he'd told Kimiko, he wasn't that kind of broadcaster.
He'd understood all along that this sponsor had ulterior motives. They all did. Even Imps paid him mostly because it benefited their organization, and he'd known its director on a personal level for years. It was the way of things. This was the first time that he hadn't understood what that benefit might be.
He folded the list back up and tucked it into its hiding place in his suitcase. There was still time to figure it out. For now, he needed food and his refrigerator was starting to look a little bare.