Nick Iacoletti (cookedbooks) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-05-30 11:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, #group scene, chris, kenzie, nick |
Who: Kenzie, Chris and Nick
When: Late morning, Tuesday, December 19th
Where: Juniper Inn
Status: complete
After her early morning jog, Kenzie showered and changed into comfortable clothing before venturing down into the empty dining room. There was still coffee so she made herself a cup and carried it to the large windows facing the backyard of the inn. There was a gazebo, and plenty of trees. Kenzie supposed it was really pretty to look at in the summer, but right now there was just bare branches and snow. She supposed some might find the view just as beautiful as when everything was green and bright, but these kind of days always made her miss Atlanta.
After a few minutes, Kenzie carried her coffee upstairs to grab a few notebooks out of her room. She and Chris planned to meet Nick this morning at a reasonable hour, but given the sensitive nature of their work, they couldn’t exactly go out for breakfast, or talk in the dining room. At least the bedrooms were nice, with enough seating for the three of them.
Moments later she knocked on Nick’s door, wondering if she should have checked on Chris first. Then again, he was pretty efficient and reliable in terms of work, so it was possible that he was already with Nick and she was the straggler.
Finding out that there were two agents from his employer that had arrived in town was both unsurprising and made Nick a little nervous. He knew they were probably there because of what he’d reported about Point Pleasant, but he couldn’t help but feel a little like they were there to monitor him too. He wasn’t sure if that concern was just because it had never happened before, or weird guilt from getting involved with one of the local cops or helping the werewolf. They’d mostly been doing their own thing, but it was past time for all three of them to sit down and have a real meeting.
Nick was up and dressed and ready with his laptop open and folders spread over the king size bed when the knock came at his door. He gave Kenzie a quick smile of greeting and stepped back so she could come inside. “Mornin’,” he said. He had a little single-cup coffee maker in his room, since he’d been there so long, and Nick made his way over to get it going. Kenzie had hers, but he needed some. “Is it just gonna be you?”
Kenzie returned Nick's smile and stepped inside before nudging the door shut with her heel. "No, Washburn should be here any minute. He might have gone out for some real coffee," she explained, walking over to the desk in the corner to set her things down. Or he was just running a few minutes behind, who knew. Kenzie was sure Nick had probably been a bit curious about why she and Chris were there, but he hadn't outright asked them. Kenzie didn't like to think that they were monitoring Nick as much as they were helping him. They had their own things to look into, and she felt like they were much stronger acting as a unit, especially in a place with a reputation like the one Point Pleasant had.
Kenzie sat in the desk chair and flipped open one of her notebooks before glancing over at Nick. "What do you think of this place? The inn, I mean. Have you been comfortable here?"
“Aw, I coulda saved him the trouble,” Nick murmured, but it didn’t really matter. He’d met Novak and Washburn only in passing until now, so he hoped his first impressions of them not being huge assholes didn’t end up being wrong. Once his own coffee was brewing, he went to sit on the corner of the mattress, idly tapping his big hands against the edge of it between his legs. “It’s comfortable, yeah. Not too drafty, the staff is nice and unobtrusive. It’s haunted though. I’ve only seen manifestations once, and judging by some reports I heard around town, there was a rash of sightings that night, so I think it might’ve been a town-wide phenomenon. Those seem to happen on the regular around here.”
"I think you may be right that it's haunted," Kenzie said, her fingers itching to pick up her pen and scribble in her notebook about those manifestations. She was sure Nick had already written all of that down. "I've had some strange experiences in my bedroom since moving in. Nothing that feels unsafe, but there's definitely an energy in the building that's not natural." The occurrences happened mostly in her bathroom, but it wasn't restricted to that space. "I thought I might ask some of the staff, you know, as a wide eyed journalist." She grinned and brought her coffee up to her lips to take a sip. "How are you getting on yourself? Are you getting enough material for a decent book?"
Nick chuckled deeply, Kenzie’s grin making him feel a bit more at ease. He got along much better with people who had a sense of humor. “They’re gonna start wonderin’ about this influx of writers,” he joked. “But yeah, I’m doing good here. Honestly, I could write like five books about this place, there’s so much. You and Washburn are gonna be busy.” He’d already been busy, and he didn’t have near the training or resources that these two did. Nick was just a scout, more or less. It just happened to help his career too.
As if summoned by the mention of his name, there was another knock at the door. Chris had gotten up a little later than Kenzie, but instead of going out to exercise -- it was so fucking cold, he’d really gotten thin-skinned down in Georgia -- he’d gone to get coffee and bagels. When Nick let him in, Chris could smell that one of those wasn’t needed, but hey, they could all use some food, right? He nodded at the big man and went to plunk the bag and drink carrier down on the dresser. “Got some grub,” he said.
Kenzie might have had coffee already, but she would definitely eat a bagel. Hell, if there was extra coffee, she would take that too. Not that the inn's coffee was terrible, it just wasn't strong enough for her liking. "We were just talking about the inn," she told Chris. "Have you had anything strange happen in you room since we've been here?" She saw Chris much more than she had seen Nick so far, but they were generally working and Kenzie could only imagine what Chris might tease her about if she showed up at his door telling him she needed to "inspect his room" for supernatural occurrences. Especially knowing he was perfectly capable of doing it himself.
Since he’d bought it, Chris dug into the bagel bag first, grabbing one and a napkin and one of the little packs of cream cheese that had come along with them. He plucked his coffee out of the holder and went to plop down into the room’s only other chair. Propping one ankle up on his knee, he made a little makeshift table in his lap out of the thick file folder he’d had tucked under his arm and hummed a thoughtful noise. “A couple of cold spots,” he said, glancing between Kenzie and Nick. “One in the bathroom, one by the door. But nothing besides that. You guys?” Chris started smearing cream cheese. He was starving and he needed brain fuel before they got into all of this.
Nick had at least a semblance of manners and didn’t dig into the bagel bag right away so Kenzie could pick first. His coffee maker had burbled that it was done, so he went to get his mug ready instead. “I’ve had a couple of actual sightings, I was telling Agent Novak,” he said in the meantime. “One with a skeptical witness. But they both happened on the same day, I think it was pretty widespread. Other than that ... just the general vibe, a few bumps in the night. What one would expect.”
Kenzie peered into the bag for a moment before she pulled out one of the plain bagels. She didn't opt for any cream cheese. Too fattening. But she sat with a napkin and pulled a tiny piece from the side to pop into her mouth. "We'll be working in close vicinity for a while, so you can call me Kenzie if you feel comfortable with it," she told Nick. They would probably have to get used to it anyway, especially if they ever wanted to have a conversation in public. "But I've had some cold spots, some footsteps, or what sounds like footsteps, on the carpet. I woke up the other night around three in the morning because it sounded like someone taking a bath in my room, but..." Obviously no one had been there, and the tub had been empty. Kenzie looked over at Chris. "I was telling Nick, if I can call you Nick," she added with a glance in his direction, "that nothing felt unsafe or ominous about it. At least not yet, but it's something we should probably keep an eye on."
Chris wasn’t one for formalities, so he was more than happy to avoid the whole ‘agent’ and ‘Mr.’ bullshit. They were colleagues, even if Nick was further down the totem pole than he and Kenzie were. It didn’t matter. His mouth was full of bagel and coffee, so he just grunted his agreement for the moment. It would be pretty easy to keep an eye on the hotel they were staying in, and he agreed that nothing had felt threatening so far, but that wasn’t always a constant. Things could turn on a dime.
“Nick’s fine, yeah,” Nick told Kenzie with a lopsided smile. He picked a bagel himself and went to sit on the bed again. “Honestly, this inn will probably be the least of your worries. There’s much more than your garden-variety ghosts going on in this town. Did uh ... did they give you guys any kind of briefing before you came? I’ve been sending in reports regularly ...” Nick glanced between the two of them again, his eyebrow lifted.
Kenzie chewed slowly and glanced at Chris briefly before she nodded and washed down her bite with a bit of coffee before speaking. "They did. Most of it is classified. But we read the reports that you sent." They couldn't discuss everything with Nick, but given he had been here first, and for quite some time already, it didn't make much sense to withhold everything from him. "I think the disappearances are the most troubling at the moment. We have a few other things we need to check on, but I did some research on the tunnel in the woods behind the trailer park. Have you been there?"
Nick knew he might not be privy to everything, but he thought he’d done a pretty good job of scouting so far, and there were aspects of this town that he was dying to know more about. Not all of it could be put into any books of his, of course -- he and the organization had worked all of that out when he first started, and Nick had signed enough NDAs to give a lawyer an ulcer -- but that didn’t mean he didn’t personally want to know things. He nodded a bit and leaned to grab one of the folders spread out on the comforter and offered it out to Kenzie. “I’ve been to the mouth of it, yeah,” he said. “Took a few pictures. Compiled a history, if you have any gaps. There’s been a lotta bad shit go down there.”
Kenzie leaned forward to take the folder from Nick. "This is helpful, thank you." She did have some gaps, as she usually did before she visited an area in person. "I was planning on taking a trip out there today, since the weather seems to have calmed down for a bit." She probably wasn't prepared for a very thorough search of the tunnel just yet, but she definitely wanted to get a feel for it and take some notes. "Have you made many connections in town? Is there anyone you think we should keep eye on, or speak to? Anyone helpful?"
Nick nodded a bit. Being out by Cooperdale had given him the heebies, but they were all professionals here, so he didn’t say so. Not to mention there were two of them and only one of Nick. Having company always seemed to help nerves. “I’m uh, friendly with one of the cops here,” he admitted, though Nick made it sound more casual than it probably was. “She’s a skeptic though. Or was, until she saw a ghost in front of her face.” He chuckled faintly. “The head librarian, Honeycutt, he knows a ton, and he’s more than happy to tell you all about it. The guy who landscapes the cemetery, also got a big mouth. As for keeping an eye ... nobody really solid yet. There are a couple shops in town that I’m pretty sure are fronts for witchcraft dealings, there’s one really creepy place that never seems open ... there’s the werewolf activity, but no solid leads on that one yet. Definitely some strange characters wandering around town, it’s even got its own crazy street preacher, fire and brimstone and everything.”
Chris listened while he nommed on his bagel and sipped his coffee, taking mental notes. He and Kenzie had talked about the tunnel, and he was kind of eager to go up there himself. Especially since it had stopped snowing. This wasn’t the ideal time of year to do this shit, but it was what it was. “You talk to any of the people who vanished as kids and then showed back up?” he asked, then clucked his tongue when Nick shook his head no.
Being friendly with any area law enforcement tended to make their jobs much easier, so she didn't think much on it that Nick had made that particular contact. She picked up the pen she had attached to the front of her notebook and began to scribble the information down. Honeycutt. Cemetery landscaper. Caretaker? Whichever. Werewolves, witchcraft, ghosts. This town was like Stephen King's wet dream come to life. Well, shit, he already had a few Maine towns he wrote about, didn't he? Kenzie's lips twitched into a private smile before she turned back to Nick and Chris. "We have a few names," she admitted, "but I know as soon as we approach them, they might get skittish and refuse to talk. Or they're run, thinking we belong to... well." Kenzie shook her head and tore off another small piece of her bagel. "I think there are a handful of people to talk to, and more to observe for a while. But I think a visit to the tunnel today is the first step. You don't have to come if you don't want to," she told Nick, "but it might be nice to have a guide."
Nick nodded his understanding. He’d read quite a bit about all the disappearances around this place, of course, but it hadn’t been his main focus just yet. There was so much, he hadn’t actually found a main focus, honestly. It was hard to know where to start. Nick looked a little surprised at the semi-invitation from Kenzie. He hadn’t known what to expect from them, but part of him had been sure they would just swoop in and take all his information and leave him out of everything after that. “I can get you there, for sure,” Nick told her. “And I wouldn’t mind poking around up there again myself, so ... yeah, sure.”
Chris didn’t quite think they needed a guide, the place was on their maps and everything, but he didn’t protest. Six eyes were better than four, he supposed. He finished off his bagel and brushed his fingers off on the napkin before draining the last of his coffee as well. Chris stood up to throw his trash away. “Sounds like a plan,” he said. “Probably oughta do it while the weather’s clear, it’s supposed to snow some more in a couple days. And y’know ... we’ll need daylight.” He’d heard enough about that place to not want to be there at night, even if that ended up happening eventually. Not for a first scout, for sure.
Kenzie knew she hadn't needed to include Nick, and she had no intention of letting him in on everything she and Chris were assigned to do, but it didn't hurt to have someone take them out to the tunnel, someone who had been there before. Nick could be beneficial to them in small doses. It was simply easier if they all trusted each other. "So we go now," Kenzie told Chris. "The weather looks clear enough right now. At least then we get a feel for the place. I know a woman allegedly went missing there... what, a little over a week ago?" She needed to check her notes. Kenzie eyed Chris and then Nick. "That is unless you two had other plans."
“About a week, yeah,” Nick answered, then gave Kenzie a faint grin. “I cleared up my packed schedule just for y’all, so I’m good to go whenever.” He really had nothing else to do. He could’ve found something, of course, he always did, but Nick didn’t mind escorting them up to Cooperdale. He wasn’t sure they would actually find anything of interest, but you never knew. Nick finished his own coffee and stood up to get his coat and everything. “I’ve got a roomy SUV rented, I can drive if you want.”
Kenzie knew better than to assume they could immediately walk into a troubled situation and find all the answers they needed to remedy it. But she liked to know what she was dealing with, and getting a feel for this town was her number one priority. Generally things began to fall into place from there. Their superiors expected to be updated and often, and Kenzie wanted to make sure she and Chris had something to send them before they even had to ask. At Nick's offer to drive, Kenzie looked at Chris and arched a brow. "What do you think, Washburn?" He had been quiet, letting Nick and Kenzie run the conversation, but she knew he occasionally felt territorial over a case and Kenzie wasn't entirely sure what Chris thought of Nick just yet.
Chris had gathered up his folders to tuck under his arm again, assuming they would go over other things at a later time, and he cocked a slightly surprised eyebrow at Kenzie. Being asked to give his opinion didn’t happen all the time, especially on small details. His gaze ticked to Nick and then back. “I’m fine with riding. Man’s got the room and knows where he’s goin’.” Riding along also gave him more opportunity to actually look around, so he didn’t care. Chris flashed them both a smile and clapped Nick on the arm before he headed for the door. “Let’s get this fuckin’ party started.”
With a faint chuckle, Nick grabbed his keys and phone and followed suit, but made room for Kenzie to walk out in front of him. It was going to be an interesting few months for sure. Or for however long the organization kept them all there. They might just decide to nuke the whole town from orbit, and Nick knew they’d just barely scratched the surface of weirdness in this place.
Kenzie gathered her own things, including what Nick had handed over, and followed. She would need to stop in her room for her coat, but otherwise, she was more than happy to get going. To work. Checking out the locations of interest, getting to know some of the locals, and the law enforcement. Nick might have an in there if he had struck up a friendship with one. Her mind was going over every possible angle and she had to admit, Point Pleasant intrigued her. It wasn't like flying to Chicago, or some hick town in Alabama because of an isolated anomaly. This was an entire town of weird and their superiors had given her the job. Well, she and Chris. Once she had her coat and hat, Kenzie met the two men in the lobby, her bag on her shoulder. Notebook, camera, phone. Among a few other things. "Shotgun," she told Chris, smacking his arm lightly as she walked by. Then she turned to Nick as they headed for his rental. "What about the cop you've friended? How many do they have on the force?" In a town this small, she couldn't imagine there were many.
Chris made his own stop by his room to grab his winter gear, but he made faster work of it than Kenzie, so he was down there idly chatting with Nick when she arrived. He gave a huff and rolled his eyes behind her back when she called shotgun, but it was in an affectionate way. He wouldn’t have put her in the back anyway. And if he bump-nudged her a bit from behind as they all walked toward the door, then it was totally an accident.
Nick smirked a bit at their quasi-flirting and held the door for Kenzie, answering as they filed outside. “Officer Madison Pierce, yeah. She’s a deputy. The force is pretty small, roughly a dozen of them, which isn’t much when you spread it out over three shifts, y’know? They seem overworked, especially with as many people who go missing around here. When I showed up a little girl had just disappeared, right outta her front yard. Still no sign of her. But Mads is a good source -- she honestly gives a shit, and she’s startin’ to believe in the things most people don’t.” Nick led the way to his big black SUV and hit the key fob to unlock the doors so they could pile in.
Kenzie wanted to grab her notebook to write all of this down, but it would have to wait. It wasn't very difficult to remember anyway, and it was possible she already had these particular details in the casefile they were given. She climbed into the SUV and set her bag down on the floorboard beneath her feet. "It's a wonder the State Police don't get more involved," she mused. "Like you said, there seems to be a lot of people who go missing here, and the cops don't seem to have the resources needed to find them all. Have you spoken to the sheriff yet?" She knew plenty about him at least. Grady Barrett. Divorced. Two kids, one of whom lived with him. He was a native of Point Pleasant despite having moved to Portland for several years, and Kenzie wanted to know what he thought about all of the strange occurrences happening in his town.
“Not yet, no,” Nick admitted with a bit of regret. He wouldn’t mind picking the sheriff’s brain himself. “Granted, I haven’t really pushed for it yet, I didn’t want to rush in there too fast. But from what Mads says, he stays pretty busy anyway.” He glanced at Chris in the rearview mirror. “Is both of your cover story journalism?” Nick assumed they would be doing everything together as a team, but who knew how these things operated the best.
Chris met his eyes and then gave a lopsided smile. “Yup, that’s us. I’m the one with the camera, I think we decided. Kenzie’s taking point on asking most of the questions, she takes better notes than me anyway. But I’ll be goin’ around with her most of the time. Right, Kenz?” Chris nudged his knee into the back of her seat a few times, like an annoying brother. “Maybe we oughta take a little road trip up to Augusta too, try and see why the Staties don’t meddle very much here.”
Kenzie said nothing, but merely arched a brow when Nick called the deputy "Mads". It seemed like an overly familiar kind of nickname and the use of it piqued Kenzie's interest as to how close the two of them actually were. Then Chris went ahead and called her Kenz, which could easily come across as just as intimate. At least to someone who didn't know them very well. Calling her Kenz, along with the nudge of his knee against the back of her seat, was just a way Chris liked to annoy her. She exhaled through her nose to keep from reacting in a way that would come across as unprofessional. This SUV was newer, and nicer, and didn't have the seat adjustment that she could just reach down and fling back to squish his long legs. These electronic seats took too long to move that it wouldn't do much but give Chris enough time to switch seats. "Right," she said after tamping down her irritation. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of turning to swat his knee. "Taking a day trip to Augusta isn't a bad idea. We may be able to find out if the organization has any contacts there. Someone who will actually talk to us." Kenzie watched the town roll by, trying to take in as much as she could. “Then again, there may be someone in this town who knows enough to talk to us without us needing to use our cover.”
When Kenzie didn’t really react to any of it, Chris quit kneeing her in the back. It was no fun when she didn’t get annoyed with him out loud. Though he supposed she was being professional or whatever, since they were with a colleague. “We can hope,” he murmured to what she said, turning his own gaze out the window to watch the town go by. “There’s at least a small field office in Augusta, I checked before we left,” he added. “Got the names of the agents there. I’m not sure if they’ll enlighten us much, but we can try.” The flow of intel in the organization was funny sometimes, and there hadn’t been much information about what level the Augusta office was operating on, but hopefully they would cooperate. Really, Chris wondered a bit why they weren’t the ones down here in Bumfuck Weirdville doing their jobs, but maybe that was another mystery to unravel.
Her lips twitched as she felt a surge of victory when Chris quit aggravating her. She didn't want Nick to think the two of them were immature or unprofessional. That didn't mean she wouldn't go out of her way to annoy the hell out of Chris later, when they were alone. Kenzie was mildly surprised to hear Chris already had the names of the agents in Augusta, but then she knew he was good at his job, and she shouldn't be so shocked when he took initiative. "We'll plan that trip soon," she said. "Once we've talked to a few people here. Maybe one of the deputies, or the sheriff, can give us some insight as to why the state police seem to be no help. The last time they got involved was..." She reached down to pluck her notebook out of her bag, flipping it open to the color coded tab. "The beginning of September. A domestic incident. Charges of attempted murder. The state police took over and then... nothing. No follow up at all. I guess if we want something to break the ice in Augusta, there's that."
So far Nick was just assuming they were friendly sorts of partners, which was a good sign to him. He didn’t do so good with overly stiff people with no personality, and he’d run into more than a few of those in this line of work. But Kenzie and Chris seemed personable enough whenever he met them, so hopefully they would do fine working closely together. However close they let him work, that was. “Yes uh ... the Rogans?” he asked, glancing over at Kenzie while he slowed down to take a turn. “Mads told me a little about that. They’re both just gone, kind of dropped off the map. Their house went on the market and sold really fast, but nobody really
knows to who, either.”
"I would think that would be public record," Kenzie said, quickly finding a pen to write some more notes to look over later. She had the address, at least. That wasn't to say no one had tried to talk to the new owners, but Kenzie probably had more resources to work with. "I'll try to follow up on where the Rogans are." There was a lot to look into, and Kenzie couldn't help but feel a bit of a thrill over that. Her job was occasionally mundane and tiring, but it was also fascinating and she was already looking forward to delving deeper into this town to try and uncover its secrets. "No leads on the werewolf problem?" she asked, scribbling notes in the margins of her paperwork.
“No,” Nick answered smoothly, sounding kind of regretful about it. He’d made the decision to protect Carson and his cousin and the people helping them out, so he would continue to feign ignorance so nobody got taken away. “I think there’s more than one in the area, but no idea who they might be. If they even know.” Werewolves might have been the monsters that got him started in this life, but he’d gained a sense of sympathy for the people behind them.
“Well we’re screamin’ right toward the next moon,” Chris chimed in from the back. “It’ll be New Years night. A full moon plus a big holiday makes me think shit might get crazy around here.” There always seemed to be more activity surrounding holidays, like everybody’s psychic energy was focused in one direction. It enhanced things. He didn’t have a solid theory about it, but he hadn’t done this job for long before he started seeing the patterns.
Kenzie paused in her writing, brow furrowing. How had she forgotten the full moon was on New Year's night? That should be fun. She sighed and flipped the page to write that particular tidbit down. "We'll be prepared for that," Kenzie said, trying to ignore the fact that she and Chris would be here for Christmas. At least she would. She had no idea if he planned on flying home to see his family or not. New Year's Eve didn't bother her because Kenzie was usually asleep by midnight anyway. She had never been much for celebrating. "It's a small enough town. Either they're locking themselves up on the full moon, or they're not. If they're not, well, we'll find them." Kenzie shut her notebook and looked up to see where they were. It was warm in the SUV but she was feeling antsy and ready to take a walk into the woods.
Lucky for Kenzie, nothing was very far from anything else in Point Pleasant, and within minutes they arrived at their destination. Or as close as they could get, anyway. Nick parked the SUV in the back of the Seaview neighborhood, glancing at Kenzie and then back at Chris almost apologetically. “We gotta walk from here,” he told them as he got out. Nick buttoned his coat back up and pulled some gloves out of his pockets to put on.
Chris gave a groaning stretch when he got out, so done with being crammed into small travel spaces. Planes, rental cars, blah. He was ready to stretch his legs too, and get a look at some fuckedupness. He circled around to the other side of the SUV, hands tucked in his jacket pockets, and started off toward the woods when the other two were ready.
Kenzie climbed out of the SUV and grabbed her bag. It was lightweight, but she wanted it just in case. She could take pictures and notes if she needed to. She was aware that she was probably a bit too old school, given what technology they had available, but she liked having a notebook and pen. She liked her camera. Less worry about sensitive information being uploaded into the cloud whatever that was. She pulled her knit hat down over her ears and followed Nick, purposely bumping into Chris on her way past him to join the taller man. Kenzie glanced around at the smaller homes. Trailer homes, it looked like. "The woman who went missing. She lived in this neighborhood, didn't she?"
Nick started leading the way through the cheap homes toward the woodline, pretty familiar with this place already. He’d considered rending one of the mobile homes as a cheaper alternative to Juniper, but hadn’t actually made the moves to do it yet. It depended on how long the organization wanted to keep him here, he supposed. “Yes,” he answered Kenzie’s question, glancing back and down at her. “From what I heard, she just stabbed her boyfriend in the middle of the night and walked out and vanished. I think it was a few houses down that way.” He gestured to their left.
Chris grinned a bit at the way Kenzie bumped into him. He widened his steps to walk up next to her to return the favor with an elbow. Not hard enough to nudge her into Nick, but close. “And they don’t think it was just a domestic violence thing?” he asked, his gaze running over the houses they were passing between. It looked like the kind of place that got a lot of domestic calls.
“No history of it, far as I know,” Nick said, shaking his head a bit. “She didn’t take anything with her, and I think she was just in her pajamas. If it was an escape or something, it was a poorly planned done.”
Kenzie dug her elbow into Chris's side when Nick was looking the other way, gritting her teeth to try and make him lose his step, even though he was bigger than she was. She needed to focus because this was serious and Chris Washburn could just be so infuriating sometimes. She didn't know why she turned into a juvenile around him. That was irritating too.
"In her pajamas? In this weather?" Kenzie grimaced. She was wearing a heavy coat and hat and she was still feeling some icy bite. "It's still possible it was domestic violence. Not everyone is so obvious with it. Maybe he was abusive and she was defending herself. Ran off without knowing where to go. No time to get dressed or plan ahead. They've searched the entirety of the woods?" If they had been doing their job then they had, but with these small town police forces, who knew. Sometimes they didn't have the time or manpower for a thorough search.
That elbow hurt, but Chris didn’t let it show, just smirked as his steps veered away for a couple of paces. Maybe that was just giving her the satisfaction of winning a bit, but it was better than having her sharp-ass elbow between his ribs. Talking about some poor woman fleeing an abuser out into December in Maine made him straighten his expression out though. This was serious, and he didn’t want to look like he was making light of the lady’s disappearance. So he kept his hands in his pockets and walked straight and left Kenzie alone ... for the moment.
“Pretty sure, yeah,” Nick said. He could hear the extra shuffling around in the leaves at his side, but didn’t really pay attention to the two agents messing around with each other. “There was a little girl gone missing too, a month or two back. Lots more search parties for that one, but the weather was better and it was a kid, so.” Nick shrugged a little. “People around here are really used to folks disappearing, it’s kinda creepy.” That was just the tip of the iceberg on creepiness, however.
She had notes on the little girl, assuming it was the same girl Nick was referencing. Kenzie felt somber all of the sudden, even though she tried hard to keep herself detached from feeling anything overly emotional when they were dealing with these cases. "It's easier for the police to blow off disappearances of adults. They can just claim they've probably left town, and there's nothing they can do about it. But the kids that go missing..." Kenzie sighed, wishing she had one of the deputies with her so she could ask them her questions. Kenzie stepped over a thick, fallen branch in her way. "Do you think the locals here know what's going on? Maybe they've grown accustomed to all of this, desensitized? There are places that feed off of... well, emotion. People. It doesn't seem as though Point Pleasant is suffering financially. Employment seems pretty normal, new businesses open, tourism in the summer is high..." She didn't want to say the people of Point Pleasant were sacrificing each other to maintain a certain lifestyle, but it was always a possibility.
Bad things happening to kids was always the hardest to deal with. Chris knew that feeling far too well. Any case they worked where a child was harmed always brought him back to that night in the house fire, watching that little girl disappear into the mouth of the fire-monster while he was paralyzed with shock and fear. It was hard. Harder for the families, of course, but it was still difficult to carry the burden of the truth. Chris let Kenzie pepper Nick with questions without interrupting, his gaze scanning the woods around them, his own mood definitely dropping into a lower, more appropriate place.
Nick spread his hands a little and shrugged. “A lot of people I’ve talked to have their own theories, of course,” he said. “But they’re almost as varied as the folks themselves. This town is chock-full of legends and rumors, it’s hard to parse out what’s the truth. Years ago, there was a bunch of kids who’d disappeared who came back, not remembering where they’d been ... I haven’t really pursued tracking them down yet, though. There’s so much to chase here. So I’m glad to have a couple extra eyes and ears.” He glanced between the agents, then looked ahead of them again. “We’re getting close.”
They had some files on those kids. Adults now, actually. But she was fairly certain their knowledge of AIR was sensitive information, so she didn't mention it to Nick. "Prioritizing seems to be important here. I think it would be easy to get pulled into twenty different directions in this place," Kenzie said. She looked ahead and could see the mouth of a tunnel in the distance. Snow covered so much of the ground, but she could see where the land rose a bit, indicating the tracks. There was yellow tape stretched across the tunnel. Police tape, no doubt. And a strange looking welcome home banner above the tunnel itself. Kenzie's brows drew together as they drew closer. "That's a strange sight," she said, motioning to the banner.
The fine hairs on the back of Chris’s neck prickled as they got closer to the tunnel. Maybe it was psychological, just knowing they were somewhere multiple deaths had occurred, but he didn’t think that was all it was. The police tape with the cheerful banner hanging over it was unsettling, to say the least. Was that somebody’s idea of a sick joke? He already wanted to get a piece of it to send to the lab. “So all this is recent?” he asked Nick, gesturing to the police tape criss-crossing the entrance. Chris dipped a hand into his coat pocket to pull out a folding knife and a plastic bag as they approached the mouth of the tunnel. The banner was pretty high up there, so he started looking around for a stick.
“Yeah, it wasn’t here last time I was,” Nick answered, his tone wary as he looked over the place. It gave him the creeps all over again to be there. “Wonder if it’s got anything to do with the lady from Seaview disappearing.” It could’ve been completely unrelated, who knew, but Seaview was so close by, it made some sense. Nick stuffed his hands into his coat and stopped walking a couple of yards back from the tunnel. He was just an escort, he didn’t need to dig any deeper at the moment.
Kenzie pulled her camera out of her bag and took several photos of the mouth of the tunnel, as well as the welcome home banner above the tunnel itself. She knew the police tape was meant to keep people out of the tunnel but she ducked underneath it anyway. Kenzie didn’t plan on delving too deep inside but she wanted to get a feel for the place and a few up close and personal photographs. Not being adequately prepared to explore she stayed near the entrance and brought her camera up to her face to take a few pictures, both with the flash on and off. “I would say they ought to put some concrete barricades in here but I’m not sure that would keep people out,” she said, her voice echoing lightly. “We should check and see if the town where the tunnel exits has reported the same kind of incidents. It would be interesting to know if all of this has been limited just to Point Pleasant.”
Chris found his stick, and went about trying to un-stick one side of the banner from the stone archway with it. It was a reach, and the weather should’ve made any tape up there brittle and easy to peel off, but it was proving a bit difficult. That was also maybe because Chris was glancing inside the tunnel at Kenzie every few seconds. Her being in there was making him uneasy, even if he had no rational reason for that. They’d been in creepy-ass places before ... but he was still glad she didn’t venture in too far. “Probably nothing but walling it off would keep people out,” he agreed. Chris hissed a ‘yes,’ as the banner finally came unstuck and fluttered halfway down, within reach. He opened up his knife and cut a corner of it off, including the tape that had held it up, and sealed the sample away in a plastic bag. “Where does it end up, anyway?” he asked. If anybody there knew, it would be Kenzie.
"Harlow's Mill," Kenzie told him. She took one more photo and stared into the inky blackness before turning and ducking back under the tape, avoiding the corner of the welcome banner Chris had managed to bring down. "I'll look into that later today, see if I can get a contact at the police department, or just drive there and talk to some locals. Everybody loves to gossip about their weird-ass town, assuming it's weird." She started taking photos of the area around the tunnel, noting that Nick kept his distance, though she couldn't quite blame him for it. "If I remember the case file correctly, someone from the Mill walked through the tunnel to Point Pleasant and ended up killing his girlfriend who lived here," she said absently, crouching down at the corner of some of the cement to touch a thin strand of something dark and dripping. "Then he went home and murdered his wife. Could just be a psychopath, but who knows."
Kenzie had always been the one who curated more of the stories about things, Chris was more interested in the hard facts. Not that Kenzie wasn’t, gods knew she was anal about the details, but she also had a better feel for the mythology of places. Which often turned out to be reality, in their line of work. He spotted what she was touching, and moved in closer, pulling a prepackaged cotton swab out of another pocket so he could get a sample of the ... whatever it was. “There’s plenty of those walking around,” he murmured, but it was a neutral sort of comment -- Chris was open to any possibility, even the mundane.
“I remember reading about that one,” Nick said, giving the dark in the tunnel a wary glance. “There’s been quite a bit to happen up here. That hook has seen some bodies.” He nodded toward the hook that still hung from the top of the mouth of the tunnel. There had been at least seven, with even more deaths of a dubious nature happening at Cooperdale. Nick didn’t assume that Kenzie didn’t already know that, so he didn’t launch into the gross details, but they were definitely front and center in his mind at the moment. “If he was just a psychopath, there’s a damn high concentration of them around here.”
Kenzie moved out of the way so Chris could get a sample of whatever it was clinging to the cement. Most likely it was just dirt or something, but in their line of work, who knew? With that done, she straightened and turned back to Nick before looking up at the hook. She took a photograph and ignored the chill that shivered down her spine. "You would be surprised at how many psychopaths are out there living semi-normal lives, just waiting for something to trigger them." She began to walk away from the tunnel toward Nick. "Are you ready to head back?"
“And how many things that aren’t human use psychopathy as a cover,” Chris chimed in. In this world, it could go either way, honestly. He sealed up the swab stick into another plastic bag and tucked it all into his pockets, giving the hook a wary glance of his own. He was ready to go himself, there wasn’t much else to see here without flashlights and more supplies to go deep into the tunnel, and none of them wanted to do that just yet. He walked back toward Nick.
“I’m good to go if y’all are,” Nick told the both of them, giving Kenzie a wry smile. “This definitely isn’t my favorite place to be.” Beyond the knowledgeable company, he was rather glad to have them there -- they were the professionals. They could assess the risks in the town and actually do something about them. Nick wouldn’t have minded seeing the whole tunnel demolished, if he was being honest. Once they were both ready, he started to lead the way back toward where he’d parked. “Anything else you wanna see while we’re out?”
Kenzie figured it she and Chris came to the conclusion that the tunnel ought to be destroyed, it would happen. Or maybe their superiors would want it preserved for research. Who could tell at this point. "I think this is a good start," Kenzie told Nick. "I appreciate you bringing us out here." The next time she and Chris needed to examine the place they could come alone. She could tell Nick was uneasy in this place, and she couldn't blame him for that. She glanced over at Chris with a raised brow. "What about you? Is there anywhere you want to check out before we head
back?"
“Nah, nowhere I think we need a guide to,” Chris answered casually enough. Working with Nick didn’t really bother him, per se, he was just more comfortable working alone. Or just with Kenzie, at least. They were a unit, and though the legwork information Nick had already gathered was pretty invaluable, Chris preferred to dig into it all himself. They would end up going to a lot of places, he felt sure, but they had legs and arms and a rental car, they could do it just the two of them.
She figured Nick would be useful from time to time, especially if he had connections with the local police. Maybe just one connection, but sometimes that's all they needed. "Then I guess we can head back," she said, shifting her camera back into her bag to keep it safe from the elements. She was already itching to write up a report on the tunnel from the information she had, but she also wanted to learn more. And that meant locking herself away in her bedroom with her notepad and laptop. Maybe she would invite Chris to join her. But probably not. She might end up getting annoyed with his presence in some fashion or another. She could just email him her notes when she finished up. "Mind if we grab some coffee on the way back? I'm freezing."
Nick gave a faint chuckle, kind of pleased to see that at least one of the agents was as hooked on coffee as he was. “Sure, there’s a good spot on the way,” he said amiably. Maybe he would get something else for himself too. He’d had a bagel, but he found that he was still hungry, now that the heebies from the tunnel were fading with distance. “I can point out all the best food joints as we go, too.” That was always important to establish in a new place, after all. He would help them and the organization as much as he could, but he was honestly happy to hand some of this stuff over to someone else. Nick just hoped they could make a difference here.