Jared had never before woken up this sore and that included the times he'd woken up with his first massive hangovers back in the day. He recognized on some level that the hurt was from lying down for too damn long and for a while after he gained consciousness he had no idea what time or even day it was. He curled up in himself before slowly sitting up, his stomach rumbling with hunger, his head a little foggy from too much sleep. Other than that though, he was okay. He was alive. The memory of Ty came rushing back, the wrongness of the last things he remembered of him, the strange and awful things he'd said and Jared didn't want to remember any of it. It had to have been a dream but Ty wasn't there with him now and that felt wrong too. There was only daylight streaming in through a gap in the curtains and silence throughout the house.
He got up eventually and stumbled to the shower to wash himself and empty his bladder, his memories coming quicker now, overwhelming and confusing. He hadn't heard from Grady since... That weekend. What fucking day was it? Where was Ty? Once he was clean he went searching for his phone. Its battery was dead so it took a few minutes to get it going once he plugged it in. He sat on the chair usually reserved for his clothes, stared at the screen until it finally lit up and swallowed hard when the date showed up on the screen. Thursday morning. He barely remembered the last few days. He'd been sick, he'd gone home and then... Just glimpses of Ty being strange, of thinking he was dying, of Ty telling him it was okay to let go. His first instinct was to call Ty but the mere thought of it made a cold chill go through him. Something was wrong with Ty, something was very wrong in general so he went through his contacts and realized just how few people he talked to on the regular so he didn't really know who to call. He liked Grady but he owed his boss an apology and he wanted to get some idea of what was going on before he went there.
There were a lot of missed calls from Grady and the station, a few missed calls from his mom from the day before so she was bound to be worried by now. Jared opted to call Carson first, to get a feel for if this was just Ty or if there was something bigger at stake, something else going on. His call kept going straight to voicemail and that only made Jared feel a lot more nervous. He considered calling some of the deputies he worked with and in the end it was Bailey's name he selected out of the bunch. He couldn't really say why and he couldn't help but think back on when Ty went crazy with jealousy after Jared patrolled with her. God how long had everything been wrong? As he listened to the dial tone his dread kept building, fears he didn't want to put into words, images of Ty dead in a ditch somewhere or on his way home to... No, Jared couldn't think about it. He didn't know what was going on and guessing wasn't doing him any favors.
Bailey had just finished filling out yet another missing person's report when Jared called her cell phone. While things in Point Pleasant seemed to be a bit more normal that morning, the station was still emptier than it ought to be. Some of the deputies had ditched their shifts over the past couple of days, and as far as Bailey knew, Jared had been home sick like the rest of Point Pleasant. Between filling in for Grady when he needed her too, which was often, and checking on her mom and brother, who was still in the hospital... Bailey was exhausted. But seeing Jared's name on her phone sparked a bit of relief in her because if he was feeling better, then maybe he'd get his ass into work and help her out.
"Gaines," Bailey greeted, reaching for her cup of coffee still on the counter. "How are you feeling?"
Jared opened his mouth to say he was okay now but, was he? "Confused," he answered after a moment's pause, a wry breathy chuckle escaping his lips. "I've been sick, I guess, I don't know what else to call it. Fixin' to call Grady but uh, figured I'd put some feelers out first, see how bad it is. Have you- is Ty at work?" Maybe he was making a big deal where there was none, maybe Ty had already talked to Grady though it didn't make a lick of sense that he'd leave Jared all by himself if he was sick enough to either be delirious or knocked out.
Bailey arched a brow. He had been sick... he guessed? "Barrett's worried about you," she said. "He had plans to go check on you this morning, but we've been short staffed and he just left to answer a call." Pausing, she sipped her coffee before confusion settled over her own features. "Uh, as for Ty, he hasn't been here for days. He didn't show up for his shifts and he hasn't answered his phone. Barrett was pretty pissed at first, but now I think he's just worried. Half the town was sick with... well, whatever you had too, I guess. He called you a few times, then the hospital, but Ty's not there either. Point Pleasant is Point Pleasanting, Jared."
Jared realized he wasn't really surprised to hear that but he was afraid and it was deeply disturbing that he didn't know whether he was afraid for Ty or afraid of him. "I'm coming in," he said and a lot of that had to do with the fact he felt a little less vulnerable in his uniform. Sitting at home and wondering what was happening would drive him insane. "Anything I need to know before I do?" 'Point Pleasant was Point Pleasanting', he didn't want to know what she meant by that but... he kind of did know, didn't he. He'd seen enough crazy shit now to know so if there were monsters roaming the streets or a ghost train mowing down people, he needed to be prepared for that.
"Nothing that I can't tell you when you get here," Bailey said. "We're still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together." She had a feeling she ought to save the missing people reports for later. If Ty wasn't at work, and he wasn't with Jared... that didn't bode well for anyone. When she got off the phone with Jared she would call Grady to let him know Jared was on his way in... and Ty was missing. Because he was. That much was obvious. "Just be safe driving, okay? The windstorm last night knocked some trees down but the crews are out taking care of it, but some of the streets might be blocked."
"Windstorm?" Jared asked quietly and he didn't remember a storm, didn't remember anything since Ty sat by his side, speaking to him. "Well shit. I'll be careful.” He was trying hard to get his mind into work mode because that would make this all a little easier to deal with. He'd call Ty when he was at work, he didn't trust himself to talk to him while he was here alone and he was still struggling with the fact that he'd been off work since Saturday.
Arching a brow, Bailey almost asked where the hell Jared had been that he didn’t hear the windstorm the night before. He probably hadn’t known the power went out either. But if he had been as ill as those who ended up in the hospital, it made sense that he was out of the loop. “I’ll see you when you get here,” Bailey said. Barrett would be relieved to hear Jared was up and moving and coming in. Trying to police the town with only a small handful of deputies was near impossible, especially today.
"I'll be in in about twenty," Jared replied, already getting up to get dressed and ready to go. Or as ready as he could be, he wasn't looking forward to facing Grady or calling Ty. He felt a heavy sense of dread like something horrible was happening and the longer he avoided facing it, the longer he could sort of deny it, only no, he couldn't. It was already here, scaring him and making him sad even if he had no idea what exactly it was that was weighing him down.
He ended the call and a little over those twenty minutes later he entered the station, feeling sheepish about his absence. He spotted Bailey first and headed over to her desk, looking around in case Ty had shown up in that short time since he spoke to her. "Any news?" he asked, glancing toward Grady's office with slight apprehension.
Bailey had just finished entering the missing person report into the computer when Jared walked in. She noticed the glance toward Grady's office before shaking her head. "Barrett is still responding to a call on Oakwood. He should be back soon. I've had four reports of missing people since I got in and it seems like a lot of the people who ended up in the hospital this week are being discharged after recovering. You look like you're doing all right," she added, eying him closely as she brought her coffee back to her lips. "How are you feeling? Any word from Ty?"
"No," Jared said quietly. "I haven't seen him since yesterday. I think it was yesterday. Something was really wrong with him. Four missing people in one day though, that's... What the hell happened last night?" He needed to go get changed into his uniform but some paranoid part of him wondered if he even had a job still. He wanted to talk to Grady and more than that, he wanted to find out what was going on. Maybe all Bailey could tell him was that Point Pleasant was Point Pleasanting but he needed more details than that, having been out of the loop completely for days.
"Something," Bailey said, because something had happened last night, they just didn't know what yet. "People have been getting sick all week. We had to arrest more than a few people for assault and battery. Then, last night at ten o'clock, the wind picked up. It got bad enough that the town lost power for at least two hours. Then it just stopped. No wind. The power kicked back on, and that was that." She had been feeling tired herself this week, but she'd woken up feeling better than she had in days. Of course, that was physically. Mentally she felt like she could use another day or two of non-stop sleep.
"I didn't see any bodyparts on the streets this time at least," Jared muttered and he hadn't pulled a gun on Ty this time and no monsters had roamed around town. But four people were missing, maybe more, and that pit in his stomach just felt like it was getting deeper and darker. "Whatever was wrong with me wasn't a flu," he added. "I couldn't get out of bed, couldn't think straight. I don't remember much. I can't believe it's Thursday already." He glanced toward Grady's office again but there was no sign of their sheriff and maybe he should just get dressed for duty and do what he could to help. If he lost his job, Grady probably would still appreciate a little help today. He was about ready to walk away when the phone rang again and he hesitated, watching Bailey curiously when she picked up. Another missing person? He idly brushed his fingers against his phone, all too aware he had yet to call Ty.
When the phone rang Bailey bit back on the urge to sigh. They really needed to hire a new dispatch now that... well, almost everyone was gone. She took the call, well aware that Jared was watching her, probably hoping for some news about Ty. But the caller was not Deputy Solomon. It was a resident who had just driven back to town from visiting relatives in Bar Harbor. Abandoned cars on Witcham Road. That was still their jurisdiction. Bailey asked a few more questions, scribbling down notes before she thanked the caller and hung up. Standing from her desk, she walked over to grab her coat that was hanging on a hook behind her. "Abandoned vehicles on Witcham. I can go on my own, but if you're on the clock, I could probably use the backup." Better safe than sorry. She knew all about the woods along Witcham Road.
It might not have felt like an important call to take under any other circumstances but something about it made Jared's stomach drop. Four reports of missing persons, abandoned vehicles outside of town... "Give me five," he said as he started backing up quickly. "I'm coming with you." He turned on his heel and hurried to the locker, getting dressed about as fast as a fireman on call. He was still strapping the gun on when he came back out, waving at Bailey that he was ready to go. "Are you driving?" he asked and while he often liked being behind the wheel, he wanted to call Ty now more than ever.
Bailey was ready to go when Jared reappeared. She had a fresh coffee to go in one hand... and another for Jared that she offered to him when he was closed enough. He might be feeling better, but he looked exhausted and she was perceptive enough to recognize that he was worried about Ty. Bailey had already gotten in touch with Grady to let him know Jared was in and they were heading out to Witcham Road. "I'm driving," she confirmed. "Barrett is heading back to the station, but he said he could meet us out on Witcham if we need him."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Jared said as he accepted the coffee with a grateful little smile and nod. "Could just be a whacky family reunion in the woods." He huffed, well aware that if there was even a small chance that was true and it was just a group of people meeting up in a weird location, it wasn't likely at all in the middle of winter. "Could be our missing people," he added which was more likely but god he hoped this wasn't going to be yet another unsolved mystery. They deserved to solve more cases, they all worked damn hard but from the outside it looked like they were slacking off.
If there was a family reunion going on in the woods, she doubted it was a wacky one. It would probably be creepy and bloody, like everything else in this town. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road so they made good time getting out of town. Witcham Road had always felt a bit claustrophobic to Bailey. A winding road lined by thick trees. Bailey had always been tense driving this road, like she was waiting for something to come crawling out of the woods to devour her.
But the thought of monsters faded in her mind as she saw the cars ahead of them. Bailey turned on the car's flashers and pulled off to the side of the road behind a beaten up truck. It looked vaguely familiar to her but she couldn't place who it belonged to. Bailey glanced at Jared before climbing out of the car. The cars looked empty but she kept her hand drifting toward her gun anyway, just in case.
Jared had tried to work himself up to call Ty on the way out there but every time he even thought of reaching for his phone, something went very cold and still inside him. On the way back- he told himself and then settled back into quiet unease when they approached the cars. A few of them were familiar to him as a cop in a small town though he couldn't name their owners right away. That changed as he followed Bailey out there, one hand lightly resting on his gun as well.
There weren't that many cars and they weren't terribly crowded next to each other so Ty's Sedan was visible to him too damn soon. That cold stillness inside him turned into an icy lump and he walked up to the car as if in a trance, peering inside. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for, Ty sleeping in there or something because those woods were not people friendly even in the summer. "That's Ty's car," he finally managed to blurt out, pale when he glanced back at Bailey.
Well, shit. Bailey began to walk down the length of the road to check the other cars. Then she radioed in to Grady, requesting his presence. It wasn't that she thought she and Jared couldn't handle this, but having Deputy Solomon's car here changed things, especially given the nature of his relationship with Jared. She knew Jared was a good cop but he having a personal stake in... whatever this was... could color some of his behavior. "I'm going to start calling in the plate numbers," Bailey began before realizing there may not be anyone in the station to take them. She cursed and then quickly grabbed a pen from her pocket to start writing them all down. "Do you see anything amiss in the car?"
Jared turned to the car again and numbly looked it over. There was nothing unusual about it except the key was still in the ignition. "No," he said and opened the door to the back seat cautiously to get a better look. "Key's in here." He slammed the door shut again and walked around to pop the trunk though he hesitated for a few seconds before actually opening it. He didn't know what he was expecting - a dead body, Ty's dead body? - but the trunk was empty save for the usual safety things Ty had in there. "The storm didn't make this easy," he said after slamming it shut again. "I don't see any obvious footsteps in what's left of the snow." He was starting to feel that claustrophobia that came naturally to Bailey out there along with the unsettling knowledge that the Blackwood Forest was vast and dangerous. "Recognize any other cars?"
Her radio crackled but she heard Grady respond that he was on his way. Was it surprising that there was such shitty reception out here? No, no it wasn't. Bailey began walking down the line of cars, scribbling the plate numbers down on her small notepad. She wanted to tell Jared not to touch anything, but it was too late for that. As long as they didn't rifle through the belongings, it would be fine. She had no idea what they would find inside any of the cars, if anything. "The truck," she said, gesturing toward the truck she had parked behind. "I've seen it driving through town but I can't remember who was behind the wheel." As she continued to walk she slowed and squinted a bit at the next car before peering inside. "This is... Max O'Reilly's car. Or at least one I've seen him drive before." She knew that because she had been a passenger in the car before. Squinting a bit over the hood towards the woods, Bailey scanned the treeline. Even in the daylight the woods seemed to be a blanket of darkness. "We're probably going to have to search the woods."
"We'll need backup," Jared muttered. "This is a lot of cars, a lot more than there are actual people we know have gone missing." It wasn't just the amount of cars though, he had no desire to go into the woods. The local legends were finally starting to get to him, he'd just seen too much already to dismiss them as easily as he used to. "You see that?" He wandered across the road, gesturing to the row on the other side. "They're all lined up but there's a big gap here, like there's one missing." All the cars were so different too, from a large, beat up van to small expensive cars Jared associated with the rich ladies in Overlook. This was bad, Ty's car was here and Jared drew a deep breath, tried not to think about how Carson's phone hadn't connected this morning and instead pulled his cellphone out of his pocket to finally go through with calling Ty. It was the same as with Carson, straight to voicemail, and Jared could feel that anxious riot in his chest getting worse.
"Maybe they didn't want to park too close," Bailey said, gesturing to the gap. It was definitely possible that someone had parked there and left, but they didn't know for sure. They would need to take photos and start logging everything. If this had just been one or two cars, Bailey would have followed procedure and ticketed them before doing anything else. Maybe they had run out of gas and hitched a ride with the intent to come back. But... this was way too many cars for that to be the logical scenario. Sighing. Bailey tucked her pen behind her ear. "We don't have a lot of backup," she explained. "Most of our staff took off when things started getting fucked. Or they were sick, like you. Barrett is on his way, I'll ask if there's anyone else he can call in. The last time you saw Ty... how was he? Did he say anything that might give us a clue as to where he is now?"
"Let's hope the ones like me got better," Jared said and this whole Ty thing was too distracting. He needed to focus on work but it was so damn hard when he couldn't stop worrying about his own personal affairs. Bailey's question was uncomfortable and he shook his head, unsure what the hell to say. Ty had been weird, creepy even. He had scared Jared and he sure as hell hadn't been acting normal. "I don't know," he muttered. "He... wasn't himself. I was so tired I couldn't talk and he was talking some shit about everything changing." He didn't want to say that Ty had been acting like Jared was dying and that it wasn't a big deal, Jared was still holding onto hope that he'd simply misunderstood because he'd been sick and disoriented but his gut feeling kept telling him that this wasn't the truth.
"There were a lot of people not acting like themselves. We had a lot of arrests over the past couple of days." Bailey walked back to the patrol car to grab the camera. She nearly asked Jared if Ty had a history of drug abuse or something, but she didn't think that would go over very well. She would let the Sheriff deal with all of that. Right now she wanted to start doing her job and then start searching for the owners of these vehicles. "We may need to grab some volunteers to search the woods," she said. "I don't think we have the manpower to do it all ourselves. I think if we contact the families and the owners aren't with them... they may be willing to come out here and help us."
"Good thinking," Jared replied, distracted as he tried Ty's number again. He couldn't help but think everything had changed, just like Ty had said it would, that nothing would be the same and that something horrible had happened, that they'd end up having to deal with their own local Jonestown massacre. "I can't reach Ty," he said and realized his voice was shaking. God damn it, he was at work, he needed to keep it together. "I can check the database in the car if you uh, give me that list." Procedures were hard to remember at the moment when he kept picturing something horrific within the woods, waiting to be discovered and he wondered if they should wander in there, just to make sure they didn't send civilians in to discover it.
Bailey walked over to Jared to hand him her notepad. "Run those through. When the Sheriff gets here, we'll go search in the woods, okay? If Ty is here, we'll find him." That might not be comforting to Jared, but it was all Bailey had. She was never one to sugar coat potentially bad news, and Jared was a cop. He knew there was a possibility that this wouldn't have a happy ending. But the three of them could search for a bit and if they needed more hands on deck, they would find volunteers.
"I recognize three of them," Jared told her. "But we don't know if their owners were all driving." He took the list and headed back to the cruiser and as soon as he sat inside he realized it was a mistake. It was easier to fight off the emotions while he was outside where it was cool, the car was still hot and it felt like it was melting away his resolve, bringing tears right up to his eyes and a lump to his throat. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he whispered to himself, breathing through his mouth as if that might help stave it all off. This was bad, this was so bad and he had no faith that they'd find everyone unharmed. First licence plate was registered to Brianna McCarthy, the second to Jeff Dornan. He almost ran Ty's plate just to be sure but... He already was. Patrick O'Reilly, Sage Monroe, Arthur Knowles. He didn't really know any of these names but it was already too many people, Jared felt like he couldn't breathe.
Bailey gave Jared some time to himself, allowing him to run the plates as it would keep him busy. She looked for any additional tire tracks and was starting to walk toward the tree line when she heard a car approaching. It was Sheriff Barrett, which made Bailey exhale with some relief. Turning away from the trees, she walked towards him instead.
"What the hell is this," Grady murmured, walking up to meet her. His glanced toward Jared, who was in the patrol car. "How's he doing?"
"Seems healthy enough," Bailey explained. "But Deputy Solomon's car is here, so he's understandably a little frazzled."
Grady frowned. Of course Solomon's car was here. Because they couldn't catch a damn break. "What do we know so far?"
"Not much." Bailey shrugged. "Abandoned cars. Some of them still have keys in the ignition. We were going to check the woods but opted to wait for you. We may need to bring volunteers out if we don't find anything."
Grady nodded and walked over to Jared. "Are you going to be able to search these woods with us, or should I call in some of the reserves?" He wasn't trying to be cold or insensitive, but he needed Jared to be in the right mindset for this. Especially if there was something in the woods they needed to be prepared for.
Jared couldn't imagine going home so even if he wasn't sure if he was okay or not, he just nodded firmly. "I'm good, boss. Sorry I didn't call in, but I'm guessing you know why by now." If Bailey was right that a lot of people were affected, Grady had probably seen just how bad it could get. "I got a few names, you wanna search the woods before we contact them?" It was probably wise to at least do a preliminary sweep before they brought anyone who wasn't a cop out there, they had no idea what they might find.
Grady nodded, deciding to take Jared at his word, even if his eyes conveyed a different story. "We'll do a sweep, no further than half a mile in. If we don't find anything, we'll contact the owners of the vehicles. If they're not available, we'll visit their next of kin and try to figure this out. We'll compare the vehicle registrations to the missing persons reports we've been getting." Grady was exhausted, but that was nothing new. It felt like they had a brewing shitshow on their hands and they needed to have as much information as possible before talking to anyone else.
Bailey was more than ready to get started. She felt an intense restlessness under skin, like they might find something bad inside of those woods. Knowing what she knew about Point Pleasant... seeing what she's seen. But Bailey wasn't scared, even as her hand moved to hover a bit near her holstered gun. "Who do these cars belong to?" she asked Jared. "Any obvious connections?"
Jared considered taking the hunting rifle from his trunk, remembering all too well the size of the creatures he'd seen in the fog. There was no fog and it wasn't likely that they'd run into bears this close to town but... Yeah, he didn't think he wanted to step foot into Blackwater Woods without proper protection. So that's what he did, casually slinging it over his shoulder, ready to defend his decision if they asked. "They're all so different," he replied to Bailey as he slammed the trunk shut. "That one's an Overlook lady, that one over there some ex-cop from Baltimore and by the looks of that van, not a guy Mrs. McCarthy would associate with. That one there's the worst of the town drunks, a violent bastard, and over there - that's some kid from Seaview. Nah, I think we can safely say these people don't usually hang out together."
Neither Bailey nor Grady mentioned Jared's hunting rifle. They were both on board with any line of defense, especially as they didn't know what they were walking into. Grady took his flashlight, because Blackwater Woods always seemed to have a canopy hanging over it, even in the daytime. He thought of the disemboweled deer that had been found near the woods a while back and shuddered to think of what had eviscerated the poor animals. Hopefully they wouldn't find out themselves.
Obviously Bailey couldn't form any connections right off the top of her head as Jared described the people who owned the cars. She grimaced a little at the mention of the Overlook lady. McCarthy. She knew that name. Bailey tended to find most of the people who lived in the Overlook Estates were assholes. Released a loud sigh, Bailey began to walk carefully into the woods, keeping a distance from Grady and Jared. "Did Ty know any of them personally?" she asked after a moment.
"No," Jared said with a shake of his head though now he wondered if Ty had some secret life going on that he didn't know about. He didn't wonder seriously for long, the idea was laughable. They were always together when they weren't working, like an old married couple already and on the verge of moving in together for real though that had sort of already happened a long time ago. Ty having friends he didn't know, sneaking off to secretly meet up with Brianna McCarthy and Patrick O'Reilly or plotting some weird stunt like this just didn't ring true. Of course he hadn't been himself lately and Jared had barely been conscious for days. "I'm having a hard time picturing Mrs. McCarthy hanging out with some of these people. Sage Monroe is just a kid and Arthur Knowles seems like a dodgy character if you just look at the van." He was looking around with trepidation at every step he took and his trigger finger was itching already. This place felt wrong, everything felt wrong today and he was terrified of what they might find - if anything. "Barrett, you know some of those other people? I don't know Patrick O'Reilly or Jeff Dornan."
Bailey's brows drew together at the mention of Patrick. So that car hadn't been Max's, but Patrick's. Max's dad? Brother? Maybe it hadn't been Max out here then, but Patrick. She kept mum on the subject, doing her best to keep an eye on the ground, looking for any sign that people had been out here.
"O'Reilly lives with his family just outside of town," Grady explained, his gaze scanning the trees ahead. He was trying to stay within the vicinity of the vehicles, but who knows how deep these people walked, if they came into the woods at all. For all they knew someone else had come by, picked them up, and then drove off. But goddamnit, he did not want to find bodies today. "Dornan works at the arcade." He made it a point to know people in town as best he could. Probably for this reason... "There doesn't seem to be any obvious connection, but that doesn't mean there isn't one." Grady fell into silence for a moment, his mind running over the names and what they could possibly have in common. Then he glanced at Jared. "I know for a fact Mrs. McCarthy had been taken to the hospital after the fog cleared weeks ago. She had gotten a shoulder injury. Not as badly as what had happened to Ty, but... the same cause. It may mean nothing, but we may want to see if we can get a hold of the people who own those cars. If they're all missing, try to see if any others had been hurt in the fog." In a normal town, that would probably be a silly thing to bring up and try to connect. But this wasn't a normal town and all three of them knew it.
Jared hated that they didn't even know if they were going in the right direction. The woods stretched out far on both sides of Witcham road and there was no good way to tell which direction the drivers might have taken, if they ever even left the road. What Grady said about McCarthy didn't do a thing to make him feel better and he wondered if there was a connection there. Like Grady he wouldn't have even thought about it if things hadn't already been so fucking weird but they had been and it was hard not to start connecting dots in ridiculous ways. "He's been acting strange ever since the fog," he admitted. "I wonder if she has too." It kind of made him want to go into town to try to track down all the car owners or their families but they needed to be here first. "Any of these names match up with the missing people from this morning?" he asked, glancing at Bailey.
It definitely sounded like they had people to contact, families to talk to. Of course they were short staffed as well, unless some of Grady's deputies returned. But for all he knew, Ty hadn't been the only cop out here. They were going to need volunteers to search these woods properly. It wouldn't have been the first time. Perhaps he ought to cling to a little bit of optimism that the people who drove these vehicles out here would all be accounted for and this all had a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"Dornan," Bailey said, recalling the last report she had taken. "That's the only one I recognize so far. I'll double check anyway when we get back."
Grady bit back a sigh. "We need to contact the vehicles' owners. Find out who is accounted for and who isn't. Once we have a proper list of who is missing, we can formulate a plan to search the area if we have to."
Jared wondered if stuff like this was taught in actual police academies. He'd never attended a proper one, deputized young then learned on the job until he was deemed qualified. He felt that lack of education keenly now, though he wasn't so sure anyone could be prepared for the things that went down in Point Pleasant. "No sign of struggle, no broken branches, no footprints." He shook his head and glanced back toward the road. "Let's check the other side before we start calling people." There was a chance there'd be a whole lot of nothing over there too and he didn't feel hopeful at all about finding anything and even if it somewhat contradicted his fear of there being nothing to be found or he wasn't hopeful that this whole situation had a happy ending either.
Grady didn't feel hopeful about finding anything either. At least nothing this close to the road. They would need to search a few miles at the minimum and they couldn't do that with the staff on hand. They needed more eyes and ears to help. But he wasn't going to say no to Jared's suggestion, because it made sense to check where they could before returning to town.
"Sounds like a plan," Bailey murmured, though like Jared, she didn't think this would have a very optimistic ending. Eventually it would get out about these cars, and who owned them. Eventually gossip would start to run rampant but there was nothing they could do about that. Point Pleasant was Point Pleasanting, as she had told Jared earlier. But they were here to do a job and she knew they would do it as thoroughly as they could before reaching out to others for help. It just felt like a small detour to the inevitable conclusion that these people were gone. And given this was Point Pleasant, she didn’t hold out a lot of hope that they would be coming back.