Chapter 13
“People skills are a vital aspect to a Warden’s job. The locals you interview, the clients you meet, and the Entity team you work with are all important for ensuring success during every stage of a case.”
Entity Employee Handbook: Warden Edition
“Holy hell.”
Alexys stared, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at the chaos that completely covered the full length of the adjacent wall.
It was like something out of a true crime documentary.
Red strings, blurry pictures, the whole nine yards.
In the two weeks he’d been there, Elliot had created a conspiracy theory web that spread across the entirety of the room’s wall.
There were news articles and all kinds of cryptid-hunting paraphernalia. It made her insides twist.
The nagging fear in the back of her mind was laughing at her, at the scene unfolding before her that pointed toward the one conclusion she refused to admit to.
Alexys groaned and fished her phone out of her pocket. “I’m so getting fired for this,” she grumbled.
She dialed Natalie’s number and sat on the unmade bed.
Elliot’s clothing and luggage were splayed all over the room.
It was an absolute disaster, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the wall.
She blinked. Maybe this whole thing was a hallucination, or some cruel prank Elliot was pulling.
She could imagine the researchers being in on it too.
Those insufferable, no good …
“Hiya, sweet pea,” Natalie’s voice cooed in her ear. “Missing HQ already, huh?”
“Nat, listen to me,” Alexys breathed. “We’ve got a code creepy on our hands, and I don’t even know how to begin to deal with it.”
Natalie exhaled. “Is this like the time Monica thought she had a stalker and it ended up being a Not Deer?”
Alexys cringed. “I wish. This is so much worse.”
“On a scale of one to body-in-a-freezer, how creepy are we talking?” Natalie asked.
Alexys opened and closed her mouth several times. “Why is that your scale for creepy?”
“Don’t argue with my creepy scale,” Natalie said, scoffing. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Hang on.” Alexys pulled the phone away from her ear so she could snap a photo of the wall and text it to Natalie. The poor reception made the photo take ages to upload. With her friend now on speakerphone, she said, “Tell me when you’ve seen the picture.”
When it finally came through, Natalie whistled a low and impressed sound.
“That looks like something from a serial killer documentary. Where the hell did you find that?”
“Oh, you know, only Elliot Harman’s room!”
“You’re kidding.”
Alexys sighed and stepped closer to the wall to better examine the horror collage. “Boy, do I wish I was.” Natalie muttered several non-work-appropriate, very un-HR words.
“What is he even looking for?”
Alexys scanned the red threads and articles to try and find a starting point, but she could only frown at the mess before her.
“He isn’t supposed to be looking for anything. He’s only been looking after a Black Dog case, and a Black Dog wouldn’t need all of … this.”
There was no way to make hide nor hair of the muddled web of threads.
Everything seemed to loop back to itself, and there was no obvious pattern or directional path.
No starting points. There were several articles on various ghosts and spirits, a few on the Appalachian Mountain region within their District, and local news clippings of seemingly innocuous events.
Elliot hadn’t even used different colored threads to connect them.
It was all red.
“None of it makes sense. He was supposed to be wrapping up with his local contact and driving home after his review.”
“Must be something new he was looking into?” Natalie was stating the obvious, but she knew it helped Alexys to talk things out. In most instances, she was able to answer her own questions as soon as she voiced the thoughts out loud. “You’re sure he didn’t mention anything during your last call?”
Alexys ran through her last conversation with Elliot and tried to remember anything he might have mentioned.
“You have no idea, do you?” She could hear the smile in Natalie’s voice.
“Yes, er, sort of. I explicitly told him not to pursue any new cases, so I’m trying to think of a forgivable reason why he would have.”
Alexys kept looking through Elliot’s red wall until one photo caught her eye.
It was a newspaper clipping about a place called Mercyhill.
Something to do with livestock deaths and suspected cult behaviors.
It didn’t really stand out among the chaos of the wall, but she actually did remember Elliot mentioning Mercyhill during their conversation.
“Nat, can you look up a town called Mercyhill for me? I need to know how far away it is.”
“Yeah, sure. Hang on.”
While Natalie looked into Mercyhill, Alexys set down her phone and combed through Elliot’s belongings. The suitcase still in the room was a good sign, it meant he had planned to come back, but his Entity-issued backpack was missing.
“You still there?” Natalie called.
“Yeah, I am. Find anything?” Alexys scrambled to pick up the phone.
“Okay, so, Mercyhill,” Natalie said, “is a tiny mining town with a population of, like, fifty. It’s about a two-hour drive from where you are.”
Alexys sighed. She’d need to rent a car, which likely meant she’d need to backtrack to the airport. The accounting team would have a field day with her expense report.
“Are there printable directions you can send me, at least? I don’t really feel like driving blind through the Appalachian Mountains.”
“As nostalgic as MapQuest would be, we’re in the twenty-first century, girl.
Use your map app. Actually, hang on.” Alexys’s phone dinged with an email notification.
“That’s the town pin on a map,” Natalie explained.
“I’d have the front desk print directions off for you before you go.
I have a sneaking suspicion the reception isn’t great out there. ”
“Of course not,” Alexys grumbled. “That would be too easy. This is why I didn’t want these damn reviews to be in-person.”
Natalie laughed in agreement. “I’ll let Kristin know things are going swimmingly then. Keep me updated when you can, and don’t hesitate to call the emergency line if anything goes wrong. Entity boots can be on the ground in minutes,” Natalie said.
“I know, I know.”
“Good. Stay vigilant, Lex. And also, please don’t get murdered.”
“No guarantees.” Alexys chuckled nervously. “Thanks for your help, Nat. I’ll …”
The ancient tumbler of the room’s lock turned over—she’d not thought to double-lock it—and the door swung open.