Spoilers here: Campaign notes.
pinkgothic:
The main work of good journalism was networking - an adage even more true for independent journalists like Elyre. But even with an impressive list of friends and friends of friends, knowing the most gossip-prone people in all of North-Frisia in northern Germany, on most days, Elyre didn't get any interesting calls.
Today, he ended up with two, telling him the same thing: *Five* people had gone missing, approximately all at once - a surgeon, his patient, and three random people allegedly all from the hamlet Aventoft near the Danish border. By itself, that was no story, barely even the start of one. But more interesting was that the police had found the abandoned car of one of the Aventoft folks near 'Richie-Hügel', a pathetic little one-room science museum of local flora and fauna, sat on the tiny and only hill in the entire area, near a smattering of lakes.
They were there now. If he wanted to find out more about it, Richie-Hügel was as close to the pulse of the conversation as he was going to get.
HypnoWizard:
He decided to head there for himself, taking the scenic route, he drove to the town.
He went to the nearest pub to where they'd found the car…
pinkgothic:
The closest thing to that location that was anything like a pub was a cheap Greek restaurant - apparently closed. If he wanted a beer, he would have to come back at 16:00, not this early in the day, when it was only just past noon.
HypnoWizard:
He decided to drive out to where the vehicle were found…
pinkgothic:
Someone had hurriedly raised a sign prohibiting passage at the start of the narrow road leading to the hut. No police tape - no time yet, maybe, maybe it was all too new. Maybe they weren't expecting people to show up. Either way, nothing stopped him from rolling all the way to the tiny parking lot with its six slots, seeing it empty but for a single car. He'd been too optimistic about the police tape, though - it cut through half the parking lot and cut off the easy walking path to the hill and the hut. It was trivial to walk around it, but the signalling was clear: No peasant interference desired. Of course, no decent journalist was easily dissuaded by that.
…and apparently some other civilians had the same thought. Up ahead, he could make out a police man hurrying after a woman who was stalking through the landscape. From where he was, he couldn't make out what they were saying, but it was easy enough to assume the policeman was asking her pointedly to leave.
HypnoWizard:
He didn't go past the police tape, he watched from a distance, the woman now his mark…
pinkgothic:
It took a few minutes for the police person to corral the woman, ushering her back to where the tape was. A colleague of his was hovering near the car, evidently investigating it thoroughly; both doors of the dark blue Octavia were open, but there was nothing visible inside. Ranting angrily, without that the words were audible to Elyre, the woman ducked under the police tape, then turned, hands on her hips, glowering at the police.
Now that she was closer, it was easier to see her features and be sure of her hair colour - it was a fairly pronounced red, falling down to about the middle of her back. She had to be in her twenties. The bike leaning against the nearby wooden fence that helped to defined the parking lot was probably hers.
HypnoWizard:
He walked briskly over to her bike and waited to speak with her…
pinkgothic:
She approached the bike, slowing a little in anticipation of being confronted by a stranger. For a moment, she said nothing as she approached, eyeing him with some confused suspicion, before saying: “And you are?”
HypnoWizard:
“I'm here to discover the truth, can I buy you a drink?”
pinkgothic:
“That… doesn't actually answer my question,” she noted, though her tone was not quite giving up on patience just yet. “You have a name, right?” By now one of her hands was on the bike, some hesitance in her posture, as though somehow worried this stranger might try something a stone's throw from the police.
HypnoWizard:
“I'm David. Can I buy you that drink?”
pinkgothic:
By now, both her hands were on the bike's handles, although she hadn't gotten up on it yet. “You're not my type, and I already have a boyfriend,” she said, misinterpreting the question - though whether she was doing so deliberately, or because she was used to people making a pass at her and it was a safe default assumption, was unclear.
At least the repetition of the question seemed to have put her at some ease, and she dared look away from David and back toward the police tape, casting her gaze past it and toward the petite hill the area was named for, sucking her lips into her mouth in an undirected gesture of frustration.
HypnoWizard:
“I want to discover the truth, not score a date.”
pinkgothic:
“Yeah?” she commented, not sounding wholly convinced. Nonetheless, she continued with: “What makes you think I know anything about anything?”
HypnoWizard:
“Your in the right place at the right time to be asking what you know.”
pinkgothic:
Her face twisted into bemusement for a moment, then she shook her head. “Well, it's not like I'm getting any closer to the truth here,” she sighed. “So, sure, fine. You can buy me a drink and take my mind off this mess. No guarantees it'll be useful to you, but I assume that's a risk you know you're taking.” She shot him a wry smile. “Where to, then, David?”
HypnoWizard:
“I'm not local, mind telling me wheres open?”
pinkgothic:
“Ah,” she said, chuckling mildly. “Technologically challenged, I see,” she joked, but the ribbing was mild as she fished out her mobile phone. “Lola's café and bar,” she read out after a moment's searching. “Niebüll. Open until ten in the evening, nice! It's almost like the owner forgot this is the middle of nowhere, I'm impressed.” The mobile phone disappeared back into her bag. “It's, like, twenty minutes by bike. No offence, I'm not getting into your car. Gonna follow, or do we just meet up there?”
HypnoWizard:
“I'm going to follow.”
pinkgothic:
“All right,” she acknowledged, swinging herself onto her bike. For a moment, she held still on it, glancing again at the hill and police people milling about it, a tension in her shoulders. Then she shrugged a shoulder and tipped into pedalling, starting slow to let David get into his car first and start it to be able to follow, reaffirming their decision with a wave of a hand.
HypnoWizard:
He turned to watch the police a moment, then he was in the car, and following at her side…
pinkgothic:
It was good that they were in such a rural area. She was biking at a good speed, but it was still slow for a car on an intercity route, and it was good no one ended up queueing up behind him by the time they got into Niebüll. At one intersection, she began to slow independent of traffic lights, pointing him to a parking space, then gesturing toward a brick building with a slanted, slate roof, and a semi-circle of windows, as though perhaps the building had been a greenhouse in the past. Big white letters just behind the windows read “LOLA'S”, and one wall of the building extended behind the parking lot, labelled “LOLAS CAFÉ”. Apparently the owners couldn't decide whether they wanted an apostrophe in their name or not.
HypnoWizard:
He got out and checked to be sure he had his wallet…
pinkgothic:
By the time he'd parked and gotten out of his car, she was just finishing up wheeling her bike to the bike stand and looping a lock around the rear wheel. “Let's see if the ratings hold up,” she called across to him. Even just the twenty odd minutes of bike ride had seemingly lifted her spirits some - the smile seemed genuine, like some of her stress had evaporated by her physical effort.
HypnoWizard:
“Let's see indeed.” He said and opened the door for her…
pinkgothic:
The ambience of the café was quite modern, and she beelined for a corner table near the windows. A miniature rocking horse sat on the window sill nearby, painted in pale yellows and deep greens. A decahedron cage enclosed the light bulb hanging over the table.
She sat down. “So, what did you want to know?”
HypnoWizard:
“I want to know what happened.” He said softly as he glanced at the menu, soon to order beers and frites.
pinkgothic:
A single syllable worth of a chuckle spilled from her as she started to page through the menu. “Yeah, see,” she said, casually. “If I knew that I'd sleep better at night, too. I doubt I know any more than you do, other than having the questionable joy of being friends - or having been friends, let's not kid ourselves at the prospects here - with three missing people.”
HypnoWizard:
“I hope they're okay.”
pinkgothic:
“Yeah, well, the statistics say if you don't find people in the first twenty-four hours, they're toast,” she grimaced. “Is an ice cream within the spirit of your invitation?” she asked, tapping a finger at an item on the menu.
HypnoWizard:
“Statistics be damned, we dunno until we know, did you see anything back there before Officer Mind Your Own moved you on?”
pinkgothic:
She shrugged a little listlessly. “Not really. No blood, no marks of a tussle. Honestly kind of spooky,” she sighed. “So, is the ice cream okay?” she asked again.
HypnoWizard:
“Order whatever you want.” He said with a smile, “I'm having frites and a beer.”
pinkgothic:
“Thanks,” she said, waving a waitress over and doing so. Then she folded her hands in front of her. “So what's your interest in this whole thing? I haven't seen you before.”
HypnoWizard:
“I solve mysteries, sometimes, most the time they remain mysteries honestly. I just like to know what happened, ya know? My source thinks something very strange happened, his gut not mine.”
pinkgothic:
“Ah,” she said, a tinge of disappointment in her voice - maybe the 'most of the time they remain mysteries, honestly' was puncturing some hope she'd developed. “Well, I don't know what to tell you. If you can find my friends, it'd be awesome, of course. But unless you're police, I doubt you're even getting whatever evidence you'd need to progress.”
HypnoWizard:
“I got my means, I should be able to get at the reports once their filed. You want to check those out?”
pinkgothic:
“I mean, I guess there's a reason they don't share those with mortals,” she smiled wrily. “It's not like I can honestly do anything. I took today off work and bless my manager for letting me do that on short notice, but my job doesn't involve solving mysteries.”
At this point, the waitress brought them their orders, and she started to nibble at her ice cream. “…wow, you're patient, I didn't even introduce myself, did I?” she asked, hit by the realisation that their knowledge of names was asymmetric.
HypnoWizard:
“Very patient, I like to solve them sooner or later. The mystery of your name can wait.” He smiled at her…
He started dipping his frites in a sauce and eating them as he sipped his beer…
pinkgothic:
“Very gracious of you,” she chuckled. “Let me short-circuit your quest: I'm Katja.”
HypnoWizard:
“Elyre, David Elyre.” He offered her his hand, she might have read his blog, Elyre.org, Investigating the unknown, informing the public since 2018.. She just might have heard of him.
pinkgothic:
Evidently, she had not - no recognition glittered in her eye. Given how some people reacted to journalism of any kind, it was possible that was for the best. She did shake his hand, but it had a dry formality to it. She was definitely more interested in using her hands to eat the ice cream. “So, what's your theory so far? If you have one,” she mused.
HypnoWizard:
“My theory is 5 people are missing, one vehicle has been found abandoned, and that two of the five were unlikely to know the rest let alone be in the vehicle.” He said as he ate his frites, “Do you know them?”
pinkgothic:
Even though what he said was a listing of facts, not a theory, she engaged immediately. “Five people?” she asked with some surprise. “I know of three missing people, not five. I guess that jives with what you're saying about the other two not knowing the three of them. The car belongs to Bastian, by the way.”
HypnoWizard:
“Can you name 3 of the 5?” He asked with a wriggle of his brows, “I'm not sure my source even got the names yet, the paperwork hasn't hit the databases.”
pinkgothic:
She palpably hesitated - expected behaviour, given the whole country had essentially invented the GDPR, and there was ample cultural background for it. But then she nodded. “Yeah, okay. Sure. My missing friends are Bastian Seidel, Eike Jundt and Wiebke Aust.”
HypnoWizard:
He jotted those down, “Thank you, it probably doesn't matter, don't worry I am not going to bother their family and friends quite yet, yourself aside, I don't think what occured here is targetted.”
pinkgothic:
“You think they were random victims of a crime?” Katja asked, curious.
HypnoWizard:
“I'm guessing your friends don't include a surgeon and his patient?”
pinkgothic:
The question made Katja pause with her meal. “Not unless they have secret second identities. No one's been getting surgery recently, and definitely no one has been doing surgery, pretty sure I would know that. I'm guessing these are the other two missing people, then?” she asked.
HypnoWizard:
“Yeah, that would be my guess. I don't actually know a lot yet, I was tipped off that 5 people were missing, one a patient and another his surgeon, and a car was found. It just struck us both as very very strange, outside of the hospital those two are not supposed to be having anything to do with each other and well.. You live here, nothing happens on either side of the border for hundreds of miles in all directions, its out of place.”
pinkgothic:
Katja was nodding as she finished up her ice cream pensively. “And they all disappeared at the same time?” she asked, rhetorically. “I feel like this must be a coincidence, but I admit that sounds unlikely. Still… unlikely things sometimes happen.” Her brows furrowed.
HypnoWizard:
“Yeah pretty sure they were looking for the two missing from the hospital, who should not have left together, when they found the car. They weren't concerned about your friends until then I don't think, they were off driving somewhere together, like adults are allowed ya know?”
pinkgothic:
Katja grumbled something under her breath, evidently finding the police's inaction in the past four days rather distasteful. “I bet you they'd have looked into it if it had been any other town's inhabitants,” she said with mild bitterness.
HypnoWizard:
“I doubt it I'm afraid, they tend to ignore a lot of concerns they're given.”
pinkgothic:
“No, they don't,” Katja said. It seemed to be a comment made out of principle, rather than observation. In an area like this, where crime was low, Katja evidently thought police followed up on nearly everything - what else were they getting their pay checks for, after all? “But there are some people, especially outside Aventoft, who have a prejudice against the Sun's Shepherds.”
HypnoWizard:
“Maybe you over estimate how much they care one way or another, but what of these prejudices?”
pinkgothic:
Katja glowered mildly at David, as though sceptical that he couldn't imagine any. She finished the last few bites of her ice cream, though, and finally followed up with: “Some people seem to think you can't possibly be a religious community without being involved in some shady bullshit. From what Torben says, the police practically said to his face that they weren't interested in 'cult squabbles'.” Her face had clouded.
HypnoWizard:
He growled a little, “That's just wrong, if there was crime or a danger to someone, then its their job. Tell me are you one of these Sun's Shepherds?”
pinkgothic:
Katja's face stayed a storm cloud, but the configuration of the clouds changed. “And what if I am?” she asked, defensively, making it sound like she'd had some bad experiences coming out about that in the past.
HypnoWizard:
“Then your part of a modern reality with ancient roots, I don't care, hell I can see the sun, at least I know it exists.”
pinkgothic:
That made her visibly relax. “Sorry,” she said. She seemed on the verge of saying something more to explain her reaction, but decided against it, and poked with her spoon at the empty glass cup that her ice cream had been in moments ago.
HypnoWizard:
“You owe me no apologies.”
pinkgothic:
“You're very kind,” she said. “But I've been bristly all day.” By tone, it was another apology. Though, given that three of her friends were missing, maybe it wasn't surprising that she had a baseline bristliness. She took a deep breath. “So what are you planning to do next? I have all day free, I could help, maybe, if you don't mind a third wheel.”
HypnoWizard:
“I'd like to find out if there is a connection between the other two and the Sun's Shepherd's, if investigative curiosity isn't too offensive?”
pinkgothic:
“I mean… I don't think there is. But you could talk to Torben, I guess,” she mused. “If anyone knows something about a connection, he will.”
HypnoWizard:
“Could you introduce us?” He asked with a half smile.
pinkgothic:
“I, um,” she said, and there was a bit of a blush on her freckled face. “I guess, yeah?” A pause. “Like, in person, or do you just want to talk on the phone?”
HypnoWizard:
“I usually like to talk face to face, but if you'd prefer we could use the phone?”
pinkgothic:
“He might be doing field work at this time a day,” she said. “But no harm checking.” She seemed to think about it for a while, then checked her wrist watch, noting that it was about noon at this point. “Yeah, if we leave now we might catch him for lunch break? He doesn't have super regular ones, but that would about be the time he prefers.”
HypnoWizard:
“Alright, mind if we take the car?”
pinkgothic:
“If you bring me back to my bike later, yeah, that's fine,” she nodded. Improvement! Apparently he had been upgraded from 'creepy stranger' to 'friendly stranger' over the course of the conversation. “I guess you're paying?”
HypnoWizard:
“Yeah, and we could toss the bike on the backseat if you liked?” He settled the bill..
pinkgothic:
“I don't think there's enough space on your back seat,” she chuckled mildly. “Just bring me back here later, if that's okay?” she asked again. As he paid the bill, she pressed her lips together, a flicker of guilt in her eyes, as though she were taking advantage of a situation he'd orchestrated - but she said nothing about it other than “Thanks.”
HypnoWizard:
“I promise to get you back to your bike.”
pinkgothic:
“Then let's go see if we can find Torben,” she encouraged, rising from her seat. “He works here, in theory,” she said, pulling out her mobile phone, tapping at a place in Google Maps she'd selected: The Dam and Drainage Association of the area, apparently. Quaint. “In practise we'll just have to see if he's in or not.”
HypnoWizard:
“Let's go then, what's the post code?”
He'd put it into his sat nav and there off!
pinkgothic:
“Um, just Aventoft,” she said as she slipped into the car beside him. “Uh, two five nine two seven?” she offered, looking at her mobile. “It's right up near the Danish border, anyway. Honestly hard to miss.”
HypnoWizard:
He drove there, talking as he went. “I can't navigate worth a damn without my satnav.”
pinkgothic:
“It's a lost art,” she said, matter-of-factly, suggesting she knew a couple more people in David's position. She tested her seat belt tentatively, maintaining the subtly awkward posture anyone in a foreign car usually held, her gaze alternating between David, the landscape outside, and - very occasionally - her mobile phone, checking on their progress. It was less than twenty minutes by car, but she didn't feel very chatty while someone was meant to focus on the road, even if there was almost no other traffic to consider, so it stretched like toffee.
HypnoWizard:
He would drive there and finding the place park up.
pinkgothic:
There was really only one part of the road that looked like a parking niche, and even that was of dubious formality - but there was more than enough space on the side of the whole stretch of road that someone could park a car there without inconveniencing anyone or anything more than some blades of grass.
Like everything else up in the middle of nowhere, it looked quiet on the outside. The building looked like it had an 'H'-shaped floor plan, or maybe a 'U' - it was hard to tell from one side of the building alone, after all - with the front doors set further back from the road than the outer wings.
There was no doorbell, just a closed double door of wood inviting a knock.
HypnoWizard:
He walked up and gave a knock.
pinkgothic:
Katja had sidled up beside David and was leaning a bit to the side to peer into one of the windows. They weren't particularly good windows to peer inside with, though, and ultimately told her nothing. Fortunately, neither of them had to guess for very long - a woman in her late forties opened the door and leant against the edge of it, peering at the both of them, first at David with some confusion, then at Katja, with a friendlier confusion. “You're looking for Torben?” she asked, evidently guessing from Katja's presence.
HypnoWizard:
“Yep.”
pinkgothic:
“Did… something happen?” she asked, tone one of mild concern, her gaze flicking between Katja and David.
HypnoWizard:
“Nothing new is known, we're just asking questions for the moment.”
pinkgothic:
“Questions?” the woman echoed, maintaining her air of mild confusion.
“David's looking into the disappearances,” Katja said, softly. “So he wanted to talk to Torben about them, see if there are some connections?”
“Connections?” the woman asked, before shaking her head mildly as though to snap out of the mode of responding with single-word questions of her own. “You think Torben knows something about Bastian, Wiebke and Eike that you don't?” she asked.
Katja shook her head, scratching at the back of her neck with one hand. “Uh, there's two other missing people, apparently.”
The woman's eyes widened. For a moment of awkward silence, she stayed hung against the door as though it were her support, the posture more casual than the suddenly morbid circumstance. Then she straightened herself out. “Well, uh,” she started, blinking a little. “He's doing a survey at the moment,” she commented. “Out that way.” Her arm rose to point west-north-west of their current position. “You wanna wait for him or go look? I expect he'll be back in an hour if you'd rather wait.”
HypnoWizard:
“Let's wait for him.” He looked to each of them, “I'm ordering pizza, want some?”
pinkgothic:
Katja shook her head mildly. “Only just had an ice cream,” she reminded, but a little shyly, not wanting to offend with the obvious.
The woman hovering in the doorway didn't answer, assuming herself excluded from the question. She did, however, squint a little. “Did you need anything else?” she asked with some hesitance, clearly not wanting to just close the door on either of them now that they'd been revealed to work in concert on trying to solve the missing person case, but likely needing to get back to work.
HypnoWizard:
“Do you know anything and do you like pizza?”
pinkgothic:
Again the woman draped her weight against the frame of the door. “I– that's a very broad question?” she asked, furrowing her brows in what looked like mild confusion. “But there's nothing I can tell you that Katja can't tell you. They're her friends. I just know about them in Torben's periphery. And today's mention of the other two missing people is the first I'm hearing of those, so you probably know more than I do.” A pause. “Or, I don't know. Who is it that's missing?” she asked, daring to show some curiosity. The pizza question seemed forgotten - that would be a 'no', then.
HypnoWizard:
“Alright fuck the pizza. Thank you, mind if we wait here for him?”
pinkgothic:
She glanced past them at the blue sky, ambiguous emotions distorting her face for a few undecided seconds. “Do you want to come in?” she asked, with some reluctance. Waiting outside was obviously nothing she could allow or disallow, but if David was asking to be let in that needed some separate consideration.
HypnoWizard:
“I wouldn't mind, if you have somewhere we could sit?”
pinkgothic:
She sighed softly, lingering for a moment. David had made it hard to say 'no'. “Okay, fine,” she said. “Come in. Sandra is out today, so you can sit at her desk if you want,” she gestured, waving them in first, then gesturing to a room with office equipment, pointing out a particular spot. “Or Torben's,” she added, dropping in another gesture. They were notably small desks, but apparently sufficient.
HypnoWizard:
He sighed, “No sofa huh?”
pinkgothic:
The woman gave David a brief annoyed look - this being a working space, not a residential home - but didn't bother commenting about it. “If you need some water or coffee,” she said, but didn't finish the sentence verbally, instead pointing to a dispenser tucked in just after the corner leading to this part of the building.
HypnoWizard:
“Anyone want a coffee?”
pinkgothic:
Again Katja simply shook her head, and the other woman didn't seem to feel addressed. Instead, the woman walked to a third tiny desk, slipped into the chair, then started to, by the looks of things, compare paper printouts to the statistical data on her computer monitor.
Katja decided to start a whispered conversation speculating: “So, do you think there's even a connection between my friends and the two missing people? It could be a coincidence.”
HypnoWizard:
“Its a strange coincidence, the hospital pair are related.”
pinkgothic:
Katja nodded mutely for a moment, her gaze drifted to the window and out, staring at the landscape as though feeling a little lost. And why wouldn't she feel that way? Her friends were missing. “So, when Torben shows up,” she said, softly. “Do you already know what you'll be asking about?”
HypnoWizard:
“I dunno, I'm going to ask if he knows anything we don't about all five of them, and has any clue where they are. Really were pulling at straws here.”
pinkgothic:
Again Katja nodded quietly, although a furrow of one brow suggested something might be bothering her about it. She didn't wait for Elyre to prompt her about it. “Honestly, I think if he knew something relevant, I would expect he would have already told me about it?” she offered, but it was more of a shapeless, uncertain complaint that a real criticism.
HypnoWizard:
“Well we may as welll double check what he knows.”
pinkgothic:
It doesn't take too much longer - about another ten minutes and change - until there's a sound at the door. Katja rose immediately, a brightness touching her expression that only blossomed more as the door actually opened. It's a young man with a worn and weathered backpack slung over one shoulder, inspecting something on his mobile phone, and not, at first, noticing either of the two strangers.
HypnoWizard:
“The famous Torben, nice to meet you.” He said when he did notice him. “Katja and I are working together to find your friends, and we wondered if you knew anything about a doctor and a patient of his?”
pinkgothic:
As Elyre spoke, the man jolted, and for a split second, a thundercloud rolled over his face. It lasted only an instant - specifically, until he saw Katja, and the tension flowed out of his shoulders. He stood quiet for a moment, letting the prompt sink in, scrutinising Elyre without so much as hiding that he was doing it.
Then he tapped his mobile phone's screen off and slipped it into a pocket. Keeping his eyes on Elyre, he shrugged the backpack off, beginning to open it. Only after undoing the clasps did he finally give a verbal response: “I'm assuming this is about my brother Bastian, and Eike Jundt and Wiebke Aust?”
The woman that had let them in paused, glancing past her spectacles at the three of them in silence.
HypnoWizard:
“There are 5 missing, a doctor and his patient also, they all seem to have dissapeared together.”
pinkgothic:
“Really,” Torben said, beginning to get out what looked like water samples from the bag and setting them onto a table. He pivoted the conversation: “Are you a friend of Katja's?” And he looked to Katja, who pressed her lips together in a thin line and shook her head almost apologetically.
She did, though, append: “Torben, he's trying to help.”
“As are the police,” Torben pointed out. “Will he do a better job? Is he– oh, is he, what? Promising to solve this in exchange for money or something?” A protective hardness touched at his tone.
“No,” Katja shook her head, raising both hands. “Give him a chance.”
HypnoWizard:
“I do this work at a loss, I do blog about mysteries and crimes I investigate, but honestly, I like when I can solve a problem, and I espescially like when and if I can bring someone home.”
pinkgothic:
The sincerity of Elyre's comment visibly gave Torben pause. Perhaps he had expected a bristly rebuke, but the softness clearly cut through whatever prejudice he was busy nurturing. Still crouched with his bag, he blinked at Elyre. The scepticism was still there, not at all concealed, but it had a companion of mild hope. “What's your track record?” Torben asked. “And the weirdest case you've ever solved?”
HypnoWizard:
“I report on what is known, as for the weirdest case I've solved, that has to be the school bus that wound up atop a mountain, turned out it had been lifted there by a chinook, for reasons unknown. People thought it was aliens attacking there children, but the vehicle was offroad foror six years before it wound up up there.”
pinkgothic:
Torben nodded along ever so subtly as Elyre elaborated, but his expression didn't soften further. His tone, though, was fairly regretful as he spoke again, rising from his crouch into a stand and dusting off his thighs. “I appreciate your drive to figure this one out, but, respectfully, I think you should leave this one to the police,” he said. “Enough good people have gotten hurt.”
HypnoWizard:
“Do we know anyone has been hurt?”
pinkgothic:
Onto his right hip one of Torben's hands went and he heaved a deep, somewhat laboured breath. “My brother and his friends have been missing for four days. The chance anyone's going to find them alive at this point seems negligible,” he pointed out.
HypnoWizard:
“I'm sorry to say I agree, do you know anything about the other two, the doctor and his patient?”
pinkgothic:
Torben's face scrunched up, ambiguous as to whether it was because he was trying to match the question to something in memory, or because he didn't like where the conversation was going. “What's the connection?” he asked.
HypnoWizard:
“They were near the car's location when last spotted, and their also missing, which seems more than a coincidence. It's rare people go missing under strange circumstances after all, espescially out here.”
pinkgothic:
“It's rare people going missing here under any circumstance,” Torben offered by way of agreement. “Do you know their names?”
HypnoWizard:
“Not yet, I was hoping you might, I haven't gotten to the hospital yet to ask about them, I met Katja, she was also investigating the car, and we came here next. Unless..” He checked his phone, half hoping for more leaked info from his inside man in his inbox, anything?
pinkgothic:
No messages on the phone from Marius - not yet, at least. Maybe that would change later, or if he gave him a prod. But the hospital was a good lead to follow in any case.
“I don't know the names of these two other people you're looking for,” Torben said. “I really think you should leave this to the police, though.”
HypnoWizard:
“I understood you had little faith in them, that they practically told you they weren't interested in squabbles between cults.”
pinkgothic:
Torben's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he shifted his gaze to Katja. For a moment, there was an awkward silence between the two, then he nodded a little to break it up and shifted his attention back to Elyre. “I see Katja's told you that they've been rude,” he observed. “But I do believe they're still going to do their job, probably especially now that these other two people are also gone.”
HypnoWizard:
“Honestly, I can't say much, but my friend amongst them rarely involves me unless he thinks there is a need.”
pinkgothic:
Something changed in Torben's demeanour, but it was hard to pin down what it meant. It looked a little like tired resignation, but he made no effort to open up any further. Disappointment? The bitterness from the start seemed well and truly gone, so probably not. “So you're going to persist in this investigation?” he asked with tired curiosity.
HypnoWizard:
“I'm already here now.” He said seriously, “I don't share your mourning and worry, but you must admit the mystery itself is pretty interesting. I got to at least go to the hospital, do you want to come along with Katja and me?”
Apparently he was dragging her along?
pinkgothic:
“Torben,” Katja interrupted gently. “Just let him help. A journalist has a different eye for things than the police do, I don't think it's useless or redundant.”
“I didn't mean to imply he's not useful,” Torben frowned, his tone an edge defensive.
“Then let him investigate. He's an adult, he can take care of himself,” Katja grimaced softly. It was clear that she didn't understand why he was behaving the way he was - the adamant insistence that Elyre not involve himself.
“Bastian was an adult, too,” Torben pointed out. Apparently, that quietened Katja down, and he took the opportunity to look back at Elyre. “I'm sorry. I don't mean to question your skill. To answer your question, I'm afraid I really can't leave Aventoft at the moment. And I would prefer if you could leave Katja out of it.”
“No, it's fine,” Katja said. “I need to get back to my bike at some point, anyway, so I'm afraid he'll have to chauffeur me around a little more anyway,” she smiled gently.
HypnoWizard:
“I think Katya was investigating all this when I found her, if she's happy with it I'm gonna team up with her and watch her back.”
pinkgothic:
“I do need to actually get back home at some point,” Katja pointed out. “I'm guessing my parents will want to have a word with me anyway for being off work today.” She gave the kind of light eyeroll that one would expect from someone who was at adult age, but living with their parents, clearly still far too used to them imposing their values on her but aware that they had no real power over her.
Then Katja paused, slipping her thumbs into her pockets. “Do you know what Bastian was up to Monday night when everyone vanished?” she asked Torben, voice full of compassion.
“Haven't we been over this?” Torben asked, sighing softly.
“You don't remember anything?” Katja asked.
“Nothing that will help you find him. If he's not with his car, I wouldn't know what trail could possibly lead you to him,” Torben shook his head.
HypnoWizard:
“I'll get you back to your bike, and if its too late, I'll drive you both home too.”
pinkgothic:
“I still have work to do,” Torben shook his head, and almost demonstratively turned his attention back to the water samples, beginning to put them onto the desk that the woman had indicated was his earlier, checking each sloppily written label as he did so. “Thank you, though.”
Katja rolled her shoulders a little. “I guess we'll check out the hospital?” she offered Elyre. “It's only, what?” she asked, then cast a look at her mobile phone. “Mid afternoon. If you get me back to my bike by five thirty or so, that's plenty.”
HypnoWizard:
“It was nice meeting you Torben.”
He turned to head out…
pinkgothic:
As Katja passed Torben, she lingered for a moment, then leant across and gave him a kiss on the cheek. One step further, then, and he raised an arm as though to stop her - but evidently decided against it, forcing his attention back down to his samples with an air of regret.
Then Katja and Elyre were back outside. “I'm sorry about that,” Katja said. “This whole thing just… it really has him rattled.”
HypnoWizard:
“There is something he doesn't want me to find out, that he knows.” He said with a look at her, then shrugged, “Shall we go see what we can find out at the hospital?”
pinkgothic:
“I think he's just rattled,” Katja said. “You have to understand, Torben cares a lot about people. I guess he thinks that whoever made our friends disappear might be a problem to you, too - it doesn't seem unreasonable. Say for example, if there's some kind of serial… murderer out there,” she considered, though the pause before 'murderer' made it quite clear that the idea didn't sit right with her, despite everything she had said about not expecting to see her friends ever again. “Then I also don't think they'll be happy if you poke around in their stuff?” Said, though, she was following him to the car, nodding to the suggestion about checking out the hospital.
Of course, if Katja was Torben's girlfriend, there was maybe a conflict of interest. Maybe Elyre's instinct that Torben was concealing something was right, even if Katja wasn't willing to entertain the idea, herself.
HypnoWizard:
“I guess that could be it too, I hope it is.”
pinkgothic:
“The worry, I assume, not the reality,” she mused. Unsurprisingly, the idea of having a serial killer breathing down their necks didn't really appeal to her. “Anyway, let's see what the folks at the hospital can tell us,” she prompted, following him to the car.
HypnoWizard:
“So all we know is the man was a surgeon, and him and his patient are missing. How should we go about this?”
pinkgothic:
“We ask about the missing people? I can't imagine there's any ambiguity about it,” Katja considered. “Hospitals don't just randomly misplace a surgeon and patient.”
HypnoWizard:
“The cafeteria, no point bothering them while their busy?”
pinkgothic:
“Sure,” Katja shrugged lightly, smiling. “I guess I would have just asked at the reception, honestly.” But maybe that wouldn't work, what with data privacy getting in the way - but since she wasn't that used to doing investigative work as Elyre, it hadn't occurred to her that it might be an issue.
HypnoWizard:
“We'll ask the cafeteria staff first, everyone gets hungry and thirsty, and their way less likely to call security.”
“We really just want their names, then we can find another cute girl looking for their friends.”
He smiled at her.
pinkgothic:
“You think people will call security on us?” Katja's face scrunched up a little. “I'm pretty sure they only do that if you cause trouble.” And then, half joking, half serious: “Were you planning to cause trouble?”
HypnoWizard:
“Nah, but data protection and yadda yadda, I'm sure we''ll learn more at the cafeteria.”
pinkgothic:
“Sounds like it'd be worth a shot,” she nodded. “Let's go?”
HypnoWizard:
He headed to the cafeteria, “Coffee or tea?”
pinkgothic:
“I'm more of a tea person, if they end up having any,” she said. “Do you know which hospital it is?”