Investigate the mayor's disappearance

You arrived at the police station with Grace at around 11:40.

Howland town had fewer than ten police officers. It seemed to be shorthanded for a town like this, and there are even fewer people left at the station right now. You were greeted by a young female officer with short brunette hair when you walked in.

"Something I can help you with?" The officer, Hannah, asked you in a serious tone. Something has been annoying her.

"Hi, I'm James Wilson, a private investigator, and a friend of the mayor. I heard he's missing? Can I be of help?" You got straight to the point.

Hannah eyed both of you up and down for a few seconds. You also noticed that the other three officers in the lobby kept glancing at you from time to time. That made you feel uneasy.

"We received the report from the mayor's maid about two hours ago. The word got out quickly." She was keeping her voice down.

"What do we know now?" You asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. Please, Mr. Wilson, we'll handle this situation." Hannah looked very anxious when she was speaking to you. "If you'll excuse me, I have other things to take care of." She gently nodded at you before she quickly walked away.

It was not very often that you were given the brush-off, but you understood that. What you didn't understand were the unfriendly looks from the officers around you, like they were suspecting you, yet they didn't do anything about it. You quietly left the station with Fran.

"They were looking at us like they were looking at suspects. They definitely knew something, but they were not telling us." Grace said with confusion when she got back to the car and sat in the passenger seat.

"I have the same feeling." You frowned, "The mayor's disappearance should be a much bigger deal, but I can't feel any tension about it from those officers."

You suddenly remembered that when Shannon went missing last month, Leonard told you that the police weren't helpful at all. You didn't pay much attention to it back then, but now? There was something wrong with the police here.

"I'm gonna call Leonard, see if he knows something." You picked up your cellphone and called him, but his phone was turned off. "Huh? What is he doing?" You looked at the screen anxiously.

"Maybe we should just go to the mansion and check on them." Grace looked worried.

"Yeah. Let's go." You started the engine.

You arrived at the Smith Mansion at 12:30. It felt so quiet here during the day. Those luxurious limos were still in the yard, but not the mayor's Chevrolet. So, he must have gone missing after he left the mansion.

You and Grace went to the front door and rang the bell a couple of times. It was weird because you thought Ben would quickly answer the door. It was roughly two minutes before you finally heard slow, faint footsteps from behind the door. It slowly opened a crack, and a young red hair girl cautiously poked her head out. It was Sherry.

"Oh, Mr. Wilson, Grace... Hello." She said with a sad face as she opened the door and welcomed the two of you in.

"Sherry?" You were surprised that she answered the door herself. "Where's Ben? Where's your father?" You asked nervously.

"They were..." She couldn't even finish the sentence and she began to cry.

"Don't worry. We are here..." You immediately walked up and gently patted Sherry's shoulder. You had a very bad feeling about this. It seemed that neither Leonard nor Ben was home, and Sherry had been here all alone. Where are they? You wondered.

After Sherry calmed down, she led you and Grace to the living room to tell you what had happened.

On June 5th, after you and everyone else left, the mayor insisted that Shannon and Donna's corpses must be burned. Leonard argued with him for a while, but he agreed at last. They burned the corpses yesterday morning. The mayor and his wife had dinner with Leonard before they left in the evening.

This morning, Chief Thomas, the head of the Howland Town police station, came to the mansion with four officers and arrested Leonard and Ben, claiming them to be the prime suspects in the mayor's disappearance, despite having no arrest warrant. Leonard and Ben had no say in this but just followed them reluctantly. Sherry has been left alone in the mansion since then.

"This makes no sense at all. Did the police detain them without any evidence?" Grace frowned.

You realized that Leonard and Ben must have been in detention when you and Grace were at the station. No wonder the officers gave you those looks when you asked about the mayor's disappearance. But how could they jump to the conclusion that quickly?

Sherry sat in the chair quietly as she didn't want to say anything more. She had lost her older sister only two days earlier, and now her father had been arrested for no reason. You dared not imagine the pressure and trauma she was enduring.

"I'm sorry... I need some rest. Please feel free." Sherry felt uneasy surrounded by you. She nodded quietly at both of you before she got up and left the room.

"We need to do something. Maybe we can help find the mayor." Grace looked at you with a firm expression, "That's the only way to help them."

"I agree. I didn't see the mayor's Chevrolet on the main road on our way here. Perhaps they went on the side roads. We could try our luck there." You stood up and said.

"Are you sure?" Grace looked a little puzzled. "Alright. Let's go." But she followed anyway.

You left the mansion and drove back along the main road at around 14:00. You turned east onto the first side road you'd never driven down before to try your luck. You were not familiar with this road, so you drove cautiously and slowly, glancing both sides from time to time.

"This is one of the older roads." Grace said, "I heard from people in town that after the main road was built about 20 years ago, almost no one uses these side roads anymore."

"It certainly looks that way." You looked at the worn railings and dilapidated buildings and nodded.

Several minutes later, you found an abandoned gas station. You parked the car and went to the building to check it out with your knife and flashlight. It was supposed to be a convenience store, but most of the things were taken away when it was abandoned. Yet, you heard some noises inside.

You carefully walked deeper, and when you walked past the next shelf and peeked around it, you didn't dare to go any further. You saw a white-furred female lycanthrope on four limbs at the other end of the room, sniffing at something. Grace quickly covered her mouth in horror, but a faint gasp still slipped through.

It noticed your presence almost immediately as it turned its head to stare at you with its blue eyes. You didn't feel any hostility from it. It stood up slowly while its fur began to recede and its bone structure began to change. In no time, it has reverted to its human form.

It was Valerie, and she was naked.

"Oh... I'm sorry..." You awkwardly looked away.

Grace had learned from May long before that Valerie was a werewolf and she was not a threat, but witnessing her lycanthrope form firsthand still left her with a lingering fear.

"What are you doing here?" Valerie didn't seem to care about it as she just picked up her clothes from the floor and dressed herself.

"I'm looking for the mayor." You didn't look at her until she was well covered.

"The mayor?" She looked confused.

"Yeah. You don't know? He's been missing since he left the Smith Mansion last night. I was checking along this road when I saw this building, so I decided to come and have a look." You explained. "And what are you doing here?" You found it strange that not only was Valerie here, but she was also in her lycanthrope form.

"There's blood on the floor." She pointed to what she was sniffing at, "This place has been abandoned for years, and this blood is new. Someone has been doing something here, and I want to know who and what it was. But I can't get much from the smell."

"Let me have a look." You walked to Valerie and knelt down to check the scene.

"I'll look around and see if I can find something." Grace said behind you as she walked away.

"Okay. Be careful."

Following the trail of blood, you saw some ropes in the corner. You checked the ropes carefully with your flashlight and noticed that there were some skin fragments and faint bloodstains on certain parts. Based on your experience, those were left by the rope rubbing against skin.

"Someone had been held captive here." You pointed Valerie to the marks on the ropes, "The ropes were used to bind their wrists, and these were left by their desperate attempts to break free. And it looked like they had broken free. But..." You checked the bloodstains again.

"These are too dry to have been left just last night. They are like... more than ten days old. So it wasn't the mayor's, but someone else's." Valerie gave you the answer before you said it.

"You're right." You nodded as you agreed with her judgment.

Your mind went to Shannon's kidnapping. Could it be her that have been tied up here? But you had no clear evidence, and she was dead now. There was no point in dwelling on it anymore.

You looked around to see if you could find something else, and it was at this moment that a crushed paper coffee cup caught your attention. It was, of course, empty, but you recognized the famous green and white trademark. Someone really liked their coffee, it seemed.

"Hey, James, Valerie! You should come take a look here." Grace called out to you.

You stood up and went that way, while Valerie just followed you. Behind an opened door was a staircase that led you down to the underground warehouse. You found Grace checking on some chains hanging on the wall.

"The door was locked before. How do you get in?" Valerie turned to Grace.

"I picked the lock." Grace showed her the padlock, "This is somewhat new. Someone used it to lock the warehouse after the station was abandoned."

"You know how to pick locks?" You were surprised.

"I'm a mechanic, remember? Comes with the job." She gave you a proud smile before she picked up the chains with shackles at the end, "These chains are rusty. They have been here for a very long time."

"You're right. But what are they for?" You were confused when you looked at them.

"They were used to chain up werewolves when they transform on a full moon." Valerie said calmly behind you, "I use chains like these in the basement of my cabin."

"What? Are you sure?" You were astonished.

"90% sure." Valerie replied calmly, "This was a werewolf's hideout."

Judging by the look of them, they haven't been used for a long time. You looked around the basement and found it utterly bare, nothing but a desk and a chair. You walked over to the desk and saw that it was covered with maps of the town and travel brochures. Looked like someone was doing their homework here.

Under the files you found an old photo. It was a young man with a happy smile, standing under a big tree in the woods. There were some dark red stains in the lower right corner of the photo. You touched them, and they didn't feel like blood. You turned the photo over and found "William, 1990" written on the back.

"Who's this William? Do you know him?" You showed it to the girls.

"Never heard of him." Valerie shook her head.

"Me neither. But the stains here..." Grace thought for a while after inspecting their pattern, "I think that's a mark left by a seal. This photo must have been taken from some official document."

"Indeed..." You checked it again and nodded with a smile, "You really are quite observant, Grace."

"Of course I am." Hearing the same praise from you, Grace lowered her head in delight, with a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

You took a picture of the photo with you cellphone, put it back, and proceed to check other things, but you haven't found anything useful. All you knew by now was that, someone had found this place recently and turned it into their base of operations. You still had no clue as to who this person might be. You put everything on the table back exactly as it had been, pretending you had never been here.

"Well, there was nothing else here." You took a deep breath, stood up, and turned to Valerie, "We're going to continue looking for the mayor. Would you like to come along?"

"Why would I want to come along? It's not like I care about if he's dead." Valerie frowned at you.

"I don't know. Maybe just give us a chance and some time to talk." You shrugged your shoulders before you grabbed Grace's hand and just walked upstairs. Grace felt happy as she blushed.

Valerie looked astonished when she saw you holding Grace's hand. She remained silent for a few seconds, and she decided to catch up to you.