Investigate the mayor's disappearance

You arrived at the police station with Fran 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.

"That's weird. Are they hiding something?" Fran 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.

"Should we go to the mansion and check up on them?" Fran 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 Fran 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, Miss Evans... 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.

"Hey, it's okay..." Fran immediately walked up and held Sherry in her arms to comfort her. 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 Fran 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.

"How could they do that?" Fran gasped in horror.

You realized that Leonard and Ben must have been in detention when you and Fran 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.

"Hey, Sherry, you don't have to be here with us." Fran gently patted her shoulder with a smile, "You can go back to your room and get some rest for now. I'll come check on you later, okay?"

"Hmm." Sherry nodded quietly at both of you before she got up and left the room.

"She must have felt lonely." Fran turned to you and sighed, "I suggest we stay here for tonight. It won't be safe to leave her here alone."

"I agree. But the only way to help them is to uncover the truth, find out where the mayor went last night. So I'm going to look for the mayor." You stood up and said. You didn't see the mayor's Chevrolet on the main road on your way here, but maybe you could try your luck on a few side roads.

"Alright. I'll stay here and look after Sherry. Stay safe, James." Fran said.

"You too. I'll bring some stuff from the hotel and come back here tonight." You held Fran's hand tightly before you went out of the room.

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.

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.

It noticed your presence almost immediately as it turned its head to stare at you with its blue eyes. {if NOT game OR game:F2R1_Act1ValerieSex == False}You didn't feel any hostility from it. {endif}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.

"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."

You walked to her and knelt down to check the scene. 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.

You noticed that there was a door to the warehouse not far away, so you stood up and went there. The door was locked, however, the lock itself was relatively new. Someone must have been holed up here for quite a while.

"There was nothing else here." You took a deep breath, "I'm 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 just walked to the door.

Valerie remained silent for a few seconds, and she decided to catch up to you.