Case 162

Cole appears in the tower wearing his usual outfit with his black and white gloves as he does a quick search of the room. The sun has just come up as a very light drizzle of rain hits the sides of the tower. There's still a bit of sunlight getting through the scattered clouds. With the light he can see the bulletin board without turning on any lights. On it he sees a blurry photo of himself. It appears to be taken from below in the woods, looking up at him with his wings out and gliding. Unlike the other images there's no red marks or text on it yet.

He sees a black, blue, green, and red pen now sitting in a small cup by the map. Cole grabs the green pen and writes next to the photo, "You should ask first." He then puts the marker back in the cup as he unfurls his wings and leaps off the railing, gliding towards town.

With the light rain the wind is somewhat chilly. He reaches town without any issues. Cole lands just outside the town and furls his wings back inside his jacket, heading towards the pretzel store. The Salty Sleeper is open with a few people inside as usual. The smell of fresh bread is seeping out the propped open door despite the light shower. He sees Wendell facing the wall as he's trying to cut open a box.

Cole heads inside and sits at one of the barstools, waiting for Wendell to be less busy. Wendell grumbles to himself before setting the box cutter aside and picking to rip the top of it open with his hands instead. He gets out new plates and turns to set them on the counter. He's startled by seeing Cole and jumps before sighing, "Jesus, don't sneak up on me like that."

Cole chuckles lightly, "Thought you heard me walk in, I have a quick question then I'll be out of your hair...well fur I guess."

Wendell sets the plates down, "Yeah I have fur and hair. What is it?" As Wendell speaks someone walks under the overhang by the door and is getting water off their umbrella.

Cole glances over at the door for a moment. In the quick glance Cole sees the familiar brown tiger stripes of Lochlan. He then looks back at Wendell, "You wouldn't happen to know anyone that's obsessed with cryptids would you?"

Wendell shrugs, "I don't think you realize how little that narrows it down. This whole town is cryptid crazy."

Cole waves to Lochlan as he resumes talking, "Like someone crazy obsessed with them, tries to take photos of them and prove that they're real? Anyone at all?"

Lochlan glances towards Cole and seems to stare a moment before heading inside. She sets the umbrella by the door and walks to one of the stools. Wendell shakes his head, "That's everyone man. Ever since the place was taken over by petty thieves, everyone's been doing nothing but trying to make up stories on how things disappear so much to cover their own tails."

Cole sighs and shakes his head, "Right, just asking cause there's cryptid shit posted all in the tower and there's a new image so clearly they're still using it."

Wendell glances at Lochlan a moment and looks back at Cole, "Uh... So someone is still going in there? Are you sure you're locking the door when you leave?"

Cole thinks for a moment, "I think I forgot to lock it last time but I've been locking it every other time," Cole pauses for a second, "That reminds me, I'll need to check my mail at some point today."

"Sounds like a good idea." Wendell turns his attention to Lochlan and gives a welcoming smile, "Unless I'm mistaken I don't think I've met you yet. I'm Wendell, owner of the Salty Sleeper." He holds out a large hand with a silver ring. She looks at his hand a second before reaching up and shaking it. Her response is short and not as welcoming, "I'm Lochlan."

Wendell nods awkwardly and pulls his hand away. Cole notes the ring as he waves at Lochlan again, "Nice to see you again."

As Lochlan looks at Cole he can tell she's inspecting his face quite a bit, "I would say the same but I don't think nice usually looks like that."

Cole rolls his eyes, "Of course, anything else you wanna say about my face?" Cole folds his arms as he stares at Lochlan.

"Nah," She gets out some cash and hands it to Wendell, "Chicken pretzel sandwich please." Wendell takes the money and nods as he starts to make a sandwich while still in earshot.

Cole looks over at Lochlan as he asks, "Do you know anyone that's particularly cryptid crazy? Lives in the woods?"

She raises an eyebrow at him and fidgets with something small in her hand, "Why are you asking?"

Cole sighs as he shakes his head, "There's pictures of supposed cryptids in the watchtower I'm in and a new one just got added recently, red text and the whole nine yards."

Lochlan tilts her head some and squints, "This red text doesn't happen to be disproving their existence instead of proving them to be real right?"

Cole nods as he raises an eyebrow, "I'm assuming you know this person?"

Lochlan scoffs, "That fucker is the reason I'm stuck roaming the streets with a glittery crack addict."

Cole stares for several seconds, "I'm sorry? Glittery crack addict?" He looks confused.

Lochlan rolls her eyes, "Rosey. I know you've met her. She's done nothing but gawk over you for days now."

Wendell sets a chicken sandwich in front of Lochlan and a bit of change wrapped in a receipt. Cole raises an eyebrow, "Why would she be gawking over me? I'm barely special, if any at all."

Lochlan picks up the sandwich, "Because you're a human. Those don't exactly exist."

Wendell leans on the counter as he comments, "Not to mention reacting like that would be somewhat a common reaction in a cryptid crazy town."

Cole sighs, "I'm not a fucking cryptid, if anything I'm the farthest thing possible I don't have any animal features." Cole absentmindedly adjusts his gloves slightly.

Wendell continues, "The fact you don't have any is why you're so weird." Lochlan puts something else in her pocket as she grabs her change and receipt.

Cole adds on, "But cryptids usually have animal features, making me anything but a cryptid and instead some kind of anomaly."

Lochlan shrugs, "Like it or not that's what people have been calling everything nowadays."

Wendell nods in agreement.

Cole groans as he huffs, "I'm gonna go check my mail and double check that I locked the door, hope I don't get poached or something." Cole starts heading out of the store.

Wendell waves, "Stay safe." Lochlan snickers as he leaves.

Cole walks to the edge of town and finds the watchtower mailbox to pick up a few letters. He then unfurls his wings and takes off towards the tower, hoping to catch however it is that’s been sneaking in off guard. As he heads up he notices the bodies of the people from before are gone as well as the blood stains. He also doesn't see anyone in sight. The door however is cracked open.

Cole swoops down onto the railing and furls his wings back into his jacket and peers into the window.

He sees a feral stray cat suddenly hop up onto the desk.

Cole sighs, "...It's just you." Cole heads inside as he searches around for anything out of place. The rest of the tower is normal except for the bed that is no longer messy and now neatly made.

Cole looks suspicious as he opens the closet. It's still unlocked from before and the chair seems to be missing again. The cleaning supplies look to have been moved to the other side. Cole checks the board with his photo on it to see if there's anymore writing. On a paper near it he sees a few articles printed about nonferal hybridization with nonferal birds.

Cole picks them up to see if they're still warm from the printer. The paper is slightly warm. Cole quickly dashes out the door as his wings unfurl as he quickly flies back to the edge of town then furls his wings and starts sprinting to the library.

He rushes past a few people strolling along the sidewalk with umbrellas. The parts of the ground with leaves have become somewhat slick. Cole avoids stepping on the leaves as best as he can as he slows to a jog once he reaches the library, subtly glancing for any ally ways that lead to the back.

Only one side of the library has an alleyway with a side door and a small trash can beside it. Cole heads down the alleyway and ducks down next to the door to make himself less visible, then checks if the door is locked. Luckily for him, the door is unlocked.

Cole peeks the door open slightly to see if it's the camera room. He sees a desk with a computer in a small office room. Beside it are filing cabinets with a router on top and a paper shredder by a trash can. A few boxes are stacked around a folding table on the other side next to another door.

Cole heads inside the room and closes the door behind him then quickly glances around to make sure no one is around. He can hear talking outside the door but is otherwise alone.

Cole checks the history of the cameras near the printers. They have recordings of anytime there is movement in the building. He finds a recording of this morning of several people entering and looking for books. One however heads to the printers behind the computers. They look like a nonferal doberman dog with a business suit on. They collect a stack of papers and put them away in a folder before leaving.

Cole keeps searching for people using the printer, looking for anyone else. Other people go to the computers but no one else has gone to the printers yet this morning. Cole goes back to the doberman and studies the image as best as he can, looking for anything identifiable.

His suit is black with a dark red tie and a golden pin in the shape of a 4 pointed star. Cole switches the camera's back to the live feed as he sneaks back out the door. He steps out safely as he sees the stray cat from before that had followed him. It walks up and meows.

Cole raises an eyebrow at the cat then continues walking as he starts to head into the library and over to the computers. The cat somewhat follows but stays outside as he enters the building. The librarian glances up from her desk at him as he passes by. Cole sits down at the computer and starts attempting to find out anything about the pin.

On looking up gold four pointed stars he finds a small corporation named Warren's with an office on the outskirts of town. Cole looks for an address and skims through the page for a general idea of what the company does. They seem to specialize in collecting rare or antique items as well as holding auctions when they are overstocked.

Cole gets up from the chair and turns around to face the entrance. Standing in the entrance are two police officers who are directly watching Cole. One of them speaks sarcastically, "You done yet?"

Cole's face drops as he slowly puts his hands up, "Yeah... are you gonna arrest me for not paying my taxes cause I'll have you know I don't have a taxable income."

Both of them step into the room and are by either side of Cole. One of them speaks as they grab Cole's arms and try to move them behind his back, "You are under arrest for assaulting a peace officer."

Cole lets them grab his arms, "Do you have any evidence that I was the one that assaulted the officer? I wanna see the footage, I didn't touch that officer at all."

They handcuff him and pull on his arm to stand him up, "We'll go over that at the office. Do you have any weapons on you?"

Cole groans as he shakes his head, "Nope, not even a safety razor."

One of them pats him down for weapons. They feel a revolver and a combat knife on opposite sides on the upper part of his jacket. They take the revolver and knife before the other officer starts leading him to a squad car parked outside. Cole annoyingly sighs as he purposefully stumbles to make it harder. The officer is a bit more stern as he makes it more difficult, "Stop that." They open the door and let him get in.

Cole stares at them, "Or what?" Cole gets in the car as slow as possible. They patiently wait in silence. Cole finally gets in the car as he continues looking annoyed, "I'm uncomfortable."

The officer closes the door, "That's fine by me." One of them heads around to the front and sits in the driver's seat.

Cole starts tugging on the hand cuffs, not hard enough to break them as he starts humming classical music.

Before starting up the engine, the officer checks his computer first as he leans in slightly. There's a quick scoff before he starts to drive. Cole stares out the window while waiting to be driven to the police station.

They pull up to the road near where the lookout tower is as the doors unlock. The officer speaks up to Cole, "Get out."

Cole opens the door with his foot, "Can I have my shit back first?"

The driver's door opens as well, "Here."

Cole breaks the handcuffs and walks over to the driver side door, "Gee thanks for the ride I guess?"

They hand back the items and promptly grab the radio to speak into it "10-4 departing a case 162." He then quickly closes the door before driving away.