Chapter Text
“Looks like that’s the last of it.” Laura’s dad grabbed the small U-Haul trailer’s hatch handle and pulled it down, latching it shut. “You sure you don’t want me to stick around to help you unpack, sweetie? There’s still a few hours left before sundown.” Just like him to always look after her. She loved that he was so caring, but it got a tad overwhelming at times.
“I’ll be fine, Dad,” she chuckled. “I need some time to just unwind and decompress, you know? Besides, I know you got a long drive home. Don’t want you driving all-night.” She turned back to face him from her small covered porch, her eyes squinting from the sunlight reflecting off the snow blanketing the ground around them. “Between you and Helen, I haven’t had to move a single box all afternoon. Coddlers, the both of you.” Laura’s dad laughed loudly at that.
“It’s us old people’s job to look out for your generation. If we don’t, who will?”
“Ok, one,” she held up a finger, “you are not old. Just - experienced.” He snickered. “And two,” raising another finger, “you give my generation too little credit. We, or at least me, can take care of ourselves.” She put her hands on her hips, trying to exude confidence. She probably just looked pouty.
He still had a stupid cheesy smile plastered on his face. “Well, one,” he put his hands on his hips mocking her, “tell that to my aching joints. And two, while that may be true, I’ll never stop doting on my only daughter.” He gave her a tender look, admiration pouring from his hazel eyes.
Her dad looked almost nothing like her; a broad frame, dark brown hair, a square jaw. She got most of her looks from her mom who sadly passed when she was very little. Cancer sucks ass. That coupled with her dad being the one to raise her by himself was why he was so protective. But she also inherited her mom’s plucky, can-do attitude. It got her into college, it got her into Landis’ vet school with a full-ride scholarship, and it got her through the hell that was last summer.
Laura blushed at his display of fatherly affection. “You’re so cheesy….” she tsked, looking away with a small smile.
“And proud of it!” He boasted. “Anywho, shame your boss didn’t stick around. Didn’t get to thank her for giving you not only a job, but this cottage to live in. And fully furnished to boot. Awfully kind of her!”
Laura stepped off the porch and walked towards her dad and the trailer, her hands in her coat pockets. “Yeah, she said the grant money from the state DNR let her not only hire more people, but also gave her enough to build some housing on-site at the clinic. So, she doesn’t need this old ranger’s cabin anymore. She’s still taking a stipend from my salary for it, but beats having to live in yet another apartment.” She stopped a few paces away.
After the incident last summer, the state thought it would be best if North Kill was better equipped to handle animal attacks, thus the grant. The construction on the on-site housing finished in late December. Really lucky timing for Laura. The clinic had offered her discounted rates for a nearby apartment complex, but after living in an apartment with Max for four months, and a failing relationship for the last two of them, she really needed a change in scenery. And what better scenery was there than the middle of the woods in the middle of bumfuck nowhere that was North Kill?
“That reminds me. Why do you want your co-op here of all places? I mean,” he gestured at the forest surrounding them, “it’s certainly beautiful out here. But after last summer, I figured this would be the last place you wanna be.” Laura crossed her arms, feeling slightly defensive. Max didn’t understand, her friends didn’t, and while her dad was always supportive, he too questioned her recent life choices.
“I don’t know. It just feels right. Like if I’m going to get past shit, then I need to just face it head-on.” She glanced down and scuffed her boot in the snow. Of course she couldn’t tell him the whole truth, but she was still coming to grips with that herself. Why did she want to help find the grumpy sheriff who kept her imprisoned for two months? A bit of guilt, perhaps? A return to the feeling of being needed? She still found herself pondering that at times.
He gave her a warm smile and sighed, “Just like your mother. Never shying away from a challenge.” She looked back up to his face, her blush returning. “Well, if you insist on tackling this on your own, I guess I’ll get out of your hair.” He opened his arms wide and gave her a strong hug, which she returned, and kissed the top of her head. “If you need me, gimme a holler, ok?”
Laura broke the embrace first, “Yes Papa Bear…” she teased. “I love you.”
“Love you too, sweetie.” He turned back towards his gray F-150 and opened the driver’s door. “Tell Helen thanks for me!” He yelled over his shoulder.
“Will do!” He nodded and climbed into the truck, shutting the door and starting the engine. She watched as he turned around and drove back up the long, snow covered drive and turned onto the main road. And like that, she was well and truly alone. Not wanting to stand out in the crisp, January air any longer, she walked back to her porch and opened the front door. She wiped her boots on the entry rug and closed the door behind her.
Well, this was it.
Sealed cardboard boxes littered the floor of the large room that was the living area. Along the long left wall was the small kitchen. A gas stove with an overhead microwave, a semi-modern fridge, and a single basin sink with upper and lower cabinets. A solid wood dining table for four was set a bit back from there. To her right was a dark green, fabric sofa that was probably older than her. There was also a small coffee table and a boxy TV on top of a banged up entertainment center. It was all free though, so Laura had no right to complain. In the back right corner was a wood fired furnace. Luckily, Helen had modernized the cabin enough so there was central air and heat, but she said it came in handy for those extra nippy nights.
The door to her bedroom was just past the sitting area. Past the kitchen was the back door, a washer and dryer combo, and a side entrance into the bathroom which also connected to her bedroom. Helen had given her a quick tour when Laura and her dad had first arrived around noon, mentioning the cabin only had well water. She had already turned the electricity and gas back on the day before for her. There really wasn’t much to the place. In fact, it was smaller than the one bedroom apartment she shared with Max. But it felt quite cozy and welcoming. Something Laura truly needed after the heartbreak and recurring trauma she’d gone through in the past few months.
“Well, no time like the present,” Laura muttered to herself. She removed her boots and then her coat and hung it up on the provided coat rack. For the next few hours, she got to work unpacking some necessities like her cookware, her bedding, and her toiletries.
She pulled out her dad’s old boombox that he had lent her and dialed into a local classic rock station. It wasn’t her favorite style of music, but listening to it made her feel closer to her dad. He’d usually have a similar station on while he worked in the garage. She grabbed the box of her clothes and hauled it towards the bedroom. She started to hang up some shirts in the wardrobe when she heard the DJ announce the next song.
“This next one goes out to our beloved sheriff, Travis Hackett.” Laura immediately halted and listened. “The search is still ongoing, but we haven’t lost hope. This song was a favorite of his. Or at least he used to call in once a week and request it. This is ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen and David Bowie. We miss ya, sheriff.”
Laura rolled her eyes in amusement. Of course he’d pick that song. Laura let herself dance around her small bedroom while she put clothes away. For a stern guy with a stick up his ass, he had a decent taste in music. That or a dark sense of humor. They didn’t exactly part as best friends, but after everything they went through together that night, she couldn’t deny there was some kind of bond. Enough that the song warmed her heart just a tad. Hopefully she can provide some much needed aid in the investigation. Maybe provide some places they hadn’t searched, or some insight they hadn’t considered.
As the sun started to set, Laura decided she’d done enough work for today. She had enough unpacked that she could survive starting her new job tomorrow. Except for groceries. But that could wait until after her shift. For now, she just wanted to eat the leftover McDonald’s in her fridge, shower, and call it a day. Helen wanted her in by 6AM - way too early for a Monday, in her opinion - so getting to bed early was essential.
After she lounged for a bit, scrolled through her phone, and rinsed off, she went through her nightly routine and laid out a polo shirt and blue jeans for work in the morning. She would get uniform shirts in the next few days. She set her alarm, turned off the lamp, and fell into bed. Soft moonlight covered her sheets, lulling her into slumber. But as she nodded off, she could’ve sworn she heard a wolf howling in the distance.
Laura pulled into the recently plowed, gravel parking lot of the wildlife clinic at 5:56AM, nursing an instant coffee she managed to brew in her early morning scramble. It turned out sleeping alone in an unfamiliar cabin in the unfamiliar - and once hostile to her - woods didn’t lend itself to plentiful rest. The short nightmare of being chased by a terror unseen didn’t help. But injured and sick animals didn’t wait for you to get adjusted and have three cups of caffeine.
She hauled herself out of her early 2000’s Chevy Malibu, bringing her tumbler of life with her. The main clinic building was decently sized. Even though it serviced and rehabilitated wildlife, it also acted as the town and surrounding area’s only animal hospital. Even with grant money, treating wildlife was a thankless business and the lights needed to be kept on somehow. There were wooden enclosures and fenced habitats dotted around the outskirts; some attached to the clinic, others not. Laura could hear scurrying and bleating as she approached the main door.
The main lobby was well-lit with fluorescent lights. Even with the nice forest mural painted on the longest wall, the concrete walls made the waiting room feel cold. She unzipped her coat and looked around trying to find someone.
“Um, hello?” She called out. “Anyone here?” Footsteps echoed down the hall past the reception desk.
Helen peered around the corner, “Oh, Laura! Good morning! Didn’t hear you come in!” She proceeded into the room and gave Laura’s hand a quick shake. Helen was a stout, middle-aged woman a pinch shorter than Laura with streaks of gray in her ginger, curly bob. She wore a pair of reading glasses on a strap around her neck. “Hope that lumpy bed served you well, because we’ve got a busy day ahead of us!”
Cutting right to the chase, Helen turned back around to the hall she came from and waved for Laura to follow. “We currently have two dogs in post-op, a fox with a broken leg that was caught in a bear trap, a family of raccoons with roundworm, and a small herd of deer with HD in quarantine. Our work is certainly cut out for us!” She chuckled. Laura laughed nervously with her.
Laura followed Helen as she went down a branching hall and opened the door at the end. “This is our break room, if you want to call it that. Not really much time to take breaks around here, but it’s got a fridge for keeping your lunch or dinner cold, a microwave, a table, and a coat rack for your coat and bag if you bring one. For now, just keep your coat on as we’re gonna head outside in a bit.” At that, Helen pulled presumably her own coat off of the rack. There were two other coats still hanging, though. “By the way, since you probably haven’t made it to the market yet, I’ll whip you up a sandwich for lunch. But you best get your fridge stocked as soon as you can. You can put your drink on the cabinet there near the coffee maker.” Laura did as she was asked and they continued their tour.
They came back out of the short hall and stopped briefly at a set of swinging double doors. “This is the operating theater. We’ll go in there later, but for now I want to show you the storage room and indoor kennels.” Laura barely had time to nod before Helen continued down the hall. It was like drinking from a fire hose!
They stopped at the last door on the right as Helen pulled out a small keyring and unlocked it. She held open the door for Laura and they entered the largest room thus far. There were shelves upon shelves of various items; bags of dry kibble, bird seed, and nut blends; tubs full of leads, leashes, and harnesses; new syringes in sealed wrappers. “So this is our main storage room. We keep everything in here but medical records, surgery equipment, and the hay and alfalfa. You’ll be coming in and out of here a lot. I’ll give you your own set of keys in the afternoon.” Helen pointed to the back right corner. “The industrial fridge back there is where we keep blood samples and most of the temperature controlled medicine. The anesthesia is in its own isolated fridge in the theat-”
Helen’s speech was interrupted when they heard the side entrance door bang open, a quick set of footsteps entered the room. “Hey Helen, where do we keep spare blankets? One of the raccoons tore up the one in kennel number two-” A guy who looked like a younger and shorter version of Chris Hemsworth came around a corner of shelves. “Oh! The new girl is here. Uh, hi!” He had a dirty blonde buzzcut and vibrant green eyes. He had a heavy blue winter coat on, but Laura could tell he had a bit of a lean physique.
Helen burst out laughing, “Excellent timing as always, James! This is Laura Kearney, our new vet student!”
“Uh, hello! Nice to meet you!” For a millisecond, Laura forgot to stick her hand out to shake, suddenly flustered by an attractive face. He gave her back a firm shake. Strong grip!
“You as well. I’m James Douglas.” He had a charming smile. “Laura, huh? You look familiar for some reason. Have we met?”
Laura giggled shyly, “I don’t think so. You have a memorable face - I mean, uh, it’s - unique?” Wow, she was fucking this up. Luckily, James went along with it.
“I get that a lot,” he chuckled.
“James started here in October. He's a vet tech we brought in with the DNR grant. He’s been a big help organizing the expansion work around here.” Oh right, Helen was still here. “If you have any questions, clinic-wise or getting settled, he’ll point you in the right direction.” Laura nodded along, but caught herself just staring at him. “Blankets are in the tub on the shelves by the door.”
“Thanks! Hey Laura, if you want I can show you around later. Show you the sights, the best places to eat, you know?” James gave her a flirtatious smirk, a gleam in his eye.
“That would be awesome! But I gotta run an errand first immediately when I get off. I’ll call you?”
“Yeah sure! Helen will give you my number. I’ll see you around!” He turned and waved as he went back towards the entrance, grabbing a blanket from a large tub and went back outside. Laura stared after him, slightly entranced.
Helen cleared her throat beside her. “Glad to see you’re getting along with your fellow coworkers,” she teased. Laura’s cheeks turned bright red.
The rest of the tour was quick and smooth. Helen showed her the indoor kennels and introduced another coworker, Cathy, handling treatments and food for a German Shepherd and a Yorkie. She was in her late thirties and had been working at the clinic for the last ten years or so.
They then took a stroll outside to the enclosures she saw when she arrived. The deer were in the front pen marked ‘Quarantine’ with a high chain link fence. The fox was in the smaller of the three fenced kennels, a tarp hooked to the inside to act as a windbreak and a cover from rain and snow. The family of raccoons were all kept together in the largest of the kennels. James had already given them their breakfast and morning dose of meds. Helen pointed to two more fully enclosed kennels outside of the perimeter fencing, one of them being recently constructed. They were for treating the more carnivorous wildlife they sometimes got, like coyotes or bobcats.
The tour finished with a quick stop at the exam rooms back near the lobby where she met Evan, the last of her coworkers. He too was a vet tech and had just graduated last spring, another recent hire. By that time, operating hours had begun. Since it was Laura’s first day, Helen tasked her with some report filing in the side room connected to her office. Tedious, but needed doing and kept her out of the way until she got a better lay of the land.
Lunch came and went, and before she knew it the day had flown by surprisingly fast. Helen gave her a set of keys to the clinic and the storage room, and everyone’s phone numbers, including James’, which gave her slight elation.
But now it was time for the somber part of her day: Getting the details on Travis’ disappearance. She decided there was no better source than his stomping grounds at North Kill’s Sheriff’s Department. It turned out that the station where she and Max were kept was not the active office. The actual one was in the heart of North Kill, ma-and-pa shops and local pubs all around it.
She parked in the front visitor lot and headed inside the station. A receptionist sat behind a large desk and computer. Behind him was a bulletin board of various community events, furniture listings, and missing pets. But the prominent listing, in the middle of the board, was one of Travis.
MISSING
Sheriff Travis Hackett
Height: 6’0”
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark brown
The image provided was of his formal sheriff portrait, most likely taken when he was sworn-in.
Last Seen: 9/20/2021, ~10:30PM
September 20th was the first full moon after the night at the quarry. Interesting. Laura knew all the dates of the full moon now. She still found it hard, nigh impossible, to sleep on those nights; memories of that night flooding her mind whenever she tried to rest. Now that she thought about it, tonight was a full moon. Shit. Well, that was “future Laura’s” problem. Right now, she needed to turn her charm on and get a sit-down with whoever was in charge around here.
“Hi there, is the acting sheriff available right now?” She tried putting on her sweetest smile.
The receptionist glanced up at her from his computer screen. “Do you have an appointment scheduled?”
“No, but I really wanted to have a chat with him regarding Sheriff Hackett. He’s an old family friend, you see, and I really want to know what all has been done so far in trying to find him.” She dialed up the charm a tad and batted her eyes.
“Oh, well, I’ll see if he’s available right now. Give me one moment, please.” Like shooting fish in a barrel.
After a few minutes, he seemed to get the go-ahead and gave her directions to the Deputy Sheriff’s office. On her walk there, she passed an inside window with its blinds down and a door with an engraved name plaque: T. Hackett. Seeing the empty office sent a pang through her chest. But she couldn’t focus on that. That’s why she’s here now.
The Deputy Sheriff’s office was a lot like Travis’ except the blinds were drawn and the name plaque instead read C. Thornton. She knocked on the door, a ‘come in’ welcoming her. The man behind the desk wore the uniform of North Kill Sheriff’s Department; dark navy long-sleeved button-up shirt and trousers, black tie, radio over the right shoulder, and even a sheriff badge. Seeing it again in person gave her both a feeling of cold dread and warm familiarity.
“Howdy there!” He greeted her. Already a far better demeanor than the last sheriff. A friendlier face too with a bushy mustache and no frown lines. “What can I do you for, Ms….?”
“Ke-nnedy” Laura corrected herself, remembering she’s supposed to be a family friend, and perhaps they might remember her actual last name from the headlines last August. “Lauren Kennedy. I’m a family friend of Sheriff Hackett. He’s kind of like an uncle to me.”
“Yes, that’s what Ben up front said. Although, I could swear I’ve seen your face before….” He pondered. “Have you ever been here before to see Travis?”
“No, no, I’m from out of town. I moved here recently for a new job, and wanted to know what all’s been done to try and find Travis and how it all happened in the first place. The news articles I’ve been able to find haven’t told me much.” Technically she wasn’t lying. Nothing but her name and being a family friend was untruthful. Hopefully he won’t look into her much while she’s here to catch that.
“Well, I’m Acting Sheriff Craig Thornton, by the way. Almost forgot my manners.” He leaned back in his office chair, seeming like he was forming his next few sentences preemptively. “Don’t know what all you’ve been told these last few months. I trust you saw the missing poster on your way in. Beyond that, I can tell you we’ve spent as many available man-hours as we could combing the woods around his house, his family’s property, technically now his, and where we found his cruiser.”
Laura furrowed her brow. “And where was that?”
“About a mile south of town, heading north on Route 919. It had crashed into a tree on the side of the road.” He leaned forward onto his elbows and over his desk, lowering his voice, “Now, I don’t want to scare you, but I do have to tell you, we found animal scratches and blood splatter inside the car.” Laura’s eyes widened. “We also found blood in the grass and heading into the nearby forest. Looked like he was trying to escape from a predator of some sort, which is odd since there aren’t many large or dangerous animals in these parts. Minus last August, we almost never have animal attacks, which makes me believe that perhaps these two incidents are somehow connected.” Laura listened intently, trying to absorb as much information as possible.
“What’s even stranger is we found his full uniform tattered about seven meters from the car, but no body! Like he stripped buck naked and high-tailed it into the woods!” He exclaimed. Laura agreed, that was weird. Most people’s first instinct when they were being attacked wasn’t to take off their clothes.
“Have you found anything of note? Like sightings in a neighboring town? Signs of a man living in the woods?” Laura asked.
“Nothing that definitive. But we have had recent break-ins at the summer camp. Mainly the lodge and the camp store. May have just been hooligans or vandals, but they stole at least some clothes and food if the dust is anything to go by. They also broke into the camp master’s office, but it seemed practically untouched. There’s no way to tell if it was a group of teens up to no good, or perhaps even Travis. But if it was him, then why hasn’t he just come back?” The man sat back in a huff, perplexed.
“I’ve probably told you too much already. Most of what I’ve told you we’ve tried to keep out of the general public. But if things continue as they are, I fear our dear sheriff will stay missing…” He trailed off, staring towards the wall behind her.
“I’ll try to think of anything that may help the investigation.” Laura stated solemnly. “I’ll let you or another deputy know if I find anything.” Mr. Thornton nodded as she stood to leave.
“Thank you, Ms. Kennedy. If there are any updates, we’ll report them to the local newspaper.” Laura reached for the door handle when he added, “One more thing. Try not to stay out past dark if you can. There have been sightings of a large, black wolf on the outskirts of town in the last two months.”
Laura wasn’t mistaken. She did hear a wolf’s howl.