STAY RESTLESS

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“there is a 70s movie? oh god all i know is the horrible one with the cage actor guy. i’m blaming the team on this one, that’s the one you all had me watch.” sage said with a laugh taking a seat, happy to get off her feet for at least a moment. “i don’t know if there is a spectrum but the town seems so blue collar to have a cult running in it. that dad guy is straight cult 101.”

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gail wanted to laugh along with sage. for a moment, the distraction helped ease her of the worries and turmoil permeating the case. “isn’t it something people say that, uh... there’s always some truth they draw inspiration from? i wouldn’t put it past them — there’s definitely some cults that come off as stranger than any myth... this one included.”  

   then, she finally cracked a smile. it wasn’t much, but it felt meaningful. “they could always be faking it. would make for a good case in court, right? to plead... insanity to cover up, i mean —  blame it all on the brainwashing and such.” 

•

“Oh, I don’t know. Ingrid talked to him, I mainly made my way to the morgue. I’m apparently “too straightforward” about talking to people about the cases.” Dante made a roll of his eyes and snorted. It was the best way—telling those affected straight up what he needed to help solve the case, but no, he had to skirt around it. “And—yeah, maybe. Pay’s shit. You think Harper didn’t just… blackmail them? The way he smiles, you’d think he was going to stab you next time around.”

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“well, what did she say?” now, she was more focused on hearing of any discoveries made by ingrid than dispute ( or reaffirm ) assumptions made about her colleagues’ performance. even as someone who fumbled through the rehearsed, monotone courteousness demanded from hospitality supervisors, gail saw the value in sprinkling in a bit of tact.... not that dante needed to hear that input. “i-i don’t know. perhaps. but i don’t think he’ll slip that easily. with so many eyes on him, he would probably make sure to keep his case strong until the end. maybe it’s worth looking at others around him too  —  i mean, just look at the manson case.” 

        ‘  hopefully a gimmick is all it is,  ’  gregor replies with a frown. cults had a specific overlap with the allegedly extraterrestrial, so he knew enough that they could get dangerous quick.  ‘  however, if it’s a  cult,  which seems to be the working theory, it’s not really our deal.  ’  his frown deepens at that.  ‘  which is frustrating.  while, i’ve got you though,  from a medical standpoint,  what’s your opinion on hypnosis  ?  i’ve been working on a thing,  missing time  ——  you know what i’m talking about, the recall that happens there. there’s a bunch on the mental side of it, but like from a  physical  perspective. ’  as he starts talking about something he finds more interesting than the current situation, his face relaxes.  ‘  i wish the hills got mris or something  before  they talked to the shrink, but  ——  you know about the hill abduction right  ?  ’

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“aren’t cults just gimmicks at heart? just elaborate shticks that win a few people over.... then, snowball effect.” gail offered, shrugging lightly. speaking about it and feigning this nonchalance made her heart ache for cynthia. 

  it struck her as rude to disregard him then, so whichever idea she had got buried in the end. “hypnosis... well, usually CBT is suggested as first line treatment, before any kind of hypnotherapy. when it’s used, is meant to treat anxiety and pain relief, and for getting rid of undesirable behaviors. still, if we were to entertain the idea that any of the harpers’ followers might have been subjected to it to hurt cynthia, it doesn’t make much since since the worst of hypnotic suggestion’s side effects is simply creating false memories, not aggressively straying away from one’s usual conduct—”

   “wait, i am.... not following. what.... hill abduction?”

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“well don’t let the folks around here know that you’re a doctor. they will be begging you to stay. the current doctor around here is certainly at the end of his career. he’s a good man but i know he’s looking to retire.” he said. “but yes, poor cynthia. i would be happy to help however i can. it’s really so tragic about her passing.”

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andrew finally turned in his seat to fancy towards who was talking to him. this agent felt….new. he could always sense new people on the force a mile away, something about them stuck out like a sore thumb. maybe it was the burning cheeks or the way she talked. regardless he let out a sigh and got up from his chair. “it should be in your files.” he said walking around her towards the room he had set up for them and begun looking in the boxes. “there isn’t gonna be much i will tell you that.”

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gail followed behind the sheriff, still making sure to give him his personal space. he reminded her of kimo, and following that train of thought, she figured he’d prefer not to have her disturb him too much. that being said, out of the figures involved, gail could only trust mrs. sato and himself, hence their imput was of vital importance here.

   “oh, i must’ve... totally overlooked that. ‘m sorry.” the doctor offered a tight-lipped, polite smile and nodded. “while i have your attention, may i ask, was harper or any of his ‘ companions ’ put through a blood test, or a psychological evaluation, even?”

ingrid sympathized with the newest recruit. she remembered how scary and confusing the first few months were. it didn’t really get any better, ingrid supposed she was just numb to it now. fortunately, gail was tough, or at least ingrid assumed so. the most jarring part of the job was always the bodies so having someone well acquainted with blood was better than someone acquainted with books. 

ingrid chuckled under her breath, “feel? sounds like sage if rubbing off on you already.” she sighed and flipped throught he case file on the table mindlessly, “i suppose it feels…human. there’s a certain brand of sinister that hits you in the gut different than it does when monsters are involved. i wish i could say it’s easier to deal with, but it’s just got it’s own problems. i’m just hoping it’s not a mix of both: humans in cahoots with monsters. that’s always the worst.” 

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“sage? maybe,” gail smiled, shaking her head gently. she did like sage, even gravitating to her kindness and peculiarity above the demeanors of others. “she’s nice.” it was easy to be transparent with ingrid, especially once gail overcame the impulse to feel intimidated. it was similar to how it’d been to speak to her superiors back at the sibley and all the other hospital. even when handed a disarray of facts, of disconcerting pieces and dead ends, it was people with personalities like ingrid’s that exuded an air of reassurance; following their steps, it was easy to believe that things, sooner or later, would simply click. 

    “is it the same, or is it worse?” her words were laced with curiosity. “what does that look like? i’d assumed cryptids were too elusive to partner up with humans.”

Niko glanced up from the cell phone he’d been furiously typing away on and slid the screen closed as soon as he’d confirmed his message sent.

“Oh, yeah, no, this is about as straightforward as it gets,” he said apologetically. “Sorry, Doc.” His phone vibrated and he pointedly ignored it. He hummed. “At least there are, like, actual bodies this time. That’ll probably be helpful. Hey, you’re like a medical doctor right?” His speech was fast and his sentences jumped almost nonsensically to the next, but his smile was bright and friendly despite his tone.

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gail frowned, as gently as she’d become accustomed when reading puzzling diagnosis. “jesus....” she muttered under her breath, half-exhaling a soft dry laugh. her eyes widened – now it seemed a tad pointless having even asked. “no kidding? middle-of-nowhere cult, one dead body, almost no leads...” 

   “i am, yeah. it doesn’t feel like i can do much here at the moment, though. but i mean, if there are any injuries...” his pace was at times too quick for her to fully grasp, but she returned the friendly smile anyway. “and you — as the team cryptozoologist, do you think any creatures from the folklore record could’ve had something to do?”

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               Kimo doesn’t even pretend to feign ignorance about that obvious remark made towards him.    He’s aware that Gail is wearing him like a shadow against her will,    but this is the job Kimo was assigned to do and it’s the job he’ll do.    

     ❛   For efficiency.   ❜    Kimo responds without looking up from where he’s glancing through pictures of the fresh crime scene.    ❛   You’re welcome to wait outside if you’re done here,   Doctor,   but please don’t go too far.   I don’t have the time to go on a rabbit hunt after this.   ❜

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“efficiency?” she asked, though not implying she had misheard. maybe this wasn’t the time to argue against protocol, especially while in the presence of someone far more familiar with it than herself. what kind of impression would it leave to question these procedures so early on? did she even dare to? suddenly she wished she had a mug of coffee at hand to chase down the mess of thoughts. “a rabbit–? trust me, the last thing i want is to be a bother to the team, but i’m sure there’s no need for that. i can take my samples and go around just fine. or is there some sort of buddy system i didn’t hear about?” 

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          Oscar’s in the middle of staring at his laptop, cooped up in the mobile lab truck, and thinking about things like pod people – Opeth’s bass is blaring out of speakers loud enough to rattle the truck, and he’s firmly under the assumption that nobody else is in there, so when a voice makes itself known above the music, it’s startling. Startling enough for him to make a noise that’s closer to a screech than a yelp, and to accidentally knock a stack of books over, and–

          He catches sight of Gail, and freezes in embarrassment. Right. Not an intruder, then. Obviously.

          “Sorry,” he hurriedly apologizes right on the heels of her apology, reaching over to turn the music down to less mind-numbing levels. “And, uh, no, I’m good on coffee, thanks.” The pyramid of red bull cans behind him can attest to that. “What about the BPA? Sorry, kinda missed that bit.”

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the brunette shook her head, somewhat embarrassed now. she understood what it was like to work under pressure ( maybe she wasn’t familiar with how to operate effectively under it, however ) so having to repeat oneself didn’t seem to bad. still, her cheeks turned their long-familiar shade of pink as she spoke. 

    “n-no, you’re fine. it’s fine,” the words spilled out hurriedly, the music sending a funny sensation to her eardrums. right. “uhh, the blood splatter analysis. i haven’t had the chance to read the autopsy report yet, but i heard it’s one big mess. i was wondering i-if you’d been asked to do a BPA, and if something had come up if that was the case.”

The new recruit definitely needed to loosen up, but her nerves weren’t any of his problem, just the output. At the mention of Cynthia Sato’s autopsy report, he gave a snort and shook his head. “Sure, Zhang. They did a rush job, so I’ll append my own preliminary investigation to get the ball rolling. Mostly the odd bruising, no sign of foul play. I’m just begging you to not fuck up the paperwork on this one—I can’t deal with any more of it.”

✣

“they did what? does sheriff paxton know?” gail frowned. naive of a belief as it were, she had expected these investigations to be more straightfoward.... but then again, what about cults and crytpids was meant to be straightforward? “i— no, that won’t happen,” she didn’t even focus on correcting him. instead, her train of thought remained in motion. “do you think harper bribed the coroner?” 

        ‘  no worries, no worries,  ’  gregor says, doing his best to be casual. he had no intention of frightening the new doctor when he had approached her before, and now he’s making an attempt to tread carefully     ——    at least,  currently. how long that would last is another matter. he still had questions  (  some of them case relevant, some less so  )  he wanted to ask.  ‘  dad  ?  uh, yeah. honestly i was expecting someone  older.  seems like run of the mill cult shit so far though. what are you thinking  ?  ’

✣

when it came to the hospitality criteria, gail had always been slightly above average. now, even if some of the small talk ought to have felt like muscle memory, the more clever, gracious syntax evaded her. she hadn’t even realized she had been furrowing throughout the conversation, instinctively. “me too. but i guess the church members didn’t care about the age, so long as he kept up the whole gimmick... uh, no offense to him.” still a skeptic in these matters, it felt wrong — rather, dangerous — to badmouth him. “me? gosh, i’m... not sure. it has ‘alternative spirituality’ written all over it for sure. legally, i can only speak from a medical standpoint, though. you are the ones who see this all the time, so... what do you think?”

“agent mokele?” almost immediately, gail regretted not having omitted the habit of addressing him by his codename. but it was too late -- she could feel some heat in her face already, and simply wished she’d shed that custom by her interaction with the next agent. “i wanted to ask if i could take a look at cynthia sato’s autopsy report. i know that is your area, so i promise not to step on your toes.” 

while she had let her eyes scan the scene over and over, focusing on a subject before shifting over to something else, gail had only managed to make herself something akin to motion-sickness. it seemed that the world had cracked open and that the team was trying to weave it back together, all before her eyes, one clue at a time. 

   “ye— ingrid?” she extended, her polite smile somewhat bashful. “how is the investigation going? i mean, i know it’s still so early to tell but... well, you’ve supervised hundreds of cases already, so how does this one... feel?”

“are all cases like this?” the woman inquired, curious – yet ever-so-tired – eyes placed on the brunet; she furrowed, like an impatient kid trying a puzzle with missing pieces all throughout. “what i mean is.... have the previous investigations been more straightforward than this? given this group’s history of odd incidents, i’d have no idea where to even begin looking.”