Holly sat passenger in the

  “So why are we going to the water plant? Why aren’t we trying to figure out those samples you took of the monster at Kristy’s house? Personally, that seems like a way better lead.” Officer Higgins said to Holly as he drove them to the water plant.

  “I reported our findings to headquarters and they are shipping in biology specialists to examine and test the samples. They should be here tomorrow, so in the meantime, we need to keep the investigation moving.” Holly explained. At first, she considered keeping the information to herself so she could steal all the glory, but she pushed past her own ambitions for the good of the investigation. It was more important to save this town from whatever the hell was going on. Holly had a bad feeling about what might happen if things went on for much longer.

  “And we’re going to the water plant instead of looking for that creature?”

  Holly nodded. “There’s no way we’re going to find that thing out in the wild, but I set up a few cameras around Kristy’s house in case it comes back.”

  “Does Kristy know about those cameras?” Officer Higgins looked sideways at Holly.

  “Oh don’t look at me like that. I didn’t put any inside of her home, just a few around the property set for motion detection. And yes, she knows about them. She was excited by the idea.”

  “Sorry,” Higgins said, “I just feel a little on edge about this whole investigation, ya know? It’s got me thinking in a more worried type of way.”

  Holly nodded along, “I know what you mean. Hopefully we can shut this operation down soon. I don’t want anymore repeats of what happened to Jimmy.”

  Higgins’ tone grew more serious at the mention of his nephew, “Somehow I feel like Jimmy got off easy.”

  Holly raised an eyebrow at that. “By dying?”

  “Well, yeah,” Officer Higgins said, shrugging. They pulled into the water plant parking lot. “But not like that. I know it sounds silly, but I just have this gut feeling that the monster at Kristy’s house is someone like Jimmy, but way further into the experiments. I know that sounds stupid, but I just feel like it’s all connected.”

  “Maybe,” Kristy said. “It would make sense that Jimmy and the monster at Kristy’s house are related somehow, so we can’t write off any theories at this point, but are you trying to say that the monster was some kind of human turned into a monster?” Holly asked, “That seems like a giant leap.”

  Higgins nodded, “You’re probably right. I just can’t shake the feeling for some reason though.”

  “Then don’t shake the feeling,” Holly said, remembering advice that had stuck with her, she decided to share it with Higgins: “Your feelings are there to tell you when things aren’t normal. Trust that there is something real there, but don’t fall into the trap of letting your feelings be the full truth. Instead, you need to take the lead and find the proof or answers that your feelings are telling you are nearby.” Holly opened the car door and motioned toward the water plant in front of them. “Speaking of, let’s check out the water plant, so we can cross it off our list of leads that we have a feeling about.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  They both stepped out of the car and headed toward the entrance of the water-plant. There was a squat building in front of them with large pools of water behind it. Across the pools of water on the other side were several large, squat cylinders that looked like giant aspirin scattered about.

  “Good morning,” As they entered the building. A polite looking old man approached and greeted them. Holly instantly imagined him as the perfect butler. “May I help the two of you with anything today?”

  Holly flashed her badge, “Special agent Holly. Nice to meet you,”

  “Gilbert is my name,” The old man offered.

  Holly suppressed a chuckle, then forced herself to be serious and observe as she tilted into an aggressive approach, “Hi Gilbert. This is officer Higgins. We’re here to investigate disappearances that have been tied to this location. Can you help us?”

  Holly was hoping that Gilbert would show any signs of nervousness, but he instead grew visibly concerned. “That’s horrible. I’ll do everything in my power to help you. Where can we start?” If he was an actor, Gilbert deserved an award of Some kind. Holly got only a read of absolute sincerity from him mixed with a little annoyance.”

  Holly figured it was too early to not let up. There was something off about Gilbert, though she wasn’t sure what it was. “Each of the victims received large sums of money directly deposited into their bank account before disappearing. Those deposits were all paid out from this water treatment plant. What can you tell me about that?”

  Gilbert shook his head, “You’re not the first to come around asking about that. I get harassing phone calls from a few people a month. Typically they are all looking for a missing family member.”

  “How long have you been getting those calls?” Holly asked.

  “On and off for as long as I’ve worked here, so about three years from what I know,” Gilbert said.

  “Have you looked into the payroll at all?” Officer Higgins suggested and Holly nodded to him in approval. Higgins’ mouth turned up in a slight smile.

  Gilbert shook his head, “I’ve scanned all the files several times over, but there’s nothing suspicious that we can find.”

  “Can we speak to payroll directly?” Holly said.

  “Of course,” Gilbert said. “That would be me. How about I show you the computer and files I use to conduct payroll.”

  Holly nodded and Gilbert led her and Higgins to his laptop in the back. He gave her a demo on how he used it for payroll and even offered for them to take the laptop with them if it aided the investigation. Gilbert only did payroll once per month and had already processed it for the month the day before. They looked the water plant over a few times and interviewed a few other people, but other than the laptop that they took with them, the Water Purification Plant seemed like a dead lead.

  “So should we go monster hunting now?” Officer Higgins suggested when they were back in the car.

  “We have a day until any backup arrives, so we might as well,” Holly said.

  Just then, Officer Higgins’s phone rang.

  “Kristy?” Higgins said, then there was shouting on the other side of the phone, “Hey slow down! What do you mean it’s locked in a closet?”

  More shouting came from the other side of the phone.

  Higgins stepped on the gas and his eyes went wide, “We’re on our way. You just go to your appointment and we’ll be right there to take care of things.”

  “What the hell happened? Who’s in the closet?” Holly asked when Higgins hung up the phone.

  Higgins sped up even more, “Kristy said the monster is back in her house. We gotta hurry.”