The Confluence

The Confluence Part VI

VI

After a twenty minute drive through town, Walker and Adrian arrived at The Haven. It was in the basement of an old apartment building, and Walker told him that it started out as a speakeasy back in the thirties. "Walker, you know these folks. Go in there and start asking questions. Any suspicious persons, strange people asking weird questions, and any person who so much as looked funny at our victim last night." Walker nodded, and hopped out of the car and strode down the stairs leading to the bar proper. Adrian lit a cigarette, and started going over the meager notes he had. About fifteen minutes later, Walker came back out, and got inside the car.

"So about five people plus the bartender all saw our victim last night. His name was Thomas Ericson, and a pretty regular drinker there. And, get this, they all saw this pretty weird guy talking to him a bunch. They never heard what he was saying to Thomas, but it seemed to make him happy."

Adrian looked at Walker over the top of his glasses. "What about a description?"

"Well, that's where things get a little strange. Everyone who saw him last night can't really remember his face, or they never saw it fully. He had a dark green rain jacket with the hood up, but he never took it off. They say his hands were heavily bandaged as well. They also said he was short, maybe five-foot nine?

Adrian sighed. "Good enough for me. Put out an APB with that description, and keep an eye out for the bandaged hands. That'll stick out most."

Walker nodded and grabbed the radio. Once done, they made their way over to the library. The Kennedy Library was one of the oldest buildings in town. It was built around 1882, and kept records and newspapers. Stein had always loved libraries. Especially the Multnomah county central library in downtown Portland, where he spent most of his childhood, nose in a book in the quietest corner of the library. Especially after the death of his father. It had been a sanctuary, a place he could escape from reality and from his overbearing and zealously religious mother. The day had been a muggy grey day, and the air conditioning in the library was a welcome relief to both men. Adrian hung back and took in the building while Walker talked with the librarian about getting access to the old newspapers, behind the large semi circular front desk. The library was built like a long hall, with tall ceilings that stretched into darkness. Rows of bookshelves lined both sides of the building, each easily twenty feet tall. Dust motes flitted through the air, illuminated by the large windows which looked out into the bright grey day.

"...back in the library basement. Are you coming?" Walker's voice broke through Adrian's reverie, startling him back into reality. "What? Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." They made their way past the rows of bookshelves and mostly empty tables, sometimes occupied by old men and young mothers. Walker opened a door at the back labeled with a bright red sign with white lettering, proclaiming LIBRARY EMPLOYEE'S ONLY. They made their way into the gloom of the library's basement. It was like a strange maze made out of metal drawers, with labels simply stating the years they were catalogued. The deeper into the maze they went, the labels themselves yellowed and frayed; a physical representation of time passing. Adrian was counting off dates as they traveled through the dark. "There! 1893! That's the one we're looking for. The Sheriff told me." Walker exclaimed. The drawer was one of the last few, almost to the very end of the basement. "Finally. Here, help me search through this thing." Adrian murmured. They spent a few minutes rifling through yellow paper, ancient and wrinkled, before they found the headline they were searching for.

The headline read as follows: 12 CHILDREN MISSING: AUTHORITIES STUMPED! Reports of howling coming from nearby wilderness, and fires upon Mt. Wesker. Witchcraft? Daemonic forces? All will soon be confirmed when an expedition travels into the wilderness to discover a possible link...The rest was illegible with what looked like water damage. Adrian was just about to set it down, when he heard the faintest of sounds, like a boot heel scuffing the concrete floor. He turned around, staring into the dark beyond the sickly light of the light bulb above him. He looked back over at Walker, who was busy rummaging through the 1893 drawer. He looked back out, and said to Walker. "Hey, stay here and keep looking." He rested his hand on the handle of his pistol for comfort. "You got it boss. What about you?" But Adrian was already walking deeper into the basement.