Night Vale Unsolved

33

"Are you sure I can't come with you?"
Cecil squeezed Carlos' hand in what he meant as a reassuring gesture. Instead, it only made Carlos grip it more tightly.
"Carlos," Cecil slipped his hand free, "The note said that whatever it is is important. I have to find out what it is."
Carlos leaned back against the car seat. He didn't like it, Cecil could see that clearly. But it had to be done.
"Just be...quick."
That wasn't what Carlos had meant to say. He'd meant to say "Just be safe." But he didn't.
"I will." Cecil leaned over and kissed Carlos briefly on the cheek, before opening his car door and stepping out. "Keep the car running!"
Carlos watched him walk away until he disappeared behind the Desert Flower Bowling Alley And Arcade Fun Park.

There wasn't much back there. A couple dumpsters, some abandoned cloth bags that squirmed and oozed, and one lightbulb, flickering every now and then above the service entrance to the Desert Flower. Nothing wrong, but no one there, either.
Cecil wasn't sure if he should be relieved or dissapointed. Whatever the answer, his nerves kicked into gear. In a nervous habit he'd picked up from his years on the radio, he began talking to himself.
"Ok, Cecil," He muttered, "It's just a dark alleyway. At night. Nowhere you haven't been before. What is there to worry about?" From somewhere behind one of the dumpsters, there was a muffled bang. Cecil spun around to look, but it was just a strat dog, thin and dirty. With its prize - a discarded hot dog - clamped firmly in its mouth, the dog took off into the shadows. Cecil sighed. He glanced at his watch.
"Three more minutes." He decided. "If no one shows up in the next three minutes, I'll leave."
He looked up, expecting someone to appear once he's announced his intention to leave soon.
Nothing.
Cecil's feet grew uncomfortable from standing in one place for so long. With a quick glance around, he sat down on the door step of the service door. He checked his watch. Two minutes.
Finally, he heard footsteps. Jumping up, he called out.
"Hello?"
The footsteps stopped. Cecil stared hard, trying to force his eyes to see more than they could. "Is anyone there?"
"Are you alone?" A second voice called back. The speaker was clearly trying to disguise their voice, lowering it beyond what could pass as natural. Cecil thought he recognized something about it, and it itched at the back of his mind.
"Um, yes!" He answered. "It's just me. Who are you?"
Footsteps again. A shape began to form in the dark, getting clearer and clearer as it approached the weak light.
And then the figure became a person. A person Cecil quickly recognized as Larry Leroy, from out on the edge of town near Josie's house.
"Larry?" Cecil asked, unsure if he was in the right place. He hadn't been sure who to expect, sure, but he was pretty sure it wasn't Larry Leroy.
"Yeah," Larry said, shuffling into the light as though he was embarrassed about something. "Sorry to have to meet like this, I know it's not the most comfortable way." He chuckled half heartedly as he looked around at their surroundings.
"Larry?" Cecil repeated, still processing. "What...what is this about?"
Larry sighed. "It's about Josie."
Cecil sprang into attention. "What's wrong with Josie? Is she alright?!"
"No, no, she's fine!" Larry assured him. Cecil calmed down, and Larry explained. "It's just - well, you know how I live out in the edge of town, near Josie's?"
Cecil nodded.
"Right, well, yesterday, I was out washing my car - it gets so dusty out there, what with all the sand - and I saw your Carlos drive up with these two strangers in the backseat."
Cecil sighed. He could see where this was going, but Larry went on.
"They had a bunch of stuff with them - cameras, it looked like. And they went inside, and I didn't really think anything of it. They left a few minutes later, and that was that."
"Larry," Cecil stepped in, about to explain everything about Shane and Ryan and their video, but Larry plowed on.
"Until a few minutes after that," He said, "When one of the Sheriff's Secret Police cars pulls up right in front of Josie's."
Cecil frowned. "What did the police want with Josie? Was it about the Ang- her friends?"
Larry shook his head. "I asked myself that same thing. So when they left, I went over and asked Josie myself."
"And?"
"And," Larry sighed, "Josie told me not to worry about it. Said the Secret Police were just asking her a few questions about the two men from earlier. Wanted to know what they wanted to know, and what she'd told them."
"...And?" Cecil prompted once again.
"And," Returned Larry, "I don't know."
He paused, and the silence hung above them as Cecil tried to figure out what Larry's point was.
"What's so important about that," Cecil finally strung together, "That we have to meet here?"
"Look, usually I'd stay out of it. Not my business, you know?" Larry sighed. "But I care about Josie."
"Of course. We all do."
"Right. So when the Sheriff's Secret Police came to her for the first time in...oh, I don't even know how long, I'd like to know why. And Carlos was there with strangers just before it happened."
Cecil shifted, and Larry glanced down his nose at him.
"Now, I don't know what's going on, but I do know that those two aren't from Night Vale. And that makes them Interlopers."
"Ah..." Cecil stammered, "No. No, they're just..." He sighed. He couldn't see any other way to get out of this, so he told Larry Leroy about Shane and Ryan and their video. When he finished, Larry stared at him long and hard.
"So what you're saying," He finally said, "Is that two outsiders are making a video about our town to share with everyone else, everywhere?"
Cecil relaxed. "Exactly! See, isn't that-"
"I don't like it."
Cecil stared incredulously at Larry. "What?"
"I don't like it." Larry shrugged. "Other people don't know about Night Vale. Other places aren't like Night Vale. It's no accident."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, there are things that should stay in Night Vale. Those two should never have come."