Night Vale Unsolved

36

A sharp knock at the door startled Ryan out of his thinking. Shane got up to answer it, and Carlos and Cecil stepped through.
"Thanks for coming, guys." Shane greeted them, closing the door. "I know it's late."
"No problem," Carlos assured him, "Though I have to admit, I don't know what all we can do."
Ryan nodded half-heartedly, and turned away. He hadn't been expecting a magic "oh, here it is!" moment, of course, but an out-of-the-gate "sorry" was the last thing he wanted to hear.
"Um..." Carlos saw Ryan's disappointment and went to correct himself, "At least, not right now."
"So, what happened?" Cecil asked.
"After you showed us around town," Ryan spoke up, indicating Carlos with a small nod in his direction, "I uploaded all of the footage to my laptop. I know I did."
He reached over and grabbed his laptop. Opening it, he pulled up the recent notifications. It still showed the message telling him that his files were successfully uploaded - he had a bad habit of letting the notifications stack up. Ryan turned the screen around to show the others.
"See?" He said, turning the screen back to him once everyone as gotten a look. "But when I search for them..." The light tap tap tap of the keys filled the silence as Ryan searched for the files. "Nothing."
It was a white screen, blank except for the words "Filed Not Found."
"Yeah, and the memory card from the camera's missing, too," Shane added, "So even if the files weren't uploaded, someone took the footage."
"I'm probably beating a dead horse at this point," Carlos ventured, "But the memory card definitely didn't just fall out in its own?"
Ryan shook his head.
"We've checked everywhere." Shane confirmed.
Carlos sighed. He turned to Cecil, and looked at him expectantly.
"What?"
"Do you have anything to offer?"
Cecil shrugged. "Someone took the footage, all right." He said, as if it were some kind of verdict. "Definitely government. Probably the Secret Police."
Carlos shook his head at him. He turned back to Ryan and Shane.
"You'll have to excuse him," He said, placing a hand on Cecil's shoulder, "Information is...public in a selective sense here in Night Vale. The residents - like Cecil - are used to there being things that we just aren't supposed to know."
"And you?" Ryan asked, a slight edge to his voice.
"No." Carlos assured him, "I don't. And so we will help you." He nudged Cecil. "Won't we?"
"Oh, sure!" Cecil said, sincerely. "We'll help. We probably won't find anything, but of course!"
Shane and Ryan looked at each other. Cecil may not exactly be enthusiastic about it, but Carlos was clearly sincere in his desire to help them.
"Ok," Ryan decided, "Where do we start?"
"With sleep." Carlos told him. Off of a protesting look, he continued. "It's late. There might not be much we can do at all, but any chance we have will be when we're rested."
After a brief moment of hesitation, Shane and Ryan nodded.
"Alright." Carlos clapped his hands together. "We'll meet at the Moonlight All Night again in the morning to figure something out. Deal?"
"Deal."
Carlos and Cecil turned to go. On the way back, there was light conversation, but both men tactfully avoided the situation.

Hours later, once the sun had risen, Ryan and Shane all but stumbled into the Moonlight All Night Diner. Despite Carlos' advice, neither had gotten much rest. Not that that had been a choice either had made.
Carlos was already there.
"Cecil couldn't make it," He greeted them as they slid into the booth, "He's at the radio station."
A waiter came up to them to take their drink orders. When she returned with two mugs of coffee and a glass of juice - "I prefer to have my coffee before I leave home in the morning," Carlos explained - Shane and Ryan were awake enough to begin.
"So," Carlos started, "Let's start with the basics. When did you get back to your room?"
Shane thought for a moment. "I'm not sure." He decided, "Nine or ten, maybe."
Ryan nodded in agreement.
Carlos took out a small notepad and a pen and jotted something down. Shane and Ryan looked at him, and he flushed. "I'm a scientist," He explained, "I take notes."
The others shrugged, and Carlos went on.
"When did you notice that the footage was missing?"
"I checked my laptop basically as soon as we got back." Ryan answered. "The footage was the first thing I looked for, so when I couldn't find it..." He trailed off as Carlos made another note.
"And nothing tipped you off that someone might have come in your room? Moved furniture, open drawers?"
"Nope." Shane shook his head. "The door was even locked. I even checked once it was obvious that the film was gone."
Carlos frowned, and made yet another note on his pad.
"One last thing, I think. Ryan, do you have a password on your laptop?"
"Of course." Ryan shifted uncomfortably. He could see where this was going, and he wasn't thrilled at the idea. "Are you saying someone knew my password?"
Carlos sighed and put his own down. "That, or whoever it was is really good at guessing."
"Or hacking," Shane added. It didn't help Ryan's mood.
"Well, I know what I'm doing when we get back," Ryan muttered, considering different possible passwords he could switch to.