Wild Stories 2- Unexplained Happenings

Chapter Nine: Paper Trail

Wild walked over and spoke to him gently, "Hello Mr. Hawke. Till come back yet?"

"Oh, no she hasn't. I did tell you that I'd talk to you about Mary,       didn't I? Come with me, it's probably better to show you her room."

Wild followed along behind him as he picked up a key and wandered out of a backdoor that was located somewhere behind the receptionist desk.

They went along a small dirt and gravel trail, and it led to a modestly sized house in the forest. A few worn flowers grew around it, and it sat under tall pale trees.

Mr. Hawke opened the door and pointed up the stairs. "There's her room. I'll uh, let you go in, in a minute. I need a moment to prepare myself."

Another soul weary sigh. "In the meantime, let's go into the dining room to talk."

He sat Wild at the table and disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, coming back out with two cups of tea. If he saw a flash of panic cross Wild's face he didn't mention it.

He handed him the cup and sat across from him, taking a long drink from his own.

"Now, where to start? Mary was investigating the practices at the Flower Inn. Her friend Sally was working there and she wasn't being paid well, and was occasionally being harassed.

Mary wanted to put a stop to it, so she began to look into the Flower's business. I personally didn't know much about it, she kept me in the dark for the most part.

But anyway," He paused and closed his eyes, needing a moment to compose himself before going on. "You'll find more in her room I'm sure. Try not to disturb things too much... I'd like things to stay how she, how she last left it."

His voice broke, and he took another sip of the tea, trying to blink away the dampness in his eyes.

Wild gave him a moment, and he stared into the clear brown of the drink. "Do you know what she might have normally carried? We have reason to believe that someone stole a notebook off of her."

"Oh, yes well. She always carried that, and her swiss army knife. My wife got that for her when Mary was ten. I wasn't too keen on it, but it seemed to be alright. Didn't do her much good in the end though."

Wild hesitated before reaching out to cover the man's hand with his own.

"We won't let what she stood for go to waste, Mr. Hawke. I'd be happy to look into what she was investigating, hold anyone accountable who needs to be."

Mr. Hawke attempted a wan smile. "Will there be a sur-charge?"

"Ha. No... I want to know what she found. It's important. Anyway... I'd better get to her room."

"Of course. Oh, you haven't touched your tea."

Wild looked at it, torn between telling the truth and making up some outrageous lie. He chose the former.

"Now, it isn't that I don't trust you..." After an awkward explanation of his previous misadventures with... poison, Wild went upstairs.

He opened the door to her room and smiled, looking around it. The room was made out of wood and it had papers and things hanging from the ceiling. He saw a wooden aeroplane hanging from a red string near her desk.

He turned to a corkboard, and was very surprised to see pictures and note cards pinned to it, connected by more red string.

"Oh, clever. I've always wanted to do that."

They were arranged rather oddly, he thought. Some of the notecards were pinned up horizontally, others pinned up vertically. Except, all of the words were written horizontally across the notecard. As though she never intended for them to be displayed any other way. And looking closer, he noticed small holes in them, like she had originally pinned them up differently.