lostlake | D A Y 0 8

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ch 2

D A Y 0 8

CHAPTER 2

NOV 7TH | 54℉☀(windy)

▸ Parka up for a cold an--*CHSKSSS--*- windy day in Blackwell folks! I sure do hope--*CHSKSSS--*-search team down at the lake won't--*CHSKSSS--*---*CHSSK--*-trouble out on the waters. Professional divers have been going in since dawn, let's give it up for the professional --*CHSKSSS--*-!!

▸ Old Lady Petunia has paid me to say DO NOT SEEK OUT THE ANGELS--*CHSKSSKK--SK--SSSH--*- In fact, there are no such thing as angels. See how easy that was? No angels, no problem.

▸ And now back to our --*CHSKSSS--*-regularly scheduled programming.

THE RISING IS NOT IN EFFECT

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Local enough to be tired of every local face. I work at the hospital.

[ been working there for years. he sounds fed up with it. puts the menu down. ]

I think I'll take the eggs.

[oh it's time to order.] Can I get the #3 without bacon? [he can.] Thanks. [bread.] Uh, rye? [we're out.] Sourdough? [yep. hands off his menu.]

You're a doctor, then?

[jacob sounds fed up with a lot.]

[ life sucks and then you die. ]

Currently on a leave.

I see.

[it's probably too soon to ask why. he's not a fairweather, a winters or a samson, but he might have other missing family. sam doesn't think he's related to the gages, either. not that he's looked into that case, because that would be super illegal and also nobody's paying him to do that.]

Seems like plenty of the local faces are disappearing these days.

[and other days. all the time.]

[ waited to see his reaction and then turns to look out of the window. he was already kind of hoping Sam would have asked about it so he could have turned this conversation really unpleasant and now he's feeling almost ashamed for planning that. ]

Dying. Just call it what it is.

[ oh yes there are other ways this could get awful. ]

They aren't coming back. Not anymore.

[takes a sip of coffee, watching jacob over the rim of the mug. it also helps his raised eyebrows blend in as maybe a side effect of taking a drink and not of being surprised and a little concerned.]

There seems to be some of that going around, too. What do you mean, anymore?

It has been too long. I don't honestly expect anyone to turn up alive after all this time.

[ he only has water. gives the glass a disappointed look. ]

Listen, I already had this chat once and it resulted in me being thrown out of Black Lodge so perhaps it's best to zip it.

I imagine it helps to have the conversation sober.

[that goes for both of them. sam was nowhere near sober by the time he let last night, but fortunately he left before he could make an idiot of himself. or get thrown out. though he's not sure he wants much to go back.

at least the owner was nice.]

I'm also not as emotionally invested as most of the people here. It seems, going back, like nearly every family has to have lost someone...

[ you don't say. ]

It's a small town. You lose one kid and at the same time someone loses a neighbor, the person who walks your dog, the best friend of your daughter... You get the picture.

It's best not to get emotionally invested at all if you wish to continue looking into this.

I get the picture.

[glances in the direction of the table he left. takes another drink of coffee. it's not great, but he doesn't have awesome taste in coffee so he'll live. it's helping with the general post-whiskey malaise, at least.]

Did you know either of the kids they're looking for now? I'll rule out drinking buddies, I guess.

[since they were teenagers.]

Saw them every now and then but no, didn't know them. Had no reason to. I have got no kids of my own.

[ he was going to say "we" at first but stopped himself in time. ]

You also got the feeling that these won't be the last?

[goes to swig more coffee but he's out, so he chews at the inside of his lip and swirls around the dregs of his coffee in the bottom of the cup. don't waitresses usually give refills?

yes he was stalling while he thought about it. he does pitch his voice a little lower when he speaks up again.]

You got four children who weren't home with their families last night. Two dead, for sure. One after months missing, one just out of her parents' sight for a minute. Two vanished after a party. Totally different. The only thing they have in common is their age and, except for Winters, all are girls.

[he wants so badly to know if kara was cut in the same way as the girl who fell from the roof had been, that triangle of blood soaking through her dress as she stared up at him from the hood of the patrol car. it's not really something he can ask the samsons, though.]

Investigating murder's not my job, though. Legally, it can't be. So my opinion doesn't really matter.

[of course they're not the last.]

You're out of job once they turn up dead?

Might as well return where you came from and start another case. Do something useful with the time.

[ just being reasonable. ]

I've been getting that a lot lately. Guess I don't know what's good for me.

[glances back in the direction of the table he left again. the waitress comes back with their food.]

Thanks. Brooklyn, by the way.

[cuts into his omelet with a fork once the waitress is gone. the bite's halfway off the plate when he frowns and sets it back down. carefully unfolds it with his fork. unfolds the rest of the omelet and starts to dig bacon out of the cheese.]

[ nods thanks to the waitress. she knows him so she isn't too insulted by his lack of manners. ]

Yeah, that's pretty obvious. I can hear it.

[ takes his fork but doesn't start eating yet. ]

Part why you've been hearing the same advice again and again is because locals don't like outsiders as much as they admit. Must have noticed that by now.

It has come up.

[last night was the rudest greeting he's gotten, but he can't blame the blonde for being in a bit of a mood if she was salvi's former flame. sam can see how dating someone as intense as salvi could necessarily end in an equally intense way. poor kid, whoever she is.

the guy has no excuse for being a jerk, though, unless sam's mere presence is ruffling more feathers at the department than he realized.]

Then again, judging from Salvi's welcome home committee, locals don't exactly get a free pass either. Which one are you, Jacob?

[local or outsider? you talk like either one as it suits you.]

No one that matters.

[ aka his wife knew all the people and the family friends disappeared one by one once he was alone. it's almost like he's an outsider now. ]

But which one of us does matter in the end?

Ah, nihilism.

[not like nostalgia, more a flat recognition.

lets the moment pass in silence as he takes a few bites of his mostly de-baconed and somewhat cooler omelet.]

Why did you invite me over here?

[he genuinely wants to know. mostly people want to give him bad news.]

People shouldn't eat alone.

[ doesn't explain this change of heart any further. ]

Well. Thank you.

[a little surprised, actually. most of sam's meals have been ramen alone in his room since he arrived. last night had been a conscious attempt to break what was swiftly becoming a depressing and depressingly familiar habit.]

Figured I'd rather eat with you than the cop.

[ points fork at Ben still intensely playing with his phone. judging by what he saw last night Sam isn't so bad so he took the risk of inviting him over. ]

[glances where jacob points, toward the table sam abandoned, and toward ben.]

Thanks...

[wouldn't make the same choice, in your shoes. looks back to jacob.]

I'll say this much, there are less personable cops on the force.

[like all of them. literally all of them, though the one from last night is unquestionably the worst. just the worst.]

Oh right, you met Dennington.

[ smiles at the eggs but the emotion doesn't reach his eyes. ]

[ people have been trying their best to stay out of his way ever since he started working here. Jacob knows his reputation. ]

Was that his name? Salvi just introduced him as "Hillbilly Cop," and he didn't bother to correct her. I didn't address him by it, did I?

[this last part is a joke, but he might've. there was a lot of whiskey.]

He's sure a sweetheart.

One of many.

[ like you said, there's a lot where that one came from. ]

At least he doesn't waste any time on bullshit.

[ respects him in some twisted way. ]

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