XXI: In Which Dinner is Eaten

“Alright, I’ll put those orders in for you, and if you need anything, my name’s Melissa.”  Said the waitress whose nametag inexplicably said ‘Heather’.

“Thank you.” Colin responded as she walked away.  He, Ronaldo, Jane and Selena had gathered for dinner after being dropped off at Kaldi’s.  Despite Steve’s claims of ‘sweeping for bugs’ they’d all agreed on switching venues, at least for tonight.

“Okay, from what I can tell, patient records for Kanetown State are held at the county records building since the hospital was shut down.”  Ron said, looking up from his phone. “Nothing about them has been digitized, but even if they were, the records are closed, there’s no way we can see them.”

“Oh no.”  Selena said.  “Have we failed Zachary already?”

“Not necessarily,” Ron said.  “Death Certificates are public record, so we can at least find out if he’s dead, and if so, how.  I’ll go down to the County Records building on Monday and poke around a bit, see what I can dig up.”

“I have Monday off, I’ll come with you.”  Colin said. “If you don’t mind the company.”

“Truly, I will be glad of your companionship, Colin.”

They continued talking about the difficulties ahead of them until Melissa/Heather brought their food.

“So,” Selena suddenly said as they ate.  “Jane was almost killed by a vampire.” Colin nearly choked on his burger.

“Stop saying he was a vampire,” Jane said, “He was just a guy.”

“‘Warm human blood in a wine glass’.  That’s the order that guy wanted, you said it yourself.”  Selena admonished.

“I was tired, I probably just imagined that part.”

“And the part where he practically hypnotized you?”

“I was exhausted, my brain was fuzzy anyway and his voice was soothing.”  Jane struggled to keep her voice down. “There’s a more rational explanation than ‘Vampire’.”

Ron’s eyes jumped back and forth between the two women, flashing with interest.  “Start at the beginning and tell me everything.

Over the course of the meal, they told the whole story of that night, including Selena’s dream.

“Your account certainly tracks with what I have learned of pre-hollywood vampire lore.”  Ronaldo told them. “As much as I do not trust him, Sheppard was right that more paranormal activities are happening in this town than we are aware of.”

“What do you think, Colin?  You’ve been quiet over there.”  Selena asked.

Colin collected his thoughts.  “Well, I’m not ready to believe in vampires, but I am pretty certain that something bad was going on with that guy, especially after Charlie’s warning.  Are you often alone, or as alone as you were that night, at work?”

“Almost never.” Jane said. “There were a lot of call-offs that day and I had to cover extra shifts.”

“Good, just do me a favor and be on your guard.” He said.

“Sí, Papá.”  Jane said in a playful tone.

After their plates had been cleared away, Ron got everyone’s attention again.  “I think I’m going to eventually have to go down into the tunnels under the old Institution.” He said.

“What, why?” The other three said together.

“Everything seems to be leading me there.”  Ron told them about finding the eye symbol on the urbex blog.  “So Jake may have a connection to there, Zachary has a connection, even the first story you told us about your dreams, Selena, leads back to Kanetown State.  I can’t ignore so many signs.”

“If you’re set on it, I need you to make me two promises.  Especially if my dream is part of the reason you’re going.”  Selena said, sternly. Ron waited expectantly. “First, you don’t go alone.  You have to take at least one or two of us with you.”

“I was going to request allies for this venture in any case, so promise granted.  I shall speak of this when we are all assembled and ask who shall come.” Ron nodded agreeably.

“Second, wait until after we’ve researched all we can, so you know what you’re getting into.”  Selena finished.

“Maybe wait until after the eighteenth, when we go to the Planetarium.”  Jane said. “We may find out who’s behind the eye symbols then.”

“Agreed, fellows, agreed.”  Ron bowed as well as he could in the booth.