Chapter twenty-one: An odd personal reaction

Lora knocked lightly on the front door of the location she was given. She had driven out to a small, pleasant looking light blue two story house. It had larger distance from any neighbors than the houses closer to the city. Someone valued privacy, it seemed.

A ruffled looking (perhaps more than usual, but it was difficult to tell) Mitch opened the door.

"Hello Mitch, is this your house?" Lora greeted.

"Hi," Mitch replied distractedly. "It's Blair's house- blue isn't my color."

Lora wasn't sure Mitch had a color, but she nodded, and entered the house.

Everything looked rather new and clean, for some reason.

"Lora, come over here, would you?" Winston called, beckoning her over to the dining room table- which unlike everything else, was messy and covered with folders, documents and other things.

Lora made her way over, taking a chair. "I hope this is legal," she commented, eyeing the papers.

"I've asked him if things were legal before, but I never get an answer," Mitch said, peering in briefly to give a disapproving look from the other room, disappearing again to do who knows what. Mitch things. He probably already knew whatever she was about to be told.

"I'm glad you could make it," Winston said cheerily, ignoring the questioning of whether his activities were within the restrictions of the law or not. "Your hair is down today. You look good."

"Thank you. I had something earlier I wanted to look nice for," Lora replied quietly. "You have a very nice house. Do you live out here all on your own?"

"Mitch stays over sometimes, but he lives with his parents or out of cheap motels most of the time," Winston answered jokingly.

Lora briefly wondered if Mitch did anything for a living, or if he just liked to chase after monsters. She didn't know if Winston did anything other than this either- she'd have to ask later. "Sounds a little lonely- I've never lived on my own until now."

"Sure, but it gives me room to focus on what I want," Winston said, watching her curiously. "It's interesting that you've never lived alone before, though. I'm the opposite." He smiled and waved his hand dismissively, changing the subject. "Speaking of focusing, I just remembered I needed to fill you in on what's been found out."

"Please do."

"The black slime found at both 'brother incidents' are a match," Winston began. "So it's confirmed that you have Eyeless Jack specifically. You have good intuition, you know."

I've had to, Lora thought. She shifted in discomfort at the thought that this was still all real and actually happening.

"And I've also been doing some research," Winston said in a sudden serious tone. "I've got a theory. It's a little odd, but I thought you might want to hear it- since it's one of our only ideas on where to go from here. "

"Go on," Lora encouraged him.

"Take a look at this," Winston said as he handed her a paper.

It had her brother's information on it.

"What does this have to do with my brother?" Lora questioned a little defensively.

"Possibly everything," Winston said slowly. "I'm seeing a pattern with the victims. Your brother fits into it."

"What does he fit in to, then?" Lora asked suspiciously, feeling a little uncomfortable at the mention of her brother, but still very curious.

Winston placed a hand on her arm. "Well," he said lightly. "Your brother once worked at a hospital, yes?"

Lora frowned. "He did. He loved that job, but he left because something happened. He never told me what exactly, and I didn't pry for information." It had almost seemed like it had drained all of his energy one day and he just couldn't do it anymore. She should've asked. Even if he would'nt have told her, she still should've tried.

Winston eyed her with an unreadable expression. "He wasn't the only one to quit from that place. A few people or more did so, all around the same time."

"You're saying they might've known something?"

"Might've? They still do, they aren't all dead," Winston said, his voice suddenly sounding a bit panicky. "At least, they aren't yet."

"Are you suggesting... that we find them first?" Lora asked slowly. This was seeming a lot bigger than it did yesterday.

"That is exactly what I say we do," Winston said firmly.

Lora was mostly on board with this idea.

Winston seemed strangely passionate about it.

"How does Mitch feel about this?" Lora asked.

"Doesn't matter. How do you feel about it?"

"I'll help as much as I can, but it does matter," Lora said. "Are you okay, Winston?"

Winston stared at her for a moment.

Winston's eyes were a very interesting shade of blue, Lora noted for no particular reason. Perhaps she'd just started to connect the color blue to Winston in various ways due to Mitch's comment.

Winston sighed and slumped back against his chair. "I apologize, I got a little too... I've just never- we've never gotten this close, not with Jack."

"That's fine, you have reason to be..." What exactly was he feeling? Lora couldn't exactly tell.

"Exhilarated," Winston breathed, answering her unspoken question. "And angry. That's what I feel."

He laughed a bit to himself after that.

Lora watched him carefully, a small frown on her face.

They still had many pieces of a puzzle to put together, but Winston was looking like a bit of a puzzle himself.

She knew why she and Mitch were here, but there was something missing with Winston. He was having an odd personal reaction that didn't just come with going along with a random job.

Something was different, and it was far too soon to be able to tell what.

"So, you're still helping, then?" Winston challenged, eyes trained on her again.

"Do you have any tea?" Lora asked, deciding to go along with things again in the form of asking a relaxed, casual question implying she'd be there awhile to drink it. I'll give in- for now.

"I've already made some," Winston said with a smirk, reading the unspoken agreement in her words.