Peter left the Hale house before most of the pack was back for the day. He was not in the mood for a full house. He hadn't slept and the events from last night were still on his mind.

On some level he expected the sheriff to show up with some of his deputies. At least to question him. Peter doubted that they had more to go on than whatever that kid from last night had told them, though. If he had told the sheriff.

And even if, they didn't have a body, Peter hadn't killed the guy at the cabin so they didn't have a crime scene and he was pretty sure that nobody had filed a missing person report for him. So far no hunters or other packs had shown up in the Hale territory so chances were good that nobody even knew that he had gone missing around here.

So it was just the word of a teenager against his and with no evidence, there wasn't much the sheriff could do even if he believed the kid.

It might be the lack of sleep but Peter still kept a wary eye on the cruiser with the logo of the sheriff's department on the side when he saw one in town. But it took a left turn where Peter had to turn right so there was that. Not that he was actually bothered. He had been caught more red-handed before. But he was curious what the kid would do. And he still didn't know who that kid even was.

Without much to go on Peter did the one thing he could do. Find out who that damn lake belonged to. It probably, most likely, was irrelevant to the current situation but it kept bugging him that he didn't know. Usually, he took pride in knowing what was going on in Beacon Hills. How he could have kept a blind eye on such a huge part of the surroundings was beyond him and that just wasn't right.

At least that bit was easy to find out.

An hour later and quite a bit of money poorer, why did official offices have to charge for every finger they lifted, Peter left the building with an answer that didn't help him whatsoever. The lake and the surrounding woods had been Hale land in the beginning. At least on paper. Nobody had ever built on that land, the cabin was most likely illegal or not big enough to count, and it hadn't been used whatsoever. At least not in any official way. As far as Peter could tell the Hale pack back then had claimed it but had left it alone. Which kind of made sense, they had more than enough land on the other side of the at that point growing town.

But then one day for no particular reason, somebody named Johnathan Hale had signed that land over to a company. The Beacon Hills Lake Company was still registered as the owner of the land.

"What the fuck is the Beacon Hills Lake Company?" Peter muttered when he got into his car. A lot of the businesses in town were owned by a member of the Hale family and if they weren't the owner, they were involved one way or the other anyway. It was part of Peter's job to keep an eye on what was going on in town. Not every threat came with wolfsbane bullets, some came with money and sweet promises and next thing you know, you've lost your bakery. And your house.

However, Peter had never heard about this company.

Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel he weighed his options. He probably should try to find out who that kid was but he had nothing to go on with that and all he could do on that front was to wait for his next move. If there was a next move.

Every other kid would be hiding in his room, peeking out between closed curtains for the werewolf coming his way. Judging by his reaction yesterday that was this teenager's least likely reaction and that alone piqued Peter's interest. He had no idea what the kid would do and he loved it.

Making a decision Peter started the engine and headed over to the library. Maybe he could find something about that company in old newspapers. Signing over such a huge chunk of the Hale property must have caused some ripples back then. And while he was at it, he should have a closer look at the sheriff.

"Hi, Denise," Peter greeted the librarian when he entered the building.

"Peter." She caught him in a motherly hug. She had been working at the library since he had been a kid and she was one of the few people who never grew tired of his questions. "What brings you here today?"

His usual day to come in was Friday, after he had dropped off Emily for her guitar lesson, and by now he knew how many books he needed to last him the week.

"Bad book haul or do you just need a place to escape?" She gave him a knowing smile. He liked living with his pack but fourteen people in one house, even if it was as big as the Hale house, it could become too much from time to time. As a teenager, he used to hide in the library until Denise kicked him out when they closed for the day. His nightly activities had been, and still were, less sophisticated, though.

"Neither," Peter replied easily. "Just good old curiosity. How far back is the Beacon Hills Daily digitized?"

"We're still on it," Denise admitted. "Somewhere around 1940? Are you looking for something specific?"

"Have you ever heard of the Beacon Hills Lake Company?" Peter asked. It was worth a shot, Denise had been around for a while and had always been involved with what was going on in Beacon Hills. Aside from being his book dealer, Denise was a valuable source of information, not that she knew that Peter used her that way. She just liked to chat with him. And with everybody else willing to talk to her. Which was half the town.

"Never heard of them." She made the same face Peter was sure he had made when he'd read that name in the register. "Someone new in town?"

"More a rather old one, it looks like," Peter answered, already heading towards the computers. The Hale pack had signed over the lake a good 150 years ago but before he started with the microfiche he wanted to see if the company was mentioned in what was already digitized. It was worth a shot.

The library was rather empty and Denise was not the only one working so she had the time to follow him.

"Why are you interested in some old company?" Denise asked but by now she was used to him being interested in weird topics. Even if she only got the censored version of his interests. At home, he had a whole library with rare and obscure books. Most authentic books on the supernatural didn't belong in a public library.

"They are registered as the owner of the lake." He didn't need to specify which lake he was talking about, there was only one lake around here.

"Don't tell me you're interested in buying that damn lake," Denise hissed in a low voice and had a quick look around if somebody was close enough to overhear their conversation.

"I doubt it's for offer." He wasn't sure if he would buy it even if it was for offer. Something out there had felt wrong last night and if he was right that something supernatural was living in the lake, it was probably for the better to not disturb it.

That company did not come up in the archive but as Denise had said, the earliest newspaper he found was from 1938. He would have to look at the microfiche for the older ones. At least he had the date when the land had been signed over.

However, since he was sitting at the computer, he typed Sheriff Stilinski into the search bar.

"The sheriff?" Peter didn't have to look at Denise to hear her raised eyebrow. "Peter Hale, what are you up to?"

"Just curious." When the sheriff had been elected, Peter did have a closer look at him just to get a feeling for what kind of person he was. It was Talia who maintained the political and social connections they had in town, Peter was more interested in the not official stuff.

John Stilinski, however, didn't have much in the way of not official stuff which was why Peter had left him to Talia. He had other connections in the sheriff's department.

What came up with his search now only confirmed what he already knew about the man. Widower, no children and no family in town. Elected sheriff three years ago.

The few times they had interacted in person he had seemed like a nice man and a good sheriff. Not that there was much going on in Beacon Hills anyway.

"What can you tell me about him?" Peter asked because Denise was the person to ask if one was looking for some good old gossip.

Over the next minutes, Peter learned that John and his late wife Claudia had been high school sweethearts who had married young but that he had lost her two years later to cancer. Denise didn't outright say it but it was clear that that had been a dark time for the sheriff during which Jack Daniels had been his best friend. But he had come back from that and now she only had high praises for him.

"Oh, and he's kind of taken his nephew under his wing."

"Nephew?" Peter gave her a look. According to what he'd read just a minute ago the sheriff didn't have any family around.

"He's from out of town or something." Denise made a dismissive gesture. "But he visits John regularly and he often comes here when he's in town. Kind of reminds me of you." She gave him a soft smile. "Lots of weird interests."

"Trouble at home?" Peter guessed.

"He doesn't talk about his family and I don't ask." Denise shrugged. "This is supposed to be a safe place."

Denise liked her gossip like the next person but she had always known when to back off. A fact about her Peter appreciated, especially when he had been a kid who just wanted to escape his family for a little while.

"Not sure if I've seen him around."

"You would have noticed him." Denise chuckled to herself. "He's a chatty one and if he's not absorbed in whatever he's reading up on this time, he kind of forgets that this is a library."

"Is that so?" That did sound familiar. It didn't have to be the kid he'd met last night but so far it was the first kid he'd heard of with a connection to the sheriff.

However, Peter was pretty sure that this was not the kid he was looking for. He had said that he was friends with the sheriff not that the sheriff was his uncle. But checking him out wouldn't hurt and if nothing else he could cross him off his list. Which would leave him with no names on the list again.

By the time Peter moved over to the microfiche, Denise had to go back to work but she had provided him with a name, Stiles Stilinski, and his preferred time to come into the library.

In the old papers, Peter found one small article that mentioned the Hale family signing off half their land to that mystery company but that was it. It didn't come up ever again.

He would have to tap some other sources but so far it looked as if that company had been founded for the sole purpose of legally owning the lake and the surrounding area. There was no individual name coming up not even an address and it didn't look as if that company had ever done anything. But legally it was still around.

"Interesting." Peter leaned back in his chair.

On his way out he waved Denise goodbye and drove back to the Hale house. By now most of the pack was home and dinner was almost ready.

"Slice the bread, would you?" Deborah put a knife in his hand and shoved him in the direction of where the bread was waiting for him on the counter.

Next to him, Laura was busy with cutting tomatoes for the salad. She was home from college for the week and Cora hadn't stopped pestering her with questions about life on campus. Which she was doing now from the other side of the counter. Cora couldn't wait to leave for college as well but that would still take a few years. For now, she was hanging with glassy eyes on her big sister's lips.

On Peter's other side Deborah was talking to her husband, something about Emily and school, and from the living room, Peter could hear the soft murmur from the rest of his pack. Peter let out a content sigh and started to slice the bread.