Sorry, this took so long! Was really sick last week!

CHAPTER 2

Sam had been in Amity Park for three days now collecting information, but so far she didn't find anything of great importance. Her search had continued to lead her to the park. She went to the center of the park where she was getting strange seismic readings. At one point she read an 8.4 on the scale, but the she felt nothing and no one seemed to notice any movement. She recorded everything that she had found then continued to scan the park. She had brought her Dowsing rods to see if she could find if a water main had ruptured or maybe something else. They weren't any help at all! They flew all over the place. Crossing and uncrossing. They wouldn't remain still if she glued them that way.

Sighing Sam put them away then pulled out an electrical surge meter. She scanned the area and was surprised to find it was bursting with energy. Sam rubbed her head. This was going to be harder than she thought. These readings had taken her all morning and still she was no closer to figuring at least one thing out.

Tucker had given her the keys to the archives so she thought she might as well try and find out if there was anything in the town history that could possibly explain the impossible readings she was receiving.

Packing up her equipment Sam overheard a couple of women on a nearby park bench speaking. She wasn't planning on paying them much attention until she heard what they said next.

"Did you hear about what happened with the mayor?" One woman asked and Sam froze.

"I did." Another replied, "Poor Mayor Foley, I feel so bad for him. How could they attack him? He hasn't done anything wrong."

"I didn't get the details of what happened, but apparently they aren't happy about… you know." The first women continued, looking around nervously as if she was afraid someone specific was listening.

The second woman nodded also looking nervous, "I know. That's what scares me. What are we going to do?"

The first woman shook her head, "I just don't know. If the Prince decides he wants something he's going to get it, period, the end. And we'll all just be stuck in his wake."

At this point Sam decided to interfere. Walking up to the two women she asked, concerned for her new friend, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I couldn't help, but overhear. What happened to Mayor Foley? Is he all right?"

The two women looked scared and startled at her sudden appearance. "What?" Asked the first woman.

Sam repeated herself, "You said someone attacked the mayor? Is he all right? What happened? Who attacked him?"

The two women looked at each other clearly nervous before the second woman answered, "Oh we were just talking about a show that we are watching last night. Nothing to worry about dear, have a good day." With that they got up and left quickly leaving Sam to wonder what just happened.

The young woman stood in mild confusion watching the two older women leave. She knew she had heard the name Mayor Foley. Those two women were obviously lying to her, but why? They had no reason to lie to her. She was just trying to help and was curious about Mayor Foley. Sam then recalled that when she had arrived on her first day here at Amity Park Tucker did have a bandage around his head and his arm in a sling. She wasn't stupid, she knew they were talking about Tucker but the real question was; why they were lying to her about it? There wasn't any point to it.

Sam narrowed her eyes and promised herself that she was going to find out the truth. This town of Amity Park was showing more signs of mystery than she ever would've given it credit for. She sighed, she could think about that later. Right now she was hungry. So she decided to head down to the mall to see what there was to eat.

Sam was pleasantly surprised to see a fairly large variety of food available. She decided to go with a salad today and purchased a Caesar salad with no chicken. Buying a bottle of water she chose a place to sit and started eating. After lunch she was going to go to the archives and look up the town history. Maybe there was something there about water mains. That might also explain the electricity, but the seismic readings she had gotten were out of the ballpark. She didn't know what to do about those. Maybe find a map that showed fault lines?

As Sam continued to eat her lunch she happened to look over and see two women giggling rather loudly in the corner closest to her. They looked to be around her age. One was a Latina with dark wavy hair and teal eyes. She had a short pink shirt with teal Capri pants. Her friend also had back hair, but was straight with brown eyes and was wearing a short dress with pink and white flowers on it. Sam knew at once she probably wouldn't like these people. "Isn't he just the most gorgeous thing you ever saw?" The Latina asked giggling.

The other woman at the Latina's side nodded her head, "Of course he is! I wish he would just take me away to his castle and keep me forever." She then let out a dreamy sigh.

"Not if he steals me away first!" The Latina cried with a smile though Sam could see the warning in her eyes. "Every Prince needs his Princess and I plan on being his." She then let out a dreamy sigh, "I look the best in diamonds after all." The Latina then turned a defiant look to her friend, "I don't care what everybody says, I think he's dreamy and he's going to be mine."

Sam rolled her eyes; obviously this woman was a princess in her home to begin with as well. The two women walked away and Sam went back to her meal. After a few minutes she was done eating and she got up to dispose of her garbage and recycle her containers. As she went to leave her brain finally processed what the women were talking about. They had mentioned the Prince as well just like the two women in the park this morning. Who was this prince that everybody knew about except for her apparently? And why did it feel like Sam was missing some very important detail about this town? She very much wanted to ask someone but she knew right away that she would just get more questions than answers. Everyone in this town had to have a secret and it all seemed to be the same exact thing.

'Let it go Sam.' She thought as she walked back to her car, 'It's not important. You came here to do a job, now go do it. Then you can leave this town and never have to look back.' The drive to the town hall was a quick one not giving her much time to think and dwell on what happened that day. Not that she minded Sam decided she didn't need to think about what happened that day. What she needed to do was focus on her job. So as she pulled into a parking space in front of the town hall she was filled with the determination and couldn't help but smile. She had yet to fail a job and she wasn't going to start now.

Sam used the keys Tucker had given her to enter the archives. She went straight to the receptionist's desk, but found no one there. With a shrug Sam decided she could find it herself. It would take a bit longer, but she would start until the receptionist came back. She tried to go back to the beginning of the town to try and find out what had been at the park before it became a park, but she was having trouble finding the timeline she was looking for.

Just when she thought maybe she really could use help she heard the clearing of someone's throat. "Excuse me miss, but can I help you?"

Sam looked up to see a shorter gentleman and a white color shirt with orange hair glasses and freckles. He was smiling kindly at her but clearly was trying not to sound like he was accusing her even though Sam could tell he sort of was. Rightly so though, according to him she had just broken in. So in a peace offering Sam offered her hand and smiled back at him, "I'm sorry for just barging in like this, my name is Sam. Mayor Foley gave me the keys to the archives so I could look through them. I'm with the Agency of Environmental Investigations and I'm here to investigate Amity Park."

The man's eyes widened behind his thick framed glasses before he offered her a shaky smile and shook her hand, "Oh yes of course. Tucker told me about you. My name is Michael Dower. You can just call me Mikey though, everyone does. I'm in charge of running the archives. Is there something I can help you find, you looked a little lost?"

Sam nodded, "I'm trying to find information about the park. How long it's been constructed? Was there anything there before it? Any information you have on that would be very helpful."

Mikey looked thoughtful before nodding his head, "I think I have exactly what you're looking for. Follow me." He said gesturing for her to do just that. Sam nodded and followed him through the maze of the archive before they finally arrived in the back corner of the room. He knelt down to the bottom shelf and pulled out a large box blowing off the top layer of dust before opening it up. Sifting through the files he then pulled out several of them and handed them to her. "Amity Park was founded in the year 1883, and remained a small town for a while. It didn't really start to grow until the 1900s. I can give you everything that we do have, but would you like it in sections first or do you want to just take it all together?"

Sam thought about his question before answering, "Can I start with the years 1883 through 1900? When I'm done with that would be okay if I just came back and got more?"

Mikey nodded his head and went to pull out the files, "Sure no problem. I'm here practically all the time so when you're done go ahead and just stop on by and let me know what else you need." He finished with a joking smile.

Sam chuckled, "Believe me I know the feeling and thanks. I appreciate your help."

Mikey nodded and handed her the files that she had requested. He shrugged, "It's no big deal it is my job."

Sam smiled and nodded her head, "Well thanks anyway it was nice meeting you Mikey. I'll see you later. Goodbye!" She called before walking out of the room.

"It was nice meeting you too Sam, good luck!" Mikey called before she shut the door and headed back to her car.

On the way there however she remembered she needed to speak to Starr. Sam made her way to the mayor's office and opened the door to see Starr typing away at her desk. Walking up to the blonde woman she smiled at her, "Hi Starr." The blonde paused in her typing to smile at her.

"Hi Sam! How are you today?" Starr asked happily.

"I'm good, how are you?" Sam asked with a relaxed pose.

"Great!" Starr answered with a smile, "What can I help you with today?"

"Well I was here in the archives getting some information for my investigation, when I remembered that I needed to make an appointment with the mayor for our coffee get together with his wife." Sam answered, "I was wondering if I can schedule that now with you. Or if you're too busy we can do it another time or I can call to. I don't want to bother you." She added on trying not to be a nuisance. She was going to be living with these people for at least a month and she really didn't want to make it harder on herself than it needed to be.

However, that didn't seem to be a problem as Starr smiled at her and waved off her concern. "Oh it's no trouble at all! I can schedule it right now. When are you free?"

Sam shrugged, "My job allows me to have flexibility. When is his availability?"

Starr typed away at her computer more than likely looking up Tucker's schedule. "Well I see he has a free time tomorrow around 10:15. Would that work?"

Sam nodded her head, "Yes it would work just fine."

Starr typed away once more then turned and smiled at her, "Alright. I'll let him and Valerie know, and they'll see you tomorrow."

Sam smiled at her as she headed out the door nodding her head, "Thank you Starr, have a good day!"

Starr nodded, "You too Sam! Bye!" The blonde called waving to Sam as she left. Sam waved goodbye as well as the door shut before finally heading back to her car files in hand. Once she arrived back at her apartment she went straight to her living room floor and set the files down opening the first one she began to read.

Several hours later had Sam 10 years into Amity Park's history with still nothing on the park. Apparently that space had just been an empty space so far with just a well in the center. It seemed that was as far as the mystery went with the park it was the natural hubbub of the original town. Everyone went and everyone came to get water to meet and greet, but other than that there was nothing there. The dousing rods shouldn't have acted so strangely, but it did explain why they were acting somewhat weird; there was water beneath the park. That was an eighth of the mystery solved. Still needed seven more parts though. Sam sighed and looking up she saw the clock read 8:02. She needed dinner and she needed to go to bed. Leaving the documents on the floor as they were, she entered her kitchen, microwaved a quick vegan meal, and then headed upstairs to get ready for bed.

One of the nice things about being an adult and having your own place was you could eat in your bed all you wanted. And Sam monopolized on that opportunity. As she finished eating her dinner she placed her dishes on her bedside table and turned out the light. Lying in bed she looked up at her ceiling. Tomorrow she would be meeting with Tucker and his wife Valerie. Perhaps they would be able to shed some light on the mystery of this town and why the park seemed to be the center of all of their problems.

She was of course going to still go through each and every archive, but if Tucker and Valerie had some information about the park that wasn't in the archives, maybe she could clear up some confusion and not waste hours upon hours of search time only to come up with nothing. She certainly hoped they did. Sam was not looking forward to looking through over 100 years of information on the town she had no desire to find out about.