No excuse for this one. Lol enjoy!

CHAPTER 3

Sam got up bright and early the next morning before heading to the meeting with Tucker and his wife Valerie. She wanted to get more done with the archives that she had so that she could return the documents before her meeting with them. Sam gathered up all the files she had already read and moved onto the next ones. She was able to get through 3 more years before it was time to get ready. She placed those files in the pile to go then showered and got dressed. She chose to wear one of her favorite shirts. It was dark purple long sleeve shirt that had a spider web netting around the neck on the collar of the shirt and wore dark jeans with black flats with her ever present jacket.

Sam left her apartment at 9:45 and headed straight for the archives. She entered with a polite knock, "Mikey?" She called.

"I'll be right there!" He called back before appearing in front of her. He looked down at her stack and his eyes widened a bit, "Done already?" He asked a little shocked.

Sam shook her head, "I still have a few years left at home, but I was done with these so I wanted to trade them for the next few years."

Mikey nodded, "Alright." He took the stack from her then headed into the back once more. Sam decided to follow him. "So what are you trying to research exactly?" He asked putting the files away before rummaging in another box for the next years.

"I'm here trying to figure out what's going on with the environment around this town." Sam answered not noticing him freeze his movements for a second before he went back to work. "My search so far has led me to the park."

"Oh yeah," Mikey agreed with a smile. "The park's a pretty strange place. I've lived here in Amity my whole life and everybody seems to have a story about something happening there." The man then shrugged and handed her more files, "But I shouldn't be surprised, I mean that well's been here for over 400 years."

Sam looked at him confused, "400 years I thought you said Amity was founded in the year 1883 and Minnesota didn't become a state until 1858." She added not understanding.

"It was," Mikey agreed nodding his head, "But people have been living here since before then."

"Who?"

"Well when you came in you saw the mural of a large man in orange holding a basket of red flowers, correct?" He asked pointing out of the room.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, the plaque underneath said John Fenton Nightingale: Which Wacker. Whatever that means." She added under her breath.

"Yeah, John Fenton Nightingale was part of the Salem witch trials." Mikey answered. "He was a famous witch finder."

"Really?" Sam asked somewhat shocked.

"Mmm hmm." Mikey said nodding, "One of the best. Famous and known for capturing one of the women who actually turned out to be a witch."

"Wow." Sam said a little impressed that there really turned out to be a witch in the trials after all.

Again Mikey nodded, "Awhile after the trials, I think Massachusetts state records say that he left in the year 1696, he traveled north and ended up here in Amity during the year of 1698."

Sam looked at him incredulously. "You're telling me just he picked up and left his fame and his life and moved to the middle of nowhere 200 years before civilization came here?" She could hardly believe that.

Mikey nodded, "Yep."

"Why?"

Mikey shrugged, "Nobody knows. He did keep a journal and there was documentation of him and his family living here. Apparently he married a Native American woman from a local tribe in the area."

"May I read the Journal?" Sam asked a little excited.

Mikey looked a little apologetic. "I'd love to let you, however there was a fire about 100 years ago and it burned."

Sam deflated, "Of course there was." Looking back up at him she asked, "Is there anything else on him that I could possibly read?"

"Well that all burned in the fire too." Mikey said this time looking very apologetic. "We only know so much about him from Massachusetts' state records and the few letters that he sent to his sister that have survived through the years. But the letters are in Massachusetts."

"Just my luck." Sam grumbled.

"I will tell you this," He went on his voice lowering just a bit. "The fire happened in the year 1912 and the entire archives room was on fire; however the only archives that burned were the information that had to do with John Fenton Nightingale. Everything else was fine.

Sam stared at him, "How is possible?"

Mikey shrugged again and they headed back to his desk. "I don't know. It's just one of the local legends. They didn't have a fire marshal at the time, but people say they saw evidence that somebody started it specifically in that section that held his information. If you ask me, somebody obviously didn't want us to know why he was here and they cared that much to burn it all."

Sam was amazed silently agreeing with him, "Is there any other information on him that I could find at all, anywhere?" She asked hoping there was something.

Mikey shook his head, "Not here, however his family still lives here in the house that he made." He told her. "Obviously it's been upgraded quite a bit, but they are still here."

"His family?" Sam asked confused.

Mikey nodded, "Yeah, his descendants, the Fentons. Nice people, a bit odd, but nice nonetheless."

Sam was excited now, "Can you tell me where they live?"

"Sure. They live on Nightingale Street." Mikey grinned as he wrote it down, "You can imagine where that name came from." Sam smiled too.

He then handed the little scrap of paper to her and she looked at it before looking back at him, "What was the street address?"

Mikey chuckled, "Believe me, you won't need it. Just look for the sign that says Fenton Works."

Sam raised an eyebrow before nodding, "Okay, thanks Mikey." She said before waving goodbye and heading out.

"Sure Sam, my pleasure!"

.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.

Starr had called Sam and asked if she was able to meet Tucker and Valerie at a little coffee shop called 'The Pub' down town and she had agreed. She found it relatively soon and it did help that Tucker was already sitting at a table a mug in his hand and a PDA in the other. She walked up to him and smiled as he stood and they shook hands again. "Sorry if I'm a bit tardy. I got a little hung up."

Tucker smiled and shrugged, "It's alright. Valerie isn't here yet, so I guess technically I'm little early."

Sam chuckled and just as they took a seat another woman came walking up to them. She was an African-American woman with wavy hair about to her shoulders and dressed in a very pale yellow business suite. "Oh I'm sorry, I'm late." She said before smiling at her and holding out her hand. "You must be Miss Samantha Manson. I'm Tucker's wife, Valerie Foley."

Sam smiled and they both took their seats, "Nice to finally meet you and please call me Sam." Valerie nodded, "Tucker's told me so much about you."

Valerie turned and eyed her husband a smirk gracing her features, "Has he? All good I hope."

Tucker chuckled and held up his hands in surrender, "Hey I'm allowed to brag."

Sam chuckled herself, "Don't worry it was all good."

"Good."

"Would you like something, Sam?" Tucker asked suddenly standing.

"Oh I can-"

Tucker held his hand up with a smile, "Please, my treat."

Sam hesitated for a second before she nodded. Normally she didn't like when people did things like this. She was perfectly capable of buying her own drinks, but she knew he was only being courteous so she let it go. "I'll have a coffee with cream and two sugars." He nodded and was off. Sam turned to Valerie and smiled, "So Tucker told me you guys met in high school." Sam began curious and if you could get a person comfortable enough they would tell you things they wouldn't normally. She was hoping to get her talking about the strangeness of the town.

Valerie nodded, "Yeah, when we first met, we were on completely opposite sides of the social spectrum it wasn't even funny." She said with a little laugh.

Sam tipped her head, "What do you mean?"

"Well I was an 'A-Lister' of sorts and Tucker was a geek that got shoved into his locker every other day."

Sam frowned, "Poor Tucker." She didn't approve of any type of bullying.

Valerie nodded, "Yeah, but he took it in strides. We talked every once in a while, but we really just stuck with our own crowds. I never really noticed him until a very random school dance. You see Tucker was always somewhat of a self-proclaimed lady's man' and had wound up asking nearly every girl in school as a date for the dance. They turned him down flat. He asked me too, but my reply was, 'No, unless I'm dateless in the next five minutes'." Valerie then chuckled, "As it turned out my date then let me know that very moment that another girl had agreed to go out with him instead and I was now dateless. I told him to pick me up around five and not to be late."

Sam blinked, "Wow that was rude of your date." She said waning to smack that jerk upside the head.

Valerie shrugged, "I was a little upset, but it wasn't that bad. We were just friends and used each other as a date until we found someone else. As it turned out though, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. All night long Tucker was so sweet and attentive and he made me laugh so much. I realized I had a really great time with him." Sam smiled as she listened happy for them both. "I was still a little shy about quote unquote 'being his friend in public', but slowly I started to realize I didn't care. However when my father lost his job and we had to uproot our very comfortable life style to something we could then afford, I was so angry I really didn't care what people thought anymore. And by the time he got up the courage to ask me out I readily said yes. After that the rest is history." She finished taking a drink of her coffee that Tucker had brought her halfway through the story.

"I guess the saying everything happens for a reason would apply nicely here." Sam said with a smile also taking a drink.

Valerie laughed and Tucker nodded his head, "I'll say."

"What about you?" Valerie asked, "Any guys in your life?"

Sam laughed, "Uh no." She said simply. "I'm really just into my job at the moment and I'm not really interested in starting anything right now."

Valerie shrugged, "Fair enough."

Tucker on the other hand grinned like a cat, "That's just another way of saying no one's asked you yet."

Sam stared at him for a second a little shocked that he would say such a thing as they had only met twice now. Valerie glared at her husband and smacked him, "Tucker! I can't believe you just said that!"

Tucker shied away from his wife's rebuke. "I didn't mean anything by it." He defended, "I'm just saying she hasn't found the right one yet!"

"You don't say those kind of things to someone you just met!" Valerie continued on her behalf. Sam then burst out into laughter shocking them both. "Sam?" Valerie asked confused.

Sam continued to chuckle as she spoke, "I'm sorry." She breathed calming down. "I'm not offended, really. I'm just a little surprised." She then smiled at them brightly. "I actually appreciate when people are honest. It just makes things so much easier." She then turned and smirked at him, "And I really am more interested in my work right now. I honestly don't want a relationship." And that was the truth. Too many heartbreaks, too many men who had simply tried to use her. Right now she was just trying to work on her.

Tucker still continued to grin as he shrugged. "I totally understand."

"So how is your investigation going?" Valerie asked changing the subject.

Sam sighed a little, "Slowly." She answered. "I found out that everything seems to be happening in and around the park. I've been searching through the archives to see if any building or plant was ever there that would explain a few things, but so far it's just always been a park. Do you guys know anything?"

Valerie and Tucker looked and each other before shaking their heads, "No I'm sorry." Valerie said. "Tucker and I have lived in Amity Park our whole lives and I don't remember there ever being anything there besides the well."

Tucker nodded, "Same here. It's just always been a park."

Sam nodded a little disappointed. She doubted she would get anything, but there always was a little hope. "Would you happen to know anything about a man named; John Fenton Nightingale? He lived here before anyone else and maybe something happened then?"

Both Valerie and Tucker suddenly froze and Sam noticed at once. "How do you know about him?" Tucker asked slowly and Sam started to get a little suspicious.

"Mikey told me." She answered honestly. "I'm trying to learn the history of this town so…"

Valerie then narrowed her eyes, "Why do you suddenly need to know about the history?" She asked slowly.

Sam was not intimidated. "I told you." She said just as slowly curious as to why it suddenly mattered. "I am trying to figure out if there was anything at the park before it became a park so I can figure out why all the strange environmental things are happening to this town."

Tucker then placed his hand gently on Valerie's and her face softened some as she looked to him. He smiled at Sam, "All the information we had on John Fenton Nightingale burned in a fire in the early 1900s. Nobody knows."

"What about his descendants, the Fentons?" Sam asked raising an eyebrow.

"They don't know anything." Valerie said far too quickly before she turned her narrowed vision back to Sam.

Sam eyed her for a moment before she decided she would play along. She didn't want to get into any trouble because they obviously were hiding something from her. Discreetly Sam set her watch for a timer to go off in a few minutes. "Hmm, well that is upsetting." She said calculatingly. "To have all that history just go up in smoke. Over four hundred years gone." She then shook her head not able to help herself as she continued to goad them a little, "Strange that the fire seemed to only burn Nightingale's information, don't you think?" She finished with an unthreatening smile.

Valerie was full on glaring at her now as Tucker smiled uneasily and clapped his hands, "Yeah, that's an old legend of ours. Fun to tell, but just a legend."

Sam turned her smile on him, "Of course. Every town has theirs." She then chuckled falsely, "Like the one about George Washington having wooden teeth." Tucker chuckled too and Valerie's death glare seemed to lighten up so Sam continued, "That is the one downside about my job; I get to learn all about these places and I love the facts, but I could do without the homework." She let out another chuckle as both Foleys joined her albeit one was laughing a little easily than the other. That was when Sam's alarm on her watch went off. Looking down theatrically at it she gasped at the time. "Oh gosh." She cried faking surprise. "Oh no. I'm sorry, but I have to leave. I'm going to be late for a little something." They all stood up and Sam shook their hands one more time. "I really am sorry," And she was, "But I have to go."

Tucker waved it off, "That's alright. We should do it again some time." He offered.

Sam nodded. She did honestly like these people and she was having a good time, she just however needed to get away and figure out what was going on at the moment before she could see them again. "I'd love too." Turning to Valerie she smiled genuinely, "It was really lovely meeting you."

Valerie smiled at her too. "You as well Sam. Have a good day." Sam nodded and as she left Valerie narrowed her eyes at her retreating back, "I don't like her."

Tucker looked down at her a little surprised, "Really? I thought you would."

Valerie shook her head, "No, I mean I don't trust her." Tucker looked at her confused and she went on, "I have a bad feeling about her, Tuck. She's digging too deep and she's going to ruin everything. All of our plans, all that we've worked so hard for, she's going to ruin it all. Mikey needs to keep his mouth shut. She wasn't supposed to find out about Nightingale." Tucker looked thoughtful so she continued, "She needs to be taken care of."

Tucker shook his head, "I have it under control, Val and I'll speak to Mikey. As far as Sam goes, she's won't cause any problems. I can promise you that." Looking back the woman as she turned out of sight he added, "And if she does. We'll just take care of it."

.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.

"I'm telling you Gregor, something is seriously wrong with this town!" Sam snapped, tired of him not listening to her. As soon as she was in her car driving back to her apartment she had called him with her suspicions. He was the only one she could talk to about it and the only one whom she thought would believe her.

Apparently not.

"Let it go Sam, you have a job to do." Gregor said tiredly over the phone and she could just imagine him rubbing his face with annoyance.

"I know that! I just need to figure out what's going on!" She tried again defiantly.

"You don't need to figure out what's going on as far as this mysterious town goes. You need to figure out what was going on with the environment. That is your job that is what you need to focus on." Gregor continued sounding a little bit more irritated than normal obviously she was getting on his nerves. "Now please don't call me again unless there's a real emergency."

She then heard the distinct click of the phone being hung up and knew that he was done speaking to her. Sam fumed for a few seconds irritated at her friend that he wouldn't listen, but the anger quickly left her and she sighed. She knew what she was saying sounded crazy she had just hoped that maybe he would help her figure it out so that it didn't sound as crazy as she was making it out to be. A whole town in on the same secret and keeping it away from her? That was a bit farfetched she would admit it. She just wished Gregor would have believed her.

But Gregor was not one to get involved past a certain point which was the main reason why they had never worked out as a couple, but could stay friends. This situation seemed that way as well now. Sam was starting to feel alone in this and that maybe she should just let it go like he had said. But in the back of her head she knew something was going on. She knew there was more to this story than people were telling her and dammit, she was going to figure out what.

.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.

A week had passed since the coffee shop face off. Or as she had dubbed it. She now had twenty years left of Amity history and was still no closer to finding out if the park had been anything other than a park. Sam had contacted the Fenton family about their ancestor, but they had said their daughter was in town and they were spending time with her. She had however gotten a meeting with them scheduled for next week. Sam had become even more suspicious when she had returned a few days later after the coffee shop face off with the files she had finished and asked Mikey more about John Fenton Nightingale and his eyes had widened and he had clammed up stating that he needed to close soon. After that he had ushered her out quickly. She had tried another couple of times, but had received the same reaction. Finally she just stopped asking and everything went 'back to normal'. Another thing to add to the list of suspiciousness for the town.

In the mean time she had continued to read weird seismic readings ranging from 1.0 to full blown 10s. Yet the earth remained still. The electrical fields were still very strange, but there hadn't been any floods. She had smelt gas at one point, but nothing happened and she hadn't seen any gas lines that could possibly rupture. There weren't any fires that she had experienced, but she did smell smoke from time to time at random places in the park. The strangest weather phenomenon had been what she recorded as 96 degrees in the park, but as soon as you stepped out of the gates it was right back to a comfortable 74. She hadn't gotten any feeling of disorientation or wasn't suddenly floating in the air due to gravity changes so she left that one out.

Sam arrived at the archives and was greeted by a smiling Mikey. "I'm assuming you would like the next ten years?" He asked bringing up a box with him.

Sam nodded and handed him the ten years in her hands. "Are there any other official documents I could look at for this town that would have been at the beginning?"

Mikey thought as he packed and piled, "I think I have one box that might work for you." He then disappeared and reappeared rather quickly. "I'm not entirely sure what's all in here, but you are more that welcome to go through this as well. This box has a lot of legal documents from the founding of Amity Park. Do you think that would be helpful?"

Sam smiled at him, "Yes I think it would." She then took the box and Mikey took the pile of archives. "Thanks." She said when he started following her out to her car.

Mikey shrugged, "If I was a real gentlemen, I would have taken the box, but I completely spaced it until I realized you couldn't carry both."

Sam chuckled with him, "True, but I still think this is very chivalrous." They reached her car, placed the files and box in the backseat, and Sam asked him a question she had been meaning to ask for a while now. "Mikey, do you ever have days off?"

Mikey looked at her before putting up his hands in a defense, "Whoa now wait a minute Sam. You are a very beautiful woman, but I have to be honest with you. I'm not interested. I'm happily married with two beautiful daughters."

Sam blinked at him before realizing how that may have sounded. She chuckled a little, "Oh I'm sorry Mikey. That came out wrong. I know you're married and have two girls."

"You do?" He asked a little surprised.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, you have a wedding band on your ring finger and your desk has pictures of your family on it."

Mikey then chuckled too, "Well there you go. You are very observant, Sam."

Sam shrugged, "It's my job to be. But what I was getting at was that I see you there all the time. At like all kinds of hours. I just wanted to make sure you actually had time off."

Mikey smiled kindly at her, "Oh well thank you. But yes, I do. You just always seem to show up at the right times. I get lunch breaks and coffee breaks and I go home at a decent hour. I am here a lot, but I really do love my job."

Sam nodded once. "Good." She then got in her car, "See you later! Tell your family I said hello!"

Mikey waved her off as she left, "Will do! Bye!"

The rest of the day was spent shopping for groceries, and she had seen a very cool little Gothic boutique that sold fun things as well as many books, called the Skulk and Lurk. She thought it was quite an amusing name. After finishing up her shopping she returned to her apartment. Sam knew she needed to go through the files, but she really just wanted to read some of the new books she had bought. So at 7 o'clock after having eaten her dinner she settled onto her couch and started reading.

.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.

Sam rolled over on her couch and let out a sigh opening her eyes. Her book had fallen to the floor and she had apparently fallen asleep. Glancing at her clock on the wall it read 10:22. Sam blinked. She had fallen asleep and slept that long? Why on earth had she woken up in the first place? She sighed, she had wanted to do a few things before going to bed for the night anyway. Might as well do them now. She got up, placed her book on the table and went to the kitchen. It was a mess and she needed to do it now or she would continue to put it off. Cleaning it quickly she started the dishwasher and went upstairs to take a shower.

An hour or so later she stepped out of her bedroom cleaned and refreshed. Dressed in black sweats, she left her hair wet, heading downstairs to get her book and a glass of water before heading to bed. She planned on drying her hair a little later. If she let it air dry it would just curl and she liked her hair straight. She was however not prepared for what greeted her when she stepped into the kitchen.

It was flooded.

The dishwasher had overflowed and was still going strong with water and soap sputtering out along with the disposal floating down from the sink. Sam let out a shriek of anger and ran into the room quickly opening the dishwasher stopping the soapy and dirty water free flowing onto her kitchen floor, only to get the rest of it spilled onto her feet.

"Seriously!?" She cried angered before she simply deflated and got towels to clean up the mess. It took her a while and her sweats were now gross and soaked, but the mess was cleaned. She was so furious she decided to call the plumber right that second. The thought hadn't crossed her mind that it was 11:20 at night and there was more than likely nothing open, but she was hoping for a twenty-four hour plumber service. Leaving the kitchen she went out to her living room and glanced at the table for her phone. It wasn't there. Going to her purse she put in her room, she searched and found nothing once more. Confused and starting to get a little worried she went to look in her bathroom and still found nothing.

Walking back downstairs she racked her brain for where it could possibly be. Then it hit her; the archives. She had set it down on Mikey's desk when she grabbed the box. Sam glanced at the clock; 11:40. She still had twenty minutes till curfew and the archives weren't too far away. Racing upstairs she quickly changed into her black skinny jeans, a purple shirt, her black leather jacket, and slipped on her black flats. She raced out the door, got into the car and started driving to the archives. On the way there she was surprised to see not a soul on the road or streets. Sam forced herself to focus; it was a small town after all. 'Though not as small as that.' A voice in the back of her mind said. Sam shook her head and pulled into the parking lot of the archives. She entered quickly and went straight to the desk. She saw her phone at once and with it a little note.

'Sam, I tried to find a way to contact you, but I didn't know any way. I hope you get your phone back quickly. Mikey.' Sam smiled as she took her phone and recycled the kind note. Leaving, she turned off the lights and got back into her car.

11:52.

She took a deep breath and started driving back home. She could make it. Sam drove back and now that she wasn't focusing on her phone she noticed that everything was closed and she even saw some places and house windows were boarded up. It was one of the strangest things she had ever seen. Even in a little town like this there was always someone driving or lights on. She started to get a very uneasy feeling and she wanted to get home right away.

As she neared the park it started to rain quite suddenly and got heavy and hard to see just as quickly.

11:58

Sam looked through the window shield and noticed the only light that was on was the street light right outside the park. She was almost home and felt herself relax somewhat. There wasn't any need to worry she was just working herself up.

Someone was in the road.

Sam slammed on her breaks as and felt herself swerve the steering wheel, but she wasn't fast enough and she felt her car slam into the person. She saw them flying a few feet away as she jerked forward violently her airbag coming into deploy.

12:00