I do not own Silent Hill. It belongs to Konami.

CHAPTER 03 – WILD GOOSE CHASE

Mentally recurring back to the investigation in Ashfield, the next place on Douglas' list after the couple's home had been St Jerome's Hospital, where Mary had been treated. Naturally, the cops had already swept through the entire site as well, so nothing was found there as expected. However, as Frank had suggested, an employee of the hospital, who had been Mary's attending nurse at the time, lived right next to his room. It wouldn't hurt to just have a talk with her. She was a helpful woman and maybe she might even know something.

Sat at the table in number 106 of South Ashfield Heights, Detective Cartland watched as the room's occupant, a brown-haired woman, brought over a kettle of hot tea. Despite being neighbor to the superintendent, he had decided to do this chat only the two of them, so that she would speak more freely.

"So, Rachel," the detective begun. "Superintendent Sunderland told me you've nursed Mary during her treatment."

"That's right," she answered, pouring some tea in a cup and passing it to him. "Normally, in our line of work, we try not to get too personal with the patients. But Mary... got quite engraved into my memory. She was such a sweet person. At least, in the beginning..."

"What happened to her?"

Rachel finished pouring tea for herself. "Well, as her illness progressed, she started to get a bit uh... moody. Not that I can blame her, of course. You see, her face got disfigured and, consequently, she became self-conscious to the point of believing her husband would ditch her. That poor thing..."

"I was also told that her and James constantly argued whenever he paid a visit."

"They did," the nurse nodded. "It was more like she alternated moments of verbal bashing and neediness. I recall hearing her screaming, just to, instants later, change to crying. That'd be hard to cope with, even for a sane person. Because of that, I've noticed James' visits became less and less often."

"And how did it go with James when she got released?"

"Hmm, can't say for sure, but he looked quite unhappy then," she said with a pensive face. "Almost as though he didn't want her back. But there wasn't much I could do anyway. Mary was in her final days and she'd be better spending them with her husband than in a hospital room."

The investigator took notes of everything, of every detail.

"Did she mention anything about going somewhere? Like in a trip or something?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Rachel slowly shook her head. A pause followed, until she made an expression of recalling something. "Unless..."

"Unless?" Douglas repeated.

"I remember that, while hospitalized, Mary seemed to have befriended another patient. A little orphan girl named Laura. She came over during the last weeks of Mary's treatment, but they quickly got attached to each other. Mary often showed pictures and told Laura stories about a special place she had visited."

"And you think Mary may have confided to this girl any plans she had?"

"It's possible. In my opinion, they got along pretty well for that. In fact, I even recall that Mary left with me a letter to Laura, to be given when the girl got released."

"Would you happen to know the letter's content, Rachel?"

"Of course not, detective," Rachel stated, a slight scolding tone in her voice. "You know it's against medical ethics to pry into a patient's privacy like this."

He held his hands up in apology. It was true, that question was inappropriate. Even so, he continued. "You're right. So, do you know where I can find this Laura girl?"

The nurse sighed in frustration. "Unfortunately, no. Believe it or not, Laura ran away of the hospital a few days after Mary's release. Just like James, she' gone missing ever since. Even the letter vanished from my locker as well. I'm sorry, but I can't help you on that."

"Another missing person, huh?" Douglas said under his breath.

For a moment, he considered going after this Laura girl, but since he had more pressing matters to think of, a mental note was made to look about it later. For now, he was at least sure where he'd have to make arrangements to go next.

And there he was, driving along the shoreline of Toluca Lake after the 'pleasant' talk in Shepherd's Glen, towards the 'special place' Mary had referred to. Towards Silent Hill.

Silent Hill, a little later.

Silent Hill used to be a nice, quiet little town. Douglas remembered those times when tourists swarmed to Toluca Lake during summer, enjoying the tranquility and the lower prices compared to the oceanic areas. Even himself had already considered spending a vacation there, hadn't it been for the divorce and his son's death.

But that was many years ago, prior to the entire site getting abandoned and becoming practically a ghost town. And, most intriguing, nobody knew exactly the reason why.

Some people claimed that the nearby coal mines had been completely depleted, making the local economy collapse. Reinforcing this theory came also the rumor that Toluca Lake wasn't safe for navigation due to a handful of boat accidents in the past years, so tourism alone couldn't make up for it. Others stated that there had been an underground fire in those same coal mines, rendering the town essentially uninhabitable due to the gas toxicity, and turning it into another Centralia. Some people even theorized that the more conservative townsfolk got tired of so many outsiders around and decided to simply stop attending for them.

And then, there were those (very) few who came up with more strange explanations. By 'strange', the detective meant explanations like the town being... haunted. Things about some devil that watched over Silent Hill and chastised those carried of sins. Stories about some religious groups that chased 'heretics' away. Putting it short, some pretty macabre stuff...

Obviously Douglas thought of this more as a joke than anything. After all, he was an detective, a man of facts. Supernatural didn't stand among his beliefs, as investigators were supposed to keep their minds focused and follow the logic of things. It wasn't going to be a half-ass scary legend that would keep him from doing his job.

Even though not believing in demons, Douglas still had to admit that the town's current state pretty much appeared to be one's work. Whatever the reason, the entire location couldn't look more neglected and desolate than this. The decaying buildings were all boarded up, some even in ruins, the streets displayed cracks with weeds sprouting off them, not to mention the eerie fog that clouded everything and the complete absence of living souls. Yet he wouldn't be surprised if there were any scavengers or hobos lurking around, so only to be sure, he brushed his hand over his holstered gun. A souvenir kept from the police years.

There were two places Frank had suggested him to start searching at, from James' first trip. One used to be a major touristic attraction in Silent Hill, known to many couples as a romantic spot to admire Toluca Lake. James and Mary had spent there a good portion of their trip. Looking at one of the map boards scattered around the town, Douglas learned that Rosewater Park could be reached by following Nathan Avenue, until its closest to the lake.

Trailing said street for awhile, the pound's waters were already on sight. But before he went any further, he stopped short near the crossroad with a certain Caroll Street. Something had caught his eyes: a pamphlet stuck to the wall, near the entrance to a narrow alley. It would have just passed by, hadn't he spotted something familiar about the pamphlet.

On it, there was the picture of a beautiful woman with dark hair and skimpy clothing, and the lines 'The Return of Lady Maria!' below. Douglas narrowed his eyes, noticing a disturbing thing. Besides the name, this woman on the pamphlet was also the spitting image of Mary, as he compared down the photo the superintendent had lent him (under the condition he'd be very careful with that, given it was one of his last mementos of James). Although the woman's hair color was different, it could have been dyed.

Curiosity besting him, Douglas glanced into the nearby alley and realized a metal stairway leading up to an elevated door. But what drew more of his attention were the burnt out neon lights above the door: in cursive red and purple letters, with a heart for the apostrophe and a star for the dot, it read 'Heaven's Night'. That was when perception sunk in...

"Oh, lord." The former cop muttered, slightly surprised to stumble upon a night bar of all the places. Obviously Douglas knew better than assuming a conservative (according to Frank) Mary would have anything to do with this place, but still...

Therefore, he tried to give it a check. As he reached the knob though, he noticed the door was locked. For a instant he considered kicking the door open, or even blasting the knob away with a bullet. The building was supposed to be derelict after all, but decided against it in the end. He didn't have the necessary strength to do so, nor wished to call unwanted attention with the shot. Of course, so far he hadn't sighted anyone around, yet there was always the possibility of thugs in hiding.

The resemblance between the dancer and Mary was striking, nonetheless the detective simply shrugged it off and left, as it held no major meaning to the investigation. Maybe the dancer on the announcement was just a lookalike. Mary's facial features weren't that uncommon to begin with and the world was a huge place. There were even those shitty TV programs that exhibited celebrities' lookalikes. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that there was someone out there that looked like her.

However, as he stepped out of the alley, another thing caught Douglas' eyes across the street. In front of another local business that appeared to be a bowling hall, a pizza box lied on a trash pile, barely noticeable. His mind immediately drifted off to another unusual fact he came across during this investigation.

Browsing into a missing people website, Detective Cartland searched for any knowledge that could complement his on this case. Naturally he had found both James and Mary's files, which Frank had posted there years ago, but nothing that he didn't already know. So far, the search was being rather fruitless.

Until, while digging in the 1993 section, he clicked on this particular file. It showed the face of a distressed-looking teenage girl, with shoulder-length brown hair.

'ID: 88956

NAME: Angela Orosco

GENDER: female

AGE: 19 (at the time of disappearance)

OCCUPATION: waitress

LAST SEEN AT: her family house in Brahms

ADDICIONAL INFO: suspect of murder, after her father was found stabbed to death at the family house. Last spotted leaving the house, reported by a neighbor. Her car was found parked in the outskirts of Silent Hill.'

Silent Hill. That was the name that seemed to pursue him everywhere. This Angela girl had gone missing around the same time as James and her car had been found, of all the places, in Silent Hill. Could it be a coincidence? Just for the record, James' car has never been found, still it was weirdly coincidental.

Moving on to other files, another familiar name met the detective's eyes. The attached picture consisted of a blond little girl's, her hair tied in a ponytail.

'ID: 89331

NAME: Laura (no surname)

GENDER: female

AGE: 8 (at the time of disappearance)

OCCUPATION: none

LAST SEEN AT: St. Jerome's Hospital, Ashfield

ADDICIONAL INFO: resident at Ashfield Orphanage, was hospitalized in St. Jerome's, from where went missing near the end of the treatment. No further details known.'

So this was the girl that Rachel had mentioned. Talk about coincidences. For a moment, Douglas pondered how a little girl, with no knowledge or resources, could have gone missing, leaving no trace behind. Very strange too, but the next file surprisingly held the answer. This one displayed the picture of an over-weighted young man, with short blond hair and a cap.

'ID: 89502

NAME: Eddie Dombrowski

GENDER: male

AGE: 23 (at the time of disappearance)

OCCUPATION: gas-station attendant

LAST SEEN AT: Smitty's Restaurant, at Brahms Gas & Services

ADDICIONAL INFO: accused of murder attempt, after shooting a classmate in the knee and killing the latter's dog. Last spotted driving a white van, in a roadside restaurant, where had a pizza ordered. A blond young girl, physically matching profile n.89331, had also been spotted accompanying him. His vehicle was found parked in the outskirts of Silent Hill.'

Douglas couldn't avoid feeling perplexed at how things connected. Not only the pizza box, which surprisingly had the Smitty's logo on it. But also because of how coincidental it was, that three people had gone missing almost at the same time, in the same town as James and Mary. What were the odds?

Besides, he also had suspected from the beginning that Laura had gone to Silent Hill, maybe in search for Mary, maybe because she wanted to see this 'special place' Mary had spoken so much of. And if this Eddie guy had given her a ride, perhaps that was the way she had managed to go so far without anyone knowing. Nonetheless, he also felt a bit of concern as well. Eddie looked a quite messed up person, he was armed and being accused of murder attempt. Due to that, there was the remote, yet tangible possibility that he might have killed Laura and came to Silent Hill in order to dispose of the body. Maybe that was the reason why Laura went missing, and if positive, it meant she was already a lost part. Chasing after her would have eventually come to a dead end, he feared. His plans of tracking her down later on appeared to have just fallen through.

Whether it really happened or not, Douglas concluded it'd better not to get sidetracked. His hands were already full chasing after two missing people and adding three more to his list was simply out of question. Possibly, if he insisted on this, he would end up finding clues that would lead to more clues, and then more clues, and then more. Complications would grow up exponentially like a rolling snowball. So he just decided to stick to the task at hand and stride to his original destination.

Nevertheless, he just found it fishy how convenient things had turned out to cover for the couple's disappearance: his strained relationship with his father, hers with the Shepherd family, the trio of potential witnesses Laura, Angela and Eddie going missing (or dead)... practically everything that could have led to the truth had been setback, somehow.

It was almost as if... some sort of superior force wanted nobody to unveil what truly happened to James and Mary.

.

Upon arriving at the famed park, the first things to be noticed were the bricked structures, alternated with hedges. Furthermore, after a careful scouting, Douglas also found the bust of Jennifer Caroll, the town's patron saint, and a broken statue of Patrick Chester, a hero of the past. However, none of this interested him. What he was looking for were signs of recent human activity, anyone to whom he could pose questions.

Nothing came though, leaving him frustrated. So he started wandering off for any other clues, for anything that would light a lamp. At last, he halted at a sort of observation deck over the lake. From the superintendent's old photo, he recognized the waterfront fence. It was probably the spot where the photo had been taken.

After some musing, Douglas approached the middle of the fence and resorted to an old detective trick. It consisted in getting into the person's mind, i.e., trying to reproduce the victim's (or the criminal's) steps, by scrutinizing the surroundings and imagining the possible interactions. He speculated James would have followed the same itinerary from his last trip to Silent Hill. Therefore, he proceeded to lean on the fence and put his deduction skills to work.

'I am James Sunderland,' he pretended to be in James' stead. 'I am spending a honeymoon trip with my wife. We are right now admiring the lake and taking pictures. What would we do next?'

He stared at the abandoned hot dog stall near the fence. 'Maybe buy ourselves some lunch. And then?'

His eyes moved to the sightseeing scopes attached to the fence. He fetched a dime out of his wallet and inserted it in the nearest scope, activating it. Another oddity, considering it shouldn't have gone through proper maintenance for awhile. He could even hear the rusty cogs turning and rustling inside the device.

Anyway, the old man bent over the eyepiece and peeked through it. He shifted the scope left and right, scanning the landscape and trying to distinguish anything through the dense fog covering the lake. Finally, across the lake, he managed to sight a three-floored building, with a large garden and a small dock at front. Above the door, there was a sign. The letters were small and blurred due to the distance and the mist, but Douglas still could clearly read: 'Lakeview Hotel'.

It was the place where James and Mary had vacationed last time. That was the one other place the superintendent had suggested him to investigate.

'Our hotel is on the other side of the town,' he continued his fictional scenario. 'It is quite a walk till there, so we'd better go back now. And we would walk along the shore, so we can admire the view.'

He begun leaving the park, carrying himself in a slower pace than he usually would. James and Mary were newlyweds, thus Douglas assumed James certainly would have tried to match his wife's pace in the stroll. Before it, however, he took one last glance at the waters bathing the park, resuming his path soon afterwards. He had just wanted to make sure there was nothing in there, in the very unlikely chance James had drowned in Toluca Lake.

.

Lakeview Hotel stood in reasonably good shape. He had heard stories about it being burned down, but luckily it seemed to be only a hoax... except for the obvious fact it was entirely deserted as the rest of the town.

Entering the lobby, the detective headed straight to the reception counter. He was looking for the guestbook. The missing couple hadn't been there long before Silent Hill got shut down, so their names might still be registered in the book. As expected, they were.

'James and Mary Sunderland. Room 312,' he memorized.

He was about to go upstairs, when he noticed an odd piece of furniture in the center of the room. Normally, he would have ignored it, but just like that pamphlet at Heaven's Night, something 'hooked' his attention. The furniture resembled an old grandpa clock, although looking quite new and functional compared to its surroundings. He reached for a handle on the side of the furniture and cranked it. For his surprise, a tune begun playing, while a small merry-go-round spun at the bottom. It was not a clock, but a themed music box.

Douglas stopped for a few instants to listen to the tune. It was beautiful, but creepy at the same time. It passed a feeling of both innocence and haunting simultaneously, a perfect balance of comfort and eerie. Which sensation would prevail, it depended on the listener's current mind frame. Akin to... judging the person's soul.

After these philosophical moments, the investigator turned back to the master staircase in the area and headed up to the room.

Room 312 was a rather large one, besides being very bright, thanks to the huge glass doors leading to the balcony. A king size bed, a desk, three armchairs with a coffee table and a small TV composed the furniture. Indeed a very comfy room to spend vacation in, nevertheless nothing out of ordinary... except for a VCR placed next to the TV, with a cassette tape sticking out. Someone must have forgotten it there. Douglas knelt by and examined it closer. It had a thin layer of dust over it, implying it had been there long enough. Carefully he brushed off the dust, in order to not get any of it into the equipment. So, with his thumb, he pushed the tape in, turned on the TV and hoped the VCR was still working.

Fortunately, it was. His eyes shifted towards the screen, whilst only static was being displayed. It lasted only for a few seconds, as the image got clearer.

"Are you taping again?" a woman in the video asked, coming into view. "Come on!" she playfully scolded, sitting on a chair facing a window. Douglas immediately recognized her as Mary, and the background as the room he was right now.

It was unbelievable! Simply unbelievable! Of all the things to find, of all the people that tape could have belonged to, it was a record of Mary Shepherd-Sunderland!

The video played on. "I don't know why, but I just love it here. So peaceful," she said in admiration, staring through the window. "You know what I heard?" she asked the unseen camera holder, smiling at them. "This whole area used to be a sacred place".

She turned her head back to the window, resuming her contemplation. "I think I can see why. It's too bad we have to leave," Next, she stood up and approached the camera holder. "Please, promise you'll take me again, James." In this instant, however, the sweet smile she had on her face faded and she started coughing violently. The video then begun flickering.

Douglas watched it in stupor. Having a remaining video record of James and Mary all those years later was nothing short of miraculous. Perhaps he had found what he was looking for. He could finally discover what happened and where the missing couple was, after all this time.

His focus went back to the TV, when a new picture came on screen. This footage though, didn't have as much quality as the previous one. It was static-laden and soundless, resembling a surveillance camera. Nonetheless, he still could distinguish the figure of Mary, lying in bed, and how her appearance had changed. Due to the illness, she had visibly lost a lot of weight and her face was severely disfigured, not resembling her cheerful self from before in the slightest. Maybe this footage might have been shot from some sort of security system James had installed in Mary's room. The figure of said husband came into view and bent over Mary, gently kissing her on the forehead. They seemed to talk about something, but Douglas couldn't pick up what.

What he saw next, however, left him thunderstruck. Despite the faltering between the two tapes, he still could grasp what was going on. James suddenly yanked the pillow beneath his wife's head and forced it over her face. Her fragile frame attempted to struggle against it, but she was too weak for that. In the end, her body stopped moving, just as the video cut to permanent static.

The old detective was silent, his body stiffened in shock at what he just watched. In fact, shock didn't even begin to describe it. He was utterly horrified, and this wasn't an easy feat for a man hardened by years of harsh experiences. James was a murderer! He had killed his own wife!

It took awhile, but after the shock subsided and rationality returned, a paled Douglas sat himself at the armchair in front of the TV. For what seemed like hours, he pondered and pondered again.

First off, was this video reliable? He heeded it strange that the cassette tape rested right there, untouched till now, just waiting for first one around to get it. How the police investigators hadn't been able to find it before, he had absolutely no idea. And the constant image shifts raised the suspicion of being a montage. Maybe it was someone's sick prank. Or better, he hoped it to be a prank. However, observing it closer, the facts contradicted his assumption. That tape was an old, non-rewritable brand and there were no stitches either, which meant it couldn't have been overwritten (at least not in its entirety) nor edited in any way.

Yet, they still could be impostors posing as James and Mary in the video. But, if they were, who would make the effort to fake Mary's death, frame her husband as the culprit and bring the proof all the way to an abandoned hotel in a abandoned town? The Shepherds, who were against the marriage? Nah, Adam didn't seem the sneaky type; if he had real problems with the couple, surely he would have used a more 'direct' approach than this. Then who?

In addition, James wasn't wealthy nor high in status either, so why the waste of resources? None of this made any sense. Ergo the only possible response: the video was the genuine thing and James was indeed guilty. The idea might have sounded ridiculous had he not seen it with his own eyes.

Next, came the reasons for the murder. That was the great enigma. Little by little, Douglas connected the dots to come out with a conclusion: Frank had claimed James was very depressed, with drinking problems and occasional outbursts. Rachel had confirmed James' depression and also stated he did not wish her wife back at all when she got released from the hospital. Could it mean, he was so messed up that wanted to get rid of her? Did he feel himself hindered by his wife and decided to take his life back?

But if that was the case, could he live with it? Would he be able to cope with the fact that he had killed the most important person in his life? Both James and Mary had practically only each other, given their rather strained relationship with their respective families. Unless they were some kind of pathological homicide, a normal person wouldn't kill their beloved one and simply live on like nothing. No matter what, James wasn't a monster, and Douglas knew it from his profile analysis. Like the police investigators had assumed, James probably had committed suicide. That reinforced the video authenticity too, as suicides were known for leaving behind records of their reasons, like letters or videos.

Suffice to say, these certainly weren't good news to give to his client.

Even worse, how would Frank react if he learned his son died as a murderer, a criminal? Douglas could way too well relate to that. The memory of his own son being shot robbing a bank still lingered fresh in his mind. Would he dare to bring more distress to an old man's already distraught mind?

Slowly, the investigator stood up and took the videotape out of the VCR. While heading off to the hotel's exit, he racked his brains about what to report.

To finalize, the last enigma crossed his head as he walked through the hallways. That little issue regarding three people, who might have committed murder, being drawn towards Silent Hill at the same time. Could it be... suddenly the story about curses and devils didn't sound so absurd at all.

Anyway, Douglas had to admit. Silent Hill was one screwed up town.

Smitty's roadside restaurant hails from the SH movie. The idea of Eddie giving Laura a ride to Silent Hill came from the game's intro (the scene where she kicks him while he's sat by the van). I also had some inspiration from the fanfic "The Circus is Coming to Town" by Tony Branston, so I'm giving the author his rightful credits too. I'd recommend his fic as a complement to this one.

For those who don't know, Centralia is a real-life ghost town located in the state of Pennsylvania and it became deserted due to an underground fire still burning up to date. It had been the inspiration for the SH movie, so I thought it might be one of the many rumors about why Silent Hill had been shut down.