Chapter Four

"Oh, you're going to love Carlos," said Cecil, as he piloted the Smart Car down the apparently empty street. Leon felt cramped in the passenger seat. "He's perfect. I mean, he's got his little things, but don't we all?"

Leon looked at the man, who had a large grin plastered across his face. He had been talking almost nonstop since they had left the radio station, and Leon had been trying to absorb most of what he had been saying. "We sure do," he said.

"He's probably working on some science right now," said Cecil. "He's always working on that science of his—testing things, experimenting on things. He's quite the intellectual. And he barely ever has any disastrous accidents, so that makes him the top scientist in all of Night Vale. I'd like to see Desert Bluffs do him better. I don't think so!"

"Was that just two libraries?" asked Leon.

"Yeah," said Carlos. "The one that is slightly more to the west is the public library. The other one is the private library."

"Why do you have two libraries right next to each other?" asked Leon. "That doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"Oh, I don't have two libraries," said Cecil. "The private library belongs to Marcus Vansten. He's the richest guy in town—so, of course, he's also the most benevolent."

"I'm not sure that's how that correlation works," said Leon.

"No, it is," said Cecil, as he turned the corner. "And by the way, we're here."

Leon stepped out of the tiny car to look at what seemed to be a totally normal duplex apartment building, set not too far back from the street. There was a small porch on the front, and two doors, one for 20A, and one for 20B. There were two mailboxes next to the doors, though only one held a label. There didn't seem to be a car in the driveway, but there was a separate garage at the end of it with its doors closed. Leon followed Cecil to the porch.

Cecil unlocked the door to 20A and slipped the key into his pocket, and Leon followed him inside. It was the downstairs apartment, and once they were out of the entranceway, Leon could immediately tell that this was not a normal apartment.

There was scientific equipment everywhere. On the large table in the middle of the room stood beakers and vials, against the walls were setups of scientific machinery. A couple of computers were set up on a desk at the far side of the room. Cecil strode past all of this and into the kitchen beyond, where the small table seemed to be lumped high with a few instruments and beakers, and a pile of paperwork and notebooks. A man in a white lab coat was hunched over something at the counter.

"Carlos!" sang Cecil, a fluctuation of tone in his voice showing the affection that he had for the man. The man in the white jacket spun around, surprised but not unhappy about it. His black rimmed glasses rested at the touch of gray above his ears, and his mouth stretched into a smile as he embraced Cecil.

"I was just working on some lunch," said Carlos, indicating the sandwich he had been working on. "I was in the process of testing some of the bark taken from a tree in the woods on the edge of town, but the tests were going nowhere, and I suddenly realized it was four o'clock! I know it's late, but I realized how hungry I was!"

It was at this point that he noticed Leon for the first time. He took a step back toward the counter. "And who is your friend, Cecil?" he asked.

"Oh!" said Cecil, as if he'd almost forgotten about Leon, while he was staring into the eyes of his beau. "This is Leon Kennedy. He's here from the World Government to talk to you."

"I'm from the U.S. Government," said Leon. "But yes, Carlos, I was sent here to make sure that you were alright. You've been missing for about a year now. I've been sent to find out what's been going on around here."

"Well," said Carlos, "good luck."

"What do you mean?" asked Leon.

"Things around here are strange," said Carlos. "And that's why I'm not too surprised that the transmissions I've been making over the past year with the U.S. Government haven't been going through."

"What?" asked Leon.

"I've been in constant contact, or so I thought, with some higher-ups in Washington since I got here," said Carlos. "I was sent here to study meteorological anomalies and potential side effects from former nuclear testing nearby. Yet, what I've found here is much more interesting than any of that."

"What do you mean?" asked Leon. He leaned against the kitchen table.

"I mean, have you seen any strange things in this town?" asked Carlos. "Anything that you wouldn't really expect to find anywhere else?"

Leon thought back to the children with weapons on the playground. He thought back to the house that was both there and not there at the same time. He remembered the man in the tan jacket who was as ominous as possible, though he couldn't remember him exactly. He remembered the way that the only reception he could get was the single radio station. He remembered the radio station, with its strange puzzles to just get into the recording room.

"A little strange," admitted Leon, "though I've dealt with stranger."

"That's because you've barely scratched the surface," said Carlos. "You probably want to make contact with your commanders, and see what to do next."

"That's what I went to the radio station for in the first place," said Leon. "That's what I was trying to do when I met Cecil."

"He interrupted my broadcast," said Cecil, finally able to break into the conversation. "It's okay, of course, I'm happy to have him. But he was there, and he did do it."

"Well," said Carlos, "I just need to let you know right now, Mr. Kennedy, that I don't plan on leaving Night Vale any time soon. There is just too much that is so scientifically fascinating here—it's a goldmine of discovery! But I would like to make contact—real contact—with my higher-ups."

"Back to the radio station, then?" asked Leon. "It's blocking my signals now, and I only think we'll be able to get out and into the rest of the world with any sort of signal is through there."

"Let's go," said Carlos. "Cecil, is that okay?"

"Of course!" said Cecil. "We'll get it going in no time!"

"Great, then we're off," said Carlos, as he led the other two men out the door, leaving his sandwich uneaten on the counter.