And here's the next chapter! Sorry it took a few days; like I said, I'm back at school, and have that work to deal with. But the weekend means free time, and free time means writing!

So, the Clayton case has been dealt with, but there's another one that will play a much greater role in Sora's life...

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I sat in my office chair and stifled a yawn. The case had kept me from some sleep…but at least the nightmare hadn't made a reappearance.

It was the morning on the second day after I shot Clayton. Upon hearing the gunshots, Lea had come running, and I had told him what had happened. He had called in the case, and Jane had been transported to the hospital. Apparently, Clayton had, while caressing her face, moved his hands to her neck, and attempted to strangle her. Fortunately, she had been able to knock over a small desk in the front hall, which had caught our attention. Upon hearing that the police were at his door, Clayton had blamed her, and would have beaten her to death had Lea not intervened when he did.

Naturally, the police chief had wanted to know about the case. When I told him about my investigations, he had seemed skeptical at my lack of evidence, but agreed to send a small team to look into the disappearance of the Panns. Fortunately, as there was no one who knew Clayton well enough to request a thorough investigation of his death, he didn't seem too invested in this, and so even my limited information (omitting the parts about the wendigo) had seemed to suffice. Lea had helped, too.

Now, I was waiting for Jane, who had been released the previous evening—mercifully, her injuries were not too serious, and she would recover fully in a few days. But it was time to close the case. I had discussed it with Donald and Goofy, and, since we felt responsible for nearly causing her death, we had agreed to cut the usual price by half. (She had already paid some of the fee, but my policy was some up front and the rest upon completion.)

There came a knock on the door. "Come in," I called, and it opened, admitting Jane. "Jane," I said, getting up. "How are you?"

"Getting better," she said in a low and hoarse voice.

"Good to hear." I returned to my desk and motioned for her to take a seat.

"It's good to see you on your feet, Jane," said Goofy.

"Yeah," agreed Donald earnestly.

She smiled at them both, then turned to me. "You've saved my life, Sora. If it weren't for you, Robert would have almost certainly killed me."

"I only wish I could have done it without causing you so much damage," I said.

She shrugged. "You're a smaller investigator. You did the best with what you could."

"I am still responsible for what has happened to you." I folded my hands. "And in light of that, we have decided to reduce the fee for my services to half."

She frowned. "What? But…your life was in danger, too."

"My life is in danger all the time, Jane. It is nothing new to me. You, on the other hand, did not choose a dangerous lifestyle, and never asked to risk your life. I asked it of you, and I do not feel deserving of the full fee we discussed previously."

She stared at me for a moment. Then, she took out her checkbook and a pen, wrote a check, then tore it off and gave it to me. I took it, glanced down at it, and frowned. "This is the original amount we agreed on."

She nodded. "You don't know what that did to me, Sora. I may have almost died, but I also found the self-confidence to stare death in the face…literally. It has been a life-changing experience, and I have you to thank for it. So, please, take the full amount. You, and your partners, are very much deserving of it, indeed."

I felt humbled. "Thank you. Thank you very much, Jane."

She smiled at me. "I am not the one deserving of thanks, Sora." She stood up. "Well, I must be going." She held out a hand. "Once more, thank you for all that you have done."

I smiled back as I took her hand. "It's my pleasure. I wish you the best in all your future endeavors."

"You as well."

She bade goodbye to Donald and Goofy, similarly, and then left.

Donald grinned at me. "What do you think of her, Sora? Would she do for you?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Donald, that's very unprofessional. Besides, while she is a very nice and attractive woman, I never felt a particular attraction to her."

He shrugged. "Just checking."

I sat back down. "Stop trying to fix me up, Donald. I'll find a woman when I do, whenever—and wherever—that will be."

"Or man," said Goofy. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, it's possible," he said. "Whatever floats your boat."

I grinned slightly. "Well, thanks for the open-mindedness, but I'm pretty sure I'm straight."

"You'd be missing out if you weren't," said Donald.

"That's hardly a valid statement," I countered. "A gay person could say that you're missing out because you're not gay."

Donald blinked. "Me? Gay?" He shook his head. "Can't imagine it," he said, a little quickly. (Donald wasn't homophobic, and was on the side of gay rights, but he was never entirely comfortable with the concept of being homosexual.)

Goofy, probably sensing Donald's unease, changed the subject. "We don't have any more cases lined up, do we?"

I shook my head. "We're a small-time investigation company, so, unfortunately, that means we don't get a lot of business."

"And most of it is what Riku sends our way," added Donald. "He's a real hotshot detective."

"Yeah," I said, "but that can be a curse as well as a blessing."

"Why's that?" asked Donald.

"Because so many people come to him, and keep him busy with a bunch of little jobs." I grinned. "He often complains about how often he has to investigate people because their spouse or significant other is worried they're cheating on them. Gets tedious after a while, apparently."

"But it brings in the cash."

"Well, yes," I conceded.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, with us chatting to pass the time. Or, rather, Goofy and I chatted, he getting back to his casual, silly self, and Donald piped in from time to time while playing games on his computer. Very often, if he heard a fragment of something that sounded interesting, he would look up and say, "What?" and we had to either explain what we were talking about or tell him he should have been paying attention. That didn't please him too much, and so he would sullenly return to his games until hearing something else that caught his attention, and the process would repeat itself.

After going out for lunch, we returned to another hour or so of quiet before there came a knock on the door. Instantly, the three of us perked up; a potential job was enough to get our attention. "Come in," I called.

The door opened, and in walked a young man. Really young, actually—he looked barely out of high school. "Um, Mr. Parker?" he said nervously.

I nodded. "That's me. Come on in."

He did so, closing the door behind him. As he looked unsure of where to sit, I gestured towards the chair in front of my desk, and he sat. "What do you need?" I asked.

"Well…" he said hesitantly, "I thought…you'd be the best person to ask…I mean, I don't think you're dishonest or anything, but I thought maybe a more high-profile detective would have more of a connection with the police…Not that I have anything wrong with the police," he added hastily.

I frowned; I had no idea what this kid was talking about. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean."

He took a breath. "Sorry. Uh, well…oh! My name's Pence. Pence Edgarton."

"Pleased to meet you," I responded. "I'm Sora Parker, and these are my partners, Donald Duke and James Gorsch."

Donald and Goofy smiled and nodded at the newcomer. He smiled, though I could still tell he was on edge. "Nice to meet you, too."

I folded my hands and looked over at him. "So, what exactly is it that you're here for? Forget the police for the moment, or whatever you were thinking of that involved them. Just tell me what's going on." I motioned to Donald and Goofy, and they began taking notes on their computers.

Pence swallowed. "Well, okay. See, I'm a college student, down at Columbia."

I raised my eyebrows slightly. "Columbia? Good for you."

Pence flashed a nervous smile. "Thanks. Yeah, so…I'm a college student at Columbia, and so is my best friend, Hayner Michaels."

I nodded. "Uh-huh."

"And, well, he's missing."

I blinked. "Missing?"

Pence nodded. "Yeah, I haven't seen him since Saturday."

I frowned. "That's been four days. You waited this long?"

"Well…" He fidgeted. "I wasn't sure about going to the police…because of…some of the details."

"What sort of details?" When Pence didn't respond, I added, "I'm separate from the police. I won't tell them anything I don't have to."

He still looked uncertain, but said, "Well, okay." He took a breath. "Hayner, in the days before he disappeared, had been using a fake ID to go to bars."

"Hm," I said. "I see."

"So, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the police, or an investigator like Riku Taiko, because it might get him in trouble."

I frowned. "I can understand that, but shouldn't your friend's safety come first?"

He sighed. "Yeah, but…"

I waved a hand. "Well, regardless. What were the circumstances of his disappearance?"

"Well, on Friday, he decided to go to a new bar, that he hadn't gone to before," said Pence. "And, well, I went with him. I usually do, to make sure he gets home safe and all."

I nodded. "Responsible."

"But I don't drink," he said quickly.

"Okay," I said. That was good; whatever information he gave would not be influenced by alcohol. "So, what happened that night, then?"

"Well, we got there, and Hayner goes to the bar and orders a drink. He gets it, and starts looking around for people to hang out with. But he doesn't have much luck, until a woman waved him over from a table in the corner."

I sensed we were getting somewhere. "A woman? What was she like?"

"Well, I didn't want to stare, so I didn't get a really close look at her," said Pence, "but I did see that she was pretty young, with red hair. And I don't mean, like a redhead. This was actual red hair, like, burgundy-colored."

"How young would you say she was, approximately?"

Pence shrugged. "I'd say…mid-twenties, maybe?"

"Any distinguishing characteristics?"

He shook his head. "None that I could see. She was kind of in shadow."

"In shadow?"

"Yeah, I barely got a look at her face, and I was able to judge her age from it, but not much more."

"Hm. What was her body type?"

"Pretty slim. Not so much so as to be unhealthy." He hesitated, then added, "Attractive, too."

I nodded. "All right. Well, we've got a description of the woman. What did she do?"

"I'm not sure exactly," said Pence. "I was standing at a distance, and the bar was loud, so I couldn't hear. But she was wearing sunglasses at first, and a scarf, which I wondered about. But after talking with Hayner for a couple minutes, she took them off." He frowned. "Then…"

I raised my eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it's significant…"

"Tell me anyway," I immediately said. "Sometimes, details that seem insignificant can turn out to be the most vital of all."

Pence nodded. "Okay. He seemed…much more compliant."

"Compliant how?"

"Well, like nodding to a lot of what she said. And he didn't seem to want to look away from her. Like he was really drawn to her, or something."

I frowned and tilted my head. Odd…I had expected this to be a "natural" case, i.e. one that didn't involve any supernatural creatures. But this was beginning to suggest that this case might be the kind that's right up my alley, after all. "Is this unusual behavior for him?"

"Kinda, yeah. He's much more the confident, loud type. I'd never seen him like that before."

"Did he stay like that for the rest of the night?"

"Yeah, for as long as we were there. Then the woman got up and left, leaving Hayner at the table. I had to go over and shake him, and even then he still seemed to be in a daze. He told me he had made plans to meet her the following afternoon, in Destiny Park. I was surprised, but I thought he had found someone that he really clicked with. I was…I was kinda happy for him. Even if she was a little older. I didn't think there was anything wrong, until…well, until he disappeared."

He finished and looked at me. "What do you think?" he asked.

I was silent. This could be a natural case, but then how would that explain Hayner's compliance? It was if he had had a spell put on him. Which was entirely possible; this strange red-haired woman could be a witch. Or some other supernatural creature (or, in the case of witches, natural creature with supernatural abilities) that was able to entrance its victims. Unfortunately, there were plenty.

Finally, I spoke. "Thank you for coming to me, Pence. This is indeed a strange circumstance, but I will do my best to uncover whatever is behind it."

Pence broke into a smile. "Oh, thanks a lot, Mr. Parker. I'm—I'm pretty worried, to tell the truth."

I was, too, to tell the truth. Depending on who (or what) had caused Hayner's disappearance, he could be dead or alive, and even if he was alive, it might not be for long. I did not tell this to Pence, however; he seemed anxious enough already. "One more thing," I added. "Did you hear what the woman's name was?"

Pence thought. "Yeah, Hayner called her Rose."

"Rose…Good, then, we've got a name." So long as it was genuine, that is.

The discussion of my fee took a while. As Pence was only a college student, he did not have ready the same kind of money that a working adult would have, and therefore could not pay like one. I didn't want to let this case go, though; not only did I want to get to the bottom of Hayner's disappearance, but a case was still work, no matter how little it paid. In the end, we brought down the price to a satisfactory amount for the both of us (though I doubt it was the ideal amount for Donald). After getting the last of the details from him, I took down his contact information, in case we needed it. Then, with many profusely offered thanks, Pence took his leave.

It was mid-afternoon by that point, which didn't leave us much time in the day to work on the case. Still, we did what we could. "First things first," I said. "Does this look like a natural or supernatural case?"

Donald and Goofy spoke at the same time—Donald said "Supernatural," and Goofy said "Natural."

They looked at each other. "Really? You think the way she managed to entrance him was natural?" said Donald.

"I don't think there's enough of an indication of supernatural activity," argued Goofy. "Maybe she's just really charismatic."

"But Pence said that it was particularly out of character for Hayner," I chimed in.

Goofy shrugged. "Maybe it was love at first sight." I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "It can exist, you know."

"Attraction, maybe," I said. "But you can't have actual 'love' at first sight. Love is something that takes time to accumulate. At least, that's my opinion.

"But we're getting off track. You both have a point: Hayner's behavioral transformation does raise suspicion, but it could have a natural explanation behind it, too. Either way, I think one thing is certain."

"What's that?" asked Donald.

"We need to find this red-haired woman, this Rose. Whether she's guilty or not, finding her will give us a clue as to Hayner's whereabouts."

"That's easy to say," said Goofy, "but how will we go about doing that? We don't know where she lives, or even what her full name is."

"Could we ask for Lea to look her up for us?" asked Donald.

"We could," I said, "but it might not get us anywhere. She may have dyed her hair, changed her name, and even moved from a previous location." I turned to my computer. "Still, I guess there's no harm in trying."

I typed out an email to Lea, adding that, if he didn't have the time, we could get along without him looking her up. "Now what?" asked Donald after I had sent it.

"Now…" I thought. "Now we head over to the bar Pence mentioned and see if the bartender saw anything, or knows her. She may be a regular."

They agreed, and we grabbed our coats and headed out.

The bar was a bit of a walk away, but it was good exercise. (Donald wasn't thrilled about it, and grumbled along the way, but stuck with us nevertheless.) As it was still the afternoon on a weekday, there were not many patrons, and getting an audience with the bartender was not a difficult task. Unfortunately, he didn't have much to offer. "I'm not in on weekends," he said. "You want Aeleus Rocklin. He'd have been there, but I don't think he'd have noticed anyone."

"Could I have his address, regardless?" I asked.

"Well, he works weekdays from nine to five, so he'd still be at his job. I can tell you where he works."

"That'd be great, thanks."

He gave me the information, and we set off again. This time, the distance was great enough for us to take a taxi. A few minutes later, we arrived at our destination: a construction site, where a crew of workers was setting up some sort of new building. We got out, paid the taxi driver, and asked him to wait, and approached the site. As we drew nearer, a well-built man with rusty hair came over to us. "Can I help you?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm Sora Parker. I'm a private investigator, and I was looking for Aeleus Rocklin."

"You're talking to him."

I blinked. "Well, then, Mr. Rocklin, do you have a minute?"

He frowned and looked back at the site. "Only if it really is a minute. What's this about?"

"I'm looking into the disappearance of one of the people who visited the bar where you work, last Friday night."

His frown deepened. "What did you want to ask me?"

"Well, I heard that the person in question had met up with a young, red-haired woman, by the name of Rose. I'd like to find her, and I was wondering if you knew anything about her."

"Why would I?"

"She might be a regular, or you might have seen her somewhere before."

He shook his head. "I don't know anyone named Rose."

"Did you see the person I'm talking about, then?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I see a lot of people, Mr. Parker. You'll have to be more specific than young and red-haired."

"Well, not like a redhead. Her hair is actually red, like the color of burgundy. It goes down about to her shoulders. And she was sitting in the corner, in shadow."

Aeleus's eyes narrowed. "Was she wearing sunglasses and a scarf over her mouth?"

I nodded. "She was. Did you see her?"

"I did," said the bartender. "I noticed she was trying to cover herself up. Why else would you wear sunglasses indoors and a scarf in the spring?"

"Right," I said, already liking this guy; his powers of observation would make him a great asset in the investigation world. "So, what did you see? Had you seen her before?"

Aeleus shook his head. "No, she was new. If you want to know anything about her, I won't be able to help you."

This was disappointing, but it didn't mean I couldn't get any more information from him. "Do you remember what she did?"

He thought. "Not much, as I recall. Ordered a drink, went to the table in the corner, and sat there. I wasn't consciously keeping an eye on her, but I do recall another guy walking over to her."

"And you didn't see what transpired there?"

"No. I don't spy on people's more intimate activities."

I didn't want to get on his bad side, so I said, "Forgive me, I didn't mean to insinuate that you would."

"No offense taken. I didn't notice anything else about her, except her leaving."

I nodded. This wasn't the most helpful information I could have, but knowledge was knowledge, and I might be able to use it. "Very well."

He glanced back towards the construction site. "Is there anything else?"

"No, that will be all. Thank you for your time, Mr. Rocklin."

"You're welcome, Mr. Parker. Good luck in your investigation."

"Thank you. Hope your construction project goes well."

His mouth twitched in what I suspected was his version of a smile, and he turned around and walked back to his work.

"Well, that didn't work out," said Donald.

"It wasn't a complete waste," I said. "Now we know that she doesn't frequent the same bar, so staking it out won't help us."

"What will, then?" asked Donald. "We can't just go around to every bar in the city; that'll take forever."

"Well, let's see what Lea has for us," I said, as we climbed back into the taxi.

Unfortunately, as I discovered when we returned to our office, Lea had work to do, and didn't have the time to perform the search. "That's not helpful," said Donald.

I had to agree with him. "It may not have gotten us anything, anyway."

"What can we do, then?" said Goofy. "What about the park Pence mentioned, where Hayner was supposed to meet Rose?"

"I can hardly see that helping," I said. "Anyone could easily meet up there without arousing suspicion. And there's no one like a bartender that can oversee the entire place at the same time."

We sighed, and sank into our chairs simultaneously. "Well, guys," I said, "I don't see what else we can do." A slight grin appeared on my face. "Hope you feel like bar hopping."

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So, what will happen next? Who is this mysterious woman, and what, if anything, has she done with Hayner? Keep reading to find out!