Prologue
And So It Begins
Chapter content warnings: none
Word count: 276
Thursday, May 18th, 2006
09:41
Claudia Brown sat at her desk at the Home Office, mechanically typing on her desktop computer. Practiced fingers performed every keystroke accurately and efficiently, and her dark eyes were trained on the monitor, tracking the characters as they appeared to ensure that there were no errors.
"Brown, got something for you." Her department head, Adrian Hodges, announced as he strode up to her desk. He slapped a manila folder down on her desk.
She reached for it with one hand while the other saved and closed the document. Opening it, she asked, "What is it?"
"An almost certainly bogus creature sighting in the Forest of Dean." Adrian replied as her eyes scanned over the front page of the newspaper. The photo was a blurry black-and-white shot of some
"'Monster hoax or truly beastly?'" She read the headline aloud. "So, you want me to head up to the area, talk to some people, and confirm it's all nonsense?"
"As long as it is nonsense. Ring me if you find anything." Adrian told her. "We have no reason to suspect that it's anything other than another rogue animal sighting that the public is panicking over, but in the event that it was illegally smuggled in or something like that, I will need to be informed."
Claudia nodded. It seemed straightforward enough, and would likely be simple. "Understood, sir."
After quickly wrapping up the most important items on her itinerary for the day, Claudia drove home and packed a small overnight bag- toiletries, makeup, and nightgown- then got back on the road, taking the A40 northwest toward Gloucestershire.
"Forest of Dean, here I come."