When I went downstairs into the lobby, I saw a man behind the reception counter I had not met. He was tall, handsome, and had some muscle to him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he played football in high school as a quarterback.

“Good morning.” He greeted me with a warm smile.

“Good morning.” I nodded. The whole lobby had the aroma of an upscale coffee shop. Combining the magical scent of baked goods and coffee. I was entranced by it. “Excuse me, but do you serve any coffee here?”

The man smirked and pointed at the two black coffee carafes to his right. There was a plate of chocolate chip cookies next to it. “Please, help yourself.”

I laughed. “You know what, I really shouldn’t. I’m supposed to go to Buckwheat’s, and I was just going to drink their coffee there.”

“But I think you would be making a mistake. We are known for some of the best coffee in town. We use our lobby as a little bit of a coffee shop with chairs and couches. Guests drink for free, though.”

“I suppose I’ll have a cup.” I smiled and walked over to the carafe and poured myself a cup in a burgundy mug. “Thank you very much.”

“Please, help yourself to a cookie. I baked them myself.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” I grabbed a cookie and took a bite. I couldn’t believe how soft and warm it was. The chocolate was still gooey, and the mixture of salt and butter seemed perfect. “Wow. This is amazing.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you like them. How was your stay with us last night?”

“It was okay.”

The receptionist scrunched his brow and frowned.

“No, I mean that the bed and everything was great. I just had a nightmare last night. That’s all.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that. My name is Christopher, by the way. I own the inn with my wife, Laura.”

“I’m Edward. I’m planning on staying here for a little while if that’s okay? I didn’t have a chance to talk with you or Laura, but I did talk with Regina and Elizabeth.”

“Yes, that’s completely fine. They told us about meeting you. We’re glad to have you here, and you can stay as long as you need.”

“I appreciate that, Christopher. Hey, I have a question for you. Do you know much about the other business owners here in town? Do all of you know each other for the most part?”

“Why sure, I know majority of the people pretty well. We all want our businesses to succeed. There’s no real competition because everyone seems to be unique in their own way, so they have their special base for the most part. But yeah, I rub shoulders with most of them.”

I nodded and took a sip of the coffee. The taste was so good I almost forgot my follow-up question. It was rich, smooth, and full of flavor, like drinking a cup of dark chocolate. “Wow. This coffee is outer-worldly. Thank you.”

“Glad you’re enjoying it.”

“So when you say that you know most of the business owners, who would you say you’re not very familiar with?”

Christopher rubbed his chin. “It’s a pretty small town. So even if you don’t own a business, you probably know a decent amount of the people to begin with if you live here. But I’d say the owner of The Painted Goose is pretty reserved. I don’t know too much about her. Same with the owner of the nightclub up the road. Don’t know too much about him either.”

“If you saw each other walking on the street, would you say hello?”

“Probably not, no.”

“Do you know their names?”

“The owner of the nightclub? No. I don’t know him. But I think Vivian runs the Painted Goose. Gosh, I can’t remember her last name. I don’t know. I never really go in there. I’m not much of a drinker. Plus, my daughter goes and hangs out in there sometimes. I don’t want to be going to one of her favorite places, you know what I mean?”

“You’re talking about Elizabeth?”

“Yes.”

I took another drink of coffee. I wanted nothing more than to sit down in the cozy lobby near the fireplace and enjoy the rest of it along with the cookie. It would be nice to read the news as well. Even though that would be something I would do for my own personal enjoyment, it might be helpful to read the local news.

“Is there a local newspaper I can read?” I asked.

“Do you want a physical paper, or would you rather read it on your phone?”

“I have options?”

Christopher nodded.

“I’ll take the website, I guess.”

“The Wilton Observer.” Christopher smiled.

“Thank you, I’m going to sit down over here, enjoy the rest of this amazing coffee and cookie, and read some of the latest happenings in the town.”

“Sounds good. I’m here if you need anything.”

I walked to the couches and chairs and sat in the cushioned seat up against the window. There was a little table for me to put the coffee and cookie on. Pulling out my phone, I went to the Wilton Observer website and scrolled through some of the articles.

The main headline made me scrunch my brow. I clicked on the article immediately.

“Blood Donations Stolen from Saint Mary’s Hospital.” With a thumbnail of a frowning nurse.

It’s hard to imagine the bizarre scenario. You’re told to go to the blood bank and get out a bag that would go help save someone’s life, and there’s nothing in there. You go back and tell your supervisor that the blood is gone, that it’s empty. The supervisor doesn’t believe you and goes to the exact same place you just looked. They’re just as dumbfounded.

That’s what happened last night at St. Mary’s hospital. They’ve reported a large amount of blood has gone missing.

No one seems to have any indication of where it may have gone off to. Misplacement is possible, but they’ve been searching through the facility all night without any clues. Fortunately, there’s another blood supply, but the area where most of it is stored was completely empty.

The situation is currently under investigation by local authorities.

I went back to the main homepage of the Wilton observer and scrolled through the rest of the articles. Everything else was tame and confined. Information on the local elections, an article about the local barbershop grooming pets as a limited trial run as they expand their family business into new territory. There was also information about the after-school programs the library was offering in the autumn.

I read through the other articles as I finished enjoying my cup of coffee. In the back of my head, I fantasized about being another member of the Wilton community. It reminded me of my own hometown so much that, in a way, I felt like I was back home. It was a much different change of pace compared to working out of the FBI offices in Chicago. After I finished drinking my cup of coffee and polished off the cookie, I brought my mug up to the counter to a tray that read “used mugs.”

“Thank you for the coffee and cookie again,” I said.

“Thank you. It’s a pleasure meeting you, Edward.”

“Likewise.” I waved and exited the inn and walked across the street down a few blocks until I arrived in front of Buckwheat’s stainless steel diner palace. Stepping inside, a counter with red spinning stools divided the kitchen and staff from the rest of the restaurant. There were a dozen rows of maroon booths and then a large circular maroon booth in the corner. There were only four other people in the restaurant as it was still early in the morning.

A server walked up to me. She must’ve been in her forties with her hair in a ponytail. “Sit wherever you’d like, hun.” She greeted me with a smile.

I walked to the left side corner up to the booth against the window and sat down.

“Will it just be you for today?” She asked.

“No, I’m expecting another person to join me. So I’ll take two place settings,” I said.

“You got it.” The waitress walked away, and I looked out the window. I checked my phone for any messages, and I received a text from Martha telling me that she was on her way.

“Can I get you anything to drink while you wait for your friend?” the server asked me.

“Yeah, I’ll just have a coffee. Thank you.”

The server nodded and walked away. I pulled out my phone again to read some more from the Wilton Observer, but the bell jingled from the restaurant’s front door, and it was Martha dressed in her khaki uniform. She scanned the restaurant from right to left, and she smiled as soon as her eyes landed on me.

“How are we doing today, G-Man?” Martha asked as she slid inside the booth to join me.

“I had one of the best cups of coffee I’ve ever had at the inn. And the cookie was amazing too.”

Martha smirked. “Yes, that Christopher knows how to bake a cookie. That’s for sure. The coffee here is pretty good too, I can’t remember what it’s like at the inn, but I remember being good.”

The server came back and delivered my mug of coffee. She looked at Martha and said, “Good morning, Sheriff Martha! What can I get you?”

“Good morning, Daisy. I’ll just have a cup of coffee for now. Thank you.”

Daisy walked away.

“So, I’m dying to know, who was that shadowy figure that was following me last night?” I asked.

“Wow, we’re diving straight into it already. You’re not going to ask me about how my morning has been so far?”

The corner of my lip curled up. “How was your morning, Martha?”

“I have two dogs, right? For whatever reason, when one starts barking, the other starts barking like crazy. And unfortunately, the one dog I have is getting a little older and age so sometimes I think he sees something out of the corner of his eye and just starts going bonkers. Even though nothing is there. So, anyways, Jupiter started going haywire, and then Saturn joined in, and it was just a bunch of barking that, of course, woke me up. But this sort of thing doesn’t happen often. It’s always at night time that Jupiter thinks he sees something that isn’t there, And then I have to settle and down. But that early in the morning? No, thank you. Rough way to start the day, I tell ya.”

“Jupiter and Saturn? What kind of dogs are they?”

“Pekingese. Both of them.”

“Were you going for a planetary theme or a Roman mythology theme?”

“That’s what they were named when I got them from the shelter. I’m not the most creative type, so I just went with the name. My daughter works at a dog shelter, and she thought they were the most adorable dogs she had ever seen. You know those breeds don’t come around shelters very often, and they were so nice, and my daughter wanted to take care of ‘em, but she is her hands full of dogs at home, so she gave them to me.”

“They sound adorable. I’d love to see some pictures.”

“I can show you pictures later. You want to know about the person who was following you around last night. Tell me everything that happened, and I think it’ll add up and sound familiar.”

I explained every detail with the shadowy figure that followed me. While talking, Martha had her coffee delivered, and I took a sip of mine. It was much better than I expected. Like a brew from an independent coffee house, and not to the typical flat, stale diner coffee I was used to.

When I finished explaining Martha leaned a little closer towards me and lowered her voice. “So, there’s this gentleman named Charles Green who lives in the area. I’ve received a few calls before to look into a situation where he was always the culprit. I don’t know why, but he likes to mess with people. He likes to follow them around and then scare them a little bit. He’s a strange bird, that’s for sure, but he’s never hurt anyone. Charles just does exactly what he did to you last night to other people. It doesn’t really happen as much as it used to, but he still does it to an out-of-towner from time to time. Usually, everyone in the neighborhood already knows him, so they just tell him to get lost. Who knows, if you’re walking around town and night again and you think he’s following you, just say hey Charles, I want to talk to you for a second. Once he knows that you know his name, it’s like you just disarmed him. He’ll apologize and go home. Which is why he doesn’t really do it anymore. Everyone knows him.”

“That is a little strange. Does he go to therapy, or has he received any help?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Then again, his family didn’t really have a lot of money growing up, so I don’t think they ever went to a doctor or a therapist for him. Although when I talk to the town folks because some of them went to high school with Charles, they all say that Charles was a little weird, but he was harmless and actually a nice fella to his classmates. His parents both tragically passed away, though, during his high school years. He’s an only child too, so it’s gotta be depressing that his whole family is gone, and he has no one. I think Charles wants to be social, but he just doesn’t know how to express his loneliness and make friends.”

“Wow. I feel bad for the guy. How sure are you that it was him that was following me last night?”

Martha sighed. “I would say 100%, but I don’t like to talk in absolutes. So I’m going to say 99%.”

“Understand. Don’t you think it’s a little strange that Charles said to me, I shouldn’t have come?”

Martha shook her head. “He likes to creep people out by saying stuff like that. So if he recognized that you were an out-of-towner, he just wanted to mess with you. But really, I think it’s a cry for friendship. He wants to make friends with people but doesn’t really know the traditional route to make friends. Does that make sense?”

“Sure. Do you know what year he graduated high school?”

Martha contemplated for a moment. “He’s older than me, but not by too much. I think he graduated in 1990 from Wilton High.”

“Got it. Also, did you happen to see the report that came out in the Wilton observer about the missing blood?”

Martha’s blinked and grinned from ear to ear. “Look at you, reading the Wilton Observer! I have to say I’m pretty impressed with ya, G-Man.”

“So, did you see that article then?”

Martha shook her head. “I didn’t have time yet to look at the local news yet today. I mean, Christ, my shift doesn’t technically start until 9:00. I’m visiting you out of the goodness of my heart; consider yourself lucky.” Martha smirked.

“Anyways. Some blood went missing at the Saint Mary’s hospital. More details need to come in, but initially, I wonder if there is any relation between the deaths and missing blood. I’m beginning to think that someone has an obsession.”

“They’re making human black pudding or something?” Martha asked in a hushed voice.

“It’s all speculation at this point.” I shrugged.

“No, but don’t you guys notice patterns with obsessions? Like if someone hurts animals as a kid, they’re likely to become a serial killer, right? Don’t you have something if you suspect someone is a blood collector? Why would they just collect blood and not like body parts?”

“Again, it’s all speculation. Any guess you have is as good a guess as mine.”

“Yeah, but what are you thinking, Eddie? You must have an opinion or thought on why?”

I drew in a deep breath. “Honestly, I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’m thinking someone might be doing a bizarre experiment, or they’re running some underground medical practice, and they need as much as possible to serve... Whoever it is they’re serving.”

“So you don’t think it’s a vampire?” Martha’s lip curled.

“I guess the thought crossed my mind, but I don’t entertain the supernatural. Perhaps it could be someone pretending to be a vampire. That’s certainly plausible. But I want to focus on the information and evidence. I’m curious about what happened at the hospital, and I think I’ll inquire further about what’s happening over there. Do you have any contacts at St Mary’s?”

“That’s just where any emergencies go. I can’t say I know any of the security staff. Sorry.”

“That’s all right. I think I can just make a few phone calls over there and perhaps get a meeting with someone.”

The server came up to our table and asked, “Do you know what ya want? I can give you a few more minutes if you need.”

“Edward, are you a pancakes guy?”

“I’m partial to waffles, but I do enjoy pancakes.”

“Terrific. You should get the waffles or pancakes here. They’re to die for.”

“Well, I guess that settles my order. I’ll do just plain waffles.” I smiled at the server, and she wrote down my order in her little notebook. Then Martha ordered an omelet, and the server bounced away to another table.

“So, is that your plan for the day? Look into the hospital now?”

“I’ll definitely place a phone call. But my plan was to go into some of the shops around town and go to the library.”

“What’s in the library?”

“Yearbooks.”

“High school yearbooks?”

“Exactly.”

Only 5 minutes after putting in our order, the food came out to our table. Martha and I enjoyed our breakfast, and she was right; something about the waffle really impressed me. It was rich in flavor and did not need butter. Maple syrup was the perfect complement to the soft spongy waffle.