I can hear you but I won't

Some look for trouble while others don't

There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day

And ignore your whispers which I wish would go away, oh

Into the Unknown - Idina Menzel

Rex woke up bright and early at 6 AM the next day, ready to visit this enigmatic town called Shadowhelm. Just as he had promised Brynn last night, he first stopped by a local coffee house to get some early morning brew to prepare them for the long day ahead. Being one of Brynn's best friends (actually, her only friend, as she had confided in him before) he knew exactly her preference in caffeinated drinks. While he preferred a simple Caffe mocha, Brynn liked a caramel macchiato first thing in the morning.

As was almost always the norm with the morning coffee run - to clarify, he only ever got coffee for Brynn and himself - it was rather uneventful, to say the least. Being a regular customer, he knew better than to arrive late so the drive-through line wasn't terribly long. But even then, the task could be successfully completed only after about half an hour of waiting.

Once done, he settled back into his truck and after driving just a little further, he was ready to pull into the building that belonged to their precinct. What he heard when he entered - albeit through a closed office door - was not what he expected.

"Chief, please just hear me out for a minute. I was honestly just trying to help. I gave the case to her because I knew she could handle it. And besides, it's the kind of case she likes, so-" He could hear Harding so very pathetically trying to plead his case to their boss, Police Chief Dante Lopez, a bearded, rough-around-the-edges Latino who had zero time and tolerance for nonsense. The chief interrupted before he could finish, however.

"So you shoved it at her without any regard to her feelings about it? I see. Now tell me, Harding, exactly how you expect to have any say in this if you simply keep shoving things at people like you're some sort of benevolent deity? In case you've forgotten, I am the one in charge of this precinct, not you."

Though Rex couldn't really see it, he was sure that Lieutenant Harding was looking at the police chief in shock. "Sir, I promise it's not like that. I only gave it to her because I know she likes really weird cases." He responded to the chewing-out with a half-smile, mostly because he was afraid that this man would hand his ass to him. Knowing Chief Lopez, that was a given unless you did your job right.

It was at this point that Rex decided to interrupt with a knock on the door. Seconds later, Chief Lopez responded in his booming voice. "Come in!" Credit had to be given where credit was due; the man was quick as a whip when it came to responding to things.

Rex didn’t have to be told twice and with another knock, he swung the door open "Sorry to bother you, Chief, but I was wondering if Detective Frost was in yet. I think we all know how she gets when she's lacking in the caffeine department, and, as any sensible Southern gentleman would, I took it upon myself to try to fix that."

Chief Lopez stroked his beard as he looked at Rex for a moment while in thought, "I saw her come in earlier and head straight down to your department quarters. She seemed panicked." His gaze remained on Rex the entire time he spoke, and the young man got a better sense of the situation. This, he knew, meant that Brynn was panicking over something.

Rex simply nodded in response, "Thank you, sir. I'll go check on her right away." In no time, he was running as fast as his legs could carry him - which, admittedly, was pretty fast for a guy that spent a lot of time hunched over the bodies of the deceased. Hell, if you asked him to perform a craniotomy, he’d do it under the right pretense, but ask him to run a marathon and you’d be saying ‘Jesus take the wheel’ and praying he made it out alive.

About five minutes later, a very out-of-breath Rex stood at the doorway of his laboratory space. After catching a second wind, he looked up to see Brynn, and he found himself smiling as he went up to her, coffee in hand. He quickly made sure the coffee was still hot and sighed. Good thing it was still warm or Brynn wouldn’t be happy at all. It had taken a little bit of time, but Re finally managed to make it, handing Brynn her hot caffeinated beverage. The young woman looked at him with a smile, taking it.

“Rex, you darling, you remembered,” she spoke over his shoulder while she gave him a hug. Rex was careful to hold his own coffee far enough so that the hot liquid won’t spill on her. He watched her shoulders sink in relaxation when she took the first sip And he sighed, knowing that this was a positive sign

Unfortunately, though, the good mood didn’t last for long, as soon a loud scream - evidently coming from the top of the stairs - rang through the basement. Rex found himself smirking when he heard growling along with Lieutenant Jackson Harding’s familiar voice. “Someone tell this damn dog to chill out!”

Rex sighed, putting down his coffee on the counter. “I’m gonna go see what’s goin’ on,” he excused himself. With that, he walked away from the scene and down the stairs to When he saw the scene in its entirety, he saw none other than his own German Shepherd, Odin - who had been trained to double as a cadaver dog and a canine security system - snarling at the lieutenant, who was desperately tugging at the leash in attempts to pacify the dog.

“Why the hell are you mad at me, you stupid mutt!?” he asked just as Rex rounded the corner. Rex wasn’t taking any of that, of course.

“Harding, I swear to high heaven, if you kick my dog - because I know you’re thinkin’ it, so don’t bother lyin’ - I will report you to the chief for animal abuse.” He smirked and called Odin to his side. The dog took his own leash from Harding, huffing and going to heel at Rex’s feet as his master had commanded.

The lieutenant glowered at Rex. “Your dog is a monster, Snow. I didn’t do a damn thing and he attacked me.”

Rex frowned. “I find that to be quite doubtful, especially considering that I heard your conversation with the chief. You’ve gotten really good at lying through your teeth, Jackson. But as for Odin here, he doesn't attack people for no reason, much less give ‘em a warning snarl. You’re damn lucky that’s all you got.”

Brynn sighed and stepped out of the lab and positioned herself in between the two men, shaking her head. “Tread carefully, Lieutenant, or you’ll suffer from more than just a bruised ego.” She maintained a neutral expression as she took Odin’s leash from the canine, who obediently gave it to her as he already had absolute trust in her. “I don’t know how I forgot about this cutie. We’re definitely gonna need a sniffer dog if we’re gonna solve this case.”

Rex rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, “She makes a damn good point. Thanks for bringin’ Odin by, Lieutenant.” Rex then resigned himself to what Brynn suggested and preferred to stay in the green, even after she’d had a sip or two of coffee.

About an hour later, they had almost finished preparing themselves for their excursion and were done with packing everything necessary into the back of Rex’s truck, a silver Ford F-150, the duo was on the road to Shadowhelm. Brynn was the first to take the wheel and they had just turned onto the highway when Brynn’s cell phone rang from inside the console.

Ring, ring, ring!

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to get a phone call while driving, though she usually waited until she made a pit stop before even considering picking it up. This time, though, she motioned for Rex to answer since he was sitting in the passenger seat. Rex took the cue and picked up the phone, tapping on the green ‘talk’ icon.

“Hello?” he asked, confused as to who - from an unknown number, no less - would be calling Brynn. Odin perked up in the backseat. “It’s alright, boy, no need to worry” Rex reassured the canine, who then settled down obediently.

The speaker at the other end chuckled. “A dog whisperer, are you?” he asked. “Though judging by the masculine voice, you’re not Detective Brynn Frost,” he continued.

“Good observation sir. I am not Detective Frost, but I do work with her. She’s driving right now, but I can put the phone on speaker if you will give me a second.” Rex replied and kept the phone on the headboard.

Brynn, at this point, leaned over to speak to the mysterious caller, her eyes remaining transfixed on the road. “How can we help you, sir? But before I forget, and before we go any further, we do need an ID, if you don’t mind,” she spoke.

The caller didn’t seem surprised, so much as he was dumbfounded. “Ah, right! My apologies, Detective. My name is Wulfric Blackthorne. I suppose you could say I’m the metaphorical… oh, what’s the word… alpha male here in Shadowhelm. I heard through the grapevine that you solve unorthodox cases. This, I can assure you, is exactly that - unorthodox and borderline paranormal.”

“Thank you, Mr. Blackthorne. Now, would you mind describing this unorthodox... thing in more detail? It’ll help if we - that is to say, my partner and I - have a clearer understanding of the situation at hand. All we’ve got right now is a case file that shows enough blood and gore to make my partner as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning.” She smirked at Rex, who only chuckled in response.

There was a short pause before Wulfric responded, “Please feel free to call me Wulfric. I find that it makes interactions less tense if people know they can refer to me simply by my first name.” There was another pause - a slightly longer one this time - before he continued. “As for the occurrence in question, I found a body lying in a ditch near the entrance to the town. It looked like it had been ripped apart by a wild animal.”

Odin whined at the mere sound of the carnage. Even as a cadaver dog, he did get visibly uncomfortable when push came to shove. Rex, being in the amazing dog parent that he was, reached into the back seat and scratched his canine companion’s ear before replying.

This time, it was Brynn’s turn to listen as Rex spoke. “Well, sir, that definitely does sound unorthodox. My name is Dr. Rex Snow, by the way. I’m a medical examiner by trade and as such, I will be assisting Detective Frost with this case.” He paused briefly as if choosing his next words with the same delicate precision with which he handled each corpse that laid on his slab. “From what I’ve seen so far, there's more than one body that needs examining. There was a lot of blood visible in the photographs we received, and based on my judgment, it couldn’t have come from just one person.”

Brynn looked over at him with surprise. The lighthearted Rex who watched horror movies only to critique them and “use them for research purposes” was now replaced by a serious man. Serious as the grave, some would say. It came through in everything from his voice to his methodical way of addressing the subject. “We will be there as soon as we can, Wulfric. We're nearly a day's drive away so it will take a while but we will do our best to hurry. In the meantime, I need you to stay safe, keep an eye out for anything weird and let us know if you spot any more bodies poppin’ up.”

There was silence on the other end but after a moment passed, Wulfric spoke up again. “Sounds good. If anything happens, I’ll make a record of it and let you know. This kind of thing has never happened in my previous years of being the de facto head of this town, nor in any generation before.” With that, the line went dead as Wulfric hung up the phone.

Brynn and Rex looked at each other, both their eyes were glistening with curiosity. This was definitely unlike anything they'd ever seen - or heard of - before. They discussed the case for a bit before Rex nodded off, taking over at the halfway point between Austin and Shadowhelm, allowing Brynn to do the same.

Little did they know that a scene straight out of a Stephen King novel was waiting for them. Wulfric’s witness statement was only the tip of the iceberg.