Nightmares Vs Magic

'I have a request. It's very simple. On the laptop's computer background is a floorplan of an old building.'

'There are 10 cameras throughout the building. You should be able to click on 10 different screens for each of them.'

'One out of the 10 cameras, you can move and control with the arrow keys and the mouse.'

'This building is old and requires inspection, so the screens are rather dark.'

'The moving camera is the only one that has a flashlight feature. You can turn it on by clicking on the flashlight icon in the moving camera's screen.'

'Be careful when turning it on, for the building has not been inspected for some time and you never know how many intruders have snuck inside, not wanting to be caught.'

'Inspect the entire floor, avoid the intruders lest you want them to destroy your only moving camera, and find every locked door. And if you can, try finding the keys to the locked doors.'

'Please try to keep track of everything. I really need your help so please cooperate and I will be watching your progress. This building has something very precious to me that I am looking for.'

Dove stared at the detailed note written in the notepad on the computer, minimized the notepad tab, looked at the computer screen's background that had a very detailed map of a mystery place, and then up over at Laurence, who had the same look of bewilderment at the entire letter as she did. The wide-eyes and mouths closed shut for neither of them could find the words. Until Dove closed the laptop, took out a sticky note, and wrote to Laurence who silently read her little letter-

'Send to Alchemy Lab?'

He nodded. Then opened the laptop back up again after picking it up and moving it away from their other electronics, and checked for any microphone setting or camera, or if anything was recording. 

"Well, it looks like we can talk without worry." He said after clicking through some things.

The wireless mouse still wasn't plugged in yet, and quite frankly, neither of them dared to do too much with the laptop just yet. 

"Let me just say though,,," Laurence passed as he then frowned when going back to the computer screen again and set it back on Dove's desk.

He leaned against the desk before explaining as he pointed at the floorplan on the screen. 

"This is a floorplan for a big farmhouse, specifically an old one. Way too many rooms for only ten cameras."

Dove looked at the screen more thoroughly and counted all the rooms. 

"True. This is either a prank, a person with a genuine but cryptic request, or some killer trying to lure us."

"Let me take a picture of this.." Laurence paused as he took out his phone, and Dove moved more to the side as he took a picture of the floorplan. 

"And I'll go do some research to see where this building could be located, leave the box here, I'll use the information on that too. I'm sure you already know, but do not do anything that digital letter has asked of you, and take it straight to the labs." He said as he zoomed on the photo he took, slowly making his way to his desktop. 

"Oh and, this is gonna sound silly but don't let the laptop near your phone. It sounds fictional but we have no idea what people can do with electronics nowadays."

Dove nodded as she picked up all the devices, putting each of them back into their bubble wrap packaging. Laurence quickly put his phone to help her, feeling anxious when watching her stack the items onto one arm. She placed her phone in her back pocket, and he walked her to the stairs, opening the door for her. She thanked him quietly as the door closed and she went up the stairs. 

I genuinely didn't think much of it. I was just thinking about how Joon at one point after the beach stalker incident, told me that he watched Adan figure out how to dissect the burner phone to get a bunch of information out of it. His words, not my interpretation. Adan apparently didn't tell him much about what he found, just that it was evidence of how creepy the guy was. Anyway, if he could hack a burner phone, he might be able to help me with this mysterious laptop I received.

My mind was busy, until I realized I felt a strange buzzing on my arm. I looked down, and saw the edge of the closed laptop, that I know I turned off before closing, glow. 

Joon was surprised to see Dove burst through the door the way he and Annabelle typically would at her floor. Except she appeared more anxious. 

He was about to berate her, reminding her that he was about go bother her soon, until she thrusted the laptop into his arms. 

"You're gonna wanna see this." Was all she said. 

Adan was found to be busy that day, Joon told her he heard the alchemist muttering about a request from Bence.

Something about making a new exoskeleton and protective gear for his new intern, and how Adan muttered about hoping the new kid wouldn't break their gear as much as Bence does. 

Dove gave him a weird look as she listened. They walked down the hall, looking for another person to help with hacking. 

Joon shrugged as he held the laptop, looking at how the edges glowed even though the laptop was closed and should be dormant. 

"That's just something I heard him saying. I have no idea what the heck someone like Bence did to make someone like Adan angry, but he always looks upset every time someone brought up or asked about Bence."

Joon knocked on the door of the weapons design room, entered anyway without waiting for a response, and walked in on Enzo sighing, already knowing Joon was outside his door. 

Enzo was sitting at a long, neat, and organized table, covered in neatly placed pieces of a gun, taken apart. He was in the middle of cleaning the equipment. 

"Do you know how to hack a laptop?" Joon asked, not paying mind to Enzo's sigh. 

The man stood up and looked to what Joon needed help with. He then frowned at the glowing laptop. Joon handed it to Enzo, he opened it up, noticed it was still awake the entire time, saw the background screen, then the camera app. He then also noticed what was causing the computer to buzz, which is unusual for a computer. 

The mouse on the screen moved on its own, opening up the notepad app, and showed a new message being made, directed to Dove, the receiver of this package.

Enzo read it, closed the laptop, and handed it back to Joon.

"Do not interact with this computer at all. And I mean it. This is not something fun, this is a possible stalker situation."

He then turned to Dove.

"Do not open the laptop again, I'm going to find someone who specializes in cybersecurity. Stay in this room." He told them and wouldn't budge until they both nodded affirmatively before he walked out of the room. 

Joon opened his mouth, surprised, and was about to say something before Enzo came back to shout something from the doorway. 

"Do not interact with anything here! Your ban on the equipment may have been lifted, but I am currently doing inspections on most-if-not-all of these firearms today. Do not meddle with any of them Joon!"

"I'm only gonna look!" He replied back. 

Enzo gave him a suspicious glance before leaving. His frantic footsteps could be heard down the hall as he searched for someone. 

Joon walked to the doorway and peeked his head out, checking for Enzo's presence in the hallway. He walked back into the room, placed the laptop on an empty space of the table, and propped it open. 

"He literally just told us not to open the laptop again." Dove said as she looked over his shoulder, arms crossed. 

"And I told him that I'm only going to look." 

Joon adjusted the lighting of the laptop as the screen appeared dark under the bright lights of the room. He waved his hand for Dove to come closer as he stepped aside to make space for her. The notepad app was still open. 

'I can see when you don't interact with this device. Dove.'

'I need you to cooperate. This is a very simple task.'

'If you try to tell anyone about this or send this to the police instead of helping me, I will use this laptop to reveal your current location and share it with people you don't want to meet.'

"Well, this person is a real piece of shit, making you help without asking." Joon said, scrunching his nose at the audacity. 

Dove only frowned, not daring to touch the laptop more but also continuing to read the note. All the way down to the last disturbing part of the message. 

'Be a doll and help me with this, Dove Oleander, or should I say Dove Al Karim? Which one do you usually go by?'

Joon noticed how much that last sentence bothered her, as she kept her eyes on the line, reading it over and over again. 

He quickly took control of the keyboard to type in a message underneath the note. 

'How about you be patient and wait until I'm ready to do this request? I'm not free right now.'

He waited a moment, and then saw a message get typed below it. He started between the screen and the keyboard, making sure the keys weren't being controlled, but also confirming that someone else has remote access to this device. 

'You have one hour before I decide to share your location. I work fast. You should too.'

He gulped. 

"I thought I told you not to interact with the computer." Boomed the irritated voice of Enzo from behind them. 

They flinched and turned around to see Enzo at the door, Ingrid standing beside him. 

They did not have many people who were experienced in cybersecurity, and the few that they did have were unavailable. Ingrid agreed to give it a try, so they brought the laptop to her office.

"Now, don't get your hopes up. I can do what I can to try and get some reactions, but I'm a material scientist, I don't do coding." She told them as she looked for some cords to try and connect the laptop to a spare tablet she has. 

She rummaged through her drawers. 

"Adan was able to do it with a shut-down burner phone. Why can't you?" Joon asked, looking over at some things on her desk, prompting Enzo to bar his arm in front of the boy, preventing him from attempting to fiddle with anything. 

"Adan is more than a scientist. He is a man that enjoys specializing in all sorts of fields that require using your brain." Ingrid answered, finding the right cord and beginning to connect the laptop to her tablet, but not before ensuring the tablet has nothing important and is connected to mobile data, not the agency's Wi-Fi. 

"He became an alchemist because it was interesting, fun, and risky, but he still enjoys dabbling in other things. Did you know he has a bachelor's degree in engineering? He only majored in it because it was said to be one of the most difficult majors. He recalled his time in all those engineering classes as 'too easy', with a nostalgic smile on his face." Enzo added in, telling both the kids. He also couldn't help but to shake his head. 

"He can be so full of himself sometimes."

"Well, he has plenty of reasons to back up his confidence." Ingrid argued as she began fiddling through the settings of the laptop and attempting to use the coding functions on the tablet.

Enzo told Ingrid about the note left for Dove, and after shortly scolding Joon and hearing the boy talk about the new message left for Dove about the one-hour limit, she tried to work as fast as she could. 

Enzo looked to Dove at his side. She was good at repressing her emotions, but Enzo has been around enough tense situations to predict if someone is feeling anxious. 

"Joon, do you want to tell Dove exactly what Adan does in the labs?" He asked the boy, looking down at him. 

The boy stopped eyeing the knick-knacks and lit up, turning to his friend and beginning to list the subjects on his fingers. 

"Mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, biological engineering and computer science! But mostly the other stuff, computer science is more like a side hobby that sometimes comes in handy." Ha happily listed. 

"Ingrid supplies the materials, and they come up with blueprints, designs and functions, and then figure out how to put it together. Which reminds me, even though I don't have to take notes anymore-" He frowned and looked up at Enzo.

"I've still only been allowed to draw up blueprints. You won't let me touch any cool stuff or even make my own yet."

"Clearly you haven't drawn up enough if you still don't understand how dangerous it is to play with alchemy. We've already told you, diving in without fully understanding can cost you a limb or your life." Enzo told him like a nagging parent. 

Joon jerked out from the hand on his shoulder and turned around to him.

"What's dangerous? I've seen so many stuff! And nothing dangerous has happened."

Enzo crossed his arms.

"That's because we keep them away from you."

"Ah, attention please?" Ingrid suddenly called out. 

Dove looked from their argument back to Ingrid, Enzo and Joon also turned their attention to her. 

Her face was contorting between one of worry and cautious fear as she stood up and away from both electronics. The tablet had a black screen with green letters and numbers moving about before the device shut down, and the computer let out this sound.

Ingrid cautiously stepped forward again to read the new message on the device. 

'Don't even think about trying to find me. You're smart but you're not a hacker. Now, one last time, play by my rules, do my simple request, or I send your location to the last people you ever want to see again. They are eager to see you, Dove.'

Ingrid looked up to Dove, worry on her face for the girl. So did Enzo. Dove only had this blank stare, before sighing and trying to shrug it off to ease the mood. 

"Whelp, I guess I have to play on this computer for a while."

Enzo insisted she interact with the laptop in the alchemy labs, in one of the testing chambers furthest from the other electronics. He and Ingrid debated on whether they should disturb Adan's current task to get him to help with Dove's mysterious laptop gift. 

Joon stayed beside her as she first went to reread the instructions on the first note, then went and clicked on the camera app and went to controlling the moving camera. Her buddy suddenly hopped for joy as soon as he saw all the ten different camera squares on the screen and comparing it to the building map on the background. He quickly asked to change places for the controls. 

"It's just like FNAF! You can trust me to help you! I've played first-person games like these so many times, I'm practically a professional!" He said as he began exploring the surroundings through whatever robot he was unaware he was controlling. 

You could hear the quiet little motors and motions of the wheels when turning up the sound on the laptop. 

"This isn't a game though, and unlike FNAF, you can be chased and have to move, not sure if you can hide, and we weren't given any information on how much battery we have for either the flashlight or the robot."

"But that's just it! The hardest thing about the first game version is that the player is stuck in one spot, but here, you can run away. I just gotta use the flashlight sparingly, look for some doors and keys, and then remember some hiding places in case of monsters!" He said while completely at ease, humming as he looked around, Dove hovered over his shoulder, also acting as his eyes.

"Laurence was right, this farmhouse is big and looks pretty old, except it looks like a lot of doors were ripped off?" 

Joon turned on the flashlight as they came upon a random room and used his arrow keys to move the camera upward, observing the frames of the door. 

Sure enough, in the spots where door hinges should be, there are not huge spots of splintered wood, like the hinges were ripped and took some pieces of wood chip with them. Inside the room was nothing but some barred windows, a random rocking chair, and lots of cobwebs. The weirdest detail was the barred windows, done from the inside and with so many wood planks, it completely blocked any sunlight. You could hardly tell whether it was day or night in that room. 

Joon quickly turned the flashlight off and kept moving. 

Outside the testing room, Enzo saw Laurence speedwalking down the hall, quickly reaching Enzo and Ingrid. 

The detective then peered through the window to see the two interns inside. He was also holding a file filled with very recent notes. 

"Was there anything new you could find out through the device?" He asked.

Both the lab workers shook their heads. 

"I tried but whoever the owner of the laptop is, they knew a lot about computer science." Ingrid replied. 

"All we know for sure is that they are targeting Dove."

Laurence seemed to grit his teeth, then breathed in and out before presenting the things in his folder. 

"Well, this mystery person may be a good computer nerd, but they don't completely know how to cover their tracks. I looked up some information using what clues I could find on the sticker of the box package, then did some research on the blueprint." 

Enzo opened the file and adjusted his glasses. 

"They tried to be cautious, first sending it from their location to someone else, then that person went from their location to the post office in another area to ship it here. Thanks to my connections, I got information from that said post office about the middle-man sender along with his address info. Bence is still out cleansing houses for some real estate agents, I asked him to go visit the guy."

"Will you be expecting Bence to drag the guy back here for an interrogation? Or is the guy not stubborn?" Enzo asked, still reading the folder. 

Laurence waited just a bit longer, watching Enzo's eyes read further down the page until they lit up at certain line. Laurence would've grinned if he wasn't wearing such a serious and worried look as he looked through the window to Dove in the testing room again. 

"Surprisingly, the guy was pretty open to talking about who sent him the laptop, even the town the person is from. Bence told me that the guy was cheerful and laidback, so clearly, he didn't know full significance of the package, thought his niece just needed his help to ship off a project." 

"Rorick Helms, likely in his 40s, uncle to Hillary Helms, a college undergraduate currently living in Rangeley, a small town in Maine. Rorick kept emphasizing about how she'll soon be moving to Portland." Enzo read out loud, before letting out a surprised hum. 

"Didn't realize things would work out that quickly." Ingrid commented as she read the file as well.

Laurence had a pensive stare as he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, that's what's suspicious. It was almost too easy."

Ingrid raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip.

"Was there anything suspicious about how this Rorick guy gave the info?" She asked, and Enzo handed her the file next.

She skimmed through the papers.

"I kept talking with Bence after he finished telling me about his findings, and he said that the guy just talked a lot about his niece, gave a lot of info about her, like really talking her up, not noticing anything weird. The strangest part is that he thought the address he was told to send the package to, was a company that worked with a university. Bence just played along because that's what the guy fully believed."

Ingrid's eyes widened as Enzo pointed to a part of the next page she turned to, a paragraph that Laurence wrote down of Bence's description of the conversation.

She kept her head down at the page, staring at it, and then at Laurence. 

"This guy seriously got greeted by a man wearing a gothic suit, with a faded scar across his face, and just instantly thought he was a college advisor?"

"Well, the last time I saw a college advisor, she was carrying a bunch of cat-themed electronics to update her office, so I guess anything's possible." Laurence shrugged but also pointed with his chin for her to keep reading.

"My suspicions though are less that the guy just assumed he was a college advisor, and his niece told him a white lie about where she needed her package to get sent." 

Ingrid flipped to another page of notes recalling the rest of the conversation Laurence had with Bence over the phone. 

 - Was immediately greeted at the door, as if the guy was expecting him.

 - Assumed straight away that he was a college advisor, even saying he would be expecting him.

 - Was not at all taken back by his appearance, (Bence felt insulted that I asked to double-check).

Reading further down is where the notes were underlined and words circled.

 - Mr. Helms proceeded to talk about a letter received along with the package from his niece: The letter described her being in this contest to earn a scholarship, one that required a proof of skill in technology - Reason for why he found nothing suspicious about the laptop. 

 - Bence asked to see the letter, saying he needed to see if the letter had any numbers in the corner for a lucky lottery, (he got mad when I commented on his excuse of a lie). And he took a photo.

The next page was a printed photo of the one Bence sent him through text.

It had the full name of Hillary Helms, usual college letter words like 'congratulations!', and instructions for how and where to send her project in order to qualify for the supposed scholarship contest. 

It had the full address of the Macabre House location typed out, along with an emphasis on how the project must be sent through the post office in order to show proof of current living locations. There were lines about how only college students currently living in Portland were eligible for this scholarship. Laurence circled that line on the picture with a marker and wrote a note beside it. 

 - It is believed that Hillary, trying to remain anonymous, used her uncle as a middleman with this excuse. It also explains why the uncle kept talking about her moving to Portland.

 The letter became more disturbing when it then described how a college advisor would then come visit the student's house to bring confirmation that the project was delivered and ask more questions to see how well the student qualifies. The letter justifies this by emphasizing that the scholarship is huge and said to cover a full four years' worth of tuition.

Another note written on a sticky note was placed beside the line.

 - Rorick told Bence he was expecting him because after sending the package for his niece, he received a phone call beginning with a congratulations and then told that an advisor would come visit the address of the sender. The caller gave a full description of Bence and assured the guy that he was indeed an advisor, even if he didn't look, act, or sound like one.

"I don't know whether to feel bad, or furious at the guy's gullibility." Ingrid said as she finished reading all the pages in the folder, closing it up and handing it to Laurence.

"All I know is that I feel worried for the kids and my coworkers now. Someone has clearly been spying because they gave a full description of Bence."

Enzo shrugged and scratched the back of his head, peering through the glass to see Joon and Dove, still on the laptop. 

Joon was flinching and jumping, having visible and verbal outbursts but continued on. Dove was patting his shoulder and advising him on directions or hiding places. Whatever place they were exploring on the screen through a camera, there were nightmares popping up. 

"I mean, I understand being worried for the kids, but Bence is a tank. He'll be fine."

"Unless the person who stalked him was a woman crazy in love with his body." Ingrid put in, frowning in thought. 

Laurence shuddered, gripping his folder. 

"Please don't jinx us if that's a possibility."

"I was just saying..."

"OH GOD! IT'S A REAL BODY!" Joon suddenly burst out screaming, causing even the workers outside to flinch at the sudden volume.

Enzo quickly went to the door, Laurence and Ingrid followed him into the room.

Joon was frantically tapping the arrow keys to get away, Dove was frozen over his shoulder, stuttering out ideas on where to hide. 

"HIDE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HIDE?! IT'S A DEAD BODY!" Joon screeched.

"It's clearly not! Look! He's moving!"

"Oh no, he's crawling. He's crawling. He has no legs! He's crawling towards the camera! Why does he have no legs??!?!" Joon nearly gagged. 

Dove patted his back and urged him to continue.

"Stop panicking! Just go around him! We need to see where he's crawling from!"

"Oh heck oh no! Why would we wanna see that!?!?!"

"We need to find doors and keys dammit! He could be crawling out of a room!"

"A TORTURE CHAMBER ROOM!"

"Ignore the blood! We can't help him until we get more info!"

"Easy for you to say! You're a girl!"

"Get up, away from the laptop." Laurence told them both, gently pulling them both away. 

He looked at the screen and started controlling the camera, leaving the still-crawling body and going into the nearest room.

Joon had to hold himself back from wanting to shake Laurence's shoulders as he jumped up with another outburst.

"No no! Don't go there! I saw something in the corner and it's dripping blood!" 

Laurence clicked his tongue when he listened closer, confirming the sound of something dripping, and he had the camera leave the room quickly to find a difference place. There was a long hallway with few doors, but there was also a small table with a dusty, broken vase. It wasn't a good hiding spot, but it was the closest place to park whatever little robot the camera was attached to.

He stood, looked at the screen more as to make sure nothing was coming for the camera, or if anything was happening to the camera, and then turned around to the two interns.

"It's probably best not to interact with this more."

"But we have to. The sender has blackmail on Dove so if we don't play this weird game, they'll release the blackmail about her." Joon bluntly let out, making Dove groan. 

She then raised her hand and quickly changed the subject. 

"And also, this is a new case. We just found a guy with no legs crawling past the camera, there could possibly be more victims." 

Laurence stared at them both blankly, then sighed deeply as rubbed his exhausted face with one hand. He left the laptop open and gave Dove the file to read, she gave Joon space to read it beside her. 

"Is there anyone who can go to Rangeley to find this farmhouse? Because I could go, but I'm too freaked out." Joon said, and then quickly mentally kicked himself, showing he didn't mean to say that out loud. 

Enzo gently grabbed his shoulders, further pulling him away from the laptop as he then took a turn to check out the cameras. 

Moving the mouse, he clicked out of the screen with the moving camera and went to check the other screens. Sure enough, there were other rooms, but the angles of them looked messy. 

"Some of these camera angles make it seem as though they were just dropped there." Laurence commented as he looked at the screen again, hands in his pockets. 

"One screen is just pointing to the ceiling, another is clearly on the floor, facing the door. You can see the shade of light from above, hinting at a possible window above and behind the camera." He pointed to the top of the camera footage at the very slim beam of light being shown in the room. 

"Real inconvenient that all these cameras are black and white though."

"They aren't, it's just that most-if-not-all the windows have been boarded up." Dove cut in. 

Laurence nearly flinched hearing her pipe up after being so quiet, but turned to see her look from the file, likely having skimmed through it all. He raised a hand and beckoned her over to elaborate. 

"Joon and I did some exploring, and after seeing some of the interior, and remembering the notes I was given, it's not that the cameras were put in black and white, it's that the house is all boarded up. All the barricades were done from the inside, and when we started, the moving camera was looking down a wide, dark space of a room. Then there was a hallway with doors and rooms on either-side."

"What clues did you get from the notes?"

"This person has something in this house that she needs back, but she is too scared to explore the house on her own.

There are supposedly locked rooms that we are supposed to find, implying that whatever this Hillary person lost is inside one. Seeing as she used blackmail and made me hurry to start using the camera, which she may also be observing, this lost thing is very important, and she's in a hurry to get it back."

"Could possibly be a kidnapping, as hinted by the sudden guy we found, and the typical thing with locked rooms is that they are indeed used as torture chambers or prison rooms sometimes." Enzo added, looking up to recall some information he remembers, hand in his pocket. 

"Historically, there used to be homes owned by mafia members back in the day with secret rooms, either for illegal activity, to hide someone, or escape routes. However, those were typically in mansions or safehouses. A farmhouse should just have a house with a few rooms and then a garage or small barn attached."

"Unless there's something sketchy about the house? Similar to the dollhouse case?" Dove asked. 

"Let's just send someone over to check out the place. It's just a small town." Joon said. 

"Rangeley has a history of farmhouses, it used to be a small farming community before tourism got popular." Laurence was quick to respond. 

"Plus, we don't really have anyone on hand to send out right away, Ursa had to go back to the distillery disguised as camp with nearly most of her dogs to track down any possible leftover campers. Bence will be busy with Celadon today and this doesn't seem like a good case for him to a bring a new intern on." 

"Celadon? Green changed their name to Celadon?" Enzo asked. 

"They're still working out names, I still think Celadon is more of a placeholder still." The detective shrugged in response.

"But clearly people are dying, there has to be someone. We can't send Dove because what if the person tries to get more blackmail if she visits the town?" Joon argued back. "And why can't anyone else here go? Lucia? Or that one woman Sienna and her team? Or...." Joon then went silent as his eyes stared around the room in thought, landing on Enzo."

"Or me perhaps?" He pointed to himself and asked. 

Joon insistently shook his head. 

"No!"

Enzo raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"No!"

Enzo didn't know whether to feel cared for or insulted. 

Dove sighed, looking down, and then back up, out through the window of the testing room. She saw other alchemists and lab workers passing by through the halls, carrying cases of firearms, likely bringing them down to Enzo's weaponry room for inspection. 

"If this person is targeting me, then why not let me go to them?" 

Laurence frowned and Joon stared at her as if she lost her mind. Dove only stood there, arms holding herself as she stared blankly at the laptop. Through one of the camera screens, she could see a looming shadow in the corner passing by, its long limbs dragging behind it, claws sticking upright at the end of those arms. 

"Oh, right, I never asked but, what blackmail do they have on you?" Laurence asked before beginning to weight the options. 

"Nothing much really, Hillary has control of this computer even from a distance, and can track its location, hence, mine.

She threatened to share it, but honestly, I think she's mostly depending on me to help her. The cameras were all placed way too sloppy and must've taken her a lot of courage just to plant them, she's too scared to explore this house, but it has something precious to her. Her first note said please, and all she's asking is for me to find a bunch of doors." 

After listing her observations, Dove walked toward the laptop, picking it up. Sitting in one hand, she used her other hand to explore the other cameras before moving back to the screen with the moving camera. Joon looked over her shoulder to see the screen again and nearly jumped had Enzo not pulled him away. 

The man had very quick reflexes, for a face appeared in the screen soon after. 

A face that looked grey due to the darkness of the room, it was wrinkly and with these dark, squinted eyes. There was a large nose that sniffed the camera as the thing picked it up, giving a view of its hair, that looked long, black, and greasy. It dropped the camera back down. Footsteps emitted, like claws tapping on wood. 

The camera was sideways now and beginning to show static.

Dove looked back up and at Laurence. He could tell from her face that if there were other options, she's rather not deal with this, but there weren't many options.

"I stand corrected about my theories of Hillary sloppily placing the cameras, and now look, the moving that I am told to control is practically out of commission. It seems like things will be easier if I just go there to help her. I don't know why she's asking for me specifically..." Her sentence ran quiet as she then looked down in thought, mouth pausing, a frown and then a few ideas appeared in her mind. 

"Unless, someone told her about me..."

Laurence heard her mutter, looking even more worried. If it were up to him, he'd have the laptop sent to Adan to deal with while she worked on a case that didn't require going to a small town two hours away to face who knows what, while he is unable to reach her. He's still not allowed to work on field cases, especially ones too far from the agency, or at least too far for any coworkers or backup to reach him in time. 

"Perhaps I can help?" A voice said but not out loud, but telepathically in everyone's mind.