“Hey Samantha, if you’ve got a minute, can I talk to you in private?” Kevin’s mother came back after less than 2 hours, and Gloria whispered in her ears just when she entered the door.

“Oh - okay. Just give me a second.” Samantha seemed tired, but she still nodded in acknowledgement: “Let me just check in with Kevin first.”

Gloria nodded back, then sat down in a chair just outside of the study and waited as Samantha Teith checked in with her son and sent him to bed early. It took about ten minutes, and when Samantha Teith came back, she looked even more worried than before.

“What did he tell you?” Gloria and Samantha Teith asked each other almost at the same time.

“Well, you first.” Gloria shrugged.

“Okay.” Samatha Teith pulled a chair over and sighed: “He just told me he knows about the missing kids, and he’s been looking at a lot of information about the cases on his own.”

“Well, I - frankly I’m surprised you even tried to keep this from him for this long.” Gloria raised her eyebrows: “He’s a smart kid. And he’s kinda - kinda, sorta, very resourceful.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. I’m proud and worried at the same time.” Samantha Teith sighed: “What about you? What’d he say to you?”

“Basically the same thing. And - ” Gloria hesitated for a brief moment, then still decided to pose the question: “I was wondering if you’d like to share something with me, and I can ask around for any information. You know, if you need it - ”

“Thank you, Gloria.” Samantha Teith looked up, then sighed and shook her head: “I really appreciate that. But I don’t know if this is a good idea. We haven’t looked back at our lives at the South-Eastern Districts for a long time, I don’t know if anyone is able or willing to help - ”

“Just information would be fine.” Gloria shrugged, trying not to appear too concerned: “For example, do you have some theories on who is behind this? I think, for crimes of this scale, it would be really strange and illogical if it’s the deed of a lone wolf.”

“Hmm, yeah. Ummm…” Samantha Teith started evading Gloria’s gaze, and seemed rather unwilling, or at least hesitant to share what she knows with Gloria: “I’m - I am really not sure if it is a good idea …”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable.” Gloria immediately waved her hands: “It’s something with your local community right here, so I can understand. But if you’d need my help, so…”

“I can tell you!” Samantha Teith cut Gloria off, seemingly having made a really hard decision: “But please, keep this between us, okay? It’s just something we recently heard, it’s probably true though we can’t be sure. Some witnesses said that there had been sightings of men in groups, driving vans and SUVs. So we are trying to communicate with the local PD to share more security footage with us so we can try to sip through them. But - it’s just difficult, you know? The local police departments never take cases involving transplants seriously. So, we are trying. And - not saying I or anyone wishes this to happen, but - I would really appreciate it if you could ask around when you go back and see if anyone sees anything. We heard that similar things are happening all over the city…”

“Okay - I understand.” Gloria thought for a while - she was not paying too much attention to the news or the gossip on the street, she was too preoccupied with dealing with what happened at the Fuman Coffin Home and the paranormal events. Now maybe it was time to start - Elder Mu’s warning about the 15 year cycle was still on her mind, and since terrible things had a habit of happening before the actual “events”, it would make sense that the missing kids were the prelude to that.

“Hrm… do you - I mean, have you heard of anything like this in the South Eastern District?” Samantha Teith asked: “Doesn’t have to be this exact thing, it could ”

“Well - ” Gloria considered for a moment whether she should tell Samantha about the paranormal occurrences, especially the incident at the electric substation, then she decided she wanted to probe before actually explaining her experience: “Before I say anything, let me ask you this: what do you know, or think, about paranormality? Like spirits, ghosts - ”

“Stop! Stop!” Samatha immediately interjected: “I - I really don’t want to talk about this right now. And I don’t think it’s gonna help us, okay? I mean, we left - ”

Before Samantha continued to voice her displeasure with Gloria’s bringing up of this topic, the locks on the front door turned, and in came Brian Teith, with his jacket covered in wet spots.

“Oh my god, dear. What happened?” Samantha Teith stood up.

“Disagreements about how people should patrol. Things got a little heated. ” Brian Teith sighed and hugged his wife: “Kevin’s asleep?”

“I just tucked him in. ” Samantha sighed, “Gloria was just about to go.”

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” Brian Teith apologized, while taking out his wallet: “Thank you again for being here - just like before, we’ll pay you for the entire night…”

“Honey, I’ve got this. Why don’t you go and say goodnight to Kevin?” Samantha stopped her husband.

“Right, of course. Thank you again.” Brian Teith nodded at Gloria, then ran to Kevin’s bedroom.

“Alright. Thank you.” Samantha Teith took out her wallet: “Just like my husband said: thank you for coming. And - please let me know if you’ve heard anything. Just - just not that, okay? Anything else.”

“I see. I’ll ask around and will definitely let you know.” Gloria had no choice but to pull back some of her theories, not just because of Samantha's reaction to the idea of paranormality, which was not uncommon among transplants, but also because of the weariness she sensed from the Teiths.

When Gloria got to the railway station, she checked on the news on the electric substation again. There were some pieces of news, and surprisingly not a lot of them, nor was the coverage remotely detailed. She then checked on the PCPD’s official website for related information - it appeared that only very limited information was released, not even the names of those who died.