novelraw Chapter 1244 - 682: Ghost Lake
Chapter 1244 - 682: Ghost Lake
Jimmy walked in, took out his badge, and asked a senior officer inside if he could view the village's surveillance. However, the surveillance here had broken a long time ago and was never repaired since it wasn't needed. This small village was very safe, and the road wasn't a main traffic route, so after the cameras were initially installed, they were left unchecked, and when they broke, they were just left that way.
Well, that was understandable. The surveillance camera was probably for show and had fulfilled its historical mission.
Jimmy thanked him and turned to leave the police station.
Standing outside the police station, Jimmy looked around, took out a cigarette pack, and lit one up. As he smoked, he gazed up at the sky and sighed softly. There was really nothing he could do this time. He had driven 20 to 30 kilometers from the crime scene to this small village, with intersections in between. Even if Roland was heading this way, Jimmy had no idea where he could be now.
After finishing the cigarette, Jimmy stubbed it out on the ground, got in his car, and drove away. He had gone up and down the road twice without seeing any surveillance cameras outside any stores or houses, as there was no need for them in such a small village.
Jimmy drove a bit further, found a sign, and checked his position on the map. He then turned the car around and headed back to Burlington City, planning to rest for the night before returning to New York. This quest to find Roland was a complete failure.
Vermont is relatively small and doesn't even have an FBI office. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Albany office in New York State. Relatively speaking, it is quite safe here, with a crime rate considered low to middle on the national scale, with over 2,400 crimes per 100,000 people in 2019. Hence, the FBI only maintains a small local office here, with just a few people on duty, making it rather inconvenient for Jimmy to investigate anything.
Strictly speaking, Jimmy shouldn't be here under normal circumstances, so he decided to stay quietly for the night without causing any more trouble for himself.
However, when he checked into the hotel and called Nia, there was no answer, making Jimmy feel uneasy.
The night before last, when they last made contact, Nia and the others had already reached Newport City, in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which was their destination for a summer vacation. (Rhode Island's official name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It is generally referred to as Rhode Island. On June 22, 2020, Governor Gina Raimondo signed an executive order to remove the word "Plantations" from the state's name in official communications. However, multiple public votes failed to change the state name officially.)
After making several calls with no answer, Jimmy panicked. What was going on?
Jimmy called Kevin and found out that Nia hadn't called home for days. He immediately booked a flight to Providence, Rhode Island, as Newport City had no airport. The fastest way to get there was to fly to Providence and then rent a car to drive to Newport City. Regardless of what was happening with Nia, he needed to get there as soon as possible.
That night, Jimmy slept restlessly, waking up periodically. In the morning, he still hadn't received a call from Nia.
Jimmy checked out of the hotel, hurried to the airport, returned the car, and boarded the plane with his gun using his FBI credentials. He had informed the flight crew in advance, so he was one of the first to board the plane. He kept an eye on the boarding passengers, and as the plane took off without any incident, he finally relaxed a bit.
Rhode Island is very small. After renting a car from Providence Airport, Jimmy didn't linger but immediately confirmed the route on a map and drove to Newport City.
Nia and the others had contacted the local police using the official NYPD name, so when Jimmy arrived, he went straight to Newport Police Headquarters. After showing his credentials at the front desk, a sergeant came to meet him.
Sergeant Porter shook hands with Jimmy and said, "I'm Sergeant David Porter. How can I assist you?"
Jimmy: "FBI Senior Agent Jimmy Yang from the New York Manhattan office. I'm here looking for the three NYPD detectives who came here. I'm Detective Nia Young's husband."
Sergeant Porter looked surprised at Jimmy. They hadn't informed the NYPD yet, how could they have gotten here so quickly? "Pleasure to meet you, Agent Yang. Sorry, I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly. Please come with me; Detective Young and the others are currently in the hospital. I'll take you there."
Jimmy: "What? The hospital? What happened to them? Is Nia okay?"
Sergeant Porter shook his head with a frown: "We're not sure yet. The doctors haven't concluded anything. The three are currently in a coma but are not in any immediate danger."
Jimmy's mind went blank. He had sensed something was wrong when he couldn't reach Nia yesterday, and finding them in the hospital complicated things further.
At the hospital, Jimmy saw Nia in the patient room. She looked uninjured, just asleep on the bed.
Jimmy: "Doctor, how are they doing?"
A middle-aged doctor accompanying Jimmy and Sergeant Porter replied, "There's still no conclusion. We've conducted comprehensive examinations since they were brought in yesterday afternoon. Physiologically, they're normal, just in a comatose state resembling a vegetative condition. However, unlike typical vegetative states, their brain waves show normal activity, resembling a dreaming state."
Jimmy: "Are all three exhibiting the same symptoms?"
Doctor: "Yes, all the same, no external injuries. We're unsure of what really happened to them; we can only wait for them to wake up on their own."
Jimmy grabbed Nia's hand, her ring still on her finger. Jimmy, not a priest himself, couldn't see the energy within the ring through Heart Eye Vision. Their condition genuinely resembled a supernatural encounter, yet the doctors had no clue about it.
Jimmy turned to Sergeant Porter, "Sergeant Porter, I want to know what exactly happened to them? What did they do after arriving here?"
Sergeant Porter turned and asked the doctor to give them some privacy. Once the doctor left, he spoke to Jimmy: "Detective Young and the others arrived at Newport Police Station four days ago. We collaborated with Detective Young to check flight info and verify the identities of three students, and eventually determined their last accommodation, before investigating their whereabouts afterward.
Due to insufficient surveillance coverage, their location was lost after they left the city center. Based on previous investigation clues, we speculated they might be exploring the suburbs. Later, we assigned an officer to accompany Detective Young to a few notable expedition sites nearby.
At Ghost Lake, they found some rundown tents and belongings. The officer brought them back for inspection, while Detective Young and the others stayed to investigate by the lake. By the time the officer returned, they were gone. We later found the three near the lake, already comatose."
Jimmy: "You mentioned Ghost Lake?"
Sergeant Porter: "Yes, originally called Strange Lake. Decades ago, someone claimed to have seen ghosts there, sparking a ghost-hunting craze that eventually faded away. People just started calling it Ghost Lake, and the original name was forgotten.
The three university students somehow got wind of the lake's story and asked some locals at their hotel about it, presumably headed there afterward. The tents and belongings we found by the lake were likely theirs."
Jimmy: "Why hadn't anyone discovered their tents before?"
Sergeant Porter: "Sorry, it's a rather remote area, and locals aren't interested, so no one usually goes there. If it weren't for information from the hotel, we wouldn't expect anyone from outside to come just to see that lake."
Jimmy looked at the comatose Nia, quietly cursing under his breath. This situation was troublesome, and he hoped Nia and the others would be okay.
Ghost Lake — the name alone sounded ominous. Who in their right mind would want to explore such a place? Now, Nia and the others were dragged into this mess. Jimmy needed to find a way to bring them back, but he was entirely unfamiliar with this kind of situation and had no idea where to start.
Seeking external assistance was now his only option.