The rattling of her phone shook Sato to consciousness again. To say she was awake would be overstating it, jet lag weighed heavy on her eyes and dulled her senses. She sat quietly on the small bed waiting for her eyes to come into focus. Her keen eyes were special but in situations like this they were a serious liability. Sato took a few deep breaths to keep herself calm while things sorted themselves out. 

Thick curtains over the window held back the light of the rising sun trying to burn through them. The sheet dividing the Twins’ room remained intact and Sato’s suitcase sat silently in place against the wall. 

A few minutes later she was cleaned up and changed. She hadn’t heard anything from the other side of the curtain. Either her new roommate was an extraordinarily quiet sleeper, or more likely, she had already departed. Sato took a peek around the barrier briefly confirming she was alone. 

The other bed was identical to her own, except that it had been neatly remade and near the foot of it sat an abandoned tarot deck. The cards were nearly stacked into two piles except for three of the major arcana laid out in succession. The Hermit, The Hanged Man, and The Devil sat face up on the bed. 

Sato wasn’t a believer in fortune telling or anything of the sort. Magic, she knew, was real. That was impossible to deny given her line of work and personal experience but it was always something that could be quantified and with the right tools, controlled. Sato considered the cards for longer than she would have liked to admit before making her way into the bathroom to take her morning medication. 

Making her way downstairs, she could hear a quiet conversation die as she appeared in the kitchen doorway. The smell of fresh bacon hung in the air, and not that floppy Canadian stuff, real crispy American-style bacon. 

“Good Morning!” Mrs. Rosewood greeted her warmly. The lights in the kitchen were so uncomfortably bright Sato had to resist the urge to put on her sunglasses indoors. Amanda was standing behind the kitchen counter manning the stove, while Mrs. Rosewood sat at the table with a bowl of fresh fruit in front of her. 

“Good morning” Sato twisted her face into the best smile she could manage. She could almost taste the bacon on the air, she needed it! She was suddenly reminded of her sidearm resting in it's holster. She knew she wouldn’t draw it and take the bacon at gunpoint but it was fun to imagine she would. 

“Would you like something to eat?” Mrs. Rosewood cheerfully inquired. 

Sato did her best to shroud her eagerness behind a stage worthy yawn. 

She almost teared up when Amanda set the plate down in front of her. Eggs over easy, golden hash browns, and two slices of perfectly prepared bacon, well crisped but not burned. It took all of her willpower to save the bacon for last but somehow she managed to clear everything else off before it got cold. If nothing else on this trip went right, it was worth it for this breakfast. 

Mrs. Rosewood had said something about ‘going to the gym’ and shuffled out the back while Sato was fork deep in hash browns, but Amanda had set her own plate down and joined her. 

“What brings you to the valley?” Amanda inquired between bites of scrambled egg. Sato leaned back in her seat, much too full to do anything else. “I’m here for work.” 

Amanda gave her a curious look. “What kind of work?”

“I’m an inspector.” Sato admitted stretching out a bit. She had been asleep for a long time and was feeling quite stiff in the shoulders. 

“For the paper mill?” Amanda looked surprised. “Are they thinking of reopening it?” Sato paused for a moment, considering. “...I don’t know, truthfully.”

“The town hasn’t been the same since it shut down.” Amanda grimaced. “When our girls were in school there were hundreds of kids in the valley. Now, there are only a few dozen.” 

“Did you used to work there?” Sato asked, feigning curiosity. 

“No, I’m a teacher at the preschool, but my wife did.” Amanda shuddered. “She was the foreman the night of the accident.” 

Sato’s interest was piqued. “Did she see what happened?” 

Amanda tensed up considerably. “I don’t know, but I think so. The police were questioning her for a while but… she never talked about it with me.” 

Sato nodded in a way she thought looked sympathetic. She made a mental note to look into the paper mill just in case. Amanda blinked and her worried expression melted. 

“I hope they can get it up and running again...” Amanda sighed. 

“Even after what happened?” 

Amanda pushed back her chair and stood picking up her empty plate. “Yeah, we can’t change what happened and this town is on life support without it. If it weren’t for ol’ Helen this place would probably have become even more of a ghost town.” 

Sato went with the flow rather than risk unveiling her unintended deception. She excused herself shortly and began furiously tapping into her phone as she made her way out to her rental. 

A quick internet search had turned up a few articles on the accident at the paper mill, but they contained no noteworthy details. Nothing about what happened or if anyone was hurt. She was able to determine that the Kessler family did indeed own the mill. Sato grimaced, it was sloppy for Interpol to miss such an obvious red flag. She shot an email to the research division carrying the implication of a scathing report on her return to Lyon. They had really better hope something kills her before the end of this assignment.