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James: James knew from the first moment something was wrong. Ellen didn't usually ask for favors... and when she did, they nearly always involved their parents in some way. Switching off a holiday, taking them out for an event like to a theater or a concert. Sometimes she pestered him about presents for birthdays or Christmas, although more often than not she just went through their mother for that sort of thing as he did for her.

She never went so far as to reach out to their parents to contact him faster. She never asked him for favors around *work*. And she had never asked him plainly to use *his* work to *help* her.

Ellen tried - rather poorly, in his opinion - to disguise her needs. *"I was thinking about buying a house, and I just don't trust any of the realtors around here to pull records honestly,"* she explained, *"it's such a hot market, what with the population boom, I don't want to get a bad deal."*

Bullshit. A good honest excuse for anyone else, maybe, but a piss poor one from Ellen, whom he had to watch, on more than one occasion, defend her decision not to settle down with a house until she was married. She preferred living a tenant life, anyway, with a landlord to call if anything went wrong. She wasn't seeing anyone - James was sure he would have heard from their mother the moment she was - and she hadn't just *randomly* changed her mind.

Strange to lie about, but ultimately, not that concerning. Maybe it was for a case that she didn't want the locals peeking at. 

The *hotel* triggered immediate alarm.

He wasn't aware Seraphim Hotel *had* a branch in Snow Haven. How did that escape his notice? And *why* was Ellen interested in it?

**"No,"** he told her, flatly. **"I can get your records for this cabin, but I can't pull anything for this 'hotel' unless you're prepared to sign paperwork to become a client of the firm. An international corporation is much harder to 'look into' like you're talking without official cause or reason."**

They argued back and forth for a bit, but Ellen gave up with only a little grumbling. The cabin seemed to be more important to her, in the grand scheme.

It made him... nervous. A wiggle of concern in the back of his mind. Why an interest in Seraphim hotels, out of the blue? The one in Snow Haven, specifically? She had been too cagey for it to be simple interest... had she, or someone in their precinct, realized that there might be more to the hotel than meets the eye? A tie to criminal activity in town?

Ellen took a calculated risk in reaching out to him. Not because of any perceived suspicion on his part... but because she went through their mother to do it. It was an out of character move. If he noticed... so would Mom.

Mom pried it out of him by the end of the following week. As prolific and professional an Esper as he was, James had few defenses against his mother's tactics. He had no real reason to hide the details, anyway.

James' firm sent Ellen the paperwork they pulled for her cabin. She acknowledge receipt, but... nothing else. Worry within the Bailey household - his parents, not his, let's be clear - grew. He opted to dismiss it from the forefront of his mind... work continued on, after all, and it was a constant, underlying current of conversation whenever Mom called... which was more often than normal. 

Ellen wasn't answering her phone as much, and when she did, though she kept the conversation light and neutral, she didn't stay on long.

Strike two for suspicion.

Strike three came when two weeks became one month became two months became nearly three... and Ellen's strange behavior continued. There were no active cases being worked that would cause this (so his mother claimed). Whatever she was hiding was either not related to work, or being kept off the books. 

It frustrated their parents to no end. They didn't want a repeat of the Bear River situation. The ultimatum came down as soon as Mom decided enough was enough. 

*"You need to go to Snow Haven. Check on your sister."*

For all his protests and objections, James still found leave arranged and was shortly on a plane bound for Alaska.

It was a good thing he came.

His first order of business, after settling in at [wherever he is staying], made him an immediate visit to his sister's apartment complex. James only made perfunctory inquiries into the town and its movers and shakers before arriving - he didn't want to attract too much attention from any one entity by probing. His firm was likely already flagged, if Ellen had gotten herself into something she shouldn't have. That also meant, he couldn't be sure if she would find out he was here before he told her. Best to get it out of the way first thing.

No one answered the door when he knocked. A sensory reading showed... no one inside. James paused, brows creased, and then tapped a finger against the doorknob. It unlocked with a soft 'click', smoother than he expected - new lock? The door swung open.

It only took him fifteen minutes in total to have the whole apartment scoped, and that was because he was taking his time. He stood in the middle of the living room floor with his hands in the pockets of his slacks. Lost in thought.

There were *things* here. Signs of life. The appropriate furniture in all the rooms, clothes in the drawers, toiletries in the bathroom, non-perishables in the cabinets. There was only one problem. None of them were Ellen's.

An admirable cover up job. Enough that could fool anyone who may come poking through, to be sure. Even those that had a cursory understanding of Ellen and her habits. They likely never expected to need to fool a family member. A mistake. He would have scolded his own team for doing similar.

Ellen had been moved. Where, and why, he couldn't be sure yet. But they - or she, he had yet to ascertain whether his sister was complacent - had taken great pains and gone to great lengths to make it appear as though she hadn't been. 

He closed his eyes. Concentrated, with a furrow of brow. Then opened his eyes again, a chuckled scoff passing between his lips. He shook his head. 

The room had been magically scrubbed. Any sort of cognitive divination, or cold metaphysical reading, was impossible. The room was as blank to him now as if he had walked onto a showroom floor. That couldn't have been Ellen's doing.  

That concerned wiggle tapped at the back of his skull again. Such a strong influence of magic on the room... not a good sign. What was an unaware Human involved in, that would cause a Mage or Unicorn to work this kind of magic on the space? The magic signatures registered as faint, as well, a tell-tale sign of the age of the spell. It had been some time since this occurred. Possibly coinciding with around the time she had received the paperwork on the cabin, if he had to hazard a guess.

**"What on earth have you gotten yourself into?"** James muttered.

He stayed only a few minutes longer, doing last once-overs, then strode from the apartment. The door swung shut behind him and relocked itself with a flick of his fingers.

So... Ellen was not at her apartment. Would not be returning to the apartment. James considered while he walked back to his rental car, an inconspicuous SUV (definitely not his style) that blended in with all the other common vehicles in town. He knew she was still working, so if he wanted, he could make a call for her schedule and then drive straight over to the precinct on her next shift and check for her there. 

That... may not be the best option. If her strange behavior and spelled apartment are because of work in some way, it may cause problems for her and/or himself to waltz in there asking for her. Plus... James knew he had another option. His old contact within the mafia family of Trinity was in Snow Haven too, as he learned. And he knew his sister rekindled something of a friendship between them. If he wanted to try a less confrontational route first, Ilosti Tithiros would likely be his best bet.