Holly tried to keep her composure as she and Higgins stared at the water-purification-plant’s manager, who looked exactly like the Gilbert they currently had locked away at the station. Seeing this man made Gilbert's story that much more impossible to ignore. Seeing him pretend to be a normal, everyday worker, gave her a cold sweat at the implications. How many other Gilbert’s were walking among humans pretending to be one of them, while dangerously being willing to do anything they were told if it meant access to the vials they needed?

  “How may I help you? Did you forget something?” Gilbert, the plant manager, asked them.

  “That’s right,” Holly said while trying to look sheepish, “I think I left a notepad here. It holds some sentimental value so I really want to find it.”

  The whirring of the water plant around them filled the silence as Gilbert stared at Holly for a long while. Now that she knew what he was, she felt he looked much less innocent than before.

  “I’m so sorry, I’ll show you to my office, where we keep the ‘lost and found’ goods. Please follow me.” Gilbert said.

  They followed behind Gilbert at a medium distance through the flat, metallic grounds of the water purification plant.

  “What’s the plan,” Officer Higgins whispered almost too quietly for Holly to hear.

  “I’m going to try and place a few hidden cameras around the water plant and the office. We need to figure out where he keeps his supply of vials. I’ll make an excuse to leave at some point and I need you to keep his attention for a while.”

  Higgins nodded and they followed in silence until they reached a stale office with no personal adornments to be found.

  “Here it is,” Gilbert said, pointing out a cardboard box slightly smaller than a coffee table in the corner. It was filled to the top with gloves, coats, and toys.

  “Thank you” Holly said as she kneeled in front of the box. While kneeling down, she pretended to use the wall for balance and stuck a small, pea-sized camera to the wall near the floor. It wasn’t the greatest angle, but it could give a decent view of the desk in the office.

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  Holly pulled out each item and made a show of inspecting it before setting it on the floor outside of the box. When she had gone through the entire box, she stood with a frustrated sigh, “It’s not here. I’m sorry to do this to you, Higgins, but can you put all of this back for me? I need to use the ladies room.”

  “It’s down the hall and to the left,” Gilbert offered.

  “Thanks, I’ll be right back.” Holly said and made her way to the restroom. On her way, she placed cameras in several spots that would be highly likely to go unnoticed. She didn’t actually need to use the restroom, but she went into it anyway to make sure she didn’t raise suspicions.

  One of the toilets was barred by crossing strands of yellow rape that read ‘out of order’. On a whim, Holly placed a camera in the ‘out-of-order’ stall. She felt a little strange about putting a camera in a restroom, but it wasn’t like anyone was going to use the stall. She promised herself that she’d remove the camera when the toilet was usable again, but her gut was telling her to keep it there.

  After an appropriate amount of time, she returned to Higgins and Gilbert waiting in Gilbert’s office.

  “Sorry to waste your time, Gilbert,” Holly said.

  “Not at all,” Gilbert said while shaking his head, “I promise I’ll keep my eyes out for the notebook. And I promise to let you know if I find any information useful to your investigation.”

  “Thank you Gilbert,” Holly said and let Gilbert lead her and Higgins out of the building.

  In the car, Higgins spoke up, “Why did we leave so quickly? Shouldn’t we take him in for questioning?”

  Higgins had a good head for these things, but this time, Holly disagreed with his judgement. She shook her head and said, “No, we can always go that route if nothing turns up, but I’m hoping that he can be of more use to us free. We already have one Gilbert to question, so this one at the water plant might be able to unknowingly lead us to the mastermind of all of this.”

  “Okay,” Higgins nodded, “But how?”

  “I managed to place a few cameras to watch Gilbert throughout the day. I’m hoping at some point, he shows us where he keeps his vials. If we can manage to steal or break that supply, then he might be desperate enough to lead us to the source of the vials.”

  “Smart, but that’s assuming he knows where the source is,” Higgins said.

  Holly nodded, “It’s assuming a lot of things, but I have a good feeling about it. Besides, we have multiple leads now. Between the Gilbert in our interrogation room, the Gilbert we are spying on, and the shape-shifting creature that keeps showing up at Kristy’s house, the case is starting to build momentum and it’s only a matter of time before one of these leads lets us find and catch the psycho behind everything.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Higgins said looking up from his phone. “Kristy just texted that Jenny has gone missing.”