Hook's Daughter

Miner's Day Fair

Disclaimer: rights to ABC and Odette Beane.

Oh my hemmings it has been forever since I posted because I was at the beach. I'm so, so sorry and I am going to update again VERY soon! Thank you for all the votes! It makes my day when you guys comment:) Thanks, babes! xx

Do you guys remember Leroy and Astrid? They were really cute, I always wonder why we don't see her anymore...??

Emma and I did the only she we could think to do: organize a manhunt. What seemed like the whole town showed up the morning after Kathryn Nolan disappeared, and they combed the woods, thirty-wide, hoping to find any sign of her. David was there, as was Mary Margaret, but they stayed far away from each other. I was distressed to overhear hushed muttering from so many of the citizens. Why was it that Mary Margaret was taking the brunt of the hit to her reputation, while nobody seemed to care that David-the man-had willingly participated in the same affair?
I wasn't surprised, but I didn't like it. Both of them had made mistakes, but Mary Margaret was the one who was suffering.
The manhunt turned up nothing. We had gotten nowhere with the search. Until the morning that Sidney Glass, the former editor of the town newspaper and Emma's old challenger for the badge, showed up in the office with a piece of interesting information.
I knew that Sidney had been fired by Regina after the storm, but I didn't know why, and in truth, I didn't want to know the details. I suspected it had something to do about the failed campaign for sheriff, but I also suspected there was something more than that. The man had always put me off. Not just because of the campaign, but because of his sleezy articles and knack for intruding in private areas. Since he had been fired, though, Sidney had been spending a lot of time drinking at Granny's and at the Rabbit Hole. Emma had been forced to "escort" him home one night after finding him drunk and raving in the middle of Main Street at midnight. He'd gone down a rabbit hole of his own, apparently, which was why she was so skeptical when Sidney came to the office with a manila envelope, claiming to have David's real phone records.
"As opposed to what?" Emma asked, "his fake records?"
"That's right," Sidney replied, "the ones you have are falsified."
He handed her the envelope.
"These are the real phone records."
"You're telling me that the police have the wrong records," I said, "and you, the former newspaper editor, have the right records?"
"That's right."
Emma took it and looked at the paper inside. I looked at it over her shoulder. It resembled the official records I had gotten from the phone company, but there was one telling difference: Glass' version showed an eight-minute call between David and Kathryn an hour after Kathryn had last been seen.
I tried to think it through.
Had Sidney manufactured these? If so, to what end? And what was the other possibility? That we had, in fact, been given falsified records from the phone company? If that were true, who had done it, and why?
"Why would you expect me to take this one as the real version and the other one as false?" Emma asked.
"Because I don't have an agenda," Sidney said.
Sure you don't, I thought.
The problem was, when I went down to the phone company myself to straighten out the mix-up, I discovered that Sidney's records were accurate, and the original copy we had received--through the Mayor's office--was incorrect. That was the difference. The original records had gone through Regina's office. And they had changed on their way through.
When I told Emma, she asked around to see how a thing could have happened, but they couldn't explain it and neither could Regina's office.
Sidney had come to us with good information. That was interesting. And for whatever reason, it looked as though Regina was trying to push us away from David as a suspect.
Emma liked David, but she had no choice but to bring him in for questioning. It was her civil duty to follow any trails she found, and David was definitely a big trail. So on the night of the Miners Day Fair, when most of the town was distracted, Emma was going to bring David in and ask him some questions.
Emma told me she could take care of it herself, and I went to the Fair. It was a tradition for the nuns to sell candles at the Fair so they would be able to pay their rent. They made just enough candles to get them by, and if they did not sell the candles, they would not be able to give the rent to Mr. Gold. Mary Margaret and Leroy were at one table, and it was obvious no one was buying their candles.
The other nuns and volunteers had almost already cleared off all their tables, and some tables were being restocked. Charli was working at one of the tables.
"Hey," I said, "how's candle busines."
Charli looked up from getting candles off the ground, "Hey! It's crazy, I never would have thought people would buy so many candles. I guess this kind of brings the town together, yeah?"
"Yeah, makes the folk feel like they are doing something more."
"Its really pretty when all of them are holding them at dark, though. Have you ever seen it before?"
"Nope, this is my first Miners Day Fair."
Charli smiled, "You'll love it! Its beautiful."
"Looking forward to it," I said, returning the smile. "Do you want some help with the table."
"I'd love some," she said, "you can take the money and I'll make sure they get the size they ask for!"
I nodded, "Okay."

The Fair was honestly pretty boring. Nothing happened until the power was cut off. Than all the candles were sold quickly, and soon everyone there had a candle. After Charli's and my table had been sold out, I wandered away. Mary Margaret was smiling as she handed candles to buyers.
"Sales going well?" I asked her.
"Yeah," she smiled, "all thanks to Leroy!"
I raised an eyebrow, "What did Leroy do?"
"Oh," she said, "right. Don't tell anyone, but he might have had something to do with the power outage so we could sell more candles."
"Oh? Clever, very clever. I won't tell anyone."
Mary Margaret smiled, "Thanks, I really don't need anything else bad on my name right now with Kathryn missing and all." She lowered her voice, "some people think I killed her! I would never, ever do that!"
"Don't be worried about it too much, I believe you and so does Emma, and since we are the law around here, I wouldn't be worried."
"Right, thanks."

I headed back to the station. David was coming out as I went in.
"He didn't look terrible devastated," I said, "did it go good?"
"As good as it can go when you're talking about your wife's disappearance."
"True."
Regina came into the office.
"What's new with the investigation?" She asked.
Emma raised an eyebrow, probably surprised Regina was not here just to yell at her.
"Nothing new," Emma said, "I'm sorry to say."
"Why did you have David Nolan in?" Regina asked.
"Were you staking out the station, Regina?"
"I saw him come out," she said, and shrugged. "And now I want to know what you're thinking. It's the chain of command and I'm within my rights."
I shook my head. Regina knew everything that went on in the town. It was inhuman.
"I was asking him about the phone records. He apparently--"
"Pocket-dialed Kathryn the night she left, yes," she said, nodding, "I was informed of the erroneous record."
"That's a bit of a leap," I said, "but I'm not coming to any conclusions."
"Ms. Jones, please. He had nothing to do with it."
Interesting, I thought, Regina pulling for David.
"And you're so sure because..." I asked.
"Because I know him. And I know this town. Perhaps you have an advantage as an outsider, as someone who can see things anew, but I've been mayor here for a long time and I have a scene for these things."
I didn't like how adamant Regina was.
Regina stood. "The point is that I'd like to more urgency coming out of this office. Perhaps a little more creativity. What about this new stranger in town? What about carjackers? What about Gold? Have you talked to him? I want you to find my friend. It's as though you haven't even looked."
"We all want to find her, Regina," Emma said, "just be patient. I'm good at finding people. Sometimes it's tricky."

You guys like it so far? I'm really excited to get Hook here soon! We are more than halfway through the first season so it'll be pretty soon! Love you, babes! xx