I turned and pointed myself back at Torrain, opened a portal, and stepped into Carrie's office that I had entered from the rooftop before. The woman was working at her desk and looked up at me with surprise as the portal closed behind me.
"I am surprised to see you back tonight? I thought that you would not have been coming by so late, or does this mean you have come to have your way with me for the night? I know that I have been bad, and I deserve this, but please be gentle with me!" Carrie said before starting to stand up with a grin, but I raised my hands quickly.
"No, no, that is not what this is about at all; I have come looking for information on Hilda. Did you find any information for me?" I asked with a serious tone, and Carrie's face dropped as she sat back down. "As far as I could tell, the Richmers don't seem to know anything, nor do they seem like they would have taken her, but I didn't really get a chance to talk to Sabrina. She seemed pretty broken up over Hilda going missing."
Carrie nodded as she put her hand on her chin, tapping it with a finger. "I did, however, find something interesting about the Wood family. It seems that after Hilda went missing, their daughter was seen talking to a few shady characters in the back alleys of Torrain. I am not sure who they are, but it seems odd for someone like her to be doing those kinds of things."
I sighed; this was almost too easy. "Thank you for all your help, Carrie, but keep digging. If you are so eager to be... punished or rewarded, it's hard to tell with you, then I expect a lot more than this the next time that I stop by. Who is the daughter that I am looking for, and what is the name of the mother that heads the Wood family?"
Carrie shook her head before starting to look around her office and then walking over to a file cabinet. She pulled out a thick folder and flipped through it quickly before tapping one section with a fingernail.
"The Wood family is led by Mother Willow, who is basically the ruler of Torrain, or at least that's how she acts, even though I am. Just watch out for her," Carrie said, and I rolled my eyes. This was the warning that I got when going to meet every one of these Mothers, but most of them seemed to need to be treated the right way.
"The daughter's name is Jana, and she is usually seen around the back alleys at night. You can usually spot her by her yellow dress. Just be careful when you are talking to her; she isn't as harmless as other people make it seem," Carrie said before handing me the folder with all of the Wood family information inside.
I scanned through it quickly, but most of it was just building permits and other work-related things, so I handed it back to Carrie. Not that I really expected much incriminating evidence to be left in a city hall file.
"I will see you tomorrow? For our reward and punishment session?" Carrie asked in a half-seductive and half-serious tone that made me chuckle.
"We will see; until then," I waved as I stepped back and opened a portal. My mind was buzzing again with possibilities on how to track down Hilda's kidnappers, but something about this made me feel like I was going to be spinning my wheels again.
I stepped back out on the roof with the portal closing, and then I looked to the west until I spotted what I would consider the second-largest building in the city. From what file pictures had shown, that large dark blue manor was the Wood family's home. Zooming in, I got a better look at the place before opening another portal to the roof.
After walking through, I opened a final portal to the ground and then walked to the front door of the large and beautifully crafted mansion and knocked on the door.
Just as I expected, a small girl opened the door and looked up with wide eyes. This was Trinity, from what the file had said. She was a lower-ranked house member in charge of house duties, along with a few others, but most of their family was in the business of contractors for different types of construction over the city. At least I was able to get names while I read the files, and a bit about each of them, even though there was very little.
"You are a lot bigger than I expected," Trinity said, looking up at me with big eyes. She was even shorter than Gilda, and it was hard to believe that she was a full-grown woman, but the file said she was fully human.
"It is nice to meet you, Trinity. Is your mother home? I was hoping that I could get to speak to her for a moment," I said with a friendly smile, and the girl blushed slightly and then nodded before gesturing that I should step inside.
The inside of the house was even more impressive than it looked from the outside; marble everywhere, grand furniture, and large paintings. I could hear the other family members coming and going through the house, but it seemed like no one was paying any attention to me as Trinity guided me to a small sitting room on the second floor.
"Please wait here for a moment," she said before walking off, leaving me alone in my thoughts for a few minutes until, finally, I heard someone walking down the hallway.
The woman stopped in front of me and looked up with a serious expression before introducing herself. This had to be Mother Willow; she looked nothing like her daughter or any of her other children, for that matter, but that was expected at this point.
"You are the one that everyone has been talking about in my city?" The woman asked me, and I shrugged. That was a pretty strange question.
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