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Quinn hadn't been exaggerating when she told Hayden she'd only gotten one A in high school. She hadn't been much of a student, bringing home a steady diet of Bs and Cs with the occasional D thrown in. The only reason she'd done so well on that one history paper was because she'd been hideously fascinated by the subject, and she'd taken that fascination and put it to good use. She wasn't much for book-learning, but if she got interested in something, she could really apply herself.
At first she asked around with some of the locals about what she and the Watcher had discussed, keeping why she was asking tightly under wraps. The situation was bad enough; starting a panic wouldn't help. And she could tell that they seemed genuinely interested in answering her questions, since she'd been working in Kael's shop for long enough that they recognized her. But they couldn't provide much information due to the level of secrecy she was trying to maintain, so she decided to try something else.
She spent part of one day at the local library, and when she came up mostly empty again she asked around and got directions up to the county seat. The next day, she drove up to the county courthouse and cited a non-existent project she needed to do for a college class she was taking. The middle-aged clerk led her back to the two computers they had on hand and booted one up for her, then went back to her desk. Quinn decided to take the easy route and try a Google search, see what that came up with.
It turned out that there were several areas across the state that could house prisoners without too much chance of being noticed, but once she started narrowing it down things got a little easier. Weather conditions, distance from civilization, number of outbuildings, landmarks, geographical limitations that might hinder escape, all of it went into the search. Eventually she managed to weed out some of the less likely candidates, sitting in the same spot all morning and into the afternoon, stopping at some point to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich before getting back to her research.
She ended up printing out most of the information she ended up with, then put the papers into a manilla envelope she'd brought along for the purpose. When she got home, she'd go through this stuff and narrow it down even more, then give it to Hayden and let him pore over it. She was just relieved to be doing something useful, something that would help.
The redhead thanked the clerk politely on her way out, the envelope tucked carefully under her arm. They were getting closer to solving this thing, even if it was only by baby steps. Her friends were going to come home soon, and those demons would get totalled. She'd help make sure of it.
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