I've Given All I Can, But We're Still On The Payroll

The timeline, as I understand it, culled from rumor and police questioning.  Early last week was the last time Dr. Ellison was seen.  Apparently Michael's been missing since that Wednesday.  Thursday morning, Dr. Ellison's head was discovered in the woods.  By the time I was questioned, they'd found the rest of him, more or less.  I guessed from his research that it might be the Empty City.  This isn't the City.  Nobody finds a body if the City gets you.  I've been dismissing shadows as paranoia...but what if it's the Nightlanders, crawling around the hallways?  Escaping from the Doors that his research opened?

But they terrorize.  They punish.  They may break someone's neck in anger, for disobedience, but I've never heard of the shadow men ripping someone apart.  And what the hell is up with the fire?  Are they really trying to conceal Dr. Ellison's work?  Was it dangerous to them, somehow?  Are they some kind of puppets of the City itself?  

And speaking of concealment...no news on the dismembered body, at all.  It's a fire and a mysterious disappearance.  Might be the Panopticon at work...but nobody seems to even want to talk about what happened, or speculate.  It's actually starting to remind me of how people react when I ask them about the murder last year.

And if that's the connection, what the unholy fuck does Tall, Dapper, and Dangerous have to do with any of it?