Miss Nobody

Chapter 2

JONNY ZANTANA

Morning Day 1

"OMG. I thought you were dead." Jess tossed her long blonde ponytail behind her shoulder and helped me sit up. "You don't have to drink alone, you know. Cherry and I are always down for a girl's night." She eyed the front of my vomit-stained dress.

Her tight pink sports bra and matching leggings could have been painted on.

Whenever I saw her, she was in her old-fashioned front desk uniform. Her fit, modelesque body, doubled and another wave of nausea hit me, but there was nothing left to come up and I held myself together using the breathing techniques the Psychiatrist taught me in the hospital.

Jess's latest boy toy inspected the remains of my stomach as she brushed the dirt and grass from my face and hair. His face neutral as he looked over the ground and the front of my dress. "This is not alcohol induced." He pulled a small ziplock bag from somewhere in his tiny jogging shorts and put on a latex glove.

Her boyfriend the week earlier tried to set the Lodge on fire, on purpose. I wished it was him here instead of this guy.

Jess gave him an annoyed look. "You never stop working?"

He popped open a plastic vial with a grin. "My father always said a good cop is never off duty." He scooped up some of the vomit and slid the tube into his plastic bag. "You know mushrooms are illegal in the state of California, don't you, Ma'am?" He took out a cell phone from somewhere in his jogging shorts. "I'm going to have to call this in." He walked a few feet away and lifted his phone to his ear.

"What happened to Fire-Man?" I whispered to Jess.

She rolled her eyes. "I'll take care of it." She winked at me and put a seductive pouty face on. "Arresting my friend will not get you laid." She walked toward him slowly and folded her arms under her boobs. "I thought shrooms are legal now anyway."

He hung up his phone. "They were decriminalized but not in this County. Where'd you get the Shrooms, Ma'am?"

Men didn't normally ignore a pouty Jess. He must really love his job. I sighed and looked at her. "Chef made breakfast." My throat still sore.

Jess looked at her boyfriend. "I know you're new in town but Chef cooks from these woods all the time, you've seen the awards he's won for his dishes. That's, like, the whole point, organic, forest-grown, to table or some bullshit."

He kneeled and examined more vomit. "Humans make errors all the time. Where are...Chef's whereabouts?"

Jess huffed.

I had never seen her so annoyed before. "I left him in the restaurant." Please be alive. I silently prayed to whichever god or goddess listening as Jess helped me stand.

The walk back to the hotel was short and my stomach filled with dread the closer we got. I was slow, every muscle in my body ached. I buttoned my blue sweater to cover the grossness of the front of my dress, hoping it would keep the smell down too.

The Deputy opened the heavy glass door to the back entrance of the Lodge, and Jess followed behind me. The Deputy's long strides got him ahead of me as he wound his way through the lobby to the restaurant area.

The Moonlit Mountain Lodge was a giant log cabin design with an open floor plan. A line of lush green plants strategically placed around the restaurant area gave the illusion of being separated from the rest of the lobby. The low lighting and small tables made the restaurant cozy and intimate.

The Deputy stopped short, blocking us from continuing into the dining area. He brought out his phone again and after jamming his scrubby little fingers on the screen, held it up to his cauliflowered ear. A fighter? His hands were too pristine. "We have a 10-54 at the Moonlit Lodge Property. Send 10-78 and 10-79, possibly 10-200, 10-15."

I stood on my tiptoes to see around him; Chef's booted foot was under a table. "No." I slipped around the Deputy and through the crowded tables and chairs rushing to Chef's unconscious body.

His skin was cold and his body rigid.

Jess's pink leggings blurred through my tears. "He knows what he's doing. He's been eating these same mushrooms for decades. How is this possible?"

She shrugged somberly and turned away from Chef's body. "I'm going to call Cherry," her words were hollow as she wove through the tables and lifted her phone to her ear.

A million thoughts all at once; If Chef knew what he was doing...did he want us dead? Does he want me dead? I'll be the first suspect, maybe I poisoned him? Did I identify the mushrooms correctly?

The Deputy grabbed my arms roughly, lifting me to stand, and brought my hands behind my back. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used in a court of law..."

I drowned out the officer's shrill voice as he handcuffed me and sat me in a chair out of the way but in full sight.

The hours before replayed over and over, each step assessed. Chef always double-checked everything himself. "I trust your work but one mistake with some of these plants and there won't be a second chance for correction. We must hold them in reverence and appreciate their ability to both, give and take life. Plants are powerful and so are the people who wield them."

The ache ripped a cavern in my chest and I couldn't hold back the tears as they flooded down my cheeks. My friend was gone in the blink of an eye. Is this part of my curse? Did I put him in harm's way by getting close to him? I focused on my breathing before I spiraled and let my tears fall.

The next few hours were filled with uniformed bodies in and out of the Lodge. Yellow crime scene tape was wrapped around the plants surrounding the restaurant area, brown paper evidence bags were taken out to the vehicles waiting in the parking lot, people clicked on tablets as they ambled around the Lodge and the bright flash of photos made me wince.

A body bag covered gurney was eventually wheeled out of the Lodge. Not the first person to die on these grounds, so I've heard, but the only one I cared about. The only person I considered family. My breath hitched as I exhaled, I'll never escape my curse.

The Deputy's running shoes invaded my line of vision. "Stand up, they are taking you to the station for questioning."

I did as I was told and he led me through the lobby with my hands behind my back.

A crowd had gathered in the parking lot during the hours it took to collect the evidence and remove Chef's body. A lot of excitement for a small town.

Jess comforted Cherry, sobbing over her dead grandfather and glaring at me. A small crowd huddled behind the police tape and a few news vans littered the parking lot. The news didn't need to be here, word would travel fast enough.

Thanks to Jess and Cherry I knew about everyone in town, I wouldn't be able to put a name to a face, and likely why they were so open about everything said in front of me, but gossip in a small town is like butterflies to rotted fruit. You know you don't want to go near it but the nectar is so delicious. The number of times we drank wine together after a busy day in the hotel, tending to the rich eccentric guests and their demands. Eventually, the latest small-town news would come up in conversation, prompting all the juicy details about the people involved.

"Is that the girl from the news?" Someone in the crowd asked as I was pushed to the waiting police car.

I cringed inside but hoped my face remained neutral as I kept my eyes on the ground. The picture used on the news looked nothing like me, except for the dull reddish, frizzy, hair. I thought my face was too bruised and swollen to recognize in the picture and would give me some privacy. No such luck. It didn't matter once it was said out loud. The crowd was in agreement and the excited chattering made my insides tie into knots.

And then I noticed him.

Jonny Zantana, my boss and the hottest man I had ever seen, leaned against an old black truck, at least at one point in time it may have been black.

The small vial between my boobs warmed and I flushed with the heat from it. I tried to grab it and remembered too late my hands in cuffs behind my back.

Jonny's eyebrows rose, a grin spread across his attractive face. The tattoo on his neck made him look intimidating but his smile was friendly and playful.

He's enjoying this far too much. He was covered in head-to-toe black. Black jacket. Black shirt. Black pants, black hi-tops, and a black beanie. He gestured to me with a slight nod of his head.

My stomach lurched forward with his movement like he was connected to an invisible thread deep inside me and given it a little tug. I sighed. Of course, now would be the time I see him again. I thought I was at my lowest when they found my unconscious body in a ditch six months ago. Now I'm being arrested for killing my friend and the man I can't stop thinking about is here, to see me in all my glory.

It was Jonny Zantana who picked me up from the train station two weeks ago. It was in that very truck that we sat side by side for hours driving deeper into the mountain and forest where the Moonlit Mountain Lodge was. He was charming and quick to smile. I knew immediately why his sister, my doctor, had warned me to stay away from him. He would be my boss and nothing more.

But something happened to us out on the mountain road as the sun sank behind the trees. A glowing ball of orange light, about the size of a soccer ball, appeared out of nowhere and hovered in the sky above the hood of his truck. It somehow led us off of the highway and into the forest. I remembered the weight and warmth of Jonny's arm across me in his truck. He held me down when my broken seat belt unlatched as we bounced through the rough forest.

We sat in his truck, for what felt like hours, staring at the ball until it disappeared quickly into the sky. Jonny dropped me off at the Lodge and hadn't been back since. The unexplainable experience scared the crap out of me but I felt safe under Jonny's arm as he drove us in silence back to the Lodge.

It was good he kept his distance. People I cared about didn't seem to be around for very long. Not the first time I've tried to convince myself that Jonny's lack of presence didn't bother me. I turned and watched through the back of the police car window as Jonny ducked into his truck and followed. I straightened and huffed back against the seat. He's probably going to fire me. If you don't go to jail.

I felt so lucky when my Neurologist, Mrs. Ortega set me up with a job at The Moonlit Mountain Lodge with her brother, Jonny Zantana. A job that included room and board. Only a few short weeks ago I felt blessed, like my life was looking up, like I was going to be able to move on from my accident.

Now I'm in the back of a cop car, being arrested for a man's death.

(Authors note: I am a new writer and I'm absolutely falling in love with the story I'm writing and the world I'm building. This is draft 14 and while it still needs a lot of work, it has come a long way since the first draft. I would like to have three books in this series written and I am open to constructive criticism to flesh it out more. I look forward to your helpful comments.)