Miss Nobody

Chapter 7

RING RING

Afternoon Day 2

"I bought her one, yesterday." Jonny walked into the laundry room with two small to-go cups of coffee, he handed one to the Sheriff. "Still take it with a shit ton of sugar?"

The Sheriff nodded but didn't look at Jonny. "You always hide your phone in the towels?" He was suspicious. He sipped his coffee and closed his eyes briefly.

"We wanted to test the sound, in case she, you know, gets in a tight spot," Jonny was quick with an answer and took a drink, mimicking the Sheriff's movements.

"It's nice and loud, so you can find me in the dark," I said sarcastically to the two men. Hopefully, they would never have to look for me in the dark. I grabbed the phone out from under the towels and shoved it in my bra. I had no pockets in my dress and maybe it would be harder for the Sheriff to grab. A faint memory of police officers not being able to touch people's privates floated by. Or maybe I wasn't allowed to touch their privates? I couldn't remember.

"So we are in agreement that Miss Doe needs to be extra cautious?" The Sheriff looked at Jonny. They both walked closer to the long metal table I folded towels on.

"Everything is taken care of." Jonny grinned.

The Sheriff removed the lid from his coffee and threw it in the small trash bin under the table. "Miss Doe-"

"Jane is fine, Sheriff." I busied my trembling hands and folded a towel slowly, smoothing it out to steady myself.

He nodded. "I've always liked the name, Alice. They do the name changes across the hall in the station. When you're ready."

I nodded and smiled. The phone rang again and I quickly silenced it through my clothing. I tried to hold my calm composure as my insides screamed at me. You have a dead man's cell phone down your shirt. If you get caught, you are going straight to prison. The Sheriff is not going to like this. I slowly dragged in a breath through my nose. Not too forcefully, don't want them to see you panic.

"Cameras will be installed today, more security will be on the property." Jonny took a few steps toward the door, hoping the Sheriff would follow him.

The Sheriff made a sound of approval and looked at me closely. "One of these days you and I will need to have a conversation."

I nodded nervously.

"But for now, I'm just checking on my nephew, your new Chef. My sister will be glad to have Keiran close to home again." He smiled.

I nodded and smiled back, relieved. So he's not here to arrest me. Maybe I am lucky.

"Jonny taught me everything I know about fighting, maybe he should teach you some self-defense?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that could be useful." I would agree to give you my little toe right now if it meant he would leave.

Jonny laughed. "We were kids back then, hope you're a better fighter now." He put his arm around the Sheriff's shoulders and walked him to the door.

"Nah, I just have a gun to back me up now." The men's laughter was loud as they left the laundry room.

I only hid in the bathroom when they were out of sight. Calming my heartbeat as I stared into the foggy mirror. The lights flickered. I glared at them. Now is not a good time. They settled on an amber dimness. The lights around here could use some new bulbs.

I pulled a plastic glove from the cleaning supplies under the sink and put it around the phone to hold it. I took the phone out of my bra, it required a passcode. Of course, it did. I don't know why I was surprised.

A knock on the bathroom door made me nearly jump out of my skin.

"It's just me. Sheriff's gone." Jonny's voice was recognizable through the door.

I opened it, grateful to see it was only him.

He entered the small space and locked the door behind him. "Is it his?"

I nodded and handed him the phone with the glove around it.

He took the phone from my outstretched hand.

"Needs a passcode," I whispered.

He nodded. "So he comes out here to talk and stashes it between the towels?"

I shrugged. "Why?"

"I'm going to check out his rooms." He silenced the phone and put it in his back pocket. He threw the glove in the trash.

"I'm going with you."

"No. I can handle it." He brushed my hair back gently with his fingers, barely touching me. Pleasant tingles ran down my neck.

"I'm not going to let anyone else die because of me. I need to find out what happened and figure out who wants me dead. You need to stay far away from me...from this." The last thing I wanted was for anyone else to get hurt because of me, my curse.

He sighed and nodded. "Okay Darlin', we'll do this one together." He shrugged and leaned against the wall.

Damn. I didn't think Jonny could get any sexier but the nickname, with his accent. My knees weakened like my resolve to stay away from him. "That was easier than I expected." I raised my eyebrows in surprise, pretending his flirting had no effect on me. I knew I wasn't the only number in his phone and I wasn't about to be another notch on his bedpost. A man like Jonny Zantana was not in short supply of beautiful women. Tall, model-types, with angular faces and protruding hip bones. The opposite of myself.

"You'd sneak out in the middle of the night going over there, or try to go swimming." He shook his head. "Nah, something bad would happen." His voice was low, intimate, "and I would never forgive myself. I don't believe all those bullshit ghost stories but we still have bears in the woods and you were too damn close to that pond."

I nodded. I had forgotten about the bears. My toes were still cold from the pond water. After Chef's death there didn't need to be an employee found in the pond. I'm sure it would be a huge liability for Jonny. "Let's go then." I pushed past him and unlocked the door, grabbing my purple sweater on the way out of the laundry room. I felt his eyes on me as I walked in front of him into the woods. I stayed on the manicured path until it veered off into the forest close to Chef's living quarters. I lead Jonny through the thick woods, rather than through the Lodges lobby. Chef had walked this path for decades, it was well-worn but small, and only one person at a time would fit.

We stepped up to Chef's door. His rocking chair on his porch gently rocked with the light breeze, a pipe sitting in an ashtray on a small table next to it. Like he's just stepped inside for a moment.

Ormus was curled into a black ball in his hay-filled home, sleeping.

I stopped myself before I pulled the yellow caution tape down. Should've brought gloves.

Jonny put on black leather gloves and lifted the tape. He's prepared. He looked around as he waited for me to duck under. He twisted the handle and the door opened easily.

I took a deep breath before stepping inside. The room was cozy and filled with mostly books, papers, and notes. Chef had many hobbies, mostly relating to plants and food. I smiled as I smelled his familiar scent, earthy with a hint of pepper. He loved collecting rare spices or growing his own. I tried not to touch anything as I looked around.

Jonny was busy looking through paperwork, some kind of clue to a passcode. "Old people have to write shit down don't they?" He mumbled and moved quickly across the small desk.

I walked into Chef's small kitchen area. He didn't keep much food in here and we used it more like a science lab. There were a lot of things you could do with plants and Chef knew how to do it all.

A note hung on the fridge, a large label scrawled at the top. PASSWORDS. "Jonny." I nodded toward the note as he stepped up behind me.

He pulled the phone from his back pocket and dialed the numbers. One, two, three, four.

I chuckled and shook my head. "He must not keep nudes on there."

Jonny laughed and nodded. "Nothing important." He searched through the phone and I looked around. I had been in here a lot the past two weeks, gathering books or studying research materials, but I never really looked around. Too busy reading or watching Chef.

"His call logs have been cleared. Texts deleted."

I noticed Chef's collection of knives hanging neatly on a wall. One would expect them to be kitchen knives but these were sharper. More pointy and dangerous. Hunting knives, katanas, medieval swords and other sharp objects from around the world. A few of the spots were empty. The paint behind them unphased by the sunlight.

The closet door rattled and I jumped back with a gasp.

Jonny was quickly by my side, a gun drawn as we watched the door shake.

"His cat?" I opened the door slowly.

A loud screech as the cat ran out from the closet.

"Hermione. I forgot he had a cat."

Jonny looked past me into the closet.

A piece of shiny gold tinsel hung below the jackets, twisting from an unknown breeze. Jonny grabbed an armful of Chef's coats and moved them to a nearby chair. The empty space revealed a shrine of sorts. Pictures of various Goddesses stuck to the wall. I recognized a few, Kali, Mother Mary, Aphrodite, The Venus of Willendorf, amongst many I didn't recognize. "Wow."

We removed the rest of the coats hanging up and Jonny flipped a switch on the wall of the closet. The back of the closet slid to the side revealing a large bookshelf.

I pulled one of the thick tombs out. "A Wizards Guide to the Paranormal." What in the? I put it back and pulled out another one. "The Tibetan Book of the Dead."

"A Copy of The Codex Gigas," Jonny read the spine of a large book quietly in my ear, reaching over me to pull out another book.

I shuddered and put my book back. There had been an article about the Codex Gigas in an outdated magazine at the hospital. One of the largest books in history. Also known as the "Devil's Bible". What were you into, Old Man?

Jonny was right behind me looking at the books over my shoulder. His warm breath on my neck distracted me. His front pressed against my back evoked a feeling of safety. Like I could take a deep breath for the first time. Some of the tightness in my gut eased.

The closet door slammed shut as something heavy was knocked against it. The cat meowed loudly as it scampered away.

Jonny tried to push the door open but it didn't move. He pulled out his cell phone and spoke Spanish, "Ven a sacarnos, estamos encerrados en el armario del viejo." He hung up. "My nephew is on his way."

I could see his bright smile in the dim lighting of the closet. I nodded and turned back to the hidden bookshelf. "What was Chef doing?"

"Research." Jonny pulled out a thick binder. The plastic sheets filled with occult phenomena. Some old news clippings of the town, Satanism Arrives In Moonlit Mountain. The bold headline read. 1983.

Lights Seen In Sky By Hundreds of Witnesses. The next clipping. 1997.

I stared at Jonny, our faces inches from each other, his honey-gold eyes scanning over the news articles of bigfoot sightings, unexplainable noises and the towns supposed curse. I focused on his lips and licked my own. "What did your sister tell you about me?" My voice quiet in the small space. I couldn't imagine she told him the truth about my...incident.

"Not much." He closed the binder and slid it back on the shelf. "She wants me to watch out for you and-" He brushed my hair away from my face gently. "-to stay far away from you." He sighed. His touch was so soft, chills ran up my arm. "I'm not sure how to keep you safe and stay away from you," his voice low. His finger glided down my cheek, he lifted my chin slightly and leaned down. His warm lips gently brushed against mine. He paused, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

I pressed my mouth against him, closing the fraction of a distance. You're supposed to stay away from him, not bring him closer.

His hands were on either side of my face. Holding me gently as our tongues swirled. Our teeth tugged at each other's lips.

He tasted like coffee and cinnamon and the only way I ever wanted to taste coffee was from Jonny's lips. My hands wrapped around his waist under his jacket and slipped up his strong back.

He bit my bottom lip and pushed us against the wall. His weight against me was comforting and our kiss deepened. It slowed into lingering tongues and the invisible thread between us grew taught.

He was hard against my stomach and the sensation flooded me with...a memory and left me breathless.

***

The soft brush of a hand on my skin. The smell of sex, an unknown man behind me...a doorbell sounds. I'm rushing to the front door in heels. Heels so high I can barely walk. Silks and lace a blur as other women rush past me and more round the corner ahead of me. I reach the front and join the line of women just in time to see the front door open.

The woman in a nice suit, next to the door announces, "welcome to The Kitty Kat Ranch. Our beautiful Ladies will introduce themselves and you can either choose one or more-" She winks at the group of men, drawing a nervous chuckle from them. "-Or have a seat at the bar and the ladies will approach you one at a time." The hostess gestures toward the line I'm standing in.

The woman at the end closest to her speaks first, "hello, I'm Destiny Luxe."

"Hi, I'm Candy Peaches," says the petite girl next to her.

It's my turn. My heart pounds. "Hello, I'm-"