Miss Nobody Ch 19

Chapter 19

EMBARAZADA

Morning Day 7

The dream faded as I grew closer to consciousness. The morning sun shone brightly through my big half-circle window. Remembering to close the curtains before I fell asleep hadn't become a habit yet.

I sat up and spotted the bags from the day before from my shopping trip with Jonny. I smiled and pulled out the dresses, laying them on my bed. I picked up my favorite, a green linen wrap dress that smelled faintly of floral laundry detergent. I changed into it, and folded up the dress that was Jonny's mom's, putting it in the suitcase. I pushed the empty suitcase under my bed. I guess I'm unpacked.

Thoughts of the vial tugged at my brain. The last place I had it was in the bathtub. I looked under the claw foot tub and spotted the small vial in the corner. I grabbed it, a nagging feeling that I needed to keep it with me. I shoved it down my bra, between my boobs, and headed downstairs to the laundry room to dig out the clothing rack from the storage closet.

I struggled to pull it out, its wheel caught on something. I gave it a hard yank and fell back with the metal bars crashing around me.

"Careful." The Sheriff rushed to my side and helped me stand. "You shouldn't be doing this kind of stuff when you're pregnant."

I stared at the Sheriff wide-eyed. I blinked a couple of times. "What?" I finally managed to squeak out.

He looked at my stomach. "The tox reports came back today." He glanced at the newly installed cameras. "It'd be best if we had this conversation in my office."

I nodded still in shock and followed him to his jeep in the parking lot.

He opened the passenger door for me to slide in. "Keiran says it's been slow around here?"

I nodded as he walked around and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Shame, this is an interesting place. It'll be rough on the town if this place ever shuts down. Hopefully it'll pick up when Chef's memorial is announced." He smiled over at me.

I nodded in agreement.

The rest of the drive to the station was silent as I contemplated how I could possibly be pregnant without having sex.

***

Officer Cathy tossed a manila folder on the Sheriff's desk. Her hair the same style, pulled back tight with two curls at her temples. Her nails were a vibrant orange with purple and white pumpkin jewels embedded into them. She nodded over to me, her blonde curls bouncing on the sides of her face. "We have an office pool going." She smiled and looked at my stomach. "Keiran Caswell or Mr. Zantana?"

The Sheriff cleared his throat. "That's highly inappropriate Cathy."

She looked at him. "So says your sixty on Mr. Zantana?"

He redenned a bit around the collar of his uniform. At least he looked guilty.

"I'm surprised Chef isn't on that list." I snorted.

Cathy raised both eyebrows in delight and rushed away from the doorway.

"You shouldn't encourage us." The Sheriff smiled at me with a tinge of embarrassment from being caught.

I shrugged. "I'm not pregnant."

He flipped open the folder. "The blood Mr. Zantana had sent over says otherwise." He looked at me pointedly.

I never had my blood drawn by Jonny's Doctor. Did he send someone else's blood? I didn't say anything hoping the Sheriff kept talking.

"Also says you're diabetic, taking blood thinners and heart medication." He looked me over again. "Whomever's blood this is, they need to see a doctor."

I stayed quiet, not wanting to throw Jonny under the bus.

The Sheriff squinted at me. "My guess is he sent over a fake vial and you had no idea."

I stayed quiet and tried not to bounce my leg nervously.

"I'll ask him myself. That's not why I wanted to talk to you." He pulled out a blue folder from under the papers all over his desk. He tapped on it. "The Chef's blood work is interesting. Looks like there was no poison in his system." He slid the open folder to me.

I leaned forward and looked at the paper. "Morchella esculenta, Morel mushroom." I looked at the Sheriff. "That's what we thought we were eating. Then why did we trip like that? How did he die?"

"Would have been nice to have your blood. We would know if you were given the same thing. Maybe he didn't trip? The report says heart attack is the cause of death."

"He called me a Demon, he was definitely seeing things that weren't there."

"A Demon?" He leaned back in his chair and stared at the lights, still flickering a rainbow of colors. "That confirms one of my theories."

"You have a theory about Demons?" I was skeptical.

He leaned forward and smiled. "Magic."

"Magic?"

"Magic and Demons."

"You think Magic and Demons killed Chef?" What kind of Sheriff was this? If I talked about Magic and Demons they would lock me up.

"Didn't you do Magic at the brothel? Your customers say amazing things happened after hiring you."

I sighed, of course he would know about that. "I did do Sex Magic at the brothel but it's not like in the movies." I shrugged. "It's like a meditation, like fucking with intention. There's no Magic smoke or...poofs." I waved my hand nonsensically in the air.

He smiled at me. "I've seen a lot of weirdness in this line of work. Most of it I can't explain and you're right, there's no colorful smoke or dancing lights-" He looked up at his red, blue, and purple fluorescent lights. "-Usually."

A small furry brown ball shot out from under a couch on the far wall. I lifted my feet with a gasp. "There's a mouse." I panicked, the fear of mice prompting me to jump onto my chair and watch the floor.

The Sheriff came around his desk and looked where I was staring. "I'm sure we don't have a mouse problem."

The brown fuzz scurried under a cabinet, almost too fast to follow.

The Sheriff sat on his desk quickly with his feet off the floor.

I stared at the cabinet across the room, praying the mouse stayed there.

The Sheriff looked at me with a smirk. "Come with me to my sister's house, there's a...thing that can detect Magic. Plus she's been wanting to meet you. She's upset with me that EVERYONE-'' He dramatized 'everyone'. "-has gotten to meet the infamous Jane Doe, before me, the Queen." He mimicked a woman's voice, I assumed was his sister's. "I added that last part."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Your sister knows about Magic too?"

His smile was friendly. "She doesn't believe in it like you and I do." He looked at me. "I never met anyone that could actually do it, just the victims or the aftermath."

We made eye contact and I could see the sadness in his eyes.

He smiled quickly, the sadness disappearing. "You can help me distract her while I find the Magic Detector."

"How?"

He shrugged. "Just be yourself. She'll find you fascinating."

I didn't know about fascinating. Quiet, invisible was more my thing.

He must have noticed the hesitation on my face. "It'll be less painful now, than if you go with Keiran and you'll be doing me a favor. I'll owe you."

I looked at him quickly. Of course, he would have heard about my...outing with Keiran. "I'm not dating Keiran. And you don't owe me anything."

He shrugged. "She'll wait until you are, complaining until he brings you over." He ignored the favor part.

I watched the corner with the mouse and pondered the lesser evil. Go to Keiran's Mother's house with him, as a "date" or the Sheriff as a case study. Neither sounded appealing but a Magic Detector? That could be useful. Was Chef's death because of Magic? And if it wasn't me that killed him, whose Magic was it? I nodded at the Sheriff.

Officer Cathy opened the door and I scrambled outside before the mouse came out from the cabinet.

The Sheriff chuckled behind me. "Meet me in my jeep."

***

"Magic itself isn't rare, per se, but the people who can do it well are few and far between." The Sheriff said as he drove us down the highway.

I shook my head, I'd never been able to talk about Magic with anyone and I didn't fully trust him. Be careful what you say to him. I stayed quiet, not knowing how to navigate this. Maybe a change of subject. "I'm not dating Keiran." I reiterated.

He laughed. "It's a small town, if you haven't, it's just not your turn yet. We're here." He wound his Jeep down the long brick driveway lined with trees. He parked behind Keiran's familiar sports car in front of the huge house, a stately log cabin design made up mostly of windows and angles. Jutting carcasses of massive polished trees with carved points, like giant spikes.

I climbed out of the jeep before the Sheriff could open my door. "It's very...sharp," I said, hoping he took it as a compliment.

He cocked his head and looked at the house. He nodded in agreement. "Interesting."

I followed him to the door and he rang the doorbell. He was a large man and blocked my view as the door opened.

"In your uniform again? Just once you couldn't dress in a nice suit? Maybe brush your hair?" A woman's voice, not unlike the one he mimicked earlier. "I have a woman here for you to meet. You can't at least look like you want to have a wife?"

The Sheriff moved aside, interrupting her speech.

She gasped when she saw me. "You brought her-" She side-eyed him with a grin. "-All is forgiven." She turned to me and clasped her hands. "My, it is so good to finally meet you." She wrapped her arms around me in a motherly hug. "I cannot wait to get to know you." She turned and guided me into her house with her arm around my shoulders.

Unlike her sharp house, she was flowy, roomy, colorful, silk, floor-length dresses with a silk scarf wrapped around her head. Her makeup was bright and cheerful, her wrinkled fingers covered in gold rings and jewels.

The Sheriff's boots thudded behind us as we walked down the long artisan stone floor.

"You must be absolutely exhausted, my dear." She led us into an opulent dining room, a large rectangular, heavy wood table in the middle of the oversized room, a few guests already seated around it. She pulled out a chair to her left and gestured for me to sit.

The Sheriff sat across from me, next to his sister and a beautiful brunette woman.

Elenora Caswell stood by her chair at the head of the table. "Everyone, this is our esteemed guest, Jane Doe."

I blushed.

"You know the gentleman next to you."

Keiran was smiling at me.

"My son, Keiran. My best friend Susan, most of you know." She gestured to a robust woman at the far end of the table. "Harriett is a good friend from out of town, she's brought her lovely daughter for a visit." The two women next to the Sheriff nodded and giggled. "And of course, my brother Bishop, whom I would normally not let sit at the table in his uniform but all is forgiven because he has brought me a wonderful gift."

The Sheriff winked at me.

Elenora sat down in her throne-like chair at the head of the table. "Let's eat, you kept us waiting long enough." She pointed her fork at her brother.

Keiran laughed beside me. "It's always nice when her attention is on someone else. Any later and she would have planned out my wedding to Cherry," his voice was low.

I laughed lightly under my hand. The atmosphere here was friendly and light. Familial. "Is that not something you want?" I whispered back to him.

"Would you want to marry Cherry?"

I suppressed my laugh, no, I wouldn't. She was still my friend though. "You should let her be with someone who does."

Susan slowly served soup.

I sat back a little knowing this would take a minute.

"I will apologize ahead of time my dear Harriett and lovely daughter Anna but I must preoccupy my time asking Jane some questions. She has yet to grace my presence and I am quite delighted to hear her story."

"If any of the rumors are true, dear Elenora, then we too would love to hear the tales." Harriett and her daughter giggled again.

The Sheriff laughed silently and winked at me.

"Delightful." Elenora put her warm hand over mine, comfortingly. "Was it quite terrifying my dear?" she asked with compassion.

"Which part?" I tentatively replied.

The women around the table laughed.

"You have lived an exciting life," Elenora said with a smile.

"If you'll excuse me." The Sheriff excused himself from the table.

Elenora nodded and turned her attention back to me. "You were...poisoned with something were you not? And survived. I hear not many survive poison mushrooms?" She looked at Keiran.

"That's true," Keiran said to the ladies at the table. "Jane is lucky to be alive." He softly touched my arm.

The women gasped and nodded, murmuring to each other about how lucky I must be.

"How was the trip, did you trip?" Elenora asked quietly.

"I guess so, it was like everything was melting." I nodded and tasted a spoonful of my soup. "This is very good," I told Elenora. Of course, I don't say anything about the man in the tophat.

"Thanks," Keiran replied. "You haven't come to the kitchens to eat yet. Haven't tasted my cooking." He smiled with his admonishment.

I blushed and continued to eat politely. Small spoonfuls, copying the demur eating of Anna across the table. She was very pretty. The Sheriff should be here, talking to her. She looked up at me and I smiled in her direction.

"Is it true that you're pregnant?" she blurted out politely and kept eating her soup.