Lucy
Lucy Baez was up early for her morning jog around the park. The sun was already rising as Lucy finished her third lap around the park. She was making her way out of the park and home when she noticed a police cruiser speeding down the street.
Lucy stopped as she watched the police cruiser continue down the street. She looked at her watch and it was five minutes before 5am. "What could be the hurry this early in the morning?"
Lucy heard the cracking of sticks from behind and turned around to find Sheriff Lawrence climbing out of the woods. His clothes were in tatters and he was barefoot. She noted he had a worried look on his face. "Larry," she called. "Are you alright?"
Sheriff Lawrence was clearly caught by surprise when he saw her. "Lucy," he said in a somber voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," she said as she approached him. "You look like you got into a fight."
Sheriff Lawrence looked down at his clothes. "Yeah, I promise it's nothing like that. Just had a bit of a rough fall." He couldn't hide his concerned look as he tried to look away from Lucy.
"What were you doing in the woods anyways?" asked Lucy.
"I was meditating," answered Lawrence as he began to regain his composure. "It's something I do every once in a while. As you can see, it didn't go very well."
"I have to say, that's not a good look for you," she said with a slight laugh.
"Why are you up at this time of day?"
"Morning jog," answered Lucy. "I do this at least three times a week."
Sheriff Lawrence looked into the distance. "Was it my imagination or did I hear a police siren pass by?"
"No, you did hear right. I think it was your deputy. You think everything is alright?"
"I hope so," said Lawrence as he made to walk away. "But I have a bad feeling. We'll catch up later. I promise."
"Take care, Larry. I hope everything is alright." Lucy stayed behind as Lawrence made his way to his house and she watched.
****
Lucy got home and took a quick shower. She got dressed and went to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast. She could hear her daughter walking upstairs. Lucy put a plate of scrambled eggs on the table as she held a piece of toast in her mouth.
She pulled the toast out of her mouth. "Dori," she called. "Your food is on the table. I'm going out early today. I'll see you after school."
"Where are you going?" yelled Doramis from the bathroom.
"Going to see the sheriff," yelled back Lucy as she made her way to the door and grabbed her keys.
"Is it about work?"
"Just going to see how he's doing."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"No sweety. Just checking on a friend. I'll see you later. Have a good day at school. Bye."
"Bye mom," yelled Doramis as Lucy closed the door.
Lucy used her key to open the car while taking a bite of her toast from her other hand. She drove off and went to Sheriff Lawrence's house. She saw that his vehicle wasn't in his driveway and she continued down the street.
Lucy drove in the direction the police cruiser had gone earlier that morning. She was beginning to have a bad feeling as she searched for the police. The town was small so it only took her about five minutes to find the police vehicles.
The Sheriff's vehicle and the police cruiser were blocking an alleyway as Lucy parked a couple of feet away from them. Lucy's bad feeling doubled when she got out of the vehicle. She looked at her watch and it was fifteen minutes from 7am. Her daughter must have been getting out of the house at that moment.
Lucy slowly approached the alleyway as the two policemen came into view. One of them was Lawrence who had his arms up on his head. His face was distraught. She noticed Deputy Roberto Tirado was talking on the phone a couple of feet away from the sheriff.
They hadn't noticed her as she approached. Deputy Tirado hung up the phone. "They're on their way," he told Sheriff Lawrence, then noticed Lucy. "You cannot be here," he scolded.
Lawrence turned around. "Lucy," he said in a low voice. "You shouldn't be here?"
"What happened?" she asked as she tried to look over them. Deputy Tirado purposely blocked her sight.
"Go home Lucy," said Sheriff Lawrence. "You don't want to see this."
Lucy sneaked around them and wished she didn't as she quickly turned away.
"Damn it Lucy," said Deputy Tirdao as he grabbed her by the shoulders. She shrugged him off and took a couple of steps away. "We told you not to look."
"Who was she?" asked Lucy.
"We don't know yet," he answered. "It's too hard to tell."
"I think it might be Ivy," said Sheriff Lawrence.
Lucy grabbed her chest.
"Boss," whispered Deputy Tirado. "We shouldn't be telling her anything."
"Everyone is going to know before the end of the day," said Sheriff Lawrence.
"You think it's Ivy," said Lucy as she did her best to regain her composure. "Meaning you don't know for sure." She went over to the body as Deputy Tirado tried to stop her. She took a good look at the body as he tried to pull her away.
Lucy took everything in. The body was covered in slash marks and there were pieces of her missing. Lucy's stomach turned as Deputy Tirado succeeded in turning her away. Lucy did her best not to throw up as Sheriff Lawrence went to her and rubbed her back. Lucy found herself crying.
"Just breath," whispered Lawrence as he rubbed her back.
"That is Ivy," managed to say Lucy.
"We're not sure about that," said Deputy Tirado as he covered the body with a towel he pulled from his vehicle.
"No," said Lucy. "I know it's her. I saw her last night at her tavern. She was wearing those exact clothes."
Sheriff Lawrence gave her a nod while Deputy Tirado stood over the covered body. The three of them stood there in silence for a couple of minutes when they heard sirens coming their way.
"Finally," said Deputy Tirado as he went to meet the newcomers.
"You should go," Sheriff Lawrence said to Lucy. "You're not supposed to be here."
"What do you think did that?" asked Lucy.
"I don't know, but it must have been some sort of animal."
"What kind of animal can do that and how didn't anyone notice? She must have screamed. How didn't anyone hear her?"
"I don't know, sweety, but you need to go. We'll talk later. I don't want the rest of the force to see you here."
Lucy gave him a nod and left without another word, but not before taking another look at Ivy's body.
****
Lucy was about to drive home when she decided to make an u-turn instead. Luckily there was no one else in the street to witness the lack of respect for traffic laws. She raced to the Ivy Tavern and got there within five minutes. She was relieved to see the police weren't there yet and parked the car out front.
She got out of the vehicle and found the front door unlocked. She entered the tavern and didn't see anything amiss. She made her way to the bar and looked behind it. There was no sign of a struggle anywhere.
Lucy sat at the bar as she remembered Ivy serving her drinks just last night. She found herself getting emotional as she reached and grabbed a bottle of rum from behind the bar. She then grabbed one shot glass and poured herself a drink.
Lucy was about to take the shot when she heard creaks upstairs. She put the shot glass back down and grabbed a hold of the rum bottle by the neck. She held the bottle tight as she moved to the back side of the bar and went to the backdoor.
She could still hear the creaking from above as she went up the stairs. She was up to the apartment door as she listened to the movement inside. She put a hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it. She pushed the door open and to her surprise, she found a woman wearing a tank top and her underwear. Lucy noticed the woman was also surprised to see her.
"You're not Ivy," said Jordana.
"Who are you?" asked Lucy as she held the bottle of rum tightly.
"Hi. I'm Jordana. I didn't know Ivy was expecting anyone."
Lucy was still suspicious and she stared at the woman she had never seen before.
"I'm going to get dressed real quick," said Jordana. "I'll be right back."
"Wait," said Lucy.
"Huh," said Jordana who had her back turned to Lucy. "You don't want me to get dressed?"
"No," said Lucy, turning away. "Go get dressed."
Jordana left while Lucy entered the apartment. Lucy looked around for any signs of a struggle or anything wrong, but couldn't find anything obvious. It didn't take long for Jordana to return and suddenly Lucy remembered where she had seen her before.
"You're the new girl in town," said Lucy.
"What gave it away," said Jordana, sarcastically.
"I remember your outfit from yesterday. What are you doing here?"
"Ivy let me stay the night as for the outfit, I kinda ended up stranded and didn't have a change of clothes."
"So you're a friend of Ivy's?"
"New friend. We met yesterday, but we became quick friends. Who are you by the way?"
"I'm Lucy. I was a friend of Ivy's."
"So you're no longer friends?"
Lucy realized she messed up but had to think quickly on how to fix this. "Is she home? I would like to talk to her."
"Most likely. She had a long night. Probably still sleeping." Jordana walked to the end of the hall and towards Ivy's door while Lucy followed. Lucy observed her carefully as Jordana knocked on the door. "Hey Ivy," called Jordana. "You have a visitor here." There was no answer so Jordana knocked again. "Ivvvvy."
"That's enough," said Lucy.
"She's one hell of a deep sleeper."
"You said you met Ivy yesterday?"
"I did. She's awesome. I had no place to stay and she offered me a room."
"Yeah, Ivy was… I mean she is awesome. How did you end up here anyways?"
It was Jordana's turn to observe Lucy carefully. "I'm surprised you don't know already. I'm told this is a small town and everyone knows everything."
"That's true, but I try not to listen to gossip."
"You said your name is Lucy."
"Correct."
"Have I seen you before?"
"Maybe," said Lucy. "I was at the tavern last night."
"You were the one playing some board game in the corner of the tavern."
"Chess," said Lucy. "I'm sorry, I didn't remember you. I was focused on my game."
"I just realized who you are," said Jordana. "Your full name is Lucy Baez."
"How do you know my full name?"
"Ivy told me. I asked her about the history of this little town and she told me the names of the three oldest families. You being one of them."
"Why did you want to know about that?"
"Just a bit of history buff. Do you want me to try to wake her again?" asked Jordana as she pointed at Ivy's door.
"No, that's okay. I should get going. It was nice meeting you, Jordana," said Lucy.
"Likewise," said Jordana. "I'll see you around."
Lucy gave her a nod as she left the apartment. She went back downstairs and entered the empty tavern. She was about to leave when she looked at the shot glass she put on the bar earlier. She went behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila instead. She poured a shot and quickly drank it. Lucy made a face as she held the bottle of tequila to her chest. She poured another shot and raised it.
"To you, Ivy," she said. "One of the best people I've ever met." She drank the second shot and left the bottle at the bar.
Lucy went outside and got in her vehicle. She stared at the tavern as she pulled out her cellphone. She made a phone call and put the cell up to her ear. "Hey Larry, you should know Ivy has a new roommate at her place. I don't think she knows about Ivy yet, but you should probably question her."
"Who's the roommate?" asked Sheriff Lawrence.
"It's the new girl in town."
"Jordana."
"You've met her?"
"I have. I'm surprised she's still in town. How did she end up at Ivy's apartment?"
"Apparently they hit it off last night and Ivy offered her a place to stay. You know how Ivy was. She made quick friends."
"Thank you for letting me know," said Sheriff Lawrence. "Sadly we're going to have to kick her out. Her apartment is going to be considered a crime scene and we can't have anyone contaminating it."
"This whole shit is just sad," said Lucy.
There was silence on the other side of the phone as Sheriff Lawrence took a deep breath. "I know, and I bet everyone will learn about this soon. I recommend you talk to your daughter if you don't want someone else breaking the news to her."
"I think I will. Thank you for the heads up."
"Likewise. I'll send an officer to take the new girl in. Good luck with your daughter."
Lucy hung up the phone and shoved it into her pants. She turned her car on and drove off, looking at Ivy's Tavern from her rear-view mirror.
Lucy slammed on her breaks as someone jumped out of the way of her vehicle. "Oh my God," said Lucy as she held onto the steering wheel. The person she almost hit wasn't in view since they jumped.
She got out of her vehicle and went around to find Mattias on the floor. "Oh my God, Mattias. Are you okay?" Lucy went to Mattias who stood up on his own.
"Oww," said Mattias as he cleaned himself. "What were you doing?"
"Sorry, I got a little distracted. Did I hit you?"
"No, you just missed me."
"Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"No, no. I'm fine. I have to go."
"Are you sure?" asked Lucy as Mattias rushed off.
"I'm fine," called out Mattias. "Just pay attention to the road when you're driving."
"I will," said Lucy mostly to herself as she watched Mattias go inside his house.
****
Lucy waited at the entrance of Pietrofalls High School as her daughter approached. "What are you doing here, mom?" asked Doramis.
"What?" said Lucy, hiding how she felt with a smile. "A mother can't pick up her daughter early from school to play hooky?"
"Who do you think you're kidding?"
"Let's just go," said Lucy.
Doramis followed her mom as they left the school. They walked in silence until they got inside of Lucy's car. Doramis put her seat belt on. "Is there something wrong? Did something happen?"
Lucy hesitated to turn her car on. "I'm sorry Dori. This isn't easy."
"What is it, mom? You're scaring me."
"Sweety, Ivy passed away last night."
"What?" said Doramis as she almost jumped out of her seat but then calmed down. "How?"
"We don't know yet."
"Were you with her?"
"No," said Lucy, confused. "Why would you say that?"
"Weren't you at her place last night?"
"Oh," said Lucy. "I was there last night, but Ivy was okay last time I saw her."
"How did she die?"
"I don't know. The police don't know either."
"Was she murdered?"
Lucy turned the car on and drove off. "We don't know, but it looked like it might have been an animal attack."
"You saw her body?"
"Yes, but I don't want to remember that."
Doramis was about to reach out to her mother, but pulled her hand back. "Alright. Are the police going to need your help with this?"
"Not if it was an animal attack."
"But if it wasn't an animal attack, the police are going to need your help."
"If it wasn't an animal attack, God help us with whatever monster did that to Ivy."
"That bad, huh?"
"Worst thing I've ever seen," said Lucy.
"Who knows about her death?"
"Only the police and now us. I suspect Molly will find out next and she'll let us know what killed Ivy."
Doramis could tell her mother was hurting. "I'm sorry mom," said Doramis, putting a hand on her mother's shoulder. Lucy grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "What are we going to do now?"
"Why don't we just order some food and watch a movie. How does that sound to you?"
"Sounds nice."