Beautiful Demons

18. Is That You?

Ellis drove me home in his squad car. This time, I got to ride up front.

"How you hangin' in there?" he asked. "Seems like they kinda gave you a rough time in there."

I sank deeper in my seat. "I guess I'm alright." I didn't really want to talk about it with this guy.

"They can be kind of rough on me too," he said.

I figured he was just trying to make me feel better, but when I looked over at him, I could see honesty in his face. The older man had been kind of mean to him when he dropped those pencils. Maybe he knew what it felt like to never have anyone take you seriously.

"What's with the sheriff?" I asked.

"What do ya mean?"

"Small town like this. I guess I wasn't expecting a pretty petite lady to be the boss around here. It was sorta unexpected."

"Oh," he said with a shrug. "I guess I never really thought about it that much. Sheriff Hollingsworth might be small, but she's tough. Real tough. And smart too."

"It's just that in the movies and stuff, you always see towns like this with old white guys in charge. The good ol' boys. But here, I don't know. This town is very... progressive. Black lady sheriff. Asian woman mayor. Lots of minority women in charge. All very beautiful."

I don't know why I was talking to Ellis about these things. It was more that I was just working out my own questions and he just happened to be there. But now that I did take a moment to think about it, having all these women in power did seem a little unusual.

Mayor Chen is like me.

The realization had come to me the second she closed that folder, but I didn't want to admit it. What did that even mean? She was like me. So what? Wasn't that a good thing? But somehow it didn't feel good. It felt dangerous.

Ellis looked confused. His eyebrows were drawn together and his lips were turned down in a concentrated frown. "I never really considered it," he mumbled.

I started to think about who else might be powerful in this town. There was old Mrs. Shadowford, but she didn't seem to hold much sway in the political arena. Still, she was obviously wealthy and owned a lot of property. Her teacup had rattled when she got angry. I shivered.

Principal Tate at the high school was a woman. Drake's sister owned the most popular shop in town. If I asked around, I wonder how many more women I could find in high places.

Officer Ellis pulled down the drive toward Shadowford and my palms grew sweaty. I had no idea what to expect from Ella Mae and Mrs. Shadowford. Would they kick me out? Or were they going to be lenient since Mayor Chen excused me from the investigation?

The only thing I was sure of was that I needed to get to Jackson Hunt before he told anyone what he saw the night that Tori died. If anyone found out I had left the house around midnight, I would be tossed right back into the Sheriff's office, and this time, things might not turn out so well.

"Can you drop me off here at the end of the driveway?" I asked.

Officer Ellis slowed to a halt and considered my question. "No can do," he said. "I mean, the sheriff told me to make sure you got home safely. I don't think it's such a good idea for me to drop you off back here. It's getting pretty dark out there."

"Please," I said, begging. "Do you know how embarrassing it will be to have a squad car drop me off in front of the house? All the girls will see me, and everyone will make a big fuss out of it. But if you drop me off here, I can sneak around back and talk to Mrs. Shadowford directly, without having to try to explain to the other girls what happened today. I promise, I'll go straight inside."