Mystery Noir

Mawaska Part 10

I had always wondered how, in television shows, they would have some huge cliff hanger in a conversation and then when the next scene started, it would be a completely different time of day or location and they would pick it up from there.

I had wondered how they travelled or spent so much of that in between time, in the middle of a conversation, or on the cusp of one, without getting into it in the intervening period of time.

When Enzo and Ver had come in and said that we needed to talk somewhere a little less public, I had hesitated for a moment, half debating making a stand then and there. But I was either going to die surrounded by people who wanted to kill me or die fighting these two. My chances were infinitely better when I could count on one hand who I was fighting against.

So, I nodded and stood, following the two of them out and thankful that I didn't have to eat whatever angry meal I was going to be served, though my stomach was less than impressed at the suddenly cancelled eating opportunity. I was surprised to find that Mika followed us as well, and though Enzo shot him a hard look, he remained beside me as we walked down the street to the sheriff's station.

The silence stretched, on that verge of the huge dramatic conversation that none of us was about to break into as we moved from one scene to the other. I wanted it to stretch longer. As confusing as it all was, I found that I did not want it to be over quite yet. I liked Mika, he was a good kid and I was genuinely grateful to the two growling men who were probably leading me to my imprisonment and possible execution.

Despite the panic in me and the desire to run, I followed them into the building and was surprised to find them leading me into what appeared to be a meeting room as opposed to a cell. There was a small table, a projection screen and what looked like a conference call system. Off to the side there was a table that held the empty remnants of a muffin basket and a coffee urn that I was certain wasn't fresh.

I sat down on one side of the table, with the other three siting on each of the other sides. Enzo sat across from me, which unsettled me, with Ver so close that I wheeled my chair backwards a bit so I could keep them all in my line of sight. You don't trust potential enemies with peripheral vision if you can help it.

"Why are you here?" Enzo asked bluntly as the door clicked shut.

I frowned and glanced to it, pausing to weigh the question and my answer in my mind before shrugging. "I'm looking for some missing people. Young adults, last seen driving in this direction, never made it to the next way station."

Ver growled at me, one hand gripping the edge of the table as if he were fighting the urge to flip it over. "Why?"

"Maybe because they're missing?" I turned to glare right back at him, not understanding the question. "They have family and friends, who want to know what happened to them. They're living, breathing people and each and every one of them matters."

Ver and I glared at one another for so long, it took Mika clearing his throat to break the staring contest. When I turned to look at him, he had a pained expression on his face. "What if they don't want to be found, Nina?"

"Oh, I've met plenty of indoctrinated people enthralled into cults that prey on their vulnerability. People who wanted to have a belonging, a safe place in a world they felt separate from, that they would literally do anything for the people who were brainwashing and using them." I frowned at him, before looking back and forth between Ver and Enzo. "What is it, you lure hapless humans away from their families, use them as slave labour? Feed on them?"

"So automatically non-humans are the monsters here?" Enzo snapped, waving his hand toward the door. "Those two assholes who tried to kill you, who have been hunting Mika and Samantha all these months, they were human. You ever think that maybe those people who have gone missing, are here for protection? From the same sort of bigots, the hate and violence that come from their own families who turn on them the moment they're different?"