The Shadow in the Dark (Part Four)

 

I hadn’t expected the local Sheriff to be in his mid-thirties.

 

And I hadn’t expected him to be quite so, well… handsome… and fit.

 

“It was a girl, and she was naked. I only caught a quick glimpse of her when she bolted out from the bushes on the left side of the road, running directly in front of my car.” I sat on one of the raised vinyl stools lining the counter of the diner. Sheriff James Root sat beside me taking notes. He was tall, muscular, with a well-defined body shape, lightly bearded, with prominent, thick eyebrows, and clear but sun weathered skin. His eyes were grey/green, offering a piercing gaze that counterpointed the amused crinkling of laughter lines as he heard me speak. We sat opposite one another, sides facing the counter, and I was conscious that only a space of a few inches separated our knees from touching. 

 

What he saw of me was acutely embarrassing as far as I was concerned. I wore a short, pink, frayed denim skirt and a powder blue Frozen t-shirt with a cartoon Elsa on the front. Not the best look when you want local law enforcement to take you seriously. I had dressed in these garments only because the alternative would have been to walk in naked when I went back to the diner to tell Rosemary to find some clothing that didn’t make me look like I was still attending High School. But to my dismay Sheriff Root had already arrived and was waiting for me at the counter. He had apparently been passing in his patrol car and had decided to stop in for a cup of coffee.

 

“Naked? You’re sure about that, Miss Ellis?” He raised a quizzical eyebrow. 

 

“Yes. It startled me. Even while I tried to brake I was thinking, why is she naked?”

 

“But you only saw her for a moment, and it was getting dark and there was a lot of rain?”

 

“She was naked. I know what I saw.”

 

The counter stool was tall enough that my feet didn’t quite touch the ground. I rested them partly on the foot bar that joined the legs. In addition to the three quarters sleeved t-shirt and short skirt, I wore grey woollen pantyhose and pink ballet pumps with a cross strap. How ridiculous I must have seemed, like some college girl who had never grown out of her ‘pink bubblegum’ teenage years. 

 

“Did you hit her?”

 

“No. I managed to turn the car in time.”

 

“Hmm.” He made some more notes in his notebook. “And there was no sign of her when you climbed back up onto the road?”

 

“No, but I had passed out from the impact. I’m unsure how long I was unconscious. Minutes, maybe, but possibly longer.”

 

“But it was clear the naked girl didn’t stick around to see that you were alright? She just left you there?”

 

I thought back to my side door being wide open when I regained consciousness, and of my cell phone being missing. The car door could well have sprung open from the impact and my phone could have been scattered somewhere in the dark. “I don’t know. I suppose not. She was running from something. I guess she was scared.”

 

“Were you distracted at all when she appeared?”

 

“My cell phone rang. I took my eyes off the road for a second or two, that’s all.” I crossed my ankles as I tried to find a comfortable position on this tall counter stool. I was only able to rest the toes of my feet against the foot bar. These stools were really designed for men like Sheriff Root and Henry Bryant. 

 

“Did you take the call?” asked the Sheriff.

 

“No. Like I said, it just rang, and then when I looked up there she was, running straight across the road, directly in my way.”

 

“So you had cell phone reception out there?”

 

“I guess.”

 

“You guess?”

 

“Well, I must have had, otherwise it wouldn’t have rung.”

 

“You’re lucky in that respect, Miss Ellis. Cell phone reception in those woods is practically non-existent. You can get a single bar if you go up high, but that’s about it.”

 

“Well my phone rang. That’s all I know.”

 

I was aware the Sheriff was gazing curiously at my Elsa t-shirt. I blushed a little and quickly said, “my clothes are being cleaned.”

 

He smiled at that. “I just assumed you love Frozen.”

 

“Well, I don’t.”

 

“I’ll make a note of that,” he joked, pretending to write my answer down. 

 

“Coffee, honey,” said Rosemary as she placed a cup next to my arm, and then another cup for Sheriff Root. To my surprise she touched me reassuringly on my shoulder again. “She’s been through a lot tonight,” she said to the Sheriff. “Best not to tire her out.”

 

“You have somewhere to stay tonight, Miss Ellis?” asked the Sheriff.

 

“Well, not exactly.”

 

“Pish. Of course she has! She’s staying with me, Sheriff. Poor little sweet thing needs a good bed tonight, and she can have my daughter’s room while she’s away, studying at Miskatonic.”

 

I glanced up at Rosemary. I hadn’t expected to be staying with her tonight. Something about the offer made me feel uneasy. Rosemary obviously meant well, but she was getting a little too personal for my liking. 

 

“And how’s Ava doing, Rosemary? Haven’t seen the girl in ages,” said the Sheriff. 

 

“Oh, you know, modern girls, all mixed up in student politics and forgetting to ring their mothers. Probably has a boy she hasn’t told me about. I despair at times. But what can I do?”

 

Sheriff Root smiled and nodded. “Well, tell her I send my best regards, when you next speak, Rosemary. It’s been a while.”

 

“She’ll be delighted to hear that, Sheriff. Really, she will be.”

 

The Sheriff waited until Rosemary stepped away before he continued. “And you say you’re FBI?”

 

“I don’t say I’m FBI, I AM FBI.’

“But you don’t have a badge?” he regarded me curiously.

 

“Not on me, no.” This was going to be an awkward conversation that I’d rather not have.

 

“Is that normal for the FBI?”

 

“I just… don’t have it on me. Look, you can call my office in Amherst, if you like.”

 

“The FBI operate out of Amherst?”

 

“Not exactly.” I fidgeted on the bar stool and tried to get comfortable again, but the stool really was too high for me to rest my feet properly. “It’s a small local office. We have a couple of staff. They can put you through to the main department if you need confirmation of my status.”

 

“You want me to check with your boss and say I have someone who claims to be FBI, but she’s lost her badge?”

 

“You… you can’t say that.” I stammered. I would be in a whole sea of trouble if the loss of my badge was notified by some third party rural Sheriff. “Please don’t.”

 

“But you have lost your badge, right?” he smiled. “Otherwise you’d have it on you?”

 

“I… left it in my car.”

 

“Hmm. Well, it’s getting late, Miss Ellis, and it’s pretty dark out there. And you need some rest. How about I come round early tomorrow morning after you’ve had one of Rosemary’s delicious breakfasts, and you take me out to where you saw this naked girl, and we find where your car is? We’ll have a good look around in daylight and see what we see. And you can pick up your badge while we’re there?”

 

“Um, yeah.”

 

“Great.” He rose from his counter stool and flipped his notepad shut. “I’ll leave you in Rosemary’s capable hands, then, and I’ll call round for you tomorrow. Sleep well, Elsa.”

 

“What? No, don’t call me that!”

 

And with a knowing wink he tipped his hat and departed the diner.   

 

“Elsa.” Rosemary had reappeared and actually ruffled my hair. “Ada would have loved to be called that. Frozen was all she seemed to watch.”

 

****************

 

Rosemary closed the diner early that night, which surprised me.

 

“Are you allowed to do that? Close early, I mean? You won’t be in trouble with the owner?”

 

“Don’t you worry yourself about that, honey. You need a good night’s sleep. You must be feeling sorely tired.”

 

Yes, I was, actually. I yawned and struggled to keep my eyes open. It really had been a long day it seemed. I felt whacked. Even the cups of coffee hadn’t helped. 

 

“You just look so bushed,” said Rosemary as she led me out through the back door of the diner after having locked up at the front.

 

“Where are we going, Rosemary?’

 

“Home.” She smiled a warm and comforting smile. “Just a mile or two down the road. I rent a lovely little dormer cottage close to the service station. I’m all on my own these days, ever since my Ada became such a big grown up girl and went off on her own to Miskatonic. It will be lovely to have a fresh young face in the house again tonight. You’ll have her room, which is upstairs in the converted attic space.”

 

“Well, I don’t want to be any trouble…” 

 

Rosemary led me to the older Ford that was parked beside the gas station office. “No trouble at all, honey. We’ll get you tucked into bed tonight and I’ll get you back to the diner for when your handsome Sheriff calls round for you in the morning.” She winked playfully at me as she accentuated the word handsome.

 

“What?”

 

“Oh, I saw the way you fidgeted when you were sitting next to him. You can’t help it, I suppose. And I think he noticed, too.”

 

“I’m an FBI agent and he’s local law enforcement. I was simply making a report to him.”

 

“Hmm, well Rosemary knows what she saw. You couldn’t keep your feet still, and you were pressing your little thighs together every time he looked at you. And you with that lovely red hair, too. Don’t think I don’t know what that means, honey. Your red hair.”

 

“I don’t understand what you’re implying, Rosemary? I speak to local law enforcement all the time. It’s part of my job.”

 

We drove for a few miles in the dark, and then without warning Rosemary took a sharp turn onto a hidden country lane that anyone else would have simply driven past in the dark. The car bumped and rocked as it made its way down the uneven trail, hitting ruts and potholes without any attempt to avoid them. Half a mile down the trail we came to a small, isolated rural cottage with a dormer attic conversion projection, with a window facing out from the front. Trees pressed in close to the cottage, the branches hanging over the roof and blocking out much of the light during day time. 

 

I felt even more drowsy than I did in the diner. I yawned again and fought to stay awake. Rosemary parked the car, switched off the engine and opened the doors. The rain had mostly stopped, but there was a gentle wind that caused wind chimes to tinkle in the distance surrounding the secluded perimeter of the cottage grounds. 

 

“I hang them on the branches of the trees,” Rosemary explained. “May the circle be ever unbroken.” She tapped her nose knowingly as if that was meant to mean something. 

 

I actually stumbled as I followed her to the front door of the cottage. 

 

“Someone needs her beddy-byes,” said Rosemary with a caring smile as she caught hold of me. “Upsadaisy.”

 

“I’m not normally this tired,” I said. 

 

“Heavens, no, I’ll bet you’re normally such a go-getting girl, dashing around and being all modern.” She slipped a key into the front door lock and turned it. “Burning both ends of your candle with no regard for anything else.”

 

The cottage interior was rustic and charming, with old wooden furniture and pots of spices and bunches of herbs hanging in the kitchen. There was a cosy living room with old upholstered furniture from a time gone by, and a grandfather clock that ticked away the seconds, a large wood burning stove surrounded with logs, and an old fashioned book case stacked high with books. On the other side of the hallway I could see a tiled bathroom, and beside it what must be Rosemary’s bedroom, but the door to that was closed. An exotic corn dolly of some kind hung from a hook on the front of that door. The floors in the cottage were all stripped hardboards covered with Persian rugs. A short flight of steps from the narrow hallway lead up to the dormer attic conversion – the bedroom in which I’d spend the night. At the rear of the cottage there was a heavy set wooden door that seemed to lead out to the back of the woods.

 

“I’d offer you a bedtime nightcap drink,” said Rosemary, “but I hardly think you need one, honey?” 

 

“I think the crash is catching up with me,” I said. “I suddenly feel dizzy and wobbly on my feet. Exhausted.”

 

“Of course you do, honey. It’s to be expected, isn’t it? And you have such a big day tomorrow with your handsome Sheriff. You’ll be giddy with excitement.” 

 

I don’t remember climbing the steps, but I suddenly found myself in the dormer bedroom, gazing up at the sloping sides of the roof with, of all things, Frozen posters pinned in place. The bedroom was narrow with a front facing window that was securely locked. There was a single bed, with a bedside set of drawers and an antique lamp. Elsewhere there was a low trunk cabinet on top of which sat a number of large teddy bears. 

 

The bedspread was printed cotton with a Frozen theme to it. Cartoon pictures of Elsa and Anna standing back to back decorated the spread and the matching pillows. The inner door had a collage of Frozen pictures cut out from magazines, and the lampshade hanging above the bed was Frozen themed, too. 

 

“Hasn’t Ada grown out of Frozen by now?” I asked. I found myself slurring my words a bit. I was just so tired. It seemed strange that her bedroom was still decorated this way now that she was old enough to be studying at Miskatonic university.

 

“She always loved Elsa,” said Rosemary as she guided me towards the bed. “She would skip around the cottage singing that song. You know the one I mean?”

 

I tried to remember it, but found it hard to concentrate, but then Rosemary began singing the words to me like a lullaby:

 

Let it go, let it go

And I'll rise like the break of dawn

Let it go, let it go

That perfect girl is gone

Here I stand in the light of day

Let the storm rage on

The cold never bothered me anyway

 

I don’t recall undressing, but moments later I was standing there in just my underwear. 

 

It was the silk underwear that eerily resembled the expensive set I had bought and packed away in the trunk of my car. 

 

“Look at you, in the bloom of your life,” said Rosemary. The skirt and t-shirt I had worn were now folded neatly and placed on the top of the storage trunk on which the teddy bears sat gazing back at me. The woollen panty hose lay on top of the folded garments, and the ballet pumps sat beside the trunk on the floor. 

 

“Rosemary…” the room seemed to wobble around me. “Where did you… the underwear… I mean… it’s… your daughter… must be… expensive…”

 

“It’s lovely, isn’t it, honey. I just knew you would like something soft and feminine against your skin. So much nicer than that plain cotton underwear you wore. The men don’t have to know your secret, do they, sweetie? It’ll be our little secret. Well, your little secret. Your shameful little secret. Just imagine if a man knew you wore such things under your clothes? Though with that lovely red hair, he may well suspect. True men will know. They always do. And you love the thought of true men, don’t you, honey? You dream of them at night, twisting in your prim little bedsheets, feeling all hot and frustrated. And sometimes you fear there are no real men anymore, at least not on this world. But honey, they exist, and they will find you.”

 

“I… need to…” I blinked twice and found myself siting on the edge of the bed with it’s Frozen bedspread. 

 

“You only need to sleep, honey. You’re so tired. But you’ve got Rosemary to look after you now. Let me get you something to wear to bed.”

 

Rosemary must have removed my bra and panties, though I don’t remember her doing so. I was just suddenly wearing a soft pink slip for bed, and yes, it had a picture of Elsa from Frozen on it, along with a childish trim of white lace along the hem. I was naked under the soft slip, without the comfort of a nether closure, and I suddenly felt so very tired. The ceiling above my head seemed to be out of focus. And then somehow I was under the bedspread with Rosemary stroking my forehead. 

 

“It’s time to sleep,” whispered Rosemary, “Sleep, sleep, and dream… dream within His House… in dread R’lyeh.”