Myosotis - Exorcist's Beginnings

Chapter VI: Suspects

"Oh, you woke up so late! You young people must have been busy getting down to business, am I right?" the owner of the inn jested and laughed.

"What?! No!! We just overslept" Macaria exclaimed, shocked at his accusation.

"Oh yes, yes! 'Overslept', I got it!" he said, laughing.

"Maybe you were right. Maybe he is possessed and we must kill him" whispered Macaria to Dumah at the exit.

"Even if he isn't, I wouldn't mind stabbing him for that hideous laughter" said Dumah arrogantly.

It was just like they had predicted, there were not that many people at the restaurant at that hour. Dumah looked around at the employees in their yellow polka-dotted aprons. He assumed if it had been one of them to call him, they would have said something already, as he had expected when he came to the restaurant the night before. He guessed the person was just too busy and did not find the time to talk to him. Hopefully, the person who hired him would approach him today and he wouldn't need to ask around, since it would be suspicious for a stranger like Dumah to look for someone in a village which was unknown to him.

"What?" asked Dumah, as Macaria seemed to have her head in the clouds.

"Nothing. It's just hard to believe that all of this exists, you know? I've seen demons before and yet it's still such a far off thing to me" Macaria replied, while having a toast for breakfast.

"You have seen demons?" he said, surprised.

"Yeah. I watched a lot of exorcisms" she stated.

"What? How?! They don't even let me watch, but they let you?"

"They didn't let me. I peeked in, that was why I was expelled from the convent."

"No wonder. Did they at least test you?" Dumah asked.

"Test me for what?"

"You were not tested? You could be possessed, for all we know. Wait a minute" he said, while taking out from his pocket a small glass flask with a silver cross on the front, and then he sprinkled her with its contents.

"What was that for?!" she exclaimed, being agitated by the sudden water sprinkled on her.

"It's holy water. As you may know, demons react very... negatively to it" he said, putting his flask of holy water inside his pocket again.

"Can't we just sprinkle everyone to see who it is?" she asked.

"No, we can't just sprinkle everyone. If the demon suspects something, it may flee and then how are we going to find it again? We have to be discreet and cautious" he warned, and Macaria just nodded along. "Why were you watching exorcisms anyway? I heard it's not exactly a pretty thing to watch."

"I wanted to be an exorcist too."

"You're a woman."

"I know that! But so what?" Macaria retorted.

"Women were the first ones to give to temptation."

"As if men are not easily tempted too... Maybe even more."

"Typical" he replied, but his attention was suddenly locked on the waitress coming to their table.

"Was everything good?" the waitress asked with a broad smile, which they found quite misplaced due to the situation the village was in.

"Yes, yes. In fact, I would like to congratulate the chef on it. Is Lady Dora the one who cooks? Is she in the kitchen?" Dumah asked.

"Oh no! Lady Dora is the owner and she doesn't cook anymore. Do you want me to show you the kitchen? Our chef will be very happy to receive a compliment" said the waitress.

"Sure, but first can you present me to Lady Dora? I want to compliment her too for the service that she is providing to this town in need" said Dumah, and Macaria scoffed.

"Hum... Usually, Lady Dora does not like visits, but since it's for compliments, I'm sure she won't mind. Please, let me show you her office."

The waitress led them through a dark corridor and past the noisy kitchen, there was a door at the end of the hall. She knocked on it and a deep voice gave permission to go in. The office was quite outrageous, as was the person lying on a golden divan couch. Lady Dora was pretty fat and had light brown skin that reflected the sunlight, as well as her pistachio green silk dress that revealed her thick legs. She had a complicated hairstyle which had living insects, such as green and orchid mantis, scarab beetles, monarch butterflies and dragonflies. She also had extremely long eyelashes and fingernails painted gold. Behind her, there was a huge round window that had a view of an old wheat field and grey sky threatening a storm. The walls had murals of wilderness that were partially covered by green ivy.

"And who are these two delicious guests?" she asked in her raspy voice, while eating green grapes.

"These are customers who wanted to compliment you" said the waitress.

"I did not ask you. Be gone now, girl" Dora retorted and the waitress left embarrassed and apologetic. "Oh, these kids never know their place, isn't that right?" she jested. "By the description, I assume that you must be Mr. Dumah, am I correct?"

"Yes. I did not expect the owner of this restaurant to be the one calling for my help" said Dumah.

"Why not?Because I'm doing more than fine for myself? I still don't want to see my village suffer" she replied. "And who is this girl?"

"I'm..."

"She is my assistant. Don't worry about her" interrupted Dumah, which was not appreciated by Macaria. "I assume you have strong reasons for hiring me. What are they and what are your suspicions?"

"So direct. How enjoyable and refreshing. Please, sit down" Lady Dora said. "As I told you on the phone, this village hasn't either seen rain or sun for years now. The sky is always what you see: grey and vapid. Since this village depends so much on agriculture, the weather plays the most important role, which is not complying. That is the main reason why I think this town is cursed."

"But how come you are thriving? How much do you buy from abroad?" Dumah asked.

"Not much. I have my greenhouses, hunters and fishermen. There is a river and a forest not that far away. You must have seen them on your way here."

"They are still several miles from here" argued Dumah.

"It's still close enough. Of course, my employees need to be paid and for that you need money. When the tragedy started to hit Aganipe, the economy went down as expected; many lost their businesses, but not me. Fortunately, I had inherited quite a lot from my dear ones and that was how I managed to keep my restaurant open, which was something that my rivals did not expect" said Dora.

"Your rivals?" said Macaria.

"Yes. In small places like this, there is a lot of rivalry and competition. I believe that the one who cursed this land was one of my rivals. Since that person ended up not being as successful as me, he wanted to drag me down too because of stingy jealousy. He can't live with the fact that a woman can do what he can't."

"Who do you have in mind?" asked Dumah.

"I'm inclined to think it's Mr. Anthoine. Everyone knows how he always badmouths me and makes up the most ludicrous stories about me. He's an old fool, who could not keep up with the times."

"Who is this Mr. Anthoine?"

"He used to be a butcher, but all of his cows died when famine arrived. You will recognize him by his ridiculous mustache", Dora replied.

"Ridiculous mustache? I think we have met someone like that" said Macaria.

"Yes. Well, if that is all, we will be going then" Dumah got up from the golden velvet couch.

"Actually, I would love to see the greenhouse. Where does the water come from? Everything is so dry around here" said Macaria, and Dora almost choked on her grapes.

"Let me show you my greenhouse, then. Fortunately, I was so blessed, that not even curses could bring me down. Not only do I have all of this glazing meat around my bones, but I also have a water well."

"It's not really necessary. Do not mind her and her silly requests" said Dumah.

"No, no! You are curious, I understand and I have nothing to hide. On the contrary, I only have pride. Please, come" said Dora, putting on her silk slides that matched her luxurious dress.

"If you insist..." said Dumah, glaring at Macaria and she just shrugged her shoulders.

The greenhouse could be accessed by a door in her office that matched the walls so well, they didn't even notice it. The greenhouse was not only spectacular because of its size, but also due to the variety of plants that there were there. It had fruit trees in the center and around there were all kinds of herbs and vegetables. They spotted about twenty people working there and they also used yellow polka-dotted aprons.

Dumah was visibly not interested in what Dora was saying, but she kept talking about every single plant very enthusiastically. As Dora explained everything to Mr. Dumah, while Macaria made a tour by herself and a couple of large containers caught her attention, mainly because they stank so much.

"Excuse me, but what is that?" she asked an employee.

"That's the fertilizer" replied the girl with an upbeat tone, but with dead eyes.

"Oh, of course. What do you make it with?"

"That's the fertilizer" repeated the employee with the exact same tone.

"I know, you already told me that. It's made of what?" Macaria insisted.

"That's the fertilizer" she repeated once again.

"Alright, never mind then" said Macaria, thinking that she might be mentally challenged.

After their tour at the greenhouse, Mr. Dumah and Macaria said goodbye to Lady Dora and went to the butchery. It was easy to find it, since they had already spotted it on their tour the night before and just like then, the shop was closed. Dumah knocked on the door and after a minute an angry man finally opened it.

"What's with all the noise?! Can't you read?! We are closed!" exclaimed the man with the outrageous mustache. His clothes were simple and had stains on them and his expression was extremely unfriendly.

"We know, we just wanted to talk to you, sir. You must be Mr. Anthoine, right?" asked Macaria.

"Yes, why? Why are you bothering me?"

"We just wanted to ask you a few questions about Lady Dora and what has been happening here in Aganipe in the last few years", Dumah said. "Can we come in?"

"Come in?! Hum... It's better not. My wife is taking a nap. I don't want to disturb her. Let's talk on the porch in the back of the house" he replied, guiding them around the yellow house with dead ivy stuck on the walls. "What are you? Are you some kind of inspector?"

"More or less" Dumah replied, sitting with the others on old wooden chairs on the porch. It had views of Anthoine's land that only sprouted dry grass and had a barn about a hundred meters away from the house.

"You must be here, because of the disappearances. It's about time someone was sent here to investigate them, since the police here doesn't do a damn thing about our people", Anthoine said, and Dumah and Macaria exchanged looks.

"Yes, what can you tell me about those disappearances?" asked Dumah.

"I only know what everyone knows. About fifty people are just gone. Can you believe it? At first, we all thought they were going away to a big city to try their luck, but so many and without saying a single word?! That is very suspicious. Anyway, what did you want to ask me about that fat cow at the restaurant? Do you suspect her too?"

"Why do you suspect Lady Dora? Is it only because she is the only one here thriving?" said Dumah, ignoring Anthoine's impoliteness.

"Well, yes, just to start with! She has changed a lot since all of this started, you know? She turned greedy and thinks she is the queen of everything. Even back in the day, when she was poor and just had a little tavern, she was not like this. What money does to people..."

"Poor?! Wasn't she an heiress of a great fortune?" asked Macaria, surprised with his statement.

"Heiress? So that's how she got all of this money to open the restaurant? Who would say that someone like her had rich ancestors", said Anthoine.

"Do you have any idea how these disappearances occurred?" asked Dumah.

"Didn't the police tell you anything? They usually happen every time there's a moonless night. Nowadays, everyone here in the village just locks themselves at home on those nights, but they still continue to happen."

"Then why do you think it's Lady Dora, if you don't know much?" Dumah insisted, which flustered the old man. "How are the disappearances related to her?"

"If I say it, you will think I'm crazy" said Anthoine.

"It's fine, I've heard all sorts of things" Dumah reassured him.

"Well, we think she made a pact with the devil himself." Anthoine was expecting some kind of reaction, but neither Dumah nor Macaria even blink and continued to listen attentively. "Everyone in the village believes so; but we still have to go to her restaurant, because she is the only one who provides food and what can we do?"

"If something happens to Lady Dora, who will get her riches?" Dumah asked.

"I don't know. From what I know, she doesn't have any children, so maybe the state? I have no clue", Anthoine replied.

"Alright. We won't waste more of your time. Make sure to be around in case we need to ask more questions" said Dumah, and Anthoine just nodded.

As they were going away from Anthoine's house, Dumah sighed loudly and stopped in the middle of the street.

"What's on your mind?" asked Macaria.

"I don't know. He could be lying. He obviously does not like her, but neither do many people in this town, it seems, which does broaden our list of suspects. We should talk with the mayor" said Dumah, suddenly changing direction to the mayor's house without giving notice to Macaria.

"I don't think he's lying" Macaria stated, trying to keep up with his quick pace.

"Of course you don't. You are naive to the point you probably also think Santa Claus is real" Dumah said dismissive, and Macaria glared at him.

"Do you have a thing for older women? Why are you defending the restaurant owner? She was strange."

"Oh, she was strange? What about a guy who doesn't let us in his house? Who knows what he is hiding in there and in that barn. Tonight, we are getting into it" said Dumah.

"What about a woman who somehow managed to have a monopoly in here?"

"That's just called being smart and there are plenty of greedy people out there. That does not mean they are possessed, my dear girl."

"Who are you calling 'girl'? We have the same age, maybe I'm even older, since I'm obviously wiser" she said, and he scoffed. "Let's make a bet then, since you are so confident. If I'm right, you let me see your face."

Dumah sniffed. "Not a chance."

"Why not? Don't you trust your instincts?" she provoked.

"We never know who is right or wrong."

"Ugh, chicken..." Macaria muttered and he frowned his eyebrows.

"And what do I win?" he asked.

"I'll let you go on a date with my mother."

Her answer made him disgusted. "Why are you pimping out your own mother? And I don't need your permission to date whoever I want." Suddenly, his expression changed and he smirked. "I have a better suggestion. If Lady Dora is not guilty and I win, you let me see you naked."

Macaria's eyes widened with shock. "How could you say such a thing?!You deviant bastard!"

"What? Don't you trust your instincts?" he mocked, as she got redder. "You don't have to bet, if you don't want to."

"Fine! I am confident in my instincts, you will see. Actually, I'll be the one seeing your face!"

"Whatever, I only hope you are wearing decent undergarments and not the ones I saw last time" he said, and she could only exhale air speechless at his nerve.

...................................................................

The mayor's house was in the center square of the village. They hid behind some dry bushes in front of the house and were observing it attentively, as if they were analyzing that big white brick house.

"Are we really going to talk with the mayor?" Macaria asked.

"Are you crazy? Of course not. He can easily figure out who we are and we don't want to be on the spot, remember?"

"Then what are we doing here?"

"We are going to let the house do the talking" Dumah replied.

"And I'm the crazy one?!"

"Since you were in a convent for years, I'm guessing your flirting skills are not the best", Dumah assumed.

"Flirting? I..."

"Don't even bother answering. The way you get on my nerves is a great indicator of how you are with men. Let me look at you" he said, and looked at her up and down. "Maybe you don't need flirting skills. You are pretty enough for regular men to find your awkwardness cute. But let me help you a bit."

Macaria flustered gravely, when he opened two buttons of her white blouse. "How could you?! I don't want to be that kind of woman."

"It's fine, just do what I tell you to do."

They knocked on the front door of the manor and an old man dressed very formally came to the door. By his looks, he looked like a butler and he raised his bushy eyebrows while talking to them.

"Good day, sir. We are traveling ministers and we provide free spiritual cleansing around the country and this house looks particularly damaging" said Dumah.

"Is that so? But we already have someone here for that job" the butler said, and Dumah sighed.

"Is his name Don?"

"Yes, I think so. Do you know each other?"

"Yes, we actually work together" Dumah said, which confused Macaria.

The house was remarkable, which was a bit unexpected, taking into account it was just a little town. As soon as they entered, they were confronted with an ample white marble staircase, which had a gold-greenish carpet coming down from it. The handrail was of golden metal and it made beautiful floral arabesques. At the end of the stairs, there was a huge round window, whose light was almost blinding.

"This house has been blessed before, but I guess you heard about the recent construction work and, frankly, we need all the spiritual grace these days we live in" said the butler.

"Recent construction, you say?" said Macaria, since Dumah's mind was already absent.

At the side of the entrance, there was a marble arch which gave access to another division of the house and through it Dumah could see someone who he did not want to see at all. That person was dressed in a long black coat and had blonde hair neatly brushed and round glasses. His name was Don and he was an old rival of his. Suddenly, Don noticed him and smirked.

"Dumah?! Is that you?!" Don exclaimed with sarcasm.

"You know him, isn't that correct? This gentleman told me he was working with you" said the butler.

"Oh, of course he said that" Don replied.

"I'll leave you gentlemen and lady to your job, then" said the butler.

"Why are you wearing a mask? Were you tired of drowning in p***y?" Don asked him as soon as they were left alone and Macaria was taken aback by his crudeness.

"What are you doing here?" Dumah said, completely ignoring his rude questions.

"Probably the same as you. And who is this with you?" he said, eyeing Macaria up and down. "Very nice. What is your name?"

"Hum... Macaria" she replied, and then he took her hand and kissed it, which surprised her.

"What a pleasure it is to meet you" he said right before being pushed by Dumah.

"Will you stop your disgusting behavior? Keep your hands off of her", Dumah said.

"I see that someone is a bit jealous" Don said, and Dumah just rolled his eyes. "As you can see by my neat hair, I'm portraying a good solemn boy today. I'm not looking for any fights, so I'll just focus on my work. Don't come my way, though."

"Forget about that i***t. Let's focus on our plan" said Dumah to Macaria, when Don left their presence.

"Were you really jealous?" she asked, rather flustered.

"Don't be ridiculous. If anything, I was doing you a favor. I'll give you a piece of advice: stay away from that guy. He puts his hands on anything that wears skirts" said Dumah.

"He does seem the type. What was our plan again?" she asked.

"Never mind, he ruined it by being here and the mayor also does not seem to be home. Let's just search for something that seems suspicious", Dumah said.

"If something happens to Lady Dora, then everything goes to the town fund, since she doesn't have any known heirs, right?" she asked, while Dumah gave a quick look at a pile of papers that were on top of a table. They were in a waiting room and so they suspected nothing interesting would be in there.

"Yes, that's why we are here. The mayor could be interested in her inheritance for his own gain" he replied.

"What if they are working together?" she theorized.

"You really didn't like that chubby woman, didn't you?" he said.

"It's trying times in here and yet the mayor is enhancing his house. Where did he get the money for that? The only one making money in here is Lady Dora", Macaria pointed out.

Dumah wanted to move to a more private room, maybe the mayor's office or bedroom, a place that would display juicier details if there were any. Dumah suspected him and, by the looks of it, so did Macaria. They found his office after a while and were actually shocked they didn't run into Don in the aftermath. His office also had a large window that had a view of the town's square and in front of it there was a heavy dark wood desk very neatly organized. In one corner, there was a cornucopia with wrapped candy in it. Macaria ate some as she continued to theorize by herself, while Dumah kept on with his search through the desk drawers.

"Lady Dora has her appeal; I can see her having an affair with the mayor. Are you even listening to me?" Macaria asked, as Dumah was too focused on what was going on outside of the window.

"That must be the mayor. He does not seem happy" said Dumah, as he looked down the street where a fat man dressed in a brown ill-fitting suit arrived and was being attended by the butler.

"You let intruders in the house?!" the fat man yelled at the butler, completely infuriated.

"Oh... I think this is our cue to leave" said Dumah, putting his hand on Macaria's back to haste her steps.

They barely avoided the mayor, as they got out by the back door of the house, which was in the spacious and well-equipped kitchen. The cooks were taken by surprise and didn't even speak, as they left the house in an obvious hurry. They were a bit tired from all the running around, tired and hungry. However, since it was about two in the afternoon, they decided to wait a little bit longer, until there were fewer people at Dora's restaurant. At that hour, the restaurant would probably be packed, hence they decided to rest for a bit at the inn. Someone knocked at the door a little bit later. It was the inn's owner and he brought over a tray of food.

"I know you did not have lunch, so I brought you a little something from the restaurant" he said.

"Oh, thank you! We were starving" replied Macaria politely.

"How did you know we did not have lunch?" asked Dumah, suspicious.

"Oh, it's a small place, you know? Since I did not see you at the restaurant, I assumed you were probably too busy to eat", he explained.

"I see. Thank you, then" said Dumah.

They sat at the little table that was by the window and uncovered their plates, which had a rich broth of beans, cabbage and chunks of meat and tubers like potatoes and carrots. To their surprise, the owner sat down with them.

"I guess you get lonely here all by yourself, since guests are fewer these days" said Macaria out of politeness, even though she felt quite uncomfortable because of his presence.

"I really do. Before this drought, people came here for a countryside trip, but now who wants to come to this dry piece of land? It's really sad" he replied.

"Many people still stick to this place, though. Lady Dora and the mayor seem to be doing just fine" she said.

"I guess friends stick together. They always got along pretty well. He is an old regular of her restaurant and compliments her food every chance he gets. But everyone likes her. Even here at the inn, we used to get our meals done by her, but since we don't have clients anymore, there is no point in continuing to do that."

"Everyone likes Lady Dora?" Macaria asked, remembering she had heard the opposite information from Mr. Anthoine.

Suddenly, they heard a buzz coming from downstairs.

"Oh, it must be my other client!" he said, excited. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll have to go for now. By the way, tonight is a new moon night, so I recommend you not to go outside."

They simply nodded at his advice, although they had no intentions of following it. They wanted to finish that case as soon as possible, mainly Macaria, who did not sign up for it, only for her own case, which had nothing to do with that one. She really did not see any point in being there, since she didn't have any experience in the area. The only reason she stuck around was because she found it fascinating and fun, mainly because she did not believe or was aware of the full extent of the dangers that she could face.