Chương 102: Chapter 101 – Sustinct Unicorns

"But Figero," Illianna said, "the place is in utter shambles. I'm afraid for my daughter and her family."

"While I'm on duty, Ill, I'd prefer we kept it professional, so Constable Dawnkeeper, if you wouldn't mind."

"Jeepers Creepers, Figero," Illianna said, rolling her eyes.

"Can we just forget about the formality and get to work locating Sheera and her family!" she said, shooting a frustrated look at Roxie.

"My niece came all this way, do you really want her to go back and tell people that our law enforcement is…" she broke off.

"You know what, Figero, I think I am just going to go have a chat with your mother, she will slap the stupid right out of you." Figero leaned back in his chair and eyed Illianna carefully.

"Fine, just don't go tellin' my ma." Illianna half smiled at him.

"Thank you, Figero, please just find Sheera." Roxie sat stoically in the chair, a small tear forming in her eye. Illianna put a hand on her knee.

"You alright, Nessa, dear?" she asked thoughtfully. Roxie turned to her, sniffling.

"Yes, Auntie, I am just so worried about cousin Sheera," she said, then widening her eyes, "and what about poor Thai, she must be so scared. She's just a kid, for crying out loud. What kind of monster would take them? More importantly, why?" she asked, wiping the tear as it fell down her cheek.

"Is it Rowan? Is he into anything dirty? Does he drink? Gamble? Borrow money from the wrong person, maybe? I'm just trying to figure out why someone would do something like this," she said, allowing tears to fall freely down her face.

"It's going to be alright, dear," Illianna said, patting her hand.

"Figero, what's wrong with you? Get her a tissue, for crying out loud! Can't you see what this is doing to her?" Figero scrambled out of his chair and left the room in search of a tissue. Roxie watched him leave, then leaned close to Illianna and whispered, "Really, you're gonna tell his mother?" she snickered.

"It worked, didn't it?" Illianna asked rhetorically.

"Good job with the tears, I actually was starting to believe…" she broke off as Figero reentered the room and handed Roxie a roll of toilet paper. Figero looked nervously at Illianna.

"Sorry, it's all we seem to have right now," he said, shrugging his shoulders before sitting back down at his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a form.

"Best I can do right now is fill out a missing person report, but we have to wait twenty‑four hours before we can actually do anything." Roxie stood up immediately and slammed her hand down on the desk.

"Twenty‑four hours!" she yelled.

"If you go look at the state of the house, it's obvious that they did not just up and leave!" She turned to Illianna.

"Let's go, Auntie, we will just have to start looking for them ourselves. This… this…" she paused, "sheriff wannabe has no idea what he's doing!" Figero looked at her, taken aback.

"Ma'am, please sit down, and for the love of Glindore, please calm down," he said, shaking his head.

"Gettin' all kinds of emotional is not going to help. I said we can't open the missing person's investigation for twenty‑four hours, but I didn't say I can't start investigatin' what went on at the house," he said, rolling his eyes.

"If I can find some concrete evidence of a kidnappin', then that changes everything." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"What do you mean?" Roxie asked, sniffling loudly.

"I mean, if I get there and it looks like a kidnappin'… smells like a kidnappin'… and sounds like a kidnappin'… then it's probably a kidnappin', and I can call the big boys in to start investigatin' the whole mess," he said, filling out the form.

"The bad part is that it's probably gonna take a few days for them to send someone down here to start investigatin'. Time is of the essence in cases like this, so if I call it a kidnappin', I will deputize some of my locals and we will start lookin' for 'em." He began writing something on the form, then looked up at Illianna.

"I hate calling in the fairy folk, lots of red tape when we do it, but this is somethin' they would handle, especially because it's a whole family who's gone up and missin'. I mean, obviously somethin' is wrong, really wrong." Illianna and Roxie shot each other a look before Illianna turned back to Figero.

"So, the fairies will be handling the overall investigation?"

"Yeah, once they finally get here, that is. Not quite sure what's been goin' on over there lately, but we ain't had a fairy patrol come through here for quite some time. They used to be through these parts pretty regular‑like. Now they come through maybe twice a year unless we get a message to 'em that we got somethin' goin' on, then they send someone when they get to it." He shook his head.

"I'm still waitin' to hear back from 'em about some pretty suspicious activity that Abernathy reported a week or so back."

"Joe Abernathy?" Illianna asked, coolly.

"What did Mister Abernathy report?"

"I can't discuss an open 'vestigation, but it seems he had some strange‑looking critters hangin' around his farm. If you ask me, though, sounds more like he'd been hittin' the bottle again," he snickered.

"You know how he loves that honeysuckle brandy he makes."

"What kind of strange critters are we talkin' about, Figero? Wild dogs? Feral cats?" Illianna asked.

"I need to know if any of my livestock is in danger," she added, trying not to seem obvious.

"No, he was goin' on and on about some critters… get this… in suits. They was apposedly orange, big strappin' fellas with close‑cut hair. He says they just appeared outta nowhere. Like I said, he was probably hittin' that brandy and fells asleep or somethin' like that. I don't think you need to worry, Illianna," Figero said, leaning forward.

"It's not like these critters can jump outta his mind and go on a rampage or somethin'," he added, snickering.

"He even went so far as to say one of them was carryin' a unicorn. Come on now, a unicorn!" He slapped a hand on the desk.

"We haven't seen a unicorn in these parts for damn near four hundred years. They went sustinct or somethin'." He leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.

"Turns out he was talkin' 'bouts a stuffed animal, you know, like kids play with," his eyes widening as he continued, "'cept this one had teef on it," he said, bringing his fingers to his lips and mimicking fangs.

"Don't you know, it apposedly bites ya when you hugs it." He laughed.

"That's when I became convinced Abernathy was at the bottle again and had some kind of messed up dream. I reported it to the fairies, but I ain't heard nothin' back as of yet."

"Well, I think you have everything under control here, Figero. Poor Nessa here hasn't slept for days. I really want to get her home and put her to bed. It's been such a tryin' time for all of us." She sighed, patting Roxie's hand.

"Well, ladies," Figero said as he stood up.

"You go home and get some rest, and if I need anythin' or find somethin' out, I'll come on by." He added, watching Illianna and Roxie get up and head for the door.