Page 50 of Grimoires & Glamoury

Sheriff Archer moved forward slightly in his chair. “Would you be able to identify her?”

From across the table, Charles narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Do you mean from a line up?”

Oh, my goddess. My stomach dropped hard as my intuition kicked in. “No. Not from a line up,” I said softly as not to be overheard by the other patrons. “You need me to come and identify a body. Don’t you, Sheriff?”

He nodded. “Last night a body was found in the state park. A white female, early thirties, with no identification. We pulled up Ms. Murphy’s driver’s license photo, however...with the condition of the body...”

“Meaning what exactly?” Charles asked.

“There was trauma to the face,” Sheriff Archer said very quietly.

My stomach twisted, and the bacon, eggs and pancakes I’d had for breakfast suddenly didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“Why ask Lorna?” Charles asked the sheriff. “Surely you can look at and compare dental records.”

“We could,” he agreed. “But first, we’d have to know Shelby Murphy’s dentist and obtain a court order. That would take time.”

I knew from Nash’s reports that Shelby had no living family. It would either be me or likely no one. Squaring my shoulders, I scooted my chair back from the table and stood. “All right,” I told him. “Let’s go now.”

Sheriff Archer stood as well. “Let me make a call so they’re ready for us.”

Together, the three of us exited the diner.

Turns out that the coroner’s office was in the same building as the sheriff’s department, county jail, and city hall. I wasn’t surprised at all when we pulled around to the back and discovered a separate wide entrance on the basement level. True, there wasn’t a sign announcing it to be the ‘morgue’ but clearly it was.

We were ushered inside by the sheriff and escorted to a room where a body was lying on a gurney and covered with a sheet. Beside it, a man who I assumed was the coroner stood waiting. I didn’t recall reaching for Charles’ hand, but I was very glad to have it to hold onto, nonetheless.

“Lucas.” The coroner nodded to the sheriff. “Ma’am,” he said to me.

I listened as the coroner explained that there had been trauma to one side of the face, and he suggested that I stand on the left side of the gurney for the viewing.

Without a word, I did so immediately.

“Ready?” the coroner asked.

I nodded and he folded back the sheet. Bracing myself, I glanced downward and flinched hard. The woman certainly resembled Shelby. Same dark blonde hair, same straight eyebrows… but her nose was a mess, and I did my best not to look at her other injuries.

I failed.

Turning away, I blew out a long shaky breath. Outside thunder rumbled, mirroring my distress.

“Are you okay?” Charles asked and now his arm was snugged tight around my waist.

“Give me a second,” I said, struggling to compose myself.

“Do you recognize this woman?” the coroner asked me.

I did not turn back around to answer him. “It does look like her; but could you check her right arm? I recall that Shelby had a tattoo of the phases of the moon on the inside of her wrist. It was done in purple and blue.”

I heard movement and then Charles was telling me that it was okay for me to turn back around. When I did, the only thing I could see was an exposed right arm.

There, on the inner wrist, was the phases of the moon tattoo I remembered seeing on her. “That’s Shelby Murphy,” I said.

We were escorted from the room, and I was asked to sign paperwork for official verification. After that we were able to leave fairly quickly. Charles and I had only just stepped outside to discover that Damien Dragos was waiting for us beside his car.

I was a tad surprised to see him outside so early in the morning, however it was an overcast day, and the Vampire was wearing very dark glasses. When he suggested that we come with him to speak to the other council members, I simply nodded and climbed into the front passenger seat of his car.

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