"All things truly wicked start with innocence"--- Ernest Hemingway

"She had immense eyes that always seemed in danger of capsizing in their own innocence"- J.D. Salinger, A Girl I Knew

As the day wore on, the rain began to subside and a small ray of sunshine appeared through the ever-present grey clouds. Eleni, still on her bar stool inside Mudbugs, retreated a bit farther into the lamp-lit shadows. It was almost a subconscious movement, reminiscent of a child looking for comfort and protection. 

Like many of the old buildings in Aubrey Parish, Mudbugs presented a dark and almost haunting environment. While some found it romantic that there were battery-operated candles on each table and well-protected oil lamps on the walls, others sighed at the fact that Aubrey Parish was perpetually darker than it needed to be. The mood lighting certainly wasn't just for effect, as the power was known to fall victim to the heavy rains and gusting winds on a fairly frequent basis.

It was for this reason that Chance had decided to do away with doors and make the front of his establishment an open-air area. Although he could not make the sun come out, even the monochrome and sepia lighting made the bar more welcoming. The breezes of the storms and the frequent patter of rain added a sense of romance for customers who were not there alone, and captured the ambience of Southern Louisiana perfectly. It also gave both those who passed by and those inside an opportunity for people-watching, perhaps the best in the Parish.

When the stuffy-looking young man at the end of the bar addressed Eleni rather formally and offered to buy her a drink, her lips turned up into their trademark crimson smile. Her eyes suddenly looked a bit wider and her face revealed that beyond the well-perfected makeup and exquisite posture, she was younger than people tended to assume. The self-assured demeanour, the stunning jewels, and the almost regal manner in which Eleni carried herself suggested a society doyenne twice Eleni's age.

There were a number of reasons Chance affectionately called Eleni his princess and watched over her with an overly protective eye. She was a handful, but she had definitely been good for business. As the days passed, he noticed more and more people showing up in the middle of the afternoon for a drink. They always sat one or two seats away from Eleni, and always waited for a crowd to filter out before approaching her. Chance hid a smile most of the time. She had this way of making grown men become awkward boys and awkward boys desire to become men.

When she finally turned to address those who spoke to her, Eleni's shapely figure and vibrant, unlined features were often a surprise. For those who had not studied her prior to saying hello, they were often a pleasant surprise and Eleni always took full advantage of that knowledge. Eleni never had a chance to say a word, but there was an enchanted look in the young man's eyes as she moved to sit on the stool next to him. Eleni had no idea the young man who wanted to speak to her was the Sheriff's Deputy, and Chance had no time to warn her.

In fact, the pair didn't get the opportunity to have much of a moment at all. Chance had barely finished making Eleni's drink when he saw his chef come stumbling into the bar, ready to start prepping for the evening's dinner rush. A lifetime of throwing drunk men out into the street when they'd reached their limit set off the alarm bells in Chance's head when he saw Keegan Draesia.

Chance's face grew tight and almost furious. "Boy, you think you're comin' to work here fallin' down drunk in the middle of the day, you got another thing. Go home, Keegan. We'll be talkin' about this later, no mistakin' that."  The large man shook his head.

Keegan's face never changed. He didn't even so much blink at Chance's anger, which was a thing that made most cower. Instead, he stumbled toward the bar and pushed his way between Eleni and her companion.

Ignoring Eleni completely, Keegan pointedly plopped his pistol onto the bar, a movement that earned a glare from Chance. As Keegan held his hands out to the Deputy, he spoke in a flat, empty voice. "You can arrest me now if you want. I shot Victor Zenkova. Seven goddamn years too late, but the son-of-a-bitch is rotting in hell. Too good for him, you ask me."

Keegan's eyes were glazed and his body wobbling as he still held his hands out to be handcuffed. He wasn't drunk, but wasn't exactly normal. Instead, he was in a strange state of shock. His head swiveled around a moment, looking at the unusual beam of sunshine still shining over the Parish. "It was worth it if I could make her happy, just this one day."

The sun had been shining that fateful day, too, and it was the last time Keegan Draesia recalled the Parish being touched by a ray of sunshine.  He counted the days without meaning to. Seven years, two months, and eighteen days ago was the last time he'd seen a beam of sunshine.

It was one of the most special things about Ava's little apartment within the Red Question. In the entirety of the Parish, she lived in the space that was closer to the sky than anything else. The combination of the red and gold of the room, the light sparkling waters of the hot tub, and the white sheer curtains that hung loosely between heavy, embroidered draperies created almost an illusion of sunshine whenever the slightest beam passed through the sky. It was the first time Keegan had ever noticed something so beautiful in all his years in Aubrey Parish, that moment when he saw the beam of sunshine cast itself over Ava's bed. It was the only place in the Parish he'd ever seen that kind of illusion, as if Ava herself had imbued hope and light in a perpetually overcast, mysterious world.

Keegan visited Ava's room  every day for a week, sitting there in his colourful swim trunks that clashed with the hideous zebra print of the bed upon which he and Ava spent so many days wrapped up in one another. He would sit there all day, and as the day turned to night and the world became darker, he would just curl up and sleep. No one asked for glasses of champagne or money or wondered what he was doing there, not anymore. It was almost like the decadent haze of the Red Question and all the people in it were a thing he'd created in a dream and now, they were gone.

Most of the time, he pretended that she was there beside him, holding his hand and talking about their lives as they always did. Other times , he'd scour the place for signs of her. Deep down, he hoped she'd left a note, a gift, anything that told him where she was and when she was coming back. Sometimes, he thought how angry he would be for leaving him the way she had, but he knew he would be more relieved to see her than anything.

Other times, he worried she'd been hurt or kidnapped and wondered if he should call the Sheriff. It was a life-or-death mistake if he chose incorrectly. If he didn't tell anyone, no one would ever know Ava needed help. If he did call and she was fine, Victor would kill him.

Keegan didn't want to be a part of Ava's world, but he already knew enough to know the most important rule: no matter what, no cops. He was almost willing to trade his life to make sure she was safe, but he reminded himself Ava needed protection for more than a day or two. She needed someone who'd protect her for the rest of her life.

Keegan was that someone, even if it meant feeling helpless and frustrated. He cried himself to sleep holding her pillow, wishing her back. It didn't matter how many scavenger hunts he had to complete, how many flowers and flutes of champagne it took before she'd leave with him, all he wanted was his Ava.

When he closed his eyes, he always saw her standing in the sun next to flawless crystal-blue waters, looking extraordinary in a white dress and a long veil dotted with pink flowers. She was the closest thing to a goddess he'd ever encountered. He felt somewhat ashamed at the way living in Ava's room, curled up on her bed or floating in the waters, kept his body in a near constant state of fevered arousal. It wasn't just an emotional ache for the woman he loved that couldn't be silenced. It didn't distract him from his tears, it merely joined with them.

Keegan's heart was broken, but the pieces were all he had left, and he clung tight.

It took a week before Virgil, the manager and head bouncer of the Red Question, took pity on the young man. Keegan hadn't noticed how quiet the building had been, how everyone avoided him and Ava's lodgings as if he carried the plague. Keegan was too wrapped up in his own sadness and longing to notice much, but Virgil noticed Keegan's suffering. He had felt it himself, a long time before. Virgil couldn't wish that pain on anyone. He was a good man, one with a conscience, and years of working for Victor Zenkova hadn't yet eradicated that.

Virgil waited until the day that Victor went to take care of business outside of the Parish, putting him in charge of the place. He opened the safe before walking up to the opulent spa that he'd been so proud of. Everything was exquisitely created, almost made as an homage to Aphrodite herself, and Virgil had been proud of the touch of class added to the somewhat sketchy establishment.  He hadn't intended it to become the dwelling for one of Victor Zenkova's girls, but he understood. The special ones, they weren't allowed a lot of freedom. Virgil felt content each time he saw the peaceful, innocent smile on Ava's face in a world that was anything but. He'd build it for her all over again.

Keegan's world had come to a halting stop the day the manager with the weathered face and expressionless eyes sat on the bed next to him instead of Ava. Virgil had handed Keegan a folded up piece of paper, and in his other hand, he held a locket with a sweet pink and diamond heart dangling from it. They both still felt like Ava, as if she were suddenly back in the room.

"Victor didn't want you to have these things. Maybe he thought it would be easier if you kept thinkin' she ran out, but he can be a fuckin' prick sometimes, I'll tell you that. She left this note for you, under the pillow. I don't know if that was a regular thing."

Keegan just nodded blankly, pressing the paper to his heart. "Every day. She left me a note every day. That's Ava's locket." Keegan's hand reached out to snatch it away from the bartender possessively. "Where did you get this? Where is she? Where is Ava?" He stood up, suddenly pacing, his tone rising with each passing second.

The room echoes with the sound of silence and its occupants barely breathing. "Son, Ava's gone. She's not gonna be coming back. I'm real sorry to have to tell you that. I know how special she was to you. You were special to her too. I think you kinda know already that she can't get back to you, not in this world. She wasn't the type to take off with another fella and leave you here waiting. She left the world a good, honest sort of girl who loved you." Virgil's tone was sympathetic but not emotional, the voice of the kind of person who'd gotten used to saying words like these.

"Someone shoulda told you that days ago, but Victor said no. You know how things work 'round here, no one defies the bossman." Virgil stood up cautiously, a head taller than Keegan, but not really wanting a fight. "They found her Monday morning, in the hot tub. It was peaceful, as far as these things go, least that's what the examiner lady said. She just drowned. The girls aren't supposed to drink every glass of champagne comes to them. Ava was a sweet one. She probably didn't even know."  Virgil's shoulders slump a bit, handing the pendant to Keegan. "This was in her hand. Hard to tell if it was a gift or something she always wore. You have any idea if it means something that she was holdin' it that way? "

"It means what you people call accidents are never accidents!" Keegan wheeled around angrily, suddenly seeing the colours of the floor, the brocade couches and zebra print bed and red cushions all swirling into it. "She was trying to remember something. This was her special link to me, that's what she called it. I gave it to her so she wouldn't have to feel so alone when we couldn't be together. I wanted her to remember that no matter what she had to do to get by here, she was never alone.." Keegan's eyes moved to the large hot tub, and he shook his head. "She wouldn't have drowned. Ava knew about the champagne. You can only stay innocent so long in a place like this. She taught me about the champagne, and too many other things besides. She knew how to swim and she rarely slept. She would never have taken that off if she wasn't in trouble. Maybe she was just waiting for it all to be over. Maybe she was trying to remember me. "

Rapidly moving across the room, he suddenly picked up a vase and hurled it at the larger man. "Fuck you. Fuck this entire building. The best thing that could happen to this place is to see it burn to the ground with all its dirty little secrets. All I wanted to do was get her out of this place, give her a normal life like she deserved. I would have looked after her like she needed, made her feel loved and safe. No one had to kill her for wanting a little shred of happiness. How old was she, anyway? We all know goddamn well she wasn't twenty-one." Keegan's fists pushed tears out of his eyes. "You all think I'm just a stupid kid. What was she? She wasn't any different."

Virgil stood, strong, and silent. It wasn't the first time he'd had to see something like this. It wouldn't be the last. He just sat a box on the bed, and said calmly, "These are her personal effects, what she had on her the night she passed, what she was wearing. Sometimes people take comfort in the small things." The bartender shook his head sadly. "Son, I don't know what to tell you. Right now, you're saying a lot of things because you're in shock and grievin'. I understand that. But I know you ain't the kind who's dumb enough to say them outside of this room. No sense in creating tragedy on top of tragedy."

Keegan's eyes turned almost blood red, his jaw refusing to unclench. He heard the threat in the words. He didn't care. "Just tell me why. WHY?"

Virgil shrugged in sympathy. "Who can say why things happen like they do? She loved it up here, this room. It was made for entertaining customers, but Victor gave it to Ava when she saw how it was the only place she looked happy, peaceful. She didn't suffer here. This was her home. This world, it's not the easiest life, not for any of us. But there are much worse. Ava, she was headin' down the road to much worse when Victor found her. Lost little thing who'd grab on to every scrap of happiness."

The man paused, almost like he could feel Ava pass through the room in the gentle breeze that moved by. "It was hard for her at first, the fittin' in here. That was part of what made her special, though. I don't know how old she was, where she was from, what her name really was. Hell, no one here knows that about anyone. Every single soul workin' this place used to be someone else from somewhere else, and runnin' brought them here. It was a sanctuary for the lost, me included. The other girls left her be. Victor didn't care much what she did, seeing as she was more cooperative once she moved in. He thought the world of her. " The man gives a consoling look to Keegan. "She was happy here, you know. Ava told me once that this room was the only place in the entire world she could remember that was always beautiful. If she had to leave us, I'm glad it was here."

Keegan was unresponsive, staring blankly. The manager looked out the window, and sighed, not hiding the note of fatigue in his voice. "There's not enough security here for young girls living in this kind of place. It's pretty well unguarded in the middle of the night and Victor kept cameras out to give them a little privacy, dignity." Virgil's words were strange, even to his own ears, trying to bring an element of something good and respectable to how they lived.

"Everyone cared, but you don't plan the worst. It's possible someone got too rough with her and things got out of hand. Ava was the kind of girl who said no to a lot of things. Victor liked it that way, but some men just don't take to that kind of thing. A place like this, no one expects to be turned down." Virgil looked downcast, and sat quietly on the bed. "We all loved her too. But in this place, we don't ask why about things. There's little point to that. It's just life. We accept and mourn quietly and move on. I know you can do the same, for her sake. It's what she would have wanted."

Keegan responded without words. The young man reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box. Flipping open the top, he revealed a gold band with a small diamond, surrounded by little pink stones. It wasn't glamorous, but Ava would have loved it. "Where is she? I never got to give this to her when it meant anything, but she deserves to have it now. I'd rather it be with her than anywhere else. It was my fault for not giving it to her sooner. I was waiting for it to be the right time. It never was. "

Virgil's head turned away from the boy, hiding the little beads of tears and the lump in his throat that keeps him from answering. When he finally turned back, he replied, a note of hoarseness in his voice. "Son, there ain't no body to bury. There never is. She's not the first and God willing, she's the last---but accidents are more common than you'd think here." He closed his eyes, the stabbing grief of loss permeating the room..

"I did everything I could in gettin' you what's left of her life. Victor is upset to no end. He's closin' this room up, thinks of it as her final restin' place." Virgil offered Keegan a small key, and almost whispered, "Anytime you want to visit her when he's not here, we all understand why. But get on home now before he comes back and neither one of us gets out of this room alive. That's not the kind of thing she'd want to know came to pass."

Keegan's pale face turned bright red, and scrunched up into a sudden ball of tears. "She was so beautiful, you know." His words barely make it through the sound of sobs. "I've known prettier girls on the outside, I guess. But inside, she was the most beautiful and delicate thing. Ava deserved better. She was too good for this life, this world, you know what I mean?"

Virgil looked at the ground, the reflection from the crystalline-looking pool a beam of ivory and pink light that gave hope and beauty to the masterpiece he'd designed. His work of art was meant to be an homage to pleasure. It would instead become a monument to the fragility of life, hope, and beauty.

Virgil didn't turn his head as Keegan left, the barely concealed sound of sobs echoing through the halls and stuck in his own throat. "Yeah, son. I do know."

It is Eleni's words that cut through the silence of Keegan's reverie. "Victor is dead?" The words are not mournful, but manage to sound shocked. For a moment, the charming lilt of Eleni's voice lingers in the air and no one dares to move a muscle.

Brian Thibideau looks, in a word, shocked. The young deputy, not yet a month past his twenty-first birthday, had never been taught to handle a situation like this. He is beyond out of his element. He notices the large man behind the bar grab the gun, and barks out quickly, "That's evidence. I hate to arrest anyone for tampering with evidence."

Chance responds with a silent glare, but the gun is returned to the counter. "No one talks, no one runs, no one grabs anything even resemblin' a weapon, okay?" Brian's voice is authoritative, in a skeptical sort of way. Oddly enough, his eyes move past Keegan to rest on Eleni. The sound of her voice makes him soften in an unexpected way, and his hand reaches out to touch her shoulder in consolation. The silken feeling of her skin causes him to blush furiously, and he quickly looks apologetic.

"Ma'am, that's what I was hoping to chat with you about in more congenial surroundings. There was a mugging on the street last night in front of his business, and Victor Zenkova was murdered. There's papers and witnesses and whatnot saying you two were," Brian stops speaking, almost helplessly. Words were really hard sometimes. "Well, close. I came to tell you I'm sorry for your loss. I thought I should explain in person what happened. I'd still like to do that if you can be patient here today. There's a small bit of business to be handled."

Brian's eyes drift to Keegan. Though he has not been handcuffed yet, the young chef has fists that are clenched into white balls of fury as the Deputy tries to explain the situation to Eleni. "Come this way, sir, if you would. Have a seat so we can chat." Brian motions to the stool the farthest from where Eleni sits. He's aware of Chance's unrelenting glare, looking over the trio of thin, pale young adults sitting at the bar with the protective nature of any father. It is a strange scene, to say the least.

Brian clears his throat. He can't remember ever arresting anyone before without Colton there to supervise. "This would be real easy if you came in here saying you killed a man. Instead, you told me you shot him. You can't walk around the Parish shooting at people and throwing guns around in your place of employment. Did you kill the man you shot?"

Keegan laughs, an almost violent sound that doesn't help his case. "I wish I could have. I never had whatever it takes to kill the man who took away everything that mattered to me. There was never any justice, you know, no peace at all. It wasn't right, or fair, and I couldn't do anything about it. I was never man enough. Someone else was, though. Wish I knew who it was so I could say thank you. " 

His eyes dart out the door, hoping the little beam of sunshine is still there. "It has been seven years, two months, and eighteen days since I looked up at the sky and saw the sun. Today, after I shot him, that little bit of sun broke through and smiled on the Parish. I know she's happy because I did the right thing."

Brian shakes his head. "You shot a corpse in the middle of a crowd. That's not the right thing. People could have been hurt and you're sitting in a world of trouble if anyone got hurt. Now, you knew the man was already dead and you did the right thing turning yourself in. I know Chance has been like another daddy to you, and you've never done anything violent a day in your life. You've always conducted yourself like a good man. Today, you're shooting in the town and glaring at that little lady over there like you're going to hurt her. You did all this to impress a girl?" The Deputy shakes his head, before asking quietly, "Sir, are you intoxicated this afternoon?"

Keegan's head shakes and he glances toward Eleni, who is animatedly talking to Chance in the corner. Seeing the gaudy ring on her finger makes him shake. "N-no. I was fine until I walked by and saw the crowd of people, and what had happened. I just walked over to give him a piece of my mind, let him know what I thought about him. The rest, it was all foggy. All the colours, and memories started moving around in my head. It wasn't to impress a girl. It was to do right by her. It was the closest thing to justice she'll ever see. She deserves that, doesn't she?"

The chef's eyes lift up to Eleni, almost freezing as they do. "That woman over there, I don't know her from the next one, but if she was sharing her bed with a devil like Victor--well, I got no feeling for her. Would you?"

Brian lets out a sigh. "I would. She lost the man she was planning to marry. I'm not claiming he was a decent sort, but loss is loss and she didn't know until you stormed in here. You got to have a little feeling in you for that."

The Deputy leans in towards Keegan, his voice suddenly serious. " I don't know what happened today or in the past, but justice is a tricky thing. You can't just go shooting people to get it and you can't take your feelings out on people you don't even know. If you're not sitting in a jail cell, do I need to worry you're gonna hurt that lady over there? Looks like your boss would have your hide if you touched a hair on her head."

Keegan turns his head toward Chance, who has a hand on top of Eleni's like he is consoling her or keeping her quiet. His own expression just looks tired and defeated. "Yeah, well. The man she was going to marry killed the woman who was going to be my life. Maybe we just call that even?" Keegan's eyes are little daggers of hatred aimed at Eleni. He clearly has nothing approaching compassion for the dark-featured woman. "I wouldn't hurt anyone. I just wanted to make Ava smile again. I did and I can't want more than that. What happened to Victor, it wasn't enough. He should have suffered more for what he did."

Brian's eyes still look at Keegan in some confusion. "Some people think only one person is equipped to deal with justice, and it ain't you or whoever killed Victor this morning. You got to have faith that our Lord is watching over us and only He knows what true justice is." Keegan may have preferred being read his rights to one of Brian's sermons. Most did. "Dead or alive, if a man kills someone, we're going to look into that. Alright?"

The response from Keegan is to look half-catatonic. Brian isn't even sure the chef is able to hear him, that's how clear it is that Keegan's mind has wandered somewhere else. He resists the urge to shake life back into the man.

"Look. I'm not placing you under arrest, since I'm not sure you did much more than disturb the peace in a crowd of people and destroyed a corpse. But we're gonna keep you, ask you some questions. I'm gonna trust you don't need handcuffs to sit here and do the right thing, 'specially with your boss keeping an eye on you right here. This all works out, you'll be back to your kitchen, okay?" Brian pulls out a cell phone, and notices the text message from Colton.

Shaking his head, he has to admit the ship of doing things in a low-key, orderly fashion has sailed. Every so often, he steals a glance over at Eleni. The woman is calm and listening to whatever the bartender is saying, a small blessing in a tense situation. When she turns her gaze to catch his, she raises her long lashes and offers a simple ruby smile. It isn't just a smile, though,. It is an almost seductive glance, one that makes him wish he was talking with her quietly somewhere far away from this mess. Brian's entire body flushes a light shade of pink in response.

Stepping away, he does the only thing he knows for sure to do, and that's to call Colton Ormond for help.