Doramis

Doramis and Lucy arrived at Ivy's tavern which was already filled with people from the funeral. Doramis was about to get out of the car when Lucy grabbed her hand. "What's wrong, mom?"

"Are you sure we should go to this?" asked Lucy. "We can just go home and watch tv."

"You don't want to go inside?"

"I'm not sure. I think today has been sad enough."

"Yes, but this is to honor Ivy. We should go." Doramis noticed Ken arrived with his mothers. "Everyone is going to be here. We should be too."

Lucy saw Sheriff Lawrence's cruiser parked in front of the building. "You're right. We should be here."

"But are you alright, mom?"

"I will be," said Lucy as she looked at her daughter. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"Alright," said Doramis as she gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you inside."

Doramis got out of the car and made her way inside the tavern. She was met by Deputy Tirado who stood right by the entrance door. He stopped her before she could go inside.

"Dori," he said, his tone deadly serious. "I know I don't have to remind you, just because you're in a tavern doesn't mean you are allowed to drink. Doesn't matter the occasion."

"I know, sir," said Doramis, her shoulders stiff.

"I hope you can remind my son as well. I'm sure he'll follow your example."

Doramis was a little shocked to hear this from the deputy. "You think he'll do whatever I tell him to?"

"I know he will," said Deputy Tirado. "Can I count on you?"

"Yes sir."

"Where's your mother, anyways?"

"She's coming. Just bracing herself."

"Understandable. Go. My son is probably with the other delinquent."

"Yes sir," said Doramis as she rushed away. She found Robbie and Ken sitting together in the corner of the room. She went to them. "Your father is intense," she said to Robbie.

"Did something happen?"

"Just reminded me that I'm not at the legal age to be drinking. That the occasion means nothing when it comes to the law."

"Sounds like him," said Robbie. He pulled a flask from his inside shirt pocket. "But we don't care."

Doramis sat down right next to Robbie and pushed the flask back inside his shirt. "No. And where did you even get one of those?"

"I borrowed it, of course. You don't want some?"

"No. Your father didn't have to remind me that I'm not allowed to drink. I didn't want to anyway."

Robbie nodded his head towards Ken. "How about you? Want a swig?"

"No thanks," he said as he waved him off.

"Seriously? You guys are the upperclassmen. You should be funner than this."

"We just finished burying Ivy," said Ken. "This isn't a fun occasion."

"Even more reason to drink. In honor of Ivy."

"Fine," said Doramis. "But let's do it in the bathroom."

"Seriously?" said Ken in shock.

"Are we going to do this?" she asked Robbie.

"Let's go."

Doramis stood up and went towards the bathroom. Robbie quickly followed and Ken was reluctantly behind him. They entered the men's bathroom which Doramis made sure there wasn't anyone inside. She put out her hand to Robbie. "Let's see it."

Robbie gave her his flask. She twisted the top off and walked over to the sink where she poured the liquor out. "What are you doing?" whined Robbie as he tried to reach for the flask, but Doramis was too tall for him and kept it out of his reach as she finished pouring it out. "Why did you have to do that?"

"Because we're investigating who shot at my mom and I need you both to be sober."

"We're investigating that tonight?" asked Robbie as he looked at his empty flask, sadness clear on his face.

"Of course," said Doramis. "The whole town is here tonight. Whoever took a shot at her must be here as well. We need to take advantage of this."

"What do you want us to do?" asked Ken.

"One of us is going to be watching my mom carefully. I want to know if anyone is giving her dirty looks."

"Ain't she like the most hated person in town," said Robbie as he tucked the flask back inside his shirt pocket. "A lot of people are going to be giving her dirty looks."

"Good," said Doramis. "I want you guys to write down every single name of those people. We're going to see if any of them match the list of people who were at the hunt."

"That's not going to be easy," said Ken. "Someone will have to watch your mother all night."

"That's right," said Doramis. "You two will be doing that."

"And you?" asked Robbie.

"Same thing, among other things." Doramis stood up. "Don't let me down, boys. I'm counting on you both." She walked away before they could protest. Doramis didn't get far when she bumped into someone she really wanted to avoid.

"Ms. Baez," said Mr. Souza. "I feel like it's been a while since I've seen you." His voice was filled with sarcasm.

"Mr. Souza," said Doramis. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"I don't know why. I knew Ivy as well. I was very hurt by her death, but I didn't use it as an excuse not to do my job, unlike yourself." He glared at Doramis.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be. I spoke to your mother and she told me what you were doing. You should feel ashamed using Ivy's death as an excuse to skip school."

"That's not what I -"

"I'm very disappointed in you, Ms. Baez. I expected better from you."

"I wasn't just skipping school," whispered Doramis.

"No," said Mr. Souza. "Then what were you doing?"

"I was investigating her death," answered Doramis in a very low voice.

"And does your mother know this?"

"No."

Mr. Souza sighed. "I realize you want to be like your mother, but skipping school is not the way to go about it. You definitely shouldn't be lying about mourning someone we all lost. It's a very low thing to do."

Doramis had her head down and felt terrible. She was forgetting what she was doing there in the first place. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay if you learn from your mistakes. Can I expect to see you in class on Monday?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Because I have high expectations from you. You're my brightest student. I would hate to see you take the wrong path." Mr. Souza spotted Molly getting out of the bathroom and decided he would meet her half way. "I'll see you on Monday, Ms. Baez."

Doramis walked off as fast as she could when someone from the bar grabbed her by the arm. She had her head down and didn't notice who it was until she looked up.

"Hey girly," said Jordana who was sitting with Noah. She noticed Doramis was emotional. She turned to Noah. "Can you give us some privacy? I would like to talk to her alone."

"Sure," said Noah as he took his beer and went to Liam's table.

Jordana returned her attention to Doramis. "Are you okay?" She offered her handkerchief.

Doramis took it and wiped her face. "I'm fine. I guess I'm still not above scoldings."

"That was Mr. Souza you were talking to, right?"

"Yes," said Doramis. "You've met him already?"

"The other night. He was playing cards with Jack and Liam. What was he scolding you about?"

Doramis hesitated, embarrassed. "For skipping."

Jordana chuckled. "I've done worse."

"And the excuse I used for skipping." Jordana raised an eyebrow as she waited for Doramis to continue. "I told him I was taking Ivy's death very poorly."

Jordana made a face. "Yeah, that's pretty bad."

"I know," she said as she put her head down.

Jordana put a finger under Doramis' chin and pushed her head up. "Don't ever put your head down. It's a show of weakness and you're not weak. Don't ever let anyone think otherwise." Doramis only gave her a nod. Jordana pulled back and took a sip of her drink. "So what's Mr. Souza's story? Does he get along with your mother?"

"I think so. Why do you ask?"

"He was at the hunt, so he's a suspect."

Jordana noticed that Doramis seemed to want to say something but stopped herself. "Why the hesitation?"

"It wasn't him, but my mom does have a file on him," said Doramis.

"What did it say?"

"I didn't get to look at it. My mom almost caught me."

"Did you see anyone else with a file?"

"Yes, Liam, but I didn't get to read it either."

"And you still don't suspect Mr. Souza?"

"Mr. Souza is a good guy. He would never do something like that."

"Is that so? Then who on the list do you think is capable of taking a shot at your mother?"

Doramis was caught off guard. "I don't know. I really don't think anyone in town is actually a bad guy."

"But that's not true," said Jordana. "Someone did try to kill your mom and it has to be someone from this town. They all can't be good."

Doramis looked around the room as everyone had conversations amongst each other.

"You have a wolf in sheep's clothing here," said Jordana. "I wonder if you could figure out who it is before they make another move."

Doramis looked at Jordana. "You think they might take another attempt at my mother?"

"I think it's possible. Let's make a deal. I'll investigate Liam while you and your friends investigate Mr. Souza."

"How will we do that?"

"He's a teacher, right. I bet he could have some incriminating evidence inside his desk."

Doramis thought about it. "Alright, deal. Sneaking into the school should be fun."

Jordana smiled before taking another sip. "Oh look," she said as she nodded in the direction. "The musician is about to play."

Mattias got up on stage as some people from the crowd quieted down. He held his guitar and slowly started to play as everyone stopped their conversations to listen. He played the same melody from the night before, then sang.

They say the good die young

Bless us for a short amount of time

And it's not fair

We're going to miss your smile

Your laughter

Your voice

Your beautiful presence

And it's just not fair

Can't believe we're never going to see you again

Hear your voice

Feel your warmth

Or see your smile ever again

And it is just not fair

They say the good die young and that's not fair

Mattias stopped and the crowd clapped and cheered for him. Some people were even teary eyed. Mattias bowed.

"Enough with the depressing music," yelled Liam who was clearly drunk. "Ivy wouldn't want us all here crying over her. She'd want us to celebrate her life."

"That's enough," whispered Jack who tried to calm him down.

"Alright," said Mattias. "You're right. Ivy wouldn't want us crying all night. Especially at her establishment. Let me try something a little more light-hearted."

Someone put a hand on Doramis' shoulder and she looked back to see it was her mom. Lucy hugged her from behind as they listened to Mattias.

Mattias practiced with his guitar as he played something a little more upbeat.

Isabella and Ashner had approached and were standing behind Doramis at the bar side. Everyone was quiet as Mattias got into a rhythm. The beat was fast and a lot more upbeat than before.

Let me tell you a story

It's a cautionary tale

There once was man who liked to drink

He was happy go lucky individual

Wake up drinking

Go to sleep drinking

Drink

Drink

Drink

Happy go lucky man was drunk in the mornings

Drunk in the evenings

Drunk till he past out at the nights

He'd drink

Drink

Drink

Happy go lucky man he was with his drink

Until one morning he'd didn't wake

There was an audible groan from some people from the crowd. Some people didn't understand the story he was telling, but the ones who did, were horrified.

"Is he really making a joke out of Domingo's death?" murmured Lucy.

Doramis hadn't realized that was what Mattias was singing about.

But at least he lived a happy go lucky life

With his happy go lucky bottle

which he'd

Drink

Drink

Drink

"I heard enough," said Isabella. "Get him off the stage," she told Ashner.

"Right away, ma'am," said Ashner as he went straight for Mattias.

"It's time for us to go," said Lucy. "I feel a little sick."

Doramis looked at her mom. "Okay."

Lucy looked at Jordana. "Rain check on that drink." Jordana gave her the peace sign as they left.

"You two were supposed to have a drink?" Doramis asked her mother.

"In honor of Ivy and Domingo."

"Are you two friends now?"

"No, but we can be friendly. Let's hurry. That song really soured my mood."

"Alright." Doramis looked in the direction of her friends and waved goodbye. She quickly followed her mother out.