WHO: Emilia and Blaze WHEN: Monday Evening, May 28th. About a day after Moira went missing when they're still looking for her and her car. WHERE: Emilia's ADORABLE HOUSE. SUMMARY: Blaze brought his aunt dinner, knowing that she was busy all day. Aunt/Nephew bonding occurs. WARNINGS: None.
It had been over twenty four hours since Moira MacTeer had gone missing. There hadn’t exactly been a lot of sleeping. Especially not as that information go out to the media. The phones in the office were ringing off the hook - mostly media asking for quotes. It was times like these that Emilia wished she had more than just officers in her department. They needed more people to field those calls.
She noticed immediately that the lights in her house were on - when they shouldn’t have been. If she was as paranoid as her father taught her to be, she’d have taken out her gun. But Emilia was fairly sure she knew the gait of the person walking around in her apartment.
Emilia remained quiet, as she entered her own home, watching Blaze from the doorway of her kitchen.
Since he’d figured his aunt would probably be tired after searching for Moira all day, Blaze had brought her dinner. Even sheriff Wolfes had to eat and Helena made a lot of food when she cooked. He’d let himself in. Blaze had heard her car but after that everything had gone silent for awhile. He was crossing the kitchen toward the refrigerator when he caught a figure standing in the doorway out of the corner of his eye and jumped.
He took a breath before he looked back over at his aunt, recovered, but still a little wide-eyed.
“I hate when you do that.”
She laughed at Blaze’s reaction. No matter how many times she did it, he didn’t seem to learn to listen closely. “Blame your father. He should have taught you to be aware of your surroundings better.”
Emilia stepped into the kitchen, interested in what he’d brought. “It is a relief that I’m not going to have to figure out what I can pull together in my fridge to make a half decent meal.”
“It’s not his fault,” Blaze said. “He really tried.” He could hear Grandpa Wolfe cursing from a mile away. Blaze opened the fridge to get a feel for the lay of the land. “This is really sad,” he agreed. He was still looking when he pointed to the bag on the counter. “I brought fettuccine,” Blaze said. “What do you want to drink?”
“I was supposed to go grocery shopping on Sunday,” Emilia explained. She began to open the cabinets, collecting two plates and two glasses. “Some things, obviously, got in the way. I’ll just have a coke.”
He grabbed two of the cokes. “Any luck today?”
Her sigh was probably answer enough. “No. We came up empty again.” Which only allowed Emilia’s mind to come up with more and more gruesome answers. All of which she didn’t want to end up being true.
She started to portion out the pasta, then plastered on a smile. “Why don’t you tell me about your day instead?”
Blaze frowned. On the one hand, that Moira’s car hadn’t been found slightly increased the chance that maybe she was alive. On the other, a murderer could have plenty of reasons to get rid of a car. He’d felt somber the past two days. Blaze hadn’t been around when Alice and Cora died, but he was starting to understand the way the adults got sometimes.
He could tell his aunt wanted a distraction, but it took Blaze a moment to figure out the parts of his day that weren’t affected. His little sisters were usually his go-to for small talk, but they’d been talking about the missing actress since they’d gotten back from school. When a person was there, they touched the things in front of them. When a person was gone and you didn’t know where they were, they touched everything.
“I worked for a few hours. The film’s brought Lochan a lot more business. I have to restock pretty much every time I go in.”
Emilia wrinkled her nose for a moment. Though she respected that her nephew (presumably) enjoyed the company of Lochlan, mediums and psychics were never going to be something she could trust in. “Really? People want their fortunes read that badly? Or a tarot reading?” She shook her head back and forth. “Sorry, I just hate when people say my department should use his services.”
“Right now they mostly want jewelry to protect them from the ghosts that took Moira,” Blaze said. He shrugged. “People watch too much tv. If Lochan wanted to be a cop, he’d become one. And ‘A self-proclaimed medium said the ghost said so’ doesn’t make a very substantive case in a court of law.” Blaze liked Lochan as a person and as a boss and Blaze was open to ghosts existing if they did, but Blaze was still a Wolfe.
“If I’m certain about one thing, it’s that ghosts did not take Moira,” Emilia assured Blaze. She moved the plates to the table, a more civilized place to eat than standing at the countertop. She liked to make her nephew believe she didn’t just eat in front of the tv.
Blaze brought the drinks to the table. “The ghosts have a really weak motive,” he agreed. The corners of his lips curved as he teased. But a moment later, he shrugged. “But you actually knew Cora, so you’d know better.” If Cora was the type to smite actresses from beyond the grave for copying her haircut, Blaze was pretty sure Aunt Emilia would have her pegged.
“Blaze.” Emilia gave him a stern look. “Even if I believed in ghosts I don’t think Cora would smite a movie being made about her life. But I don’t believe in ghosts and it’s ridiculous I even answered your question.”
“Exactly. If ghosts are real, and if Cora is a ghost, she’d probably like the movie and that Moira was trying to solve her murder.” Blaze brought the drinks to the table.
Emilia was of two minds about Cora’s death - she’d always thought when you found someone in a river it was a nearly impossible task to figure out the answer. But she wasn’t sure she believed it had been a murder either. After you lose a child… well, Emilia could only imagine if her nephew or one of her niece’s died and she was certain it was enough to drive her insane.
“Anyhow. In terms of reasons Moira may be missing, ghosts aren’t ranking for me. But we’re not going to talk about what is ranking either.”
Blaze’s feelings on whether Cora was murdered or not depended on if she was or wasn’t a ghost. To be a ghost, Blaze figured you had to have unfinished business. Like an unresolved case that no one had solved yet. Blaze knew that his aunt couldn’t talk about it.
“It’s okay, Aunt Em. Once the reason is announced, I’ll just assume that was your number one ranking. You’re going to crack this whole thing. I believe in you.” He smiled at her. “We can talk about whatever you want.”
Emilia laughed. “Thanks for having that much faith in me, kiddo. Why don’t you tell me when you’re finally going to have an exhibition of your photography?”
“Realistically?” Blaze bit his lip and exhaled a light laugh. “Probably never.” He shrugged and smiled at her. “But I’ll keep you posted.” If you compared Blaze’s pictures to pictures taken by people who were average at photography, Blaze’s pictures were really good. But if you put him in a room with other good photographers, Blaze was average. Artistically, anyway.
“Good, because I am going when you have an exhibition.” She motioned aggressively with her fork, pointing at him. “Which you will have one day.” One the things Emilia most enjoyed about being an aunt was the ability to be as encouraging as she wanted. Especially when it came to things like this. For all they knew Blaze might be on his way to become a world famous photographer and she certainly wasn’t going to be a speed bump in his way.
“If I had an exhibition and you didn’t go, I would cry,” Blaze said. “That would just be the end of it. I might never take another photo of anything ever again.”
Emilia laughed. “You’ve given me far too much power in this family power dynamic.”
Blaze looked a little shocked. “I thought you were just born with it.”
“While that is true,” Emilia allowed, “this has only increased my power. Like a whole new pokemon evolution or something.”
“That sounds scary,” Blaze said. “Can you ever be stopped?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Probably not. You’re stuck with me and my ever evolving state.”
Blaze pretended to think for about a half second. “I think I’m okay with that,” he said.