Darque Wants by Diana Steele

concerned that she might get dizzy.  As soon as he spoke, Amber fell back against an easel.  She tried to steady her balance, but she swooned instead, just in time for Mateo to lead her to a purple couch that was seated beside the art supply cabinet.  She closed her eyes and then lied back.  Mateo knelt down beside her. 
    Amber’s vision led her further into the mystery’s unraveling.  She witnessed Jeffrey, again, but this time he was inside the studio, the same studio that she was sitting in now, rifling through a pile of papers inside a small, wooden drawer.  She realized that it was one of the wooden drawers to the apothecary cabinets.  Jeffrey proceeded to pull out a piece of red, folded paper, and then looked hesitantly over his shoulder.  He walked to the work-table and un-folded the paper. 
    When he opened up the map, Amber saw small, intricate markings, and one of the giant red circles on it was placed over what appeared to be a hole in the ground.  Beside the image of the hole is a brown bag, and Amber realized that it must represent the leather bag that she saw Jeffrey holding in her earlier visions. Amber started to shake, and Mateo slid next to her, and then placed her hand in his lap.  He knew that he couldn’t do much, but he could try and make her feel as safe as possible. Amber could tell that the vision was waning.  She had received a clear image of both the cabinet and the map, and she knew that the map needed to be retrieved as evidence in the case.  Her only hope was that it still sat inside the cabinet, and that maybe Jeffrey had put it back inside. 
    She slowly opened up her eyes and rubbed her forehead.  Mateo watched her carefully, but silently.  He took a sip of his beer and then waited for her to talk.  She smiled weakly and then tried to stand up.  “Are you okay?”  Mateo took her by the arm and then walked with her as she scanned the room, looking for the apothecary cabinet.
    “I’m okay.  I’m just looking for something.”  She squinted and saw lots of art supplies, a few easels, some empty frames, and a lot of half-used canvasses.  She didn’t see the cabinet.  In a moment of doubt, she wondered if the vision had been incorrect, or if she had seen Jeffrey someplace else.  But she shook her head.  Surely, it had been the very same studio.  Mateo stopped her.
    “What are you looking for?  I know where everyt5hing is down here.”  He laughed, figuring that if anyone could find something in the studio, it should be him.
    “It’s a cabinet.  One of those old ones used for medicine years ago.  I think it’s called an apothecary cabinet.”  She continued to look around, and then laughed, figuring that it should be big enough to see without looking too hard. 
    “It’s out back.  I just hauled it out there last week, before coming up to Berkeley.  I was going to have it re-finished.  Come on.”  He spun around and both Amber and Brodi followed behind him, through a small, dimly lit hallway and out back to an enclosed patio.  The apothecary cabinet stood in plain sight, against a backdrop of vigorously growing tiger lilies.  Amber froze.  If the map was inside the drawer, it would be the first tangible possibility of evidence that she could bring to Sherriff Claiborne.  It would provide something concrete, something tangible to back up her claims that might otherwise be brushed aside as crazy.
    “I’m nervous, Mateo. If I open these drawers and find the map, it will confirm so much, it will be an important part of the mystery that has finally been unearthed.”  She took a deep breath and looked at him for approval.
    “Let’s start opening them.”  He pulled open one of the top drawers but it was only filled with small tubes of paint.  He opened a second drawer and it was filled with un-used rags.  He opened a third drawer and it was filled with paper clips, washers, screws, and bolts.  He laughed.  “We weren’t always the most