The Lady of the Valley

TLotV Chapter 28

28.

Ari brought them trays of food and information the next morning.

"Oh, gods," Astrid said when Ari hit the basement floor. She pulled the blanket over her head and mumbled something about dying from embarrassment.

"Relax," Ari said back. "I've seen both of you naked before."

Astrid stuck her head out from under the blanket and glared at her.

"You and she aren't exactly the same shape," Ari continued. She mimed an hourglass figure in the air with her hands.

Derek got it. It hadn't been Astrid's fuzzy pink tiger print shorts he'd woken up in. They'd been Ari's.

"What do you want?" Astrid snapped.

"I brought you offerings of clothing, pancakes, coffee, and information," Ari answered.

Astrid snatched the offered clothes and bolted--bare-assed--for the basement bathroom. Derek grinned at her rear as she went.

"Hurt her and I'll kill you," Ari said sweetly as she passed him a mug of coffee. The stabby unicorn on the mug glared at him too.

"I'd expect nothing less." He tipped the mug to her in a salute.

She handed him a plate. The pancakes were purple and black and...he tilted his head. "Are those bats?"

"Mmmhmm. I tried to make vampires, but they turned out too gloppy, so I ate them." She looked at him pointedly and he grinned.

"Thank you. I'm starving."

"I can't imagine why," Ari said into her cup.

Astrid resurfaced, bounded across the room in another snarky t-shirt and shorts combo---this one with a cursing bunny on it--and climbed back into the bed. "Food, give. I'm so hungry."

Ari opened her mouth. Astrid growled at her. "Shut up."

Ari grinned and handed her a mug and a plate.

Derek looked over. "Hearts and...swords?" he asked.

"Seemed fitting." Ari took a spot at the end of the pull out bed, clutching her own mug. It had a cartoon penis on it. Derek found his pancakes incredibly interesting all of a sudden.

"You said you brought information," Astrid asked around bites of pancake.

"So, while you lazy things slept in"--Astrid growled at Ari again--"I was busy, working. Very hard. Selflessly."

"Get to the point," Astrid snapped.

"I think I've put together a timeline," Ari began. "Our first victim wasn't from Mystic Valley. I'm assuming Ellie's information is right and Sarris is the killer. But she was following him before he came here. She knew about his misdeeds and was already watching him for some reason. So Sarris follows the first victim here, and Ellie follows Sarris, knowing by that point that he's a killer.

"Victim three was Harris Woodward. Harris And Zane, victim four, were both students at the university. Zane was well known, popular, but Harris wasn't. Other than being on the track and field team he wasn't terribly social. No social media accounts or anything.

"Victim two is who I find more interesting,"

"Is it because she's one of the ones you read?" Astrid asked.

Ari shrugged. "Maybe. But she did have a social media presence too, which is another way to read a person. Jennifer Harlan. Her profile went silent about a year ago, but there's a pattern between that, and her criminal history."