Skulls In Silk

Ten

Ryan

Christmas eve was rather interesting. And to top it all off, I couldn't sleep because Jade and Jesse were so freaking loud. Weirdly enough, Giselle knocked right out. While the night hours passed by as I struggled to sleep, my mind wandered back to the events of the dinner, specifically the tension I noticed between Jade and Tammy, and what Jade said to me in the kitchen. I still found it strange that I was the only one that noticed what was going on between the two. Not to mention that Aaron guy was definitely weird. Come to think of it, it does make sense what Jade said, because last I knew, Tammy liked women. So, where did ole boy come from and why did she decide to bring him.

Letting my curiosity get the better of me, I called Gerald the first thing this morning. I had a hunch that something was up with those two, and I needed his help in figuring out what it could be. Once everything was explained, he was on board. We decided that it would be best to keep this to ourselves until we have concrete evidence to bring it to Jesse's attention. It might not be the best idea, but if these people are really up to something and we signal any alarms prematurely, we would never find out what's really going on.

It's been a while since we've followed any leads on what we found, and with the extra things we found in the warehouse, we should be on the lookout. Jesse's been so caught up with Jade, he hasn't even done any 'fixing' or research since she came along. Make no mistake, I'm happy for baby bro, he needed to find someone to ground him, as do I. But I just think that she's gotten him fully consumed in her that he's forgotten his priorities. I can't allow this to go on for too long. A building done damn near blown us to pieces, I was kidnapped, and then that mysterious phone call. We gotta be on our toes man. Shit's no longer getting real, it's already real.

It had been about a week since the dinner, and Gerald was trying to get as many answers possible without Jesse finding out. Since he'd been slacking, Jesse decided to take on a few clients this week, so Gerald was doing both that work and what I asked him. I felt bad for putting this work load on him, and even offered to wait until he was finished with his actual work, but he insisted. I guess he wanted to find out as badly as I did.

"Okay G, what do you have for me" I said answering his Facetime call. "I found out that the guy Tammy brought to the dinner..." he trailed off. "Aaron" I spoke and he nodded. "Yeah, him. He apparently works with Jade at Fiery Irons. He's her boss" he spoke typing away on his computer. "Wait hold up, hold up. You mean to tell me they pretended not to know each other, meanwhile they work together. Damn! This girl is just filled with lies huh?" I said, the last part mostly to myself. "What you mean filled with lies?" he asked looking at me. "Okay, well when they met, Jesse told me that she said her name was Amore. But as they continued to talk, he said she told him her name was Jade. I just don't see why she lied" I explained and he gave me a pensive look.

"He said they met in his office, right?" he asked and I nodded. He started typing away on his computer. "Okay, so I checked the list of workers who clean the building, and I don't see any of her names on there. Are we sure she even works for the cleaning company?" he said and I shrugged. "Man listen, I don't know anything anymore. She probably did all that to "bump" into him. The 'why' is where the mystery lies. What would motivate her to do all that just to meet a guy is beyond me, even if he's my brother. Something ain't right." I said running a hand over my face and I heard Gerald sigh.

"I'm gonna try to figure out which night it was that she was here and see what I find on the security tapes. It may take a while because Jesse's got like three clients this week and their stories are a lot to unpack to then cover up. So, bear with me on this." He said and I nodded. "I got you G. No rush, just let me know what you find out. In the meantime, I'm gonna take a trip to Fiery Irons to see what I can find out" I said and he nodded before hanging up. He never says 'bye' or anything like that; it's kinda weird but I've learned to get used to it.