Fill My Lungs | J. Todd ✔

[21] Jason's Secret

The police team sent to house 07 at Asher Street found Harold's dead body as well as signs of a fight that had taken place; the broken mirror, a toppled table, and multiple items were thrown around as if someone had wrecked the house in a rage.

Garrett was nowhere to be found though and an investigation started to find out the murderer as well as the other people involved in the case.

Sarah and Marc had submitted a missing report for Valerie to the area's police station and as her records were connected to Harold, it didn't take long for the police to reach the conclusion that both Valerie's disappearance and Harold's murder were connected.

Jason had managed to keep Valerie's name out of the investigation upon her insistence but that missing report made the police look into her background as well.

Her bag was found in the dumpster near her apartment building, indicating that she had been abducted from there. Now all that was needed was finding out where Garrett was and recording Val's statement on what had happened that night at house 07.

Jason had bought some time for Valerie by using his contacts to persuade the police to delay her statement until she recovered and keep looking for Garrett instead. However, deep down he had already made a plan on how to track the guy out and make him pay for his crimes.

Sarah and Marc had been very worried for Valerie and wanted to meet her but he refused them to visit her. He couldn't reveal the location of his safe house to many people. However, he talked to them and told them he would bring her to her apartment himself the day Garrett got caught. So for the time being, they had no other option but to talk to Valerie on call.

Valerie had been at Jason's safehouse ever since and Kori had stayed over for company. That morning, she slept deeply due to the effects of heavy medication while Jay was busy with the investigation going on.

Kori was waiting for her to wake up and it was past evening when she finally came out of the room.

"Valerie, hi," she smiled to see her, checking if she needed any help in walking.

"Hi," Val checked the time as well as the fact that Kori was there alone, "did Jason go somewhere?"

"Yeah. He had some work to tend to," she told her, patting the spot beside her on the couch, "come sit. You must be hungry, I'll bring something to eat."

"Thank you..."

She felt awkward around her, probably because Kori had so easily gotten friendly with her. She didn't doubt the woman's intentions as she knew Kori was Jason's friend and if he had let her stay there with her, that definitely meant he trusted her.

Shortly after, Kori had returned with a bowl of pasta that she told her she had ordered for both of them but as Valerie hadn't woken up earlier, she hadn't eaten it either.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have waited for me," she felt bad but Kori smiled softly.

"It's alright. I prefer eating with company so I didn't want to eat on my own."

"Right..."

Kori watched her curiously as if waiting for her to speak up. She knew Valerie had questions and so did she but neither of them had brought them up.

But then she stood up as if she had just remembered something and left the living room. She returned shortly after with a package in hand.

"I almost forgot; Jay told me to give you this," she handed her the box and Valerie saw that it contained a cell phone. "You might want to talk to your family and tell them you're okay."

"Yeah... Um, thanks."

After finishing the pasta along with Kori, Valerie dialed Sarah's number, knowing full well that her friend would be anxious for her. She also had to find out what Jason had been arguing with her about because she had never seen him that angry earlier.