Rod - The Weapon

Chapter 16: Valerie You!

"I'll go first," Henry says and takes the lead. He says, "My mom's name is Mary Louise and my dad's name is Jason Louise. I don't have a sibling because my parents told me that I am the most important person to them. I am a college student and not so popular influencer who is currently working on a podcast with my dear friend Guy Herman. I have a beautiful female version of Guy as my girlfriend, Ginny Herman. I think that sums it up."

Valerie is quite shocked, she says, "You're an influencer? The both of you? Damn, share me your social media accounts, I'll be your follower."

Henry says, "Yeah, first we'll get this over with. Guy how about you tell us now?"

Guy nods and starts to speak, "I'm Guy Herman and I'm pretty much whatever Henry said, we both do everything together. And yes, Ginny is my twin who almost strangled me in my mother's womb with her little legs."

Ginny just stares with a look of contempt and says, "Yeah, because you annoyed the fuck out of me," and she proceeds to roll her eyes. She then says, "Well unlike my boring brother who I unfortunately couldn't murder inside my mother's womb, I have an interesting life. I am going to marry Henry one day and we will be a family that everyone is jealous off."

Guy gags and says, "Dude, no one asked you about you're future which won't even happen because we all know that you won't even finish college. You suck at studying."

Ginny scoffs and says, "Dude, at least I have a better sex life. You don't even have a girlfriend!" Henry is trying to calm them both and mumbles, "This is why both of them should live at the two ends of the world."

This makes me wonder if they really are like this all the time. Guy looks like he swallowed his vomit and says, "What the hell Ginny? Everyone knows that I'm mom's favorite even though she doesn't act like that in front of you. She said that to dad and I overheard. Sucks for you because they won't leave you any money and you'll be on the streets begging me to give you my cash."

She gives the 'Bitch what did you say?' kind of look and says, "Fuck you dude, what the hell is your problem? You know what, you'll always get dumped, always be the one who gets dumped and be miserable for the rest of your life, alone with 12 cats."

"At least I'll have cats, you won't have anyone at all, Henry will dump your ass for someone else because he will realize that you're too much of a stuck up to be in a relationship with!"

"Okay people! Shut up, can you both just calm the hell down? Where is all of this coming from?" Henry shouts. All I can do is snicker at this stupidly childish yet serious banter among siblings and a friend stuck in middle, unable to take sides.

Ginny asks, "Baby, will you do just as that shithead said?" To which Henry immediately replies, "No way, what does he know?" Then they start making out. This makes everyone uncomfortable.

"Its my turn, Ginny lost hers," I say casually as Ginny pouts a bit. I continue, "Well, I'm Aiden Quinnell, a retired detective. My wife recently passed away leaving my life in a turmoil. I met Henry in her funeral and he made an offer to make a podcast about my wife and her most interesting case. So we are doing just that except this whole podcast thing is going to continue near the lake," I say, summing up my story.

Then Valerie pops a question, "So, do I resemble your late wife? Was that all about this? I'm sorry for your loss."

I just shake my head not knowing what to say. The same says, "Well I am Valerie Lopez, daughter of two moms, Sasha Lopez and Nora Lopez. I have an elder sister Violet Lopez. My parents are the hottest couple I know. But obviously, I am adopted."

I stop the car on the side of the road. Henry, Guy and I turn to look at her with the same expression right now and say together, "What the fuck?"

                              ****

"What do you mean you're Lopez's child?" I ask. She replies, "Uhm, legally the signed the form and I got adopted."

Henry asks me, "Uh, Aiden you said that you didn't have any children right?"

He is a smart kid, caught on quickly. Actually, Rach used to be an ovum donor. Since we couldn't really have children due to my low sperm count, she felt that maybe she could help someone else out. Hence she donated it to agencies on quite a regular basis. The fact that the Lopezs' had another child doesn't bother me, but the fact that they used Rachel's eggs is what drives me insane.

What kind of a twisted fate is this? And both of them are women, why did they need a third egg?

I say to Valerie, "I need you to listen closely okay? Focus, alright? So basically you're my wife's daughter."

She looks a bit confused but she says in the most indifferent tone, "Uh, I kind of guessed it by how you three reacted."

I then ask, "Why did your parents want another egg?" To which she replies, "Well they told me that Nora was infertile, yet she wanted to get pregnant so they asked for a donor. And by the way Sasha got cancer at that time so she couldn't give the egg herself."

Cancer, I swear to god if it were a person, I'd be the first one to murder it. Even though I don't like murders at all.

I tell her for no reason, "My wife died of cancer too. I just wanted you to know. Her name is Rachel by the way."

Valerie shows a bit of sadness on her face but it all clears up. She pulls herself together and says, "How many more hours?"

Guy replies, "I think just 30 more minutes and we'll be there." She falls back, resting on her seat while everyone continues the rest of the journey in silence. The view is absolutely beautiful.

I feel a little suffocated and before I ask, Guy speaks up, "Can we roll down the windows and turn off the AC, its kind of suffocating."

These two always read my mind, one time or the other. Everyone agrees to it, and I'm not going to lie about the fact that I'm excited about recording in the nature.

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Hey guys! The mystery of Valerie is out and in next chapter we will dive back into the main murder story so dw. I hope you liked this chapter, please leave votes, comments and follow for updates!!