Arlington

Seventh Chapter

Location: The residence of Valery Strazio

Address: 220 20th Street South, Arlington, VA, 22240

Date: 11/13/2013

Time: 7:43 p.m.

Valery was in her pajamas, with a PlayStation controller in her hand. She was playing her favorite game, Kingdom Hearts. She and Jasmine were supposed to be having a girly night. It was when they all stayed at Val's, eating ridiculous amounts pizza, playing video games, and watching Netflix. Having a few glasses of wine always increased the fun as well.

Jasmine entered the apartment wearing purple pajamas. Valery greeted her with a mouth full of pizza. Jasmine reached for a slice of Domino's and stuffed it into her mouth. Jasmine passed Valery a bottle of wine. "Red," said Valery.

"Chianti," replied Jasmine.

"Expensive."

"Worth it and delicious. I will get cups." She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a single coffee mug.

As she poured into it, Valery asked her "Where's mine?"

"This is for you." Jasmine handed over the mug. "I refuse to drink Chianti from a cup. I am no basic bitch." She chugged the wine straight from the bottle. "If you had proper drinking glasses, you could have a man in this bitch."

"I don't need a boyfriend. I have pizza. And PlayStation. And Netflix. And my best friend." Jasmine smiled at that comment. "And dildos." They burst into laughter.

They followed the same old routine tonight; talk shit, be fat, get drunk, and lust over TV characters. Jasmine wanted to wait until later in the night to talk about what was really on her mind; the deaths of Beth Author and William T. Newman.

Jasmine could only tolerate an hour of not bringing it up. "Congratulations on taking care of the Sheriff."

Valery's eyes widened; she looked away for a brief second. "Yeah, that was me. Did Jessica tell you?"

"Of course, she did. She's a spy. Even if she didn't, I would have figured it out anyway. I mean, we could just tell it was you."

"They needed to go."

"I commend you for not getting caught; that was genius. You may have alluded authorities. Some pretty powerful people know what you did, though."

"Like who?"

"You will see them very soon." Jasmine took a big gulp; she needed to be drunk quick.

"How would these people know?" Valery asked. Jasmine gave her a look. "Jesus Christ, I will never share another secret with her."

"Telling Jessica a secret is like giving an announcement on the radio."

"Who got this announcement? I'm just wondering, am I'm going to see myself on the internet pretty soon?"

"No, I can promise that." There was a sincere look in those light brown eyes. Val was unsure, but she forced herself to believe her friend. "You will meet with two women. Very rich and powerful women. They are going to give you a proposition."

"What kind of proposition?"

"I tried to tell them that you wouldn't be interested, but as soon as those deaths were on the news, contacting you has been a major priority."

"Well, how come they haven't done it yet?"

"They are high profile. They need a good excuse to be around you without raising suspicion."