when the dust settles down

#13 The Betrayal

Jessica tugged me by my arm and threw me on couch.
Man this chick has great strength in her skinny arms.
"What's going on...tell me...spit it out,no lies" she demanded
"Nothing, its just panic attacks and anxiety"
Well,maybe I don't remember me being an agent but still I can lie while looking straight in eye of the interrogator.

"No,you are lying,you always scratch your left ear,I know you"she was furious now.

DAMN!!I didn't realize I was scratching my ear,I thought it would help me act cool,she has been trained well at academy

"See,jessica,you might think I m crazy..."
"You are crazy!!"she interrupted.
"No..I mean this sounds crazy,but I get visions,I see snippets of my past...and it's disturbing... horrifying...they confuse me,google confirms that it's how a victim gets memory back...either this or something big to trigger the lobe to get whole memory"

"Keep on talking,I want to know ,what you had remember till now..you do know how much it's important for us to remember that night...and still you hid this...you do realize  that your silly act breaches the federal law" she was fuming.

"I know,its just hard to..."
"Hard to trust... that's what you are going to say,if you are not going to trust me then who the hell will you" she threw a cushion on me.
"Chill..chill...hey...I have amnesia...I m a patient" I tried to make her laugh.
"Shut up ,don't play this victim card on meeeee".
I sealed my lips .
There was pin drop silence for few seconds
"What...tell me about your goddamn visions" she shouted.
"YOU ASKED ME TO SHUT UP" I shouted back.
"metaphorically....huh..tell me what you have seen till now" she sat opposite to me with her one leg  crossed on the other .
I narrated her my all visions,
From me being strangled by a man to me as a six year old in basement to me and Jessica clinking glasses of martini to me making love with Danielle to me experiencing my mum's tragic death.
But I couldn't gather the courage to tell her about me hitting Danielle.
But I had to.
"What about the one you saw now,few minutes ago,"she interrogated with cold expressions on her face.
"I saw me and Danielle in a heated argument,he didn't accept our baby,I think old valarie was obsessed with him,she..I. Mean I ,I threatened him to jeopardize his career and he flunged at me,tried to strangle me,in my defense I attacked him,I hit him hard on his forehead,its possibly me who killed him"I started crying hysterically.

"You shouldn't have kept this from us,its been a month,we were trying to track down his body"she was still cold.
"So you too think that I killed him"I hiccupped.
"No,I m saying that maybe his body is still rotting in woods,you should have told this"

"But on a lighter note,there's a possibility that you didn't kill him,because then who attacked you" she continued.

"I Don't know,what if I attacked myself to become a victim but ended up slipping on a rock or something"I suggested.

"Or Maybe you are faking this amnesia thing to get out of the mess"
I was shocked to hear this.
I trusted her.
"Jessica no...trust me...you asked me to trust you...it's not a drama"

"For now,I have to trust you ,I have no option left...
Go grab your coat,
I have to brief you on your case,
But before that lets check on Harvey specter,
I wonder who killed him,if you are here." she turned to get her long purple overcoat from hanger.

We both met ryan at Starbucks to discuss Harvey.
"He was poisoned,
He ordered a cuba libre and nachos ,one of it was probably poisoned with cyanide."Ryan explained while sipping his capuchinno.
"Did you check the content of bottle?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah,we sent all the bottles of coke and rum with nachos to forensic but everything is clean,I wonder how he got poisoned" Ryan answered.

"Valarie,think if you have to kill someone in bar , obviously without getting caught..and poisoning them...how would you" Ryan turned to me.
I was shocked...why would he ask me this.
"Do you think I have something to do with this" I was deeply offended.
"No no "he faked laugh.

"I...I mean you used to solve cases like this earlier,and in split seconds you were able to think about how and who did.thats why,no offense" he defended himself.
I didn't say anything and started thinking about the possibilities .
Jessica and Ryan indulged in their own conversation when I suddenly interrupted.
"Maybe..."
They both turned towards me ,their glares burned hole in me.
I cleared my throat to be audible and confident.
"Maybe,the drink was never poisoned"
Jessica raised her left eyebrow on my assumption.
"Yeah..maybe the glass was infected before drink was poured,
Or may be the wash cloth,the one bartender use to wipe glasses, maybe that was contaminated.it Will be easy to swap cloth without being notice"
"Excellent!!!why I never thought like that,you are genius valarie" he took last sip of his drink and left to gather evidence to support my theory .

I and Jessica sat in silence,
I noticed a little chubby girl  accompanied with her mother blowing her hot chocolate milk.
I felt left out .
I turned to Jessica and asked.
"Tell me about my case..."
"I can't,bureau is having second thoughts to keep you on this mission" Jessica gulped down her latte.
"Why..how...they didn't inform me yet "
"You will get the formal notification soon,
I updated authority about your visions,and they feel since you are too sort of suspect hence it will violate laws if you keep on working"
She animatedly said
I felt rage capturing me..how could she..how could she go behind my back and tip FBI.
I grabbed my coat and stormed out of the cafe.
I raised my hand to stop a taxi,I had nowhere to go so I gave address of Jessica's apartment.
After 30 minute long drive  we landed in front of skyhills.
Feeling of embarrassment engulfed me.
I had no money.
I was entirely dependent on Jessica since last few days.
The taxi driver was a small Korean guy,who was pretty aggressive as per his height.
I was about to explain him when Jessica's sedan pulled near me,she came out and handed a 20 dollar bill to taxi driver.
"I have nothing to say to you,and you don't need to pay for me I can"

"Yeah yeah miss bill gates,I know you can but I want to "she grabbed my elbow and started walking away from the building.her heels made high sound of tapping while my sneakers skidded the road.
"Hey,I am an adult,I don't want to talk to traitor,you betrayed me" I was throwing tantrums like a kid.
"Shut up,shut up,shut up,shut up" she kept on chanting this till we reached the playground.
We sat on a bench,where she held my hands and forced me to look at her.
"Listen,I had to follow protocols,your phone,my phone,our apartment ,it's always tapped,if I hadn't told them,they would have known already.
I .am.just.doing.my.duty" she explained.
I didn't want to hear her.
"You made me a SUSPECT,
What about rules of best friends" I emphasized on the last words
"Yes I did,but it's for your protection,this way you will be always under surveillance,I don't want you to be murdered like Harvey,
And we both took the pledge to keep our country ,our duty before anything,so if worst comes to worst,I will handover you to police if it's you the culprit but I will do my duty faithfully,that's what old valarie has done if she were in my shoes"

"Shut up" I shut my eyes to reject her statement.
"I don't believe that you killed him,faked your attack and then tripped and hit your head on rock..it's bullshit.
I m sure there's a third person out there who is trying his best to cover this up."

"So you trust me"....
"Of course bitch I do"
"Love you in case i die"
Jessica turned upright in shock.
"You remember saying this...we used to say this after our every last sentence of the day"she shrieked in happiness.
"I think so,
But I haven't forgiven you yet"

"Oh dear god,this actress,what do you want"

"I want to give you massage"I said with a devil smile.

"I never thought my death will be this much painful"
And we both bursted in laughter.