Permanent Reminders: A Jaz Dilan Mystery - PREVIEW

2. The Death Card

Jaz was jostled awake, not by her cell phone alarm, but by her cell phone ringing. Peaking at the screen, Jaz rolled her eyes. It was Mr. Hong; Rosamie's boss. Jaz was never going to forgive her niece for listing her aunt's personal number on her work application. Jaz didn't even say hello when she answered the phone. "Rosamie! You're late again! Get here now or you're fired! Don't think I won't do it!" Mr. Hong must've had a wall-installed landline; cell phones didn't crack like that when people hung up, even in anger. This was not how Jaz wanted to start her morning.

Jaz threw the covers back and ripped herself out of bed. She yelled, "Rosamie. Get your ass up. You're late again, and Mr. Hong is pissed," as she walked into the eat-in kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. After Jaz popped a few pieces of bread into the toaster, she yelled again, "Rosamie!" as she marched up to her niece's bedroom door and threw it open.

It was impossible to tell if Rosamie had come home the night before; the room was in such disarray that it looked abandoned and lived in at the same time. All Jaz did know was that Rosamie wasn't there, and she obviously wasn't at work.

Jaz scanned her phone. No new or missed messages. She went to her contacts, clicked on Rosamie's page, and hit "call". "Hey, weirdo who's calling me in the age of text! It's Rosamie! I don't use my phone to talk to people, so get with it and DM me!" The voicemail had played instantly; Rosamie's phone was off. Jaz scowled as she hung up without leaving a voicemail. She hasn't done this since her first night in New York. What the fuck? She jumped back to contacts and scrolled up to Annie's page.

The phone rang four or five times, and Jaz was ready to hear Annie's voicemail when a groggy voice answered, "Hello?"

"Annie?" Jaz asked, uncertain if she had the right number.

"Yeah?"

"It's Jaz."

"Oh, hi Jaz." Annie sounded like she was in serious pain.

"Are you okay?" Stupid question.

"Oh, yeah. I just have a really bad headache." Big surprise. "What's up?"

"Rosamie's boss just called to yell at her for being late," Jaz did her best to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "She's not in her room, and I don't know if she came home last night. Is she there with you?"

"Yeah. Sorry. We were both so tired after the ba—movie, and we were closer to my apartment, so we came to get some rest. Sorry, I should've called,"

At least she apologizes for not contacting me. "It's okay. Can you just wake her up and tell her to get to work?"

"Sure."

"Oh, and Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"The best cure for that kinda 'headache' is a shot of pickle juice. You know, just in case Rosamie also has a 'headache'."

There was a long moment of silence before Annie said, "Thanks. We'll give that a try."

"No problem. Tell Rosamie to text me when she gets to work," It was hard to keep the amusement out of Jaz's voice. They thought they were so sneaky.

"I will. Talk to you later, Jaz."

"Later, Annie." Jaz hung up and got back to her coffee.

Right when she was starting to get comfortable, Jaz's cell rang again. Expecting to see Mr. Hong's number again, she furrowed her brows when she saw Annie's name on the caller ID. She answered, asking, "Annie?"

"Jaz?!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's Rosamie! I don't know what happened! I don't know what to do!" Each sentence was broken up by a raspy, high pitched inhale; Annie was panicking so much that she was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Calm down, Annie. Tell me what's wrong."

"SHE'S DEAD!" Every ounce of heat in Jaz's body abandoned her limps and settled into her chest where it felt like it was cooking her heart. Was that why she stopped breathing? Because the burning in her chest was stalling her lungs?

Recognizing this burn that left her breathless, Jaz pulled her left forearm in front of her eyes. She examined the Mandela pattern that had been tattooed into place twenty years ago. Her eyes darted to the open spaces of clear skin between the black outlines as she imagined what colors she would put in each spot. When she was younger, she had physically colored those spots in with her collection of sharpies. After so many years of coping this way, Jaz could just do it in her mind's eye.

Eventually, Jaz's body cooled to a normal temperature, despite the sweat that drenched her brow. She could hear something other than her own heartbeat. It was Annie, yelling "JAZ!" from the other end of the phone. The moment Jaz heard that, she bolted out of her door only stopping to grab her keys and tennis shoes that she put on during the cab ride to Annie's apartment.