After I left it occurred to me that I never considered if Jackie was actually capable of reading minds. Does that mean I’m getting jaded? Doesn’t seem good whatever it means.
I called Jackie’s contact who he said that his necromancy consulting fee is $800/hour. When I said I couldn’t afford that and he hung up. I called back to say that maybe I could help him with something instead of paying him with money, bartering, and he said that he could tell but the sound of my voice that I wasn’t capable of doing anything worth $800. OUCH.
I would have let it go at that point if I hadn’t seen a picture of him and Stella together while I was stalking him online. Picture looked like they were somewhere warm. It’s weird to see Stella wearing beach clothes instead of her lazy hipster goth witch outfit. And with a tan. Wherever it was it looked like they were having a great time. They had colorful drinks with “fun” straws in them.
After that he wouldn’t pick up when I called him so I popped over to Buffalo to stalk him in person. I know I’ve said this before but social media makes it so easy to find people. How did serial killers get anything done in the old days? So much legwork.
I hung around outside at the clothing place he owns. A place that makes clothes not a place that sells them. Well, they sell them to stores after they make them. I could see him through the window up in his office looking pissed all morning.
I followed him when he left to hit the kabab place up the road. He’s gained a ton of weight since he and Stella were living it up. And he’s a lot paler. But I recognized him.
I sat down across from him and said that I didn’t have 800 bucks but I would cover lunch. He looked up from his phone long enough to say that I had five minutes. I told him about the maybe zombie heroin smuggler. His response?
“There’s no way to know what’s going on without taking a look at her. And if you can’t afford 800 bucks you sure as my big dick can’t afford to fly me out to bumfuck Indiana to consult.”
When I responded that Buffalo wasn’t exactly Paris he told me my five minutes were up. I asked him how he knew Stella. His face got angry for a moment then it softened. He said they worked together a few times but he doesn’t do that kind of work anymore. When I asked him what stuff he meant he ignored me and asked me if I knew who killed her.
“Yeah” I said “I beat his head in with a hammer.”
He looked at me for a minute and then grunted “Good”.
The Shine 