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Chapter or Story
“We got another note from Jarod.” Sydney strolled into Miss Parker’s office only moments after she’d arrived that day. It had been nearly a week since Jarod had raided their annex and took with him information about pretenders and other subjects the Centre had worked with… unwillingly.
“And?” Miss Parker leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
“Another trail of bread crumbs.” Sydney dropped the note on her desk and headed out of her office.
Miss Parker simply sat there staring towards the note. Once she opened it there was no turning back. She’d have to deal with Jarod and his little games. She reached out, snatched the note from her desk, and pulled it out of it’s envelop.
“Missing pieces, Miss Parker. Follow the bread crumbs all the way home. J.”
Miss Parker sighed heavily. Why me? She knew there had to be some reason beyond her job of having to track him down which she had to admit she’d been rather lax on of late. “All the way home?” She stared at the note for a minute. “He couldn’t possibly mean all the way back home.”
Miss Parker grabbed her coat as Broots rushed into her office. “Miss Parker, you’re not going to believe what I found.”
Miss Parker’s mind was on getting back home to where Jarod undoubtedly left her another trail to follow. “What is it?”
“A Centre directive.” Broots shifted on his feet.
Miss Parker pulled her coat on and looked at Broots. “Just spit it out.” She said a bit more harshly than she would have liked.
“It’s about Thomas.” Broots handed her the manila envelop.
Miss Parker took the folder and slowly sat down in a chair across from her desk. She couldn’t bring herself to open it. What could it say that she didn’t already know? Missing pieces… who ordered Brigitte to kill Thomas.
Broots watched as Miss Parker stared down at the folder he’d given her. “Miss Parker?”
“Jarod left a note. Something about following crumbs all the way home.” Miss Parker looked up at him. “Will this tell me who ordered Brigitte to kill Tommy?”
Broots shook his head. “The directive isn’t signed. But this is the order to…”
Miss Parker opened to folder and looked in side. “Kill Thomas.” She sighed trying hard not to start crying again. Six years was a long time without a person. She had really loved Thomas and she even loved knowing Jarod and given her that love. She sniffled and then looked up at Broots with a smile. “This is just the directive, Broots. Says nothing about who ordered it.” She handed it back to him as she rose to her feet. She had bread crumbs to follow.
Broots nodded. “Miss Parker, they can remove the signature but not the electronic Centre code stamp.” He smirked at her.
Miss Parker had realized long ago, being cruel to Broots was unnecessary. She liked to take jabs at him but he was one of the few in this heinous place she could count on. “So you’re saying what exactly?”
“I tracked it to the tower.” Broots felt extremely proud of himself.
Miss Parker whirled to face him. “To who?”
“That I don’t know but you’ll never guess where I found the lead to this bit of information.” Broots nodded to her.
“Let me guess… missing-piece dot org.” Miss Parker tossed her hands in the air. “So Jarod sent us there for a reason and I ignored it.”
“I’m still going through everything but a lot of the stories, but most are just accounts of differently things we’ve worked on. Some are actually about people the Centre has used.”
“I’m sure it’s all very fascinating but right now all I want is to know who ordered Brigitte to kill Thomas.” Miss Parker didn’t wait for Broots to say anything more as she walked out of her office.
Miss Parker slammed her front door as she entered. If Jarod’s messing with me all bets are off. No more ignoring his locations. She turned to the desk just inside her doorway and pulled opened a little drawer where she kept her cigarettes. Instead of finding her cigarettes she found a note. She shook her head as she unfolded it. “These things will kill you. J.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. Jarod sees everything. Apparently, Jarod knew she’d slipped back into her old habit. She’d fought hard to kick it but after discovering her biological father was Raines and that her family history was a twist mess she couldn’t help but give in to an addiction she’d once loved. “Yeah, yeah. They’ll kill me.”
“If the Centre doesn’t first.”
Miss Parker nearly jumped out of her leather boots when she heard Jarod’s voice from around the corner. She looked up as he stepped into the doorway. “Is this why you wanted me to come home?”
Jarod tilted his head slightly. “Actually, I wanted to you wait until I was gone. I have no intention of going back to the Centre just because I found a trail to who hired Brigitte. I want the responsible parties punished but I like my freedom, Miss Parker.” He watched her hoping beyond hope she wouldn’t pull her gun and start spouting orders.
Miss Parker pulled her gun and looked at Jarod briefly before opening her desk drawer and putting it inside. “So what are you doing her, Jarod?”
“No rat boy or boy wonder? My, my, Miss Parker, seems you’re getting soft.” Jarod smiled at her.
She headed into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of vodka. “I’m not really in the mood to fight with you, Jarod. Once again you’ve ruin my week by bringing up painful memories I had no intention of remembering.”
Jarod watched her pour herself a glass. “Miss Parker, the missing pieces to what happened to Thomas are out there. You have to find them. I’ve done a lot of digging for you and I’ll be damned if I’ll sit by and let you drink your sorrows away.”
“Now who’s changed?” She eyed him. “I assume you didn’t come here to steal my cigarettes?”
“No.” Jarod turned and headed into her dining room. “I set your computer up so you’d know I was here. Found something you’re going to want to read.”
Miss Parker followed Jarod into her dining room and took a seat in front of the computer as Jarod indicated. He stood over her which was awkward but she couldn’t truly say she minded. Miss Parker skimmed through the information on the screen. “Angelo went through some kind of shock therapy?” She looked horrified but then puzzled. “What’s this have to do with Thomas?”
“Look when he had said therapy and who signed off on it.” Jarod pointed to the screen.
“Angelo had this therapy days after Thomas was murdered.” Miss Parker rose from her seat. “Come to think of it. I didn’t see him for quite some time after it.”
“And Raines signed off on it.” Jarod crossed his arms in front of him.
“Seems like Raines is behind every murder at the Centre.”
Miss Parker’s computer beeped for attention and she turned to find she’d gotten an email. She looked suspicious at first but quickly clicked on it.
“Missing pieces…” Miss Parker looked to Jarod. “I’m going to assume this one isn’t from you.”
Jarod looked at them message. “No. I’d say definitely not from me. But who else knows about this.”
Sydney pressed send. “Now, maybe you and Jarod will work together inside of apart, Parker.” He shutdown his computer and looked up at Angelo who was standing in his doorway. “You and I have a session don’t we?” Sydney smiled at the childlike man.
“Session.” Angelo smiled at Sydney.
“By all means have a seat on the couch.” Sydney gestured to Angelo.
“More daughter.” Angelo looked at Sydney with a pouting face. “Secrets and lies… Sydney.”
“Shhh.” Sydney smiles at Angelo. “Were working on it.”
To Be Continued...
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