Chapter 7: Jessica James

Chapter Seven: Jessica James

“You scared me,” Jones said, walking around his desk and flopping down in his desk chair. He looked at the thin woman leaning against the wall on the other side of the office. Though he had known her most of his life, her beauty never ceased catching him off guard.

“Come now, Levi,” Jessica replied with a smile. “You know you’re glad to see me.” She uncrossed her arms and strolled over to the guest chair on the client side of the desk, gracefully taking a seat.

“Of course I am Jess,” he said. “I’m just a bit…covered up right now.” He winced at a sudden pain in his ribs.

“Buggsy’s thugs again?” She asked knowingly.

“Yeah,” he replied, hanging his head and rubbing his right side.

“Oh Levi, when are you going to stop borrowing from that pig?”

“You don’t understand,” he said. “I didn’t have a choice this time.”

“You always have a choice, Jones.” Jessica stood and paced the room. “You should’ve called me.”

“Right,” he said, shaking his head. “Call you and ask to borrow more money from your dwindling accounts.”

“Don’t assume you know my financial goings on, Levi.” She said firmly. “I have plenty of funds to help an old friend.”

Old friend. He liked the sound of that a lot better than the reality of their damaged relationship. He dared a longing glance at her as she paced the room in the warm lamp light. Her thin form moved gracefully around the room as if she was floating on air. Jessica exuded grace and elegance. She was his opposite. The yin to his yang. Too bad he screwed that up too.

“How much do you owe him this time?” Jessica asked.

“Too much,” he replied, rubbing his tired, heavy eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Jess. I’ve got a case. A big one.”

“You’ve always got a case,” she replied, taking a seat once more in the chair across from his own. “Yet, you never have cash.”

“This time is different.”

“Right,” she said, shaking her head and pursing her lips. “Listen, Levi, you’ve got to clean yourself up, man. You can’t keep this lifestyle of yours up forever. A goyle’s got to grow up eventually and move out of his dusty office.”

“I know, I know.”

“I know you know,” Jess replied, unlatching her petite purse and reaching inside. “I also know you are terrible at making responsible decisions.”

Leviathan sighed. He knew she was right, but he didn’t have the energy to continue this conversation. He just wanted to sleep the pounding headache away and let his mind work. He had to figure out this Rifflebum mystery and didn’t have much to go on. “Look, Jess, I’ve got to get some rest. I’ve got a lead to follow up on tomorrow.”

“Today,” she corrected him, sitting a small wad of bismuth on the desktop in front of him.

“I’m not taking that,” he said, shoving it back towards her. Though, if he really thought about it, he wanted to snatch it up right away.

“Well, I’m not taking it back, so I guess it’ll just set / leave itsit here on the desk,” she said, standing. “Get some sleep, old friend. Consider that a late birthday gift.”

“Jess…” he started to protest, but she turned on her heel and waltzed to the door. “Jess, listen to me.”

She opened the door slowly and stepped halfway into the dark hall before turning and looking at him one last time. “Be good, Levi,” she said with a smile. Her real smile. The one that pained him the most to see. “I’ll be seeing you.” With that, she closed the door behind her and left him alone.

“Thanks,” he said aloud, thinking about what he wanted to say to her, even though she’d never hear it. He picked up the bismuth and counted it mindlessly. Four hundred.

Ah, Jessica James, he thought, you’re too good to me. He stuck the cash in the little drawer below his desk and locked it with the key that hung around his neck.

He yawned and stretched his arms wide. *Why do I have to break every good thing I get? *He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table. His body felt numb with fatigue, but the ache in his sides and the constant thudding in his head overshadowed it.

Who would steal the most valuable possession in the city? They’d have to know they couldn’t sell it on the black market, let alone any legitimate place of business. What could possibly motivate someone to take it?

Delilah Brown’s face flashed before his mind’s eye. Was she mistaken about what she thought she saw? Could it have been pure coincidence and totally unrelated? He highly doubted this, but it was a real possibility.

*I need to go see Jeremiah Ficklepants tomorrow. Perhaps he will know something. *He rubbed his heavy eyelids and sighed. A full day had already passed and he had nothing solid to go on. Since he was three days late on his last payment, he only had two more before Buggsy’s crew would start harassing him for the next.

He thought about the four hundred bismuth that Jessica gave him. It was a start, but not even half of his weekly dues. He’d have to work fast to avoid another beating… or worse.

Thoughts came and went. He sank further into his chair as his head tilted to the side, drifting into sleep.

That’s when it hit him. He knew why the story Delilah told him had bothered him so much. He jumped up, suddenly feeling less tired than he had a moment before, and grabbed his coat off the nail in the wall, throwing it on.

No time to waste.