Chapter 10 The Socialite

An excerpt from The Titanium Mysteries Book 1: What Is She Doing Here?

Jessa paced around her apartment. She couldn’t stop thinking about Zeta. Jessa scoffed at the beauty who didn’t seem interested in anyone around her. Jessa frowned. So, everyone knew Phillipe was dead. So what? He had it coming to him. Jessa knew that much.

In fact, she was glad he was dead. She smiled at the thought. What did he need Zeta for? He wanted a book about himself, and he claimed he couldn’t write well. Jessa was no judge of writing. She never read anything more than social media postings and comments.

Her spelling was atrocious. Her grammar not much better. She had never cared. She had the perfect body. She had lots of charms. She didn’t need to be a brain. She loved her life. She was able to date as much as she wanted. She had many boyfriends she saw on a regular basis.

But Phillipe had been turning cold to her ever since Zeta had shown up. Jessa fumed just to think of the elf. Jessa had never liked elves. She thought they were too snotty. So full of themselves. Much too quiet. Why didn’t they talk more? She was quite adept at small talk.

So, why had Phillipe become cold towards her? Why did he lose interest in Jessa? It was obviously Zeta. It had to be her. There was no other explanation.

So it was good that Phillipe was dead. Jessa stopped pacing and smiled. It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps something could be done about Zeta. Yes, there had to be a way to ruin that writer. She had to be useless in the world. Just one more elf who thought she could order Jessa around.

No, Zeta would never get the chance to order Jessa around. Jessa would be the one who could order the elf around. That was it. It was just a matter of time. Jessa smiled bigger and began to laugh.

It would be all too easy to ruin Zeta’s life permanently. That was just the way to do it. Jessa thought a little longer. She would have to go see Toni, Phillipe’s business partner. Toni had to be a part of the plan. Jessa sat down on her couch and grabbed her phone computer.

She wasted no time sending a message to Toni. He answered her back immediately.

She replied to him, “That’s right. I could make you so happy for a night. If you’re any good, then we can have a repeat. But not until after I try you out.”

She laughed again. She continued to plan their date. She had something special in mind for him.

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Toni was tired. He had just finished a long day of running his business by himself. He walked home to his apartment. He sighed when he was home. He sat down on the couch. His phone computer beeped at him. He found a message from Jessa on it.

He answered her immediately. Of course he would be delighted to go out with her. He sighed again. It would be good for him to spend time with someone who knew his partner Phillipe. He rubbed his eyes. He was much too tired to do anything else tonight.

He stood up and stretched. He walked to his bedroom. He pulled the covers back. He took off his clothes and crawled into bed. Soon he was asleep.

He dreamed of Phillipe. Phillipe was alive and they were working together as they had for years. It was a pleasant dream for a time. It was somewhat of a memory of the time they had together. They were coming up with a name for their business.

“Let’s use robot in the name.”

Phillipe smiled. “Of course we can use robot in the name. Our company is about robots after all.” He continued to smile. “How about I, Robot?”

“You mean as in the book from Isaac Asimov?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Toni smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

Then the dream changed into a nightmare. There were women coming and going in rapid secession. Toni wanted to scream. He tried to warn his friend of the impending danger. Toni had lost his voice.

Then it was too late. One too beautiful woman bashed Phillipe on the back of the head. As he lay unconscious, she pulled out her knife from her purse and slashed him in a few places. Then she left soon afterwards.

Toni found his friend unconscious and bleeding to death on the floor. He screamed.

He woke up alone in his bed wondering who the murderer was.