Violet Is Nowhere (The Jolvix Episodes) by Faith Gardner

Author:Faith Gardner [Gardner, Faith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mirror House Press
Published: 2022-09-22T04:00:00+00:00

Hi Leslie, I’m not doing press at this time. Please take me off your list, this number is my private phone xoxo

There are six more messages like that over the past couple of days and she says the same thing, as if copy and pasted. “Please take me off your list, this number is my private phone xoxo.” Odd. Really odd. Did someone have this phone and put it back?

My phone starts ringing and I put Violet’s down on the coffee table to pick mine up. I sit back and answer. I’d kick my feet up, but the coffee table’s too good for my boots.

“Hey Violet.”

“You there yet?”

“Been here a bit, yeah.”

“And?”

“I’m at your place. Not gonna lie, it’s weird here.”

“Weird how?”

“First of all,” I say. “Your neighbor Jonie’s a trip.”

“Ugh.”

“She thought my name was ‘Butt.’”

“She’s a dingbat. I’m sorry.”

“She seemed to think that you were maybe moving out?”

“She wishes. God, that woman’s a hawk. She wants her dingbat best friend to move into the building. Every day she’s poking her head out to ask if I’m moving. So rude.”

“Then your apartment …”

“Yeah?” she asks, sounding concerned. “Everything okay?”

“Well,” I say, staring at the abstract painting on her wall that looks like someone took some mustard and ketchup bottles, had a squirtfest, and called it art. “It doesn’t feel lived in. It feels like stuff’s missing. You know what I mean?”

“Someone broke in?” she asks, pitch climbing. Her voice isn’t as bad as it was yesterday, but it’s still a little hoarse.

“No, no. It’s hard to explain.”

“What’s missing?”

“Well, hard to know what’s missing when I’ve never been here before.”

“You know, dude, sometimes you are straight-up aggravating.”

“Okay, okay,” I say, getting up to walk around and survey the place again. “It’s like—there are no signs of a real person living here. Nothing’s left out on countertops, no messes anywhere—”

“It’s clean, Bud,” she says. “That’s what’s freaking you out? I’m neat?”

“It’s not just that. Oh! And your purse—sorry, I went through your purse. That okay?”

“Sure, why not? I mean, I’m locked in a cabin with fork wounds on my face so I’ve kind of learned to live a little here.”

“There’s nothing in it,” I say. “Just keys, wallet, and your phone.”

“What else would you expect me to keep in there?” She gasps, as if she just processed what I said to her. “Wait—my phone?”

“Yeah. And I’m going through that right now—”

“Going through my phone.”

“That okay?”

“I mean, sure. Just don’t mind the nude selfies.”

My mouth is stuck open a moment.

“Joking, Bud. I don’t do nude selfies. Don’t want to give Big Brother a free boner.”

I swallow. “Anyway—”

“Did I just make you uncomfortable?”

“No, I—”

“Was it imagining me naked or imagining Big Brother with a boner?”

“Neither, okay?” I ask, my face getting hot. “Can we focus? Reporters have been texting you asking for interviews.”

“Reporters? On my cell? How’d they get my number?”

“It said Benzo gave it to them.”

“Ahhh, way to stick to me, Benz,” she says.

“And you’ve been replying this cut-and-paste answer. Hold on, let me find it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.