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Added 2020-05-17 20:00:02 +0000 UTC“I’m busy!” was how Jessica Jones answered the phone, and the only excuse for her lack of etiquette was that she was busy. Files and documents littered the folding card table that had been the only open surface in her apartment before she started her deep dive into the life of the missing August Krohn, who was so improbably named that there had to be some good cheese at the end of the maze.
Four hours later, she had found nothing except a higher phone bill as she checked out every known associate, ran down every lead, and double-checked every reference. It had her in a mood, and being in a mood made Jessica even more fussy, especially since she couldn’t have a drink. Drinks hadn’t actually made her happy, but they’d made her like being surly a lot more. If other people hated dealing with her, how much more did she hate having to deal with herself?
“Hello to you too,” Trish replied, and it might be a sign that they were soulmates that she ended up bemused by the foul tone in Jessica’s voice.
Jessica’s brow furrowed, eyes twitching in panic, but even if she was intimate enough with Trish now to regret yelling at her, she didn’t have the words to take it back. “What do you want?” she asked, lowering her voice like she was trying to attract a deer with baby talk. Hoping that sufficed as an apology.
It didn’t, but Trish would take that up with her in their next disciplinary session. “Heard you have a case. How long have you been working on it, anyway?”
“Since this morning,” Jessica answered with a smidgen of pride.
“You had anything to eat?”
“No,” Jessica scoffed. “I said I was busy, Trish.”
“Go get something to eat and I’ll write off you being rude as hunger pangs.”
“Trish, I’m busy,” Jessica insisted for the third time.
She could almost see Trish shift the phone in her hand, press it tighter to her ear and lips. “Are you wearing it?”
Jessica moved to cradle her phone’s mouthpiece, as if someone might overhear. With how thin the walls in this dump were, someone actually might, but being shy was still a new experience for her. “Of course I’m wearing it—mistress.”
