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"Hey, missy, you got company!"
Skye looked up to see the cell guard standing next to a tall brown-haired woman. Skye felt a strange sense of familiarity, but she brushed it off. Who would she know that was in jail? He led her to the cell across from Skye's, locked it, and went back to his post.
"What the hell are you staring at?" the woman snapped.
"Uh, nothing. Nothing," Skye mumbled. "Sorry."
"Yeah, you should be! You damn well should be!"
"Did I...did I do something wrong?" This woman seemed a little "off", and she was giving Skye the chills.
"It's all your fault!! All your fault!!!!!!"
"What is?"
"Everything! Me!!! My life!!! That mobster!!! Ahh, blood, the blood everywhere...what a sight!! What a sight!"
"Stop it!"
"He's dead! He's dead! The man is dead! Ha ha HA HA aaaaaaahhhhhh HA HA!"
"Shut up!!!"
"They think you did it!!! You KILLER!!"
"I didn't do it!"
"You don't know that!!! YOU CAN'T REMEMBER' CAN YOU?? NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH!"
"You know?"
"I'll never teeeelll...."
"Oh come on, that's from a movie!"
"NOPE, I'm not telling!!"
"Please!"
"YOU ARE SO STUPID!!!"
"Why? What happened?? For the love of God, tell me what happened!"
"Sisters never forget....."
"Wh-"
Skye woke up with a start. It had all been a dream!! She rubbed her eyes and looked around. She was the only one occupying a holding cell. It was all a dream. But...what in the world did it mean? Sisters never forget...and who was the woman?
Well, she knew that it wasn't a memory-dream; because obviously, this had never happened. So, it must be some sort of clue...maybe something to help her remember what happened when Sonny was killed! But the only problem was, she had no idea what it meant. She tried to make connections until she was utterly exhausted, then closed her eyes in an attempt to get some more much-needed sleep.
****
RING! RING! RING!
Jax was awakened by his blaring telephone. He glanced at the clock- 3:47. Who the hell would call at this hour? He contemplated letting the machine get it, but then figured only something really important would warrant a call at this time of night. He fumbled around the night stand and finally grabbed the phone.
"Hello?"
"You and your fiancee are dead." Click. The caller had hung up.
****
Skye sighed. After that freaky dream, there was no way she would get any more sleep. So, she decided to strategize ways to get herself cleared. She closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, even started to murmur the occasional "Ohmmmm..." hey, anything to try to remember what happened inside Sonny's office. Think, think! She was outside Sonny's door, she heard him talking to someone...but who was it, and what were they saying??? She groaned. Nothing but a jumble. She forwarded her mind to the time she woke up in the hospital, trying to see if she could work backwards from there. But instead of getting an instant replay, she just got a blank screen. So much for that bright idea, she thought.
Skye realized she wasn't getting anywhere, and she needed to put her focus on something else before she drove herself crazy. Titans was the first thing that popped in her head. She wondered what everyone in the company thought about all this. But--she didn't want to think about her predicament, so she brushed that thought aside. She wondered if they had acquired any new companies--she'd have to ask Jax tomorrow. She let out a short laugh, picturing Tracy having one of her drama queen tantrums...certainly, she'd had at least three or four, or eight, since Skye had last been at the office. Just for fun, Skye tried to envision some scenarios that would cause Tracy to blow her lid. Hell, she was in jail, this was the only entertainment she could get at this point. AJ and Carly were probably getting in each other's faces, purposely trying to drive each other crazy, but only succeeding in pissing Tracy off. Jerry was probably full of his dumb interjections. Connie probably spilled coffee on the fax machine-
Suddenly, Skye's mind was filled with the vision of Connie, standing like a statue in the doorway to Sonny's office, suppressing a scream.
She was visibly frightened, horrified, disgusted, confused.
Then, she was gone.
"Oh my God," Skye murmured. Connie had been there!!!
****
The Next Morning
On his way out to meet Bobby and Lindsay, Jax stopped to pick up the morning paper. It was rolled up, but he could see the headline, something about Sonny's "Shocking Murder". As he unrolled it, a piece of paper came loose and fluttered to the floor. He bent down and picked it up by the top corner and read it.
'THIS WILL BE YOU AND SKYE-SOONER THAN YOU THINK.'
Jax didn't know what to do. Finally, he just snatched it up and hurried to the elevator. Bobby and Lindsay would have the answer.
****
"Jax, you're early," Bobby said, looking up from his files as Jax hurried in the conference room.
"I need to talk to you about something, before Skye gets here. I don't her worried any more than she already is."
"What's this about?" asked Lindsay.
Jax told them about the ominous late-night phone call, and showed them the note, which had been typed on a typewriter.
"It's got to be some of Sonny's associates," Jax said. "You've got to do something, you've got to protect Skye!"
"She has a guard, Jax," Lindsay put in.
"Well, it's not enough! God knows what could happen-"
"We'll get the security on Skye's cell doubled-"
"Tripled."
"I'll see what I can do," Bobby went on. "Don't worry, Jax, I'll make sure Skye is safe. But what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Well, the threat was made against both of you. You should get some protection yourself."
"I'll hire some muscle. But what I'm really worried about is Skye-"
"Skye will be fine, she's surrounded by cops. Now, you hiring some bodyguards is a good idea, but you should do more. This is serious business, Jax. This is the mafia, for God's sakes."
"I'll move into my friend's lakehouse," Jax suggested after a few moments of thought. "It's vacant. I'll move when it's dark."
"Good idea."
"Please, Bobby, Lindsay, don't tell Skye about this just yet. She's a nervous wreck right now, and there's no need to add to it right before her trial."
Just then Skye came in.
"What's going on? You all look so grim."
"Just talking strategy," Lindsay said quickly. "Skye, before we go any further, I should tell you that the cops did a search of your personal effects. They found a bug in your purse."
"I knew it!" Skye said. "But who could have put it there?"
"You tell us," said Bobby.
"Who would have had access to it?" Lindsay queried.
Skye thought about it then responded. "No one, really. I kept it with me at all times. In fact, I used it ever since Connie gave it to me about a month ago-"
"Wait, wait, wait, who's this Connie?"
"She's the girl we hired for the summer, to answer phones and get coffee, things like that. Teenager, probably 16 or so." Jax answered.
"And you say she gave you the purse?"
"Yeah," Skye replied, "after she accidentally spilled coffee on my old one. She felt really bad about it. She left the office then, and about an hour later, she came back with that new purse, and gave it to me as a peace offering, I guess."
"How convenient," Bobby said.
"You think-"
"Yup. I think this Connie person set you up."
"But how, she's only a kid....oh my God, I almost forgot!!"
"What?"
"I remembered something last night!"
"What is it?"
"I remember just before I must have blacked out, I looked up and saw CONNIE, standing in the doorway to Sonny's office! She had this look of complete and utter fear and confusion on her face. I don't know why she was there, but she was there!"
"My God," murmured Jax, "How could she have gotten mixed up in a thing like this?"
"I don't know," said Bobby, "but I do know one thing. We have to find Connie."
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