[Clue Card]

Somewhere between switching from rum-and-cokes to cognac (possibly not the smartest decision in the world, but those were nothing new to Jayda), the Russians began asking questions; casually enough at first, and then more aggressively. Jayda wasn't oblivious to it –she knew exactly what they were doing, plying her with alcohol and looking for the details she hadn't given to the police- but she went along with the ploy anyway. Why? Because, for some absolutely magical reason, Jayda figured the Russians were more competent than Detective 'Call-Me' Anton and... Well, she trusted them. This, potentially, was a very, very, phenomenally stupid thing to do, she knew, but true nonetheless.

"Any idea who it could have been?" Ivan asked, sipping at a shot of vodka that he normally would have downed. They others weren't drinking as per usual either; they wanted to be sober and alert for the time being, it seemed.

Jayda shook her head, feeling a pleasant buzz and figuring that after this last drink, she'd put her trusty self-restraint to good use. "No. Andreyev's groupies come to mind –and, for the life of me, I still don't know how he even has groupies- but they're not exactly subtle, and they've been leaving off recently."

Sergei nodded, processing this for a moment before inquiring, "Break up with anyone recently?"

Jayda made a face, not surprised by the question so much as silently lamenting her failure of a love life (such as it was), and answered dispassionately, "Nope. Not dating right now."

"You stopped dating?" Ivan seemed surprised.

Jayda felt a bit insulted. So what if she'd stopped dating? That was perfectly normal. She was a young, healthy girl –it wasn't like there was anything wrong with her. Some girls didn't start dating until after getting a degree, for god's sake! She could totally stop dating whenever the hell she wanted. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that her social life revolved around her neighbours and her schoolwork nowadays! God.

Oh dear ...That was the alcohol talking. Time to stop drinking, Jayda, honey –before you actually say something like that out loud, the Canadian thought, eyeing the remainder of her cognac warily. "Couple months ago."

"Huh. Guess you're not as co-dependent as we thought."

"I love you too, Ivan." Jayda cooed sarcastically.

It was Ivan's turn to make a face then –and an impressive one, at that. Jayda couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled up in her chest and slipped out. Then she frowned and set her glass down on the coffee table. Yep, too much cognac.

Boris turned to Sergei and held his hand out. "Hand it over."

Sergei muttered something incomprehensible and possibly unprintable, leaning over to one side to pull his wallet out of his back pocket. Jayda stared in bewilderment as Sergei handed over a sizeable amount of cash and Boris grinned triumphantly.

Yuriy, seeming to take pity on the confused Canadian, leaned over and murmured, "They were betting on whether or not you could handle cognac –Boris bet you couldn't."

Thanks, Boris, Jayda thought sardonically, raising an eyebrow and feeling distinctly unimpressed by the whole thing.

Ivan brought things back on topic, speaking slowly, "So, no new ex-boyfriends, no angry groupies hanging around... run into anyone strange or creepy lately?"

"N-" Jayda began, only to pause. Stop. Remember. "Wait."

"What is it?" Yuriy asked, eyes narrowed, but Jayda was already up and moving –her balance and coordination only slightly affected by the alcohol in her blood- and halfway out the door.

Her purse! Where was it? Jayda walked into her apartment –left unlocked; stupid, but she hadn't thought of it when Ivan was dragging her over- and started looking in the usual places she dumped her handbag. A quick survey revealed that it was nowhere to be found, and Jayda nearly had a heart attack until she realized that, duh, it was at Yuriy's. Wheeling around, almost running into Boris, who had followed her over, she backtracked to her neighbours' and immediately located it next to her Sketchers.

Scooping the oft-abused bag up and setting it on the kitchen table, much to the Russians' general bemusement, Jayda undid the zipper and began rifling through it. She had a ridiculous amount of stuff in her purse, the redhead belatedly realized, and it was no good finding something to small and thin in such a mess –not with just blindly feeling around for roughly the right shape and texture. Muttering to herself, she started pulling bits of purse-'debris' out.

"Well, she's not drunk..." Ivan commented uncertainly, probably wondering what the hell she was doing.

Sergei frowned, and murmured. "She's a little drunk."

"She's fine." Yuriy cut in, eyes tracking her movements. It was kind of creepy, knowing someone was watching everything you were doing without even having to look up and check. Creepy and strangely ... normal, Jayda supposed. At least, it was at this point.

One iPod, three different packs of gum, a cell phone, a wallet, a pair of gloves, three tubes of lipstick (one of which she'd been looking all over the place just the other day), a travel-sized bottle of Tylenol, a handful of receipts, her keys, and a pocket-sized Russian phrasebook (not that she needed that anyway) later, and Jayda finally found what she was looking for.

A small, plain business card.

...On the back, a number and a comment ('Call me if you change your mind') were written in a familiar, blockish font.

With a hand that only slightly trembled, Jayda lifted the card from the depths of her purse, holding it between her index finger and thumb and feeling her skin crawl, starting from her fingertips and creeping up her arm like a legion of six-legged ants. Trying not to look at it too much, Jayda swallowed –thankfully not audibly- and held the card out to Yuriy.

"Yeah," The Canadian finally answered the question. "This guy."


A/N: The plot thickens! Also, I'd like to give a shout out to my wonderful reviewers and watchers -you guys are awesome! I love the feedback!