Justice [Closed, Started]

Mister Garg

Devonte showed up soon enough. The clock had carried on ticking. I was aware the police were staking out my first, primary office - but then I had nothing to hide. We always cleaned up. That was the plan. The plan with the Adams family hadn't worked though, and I wasn't having any of that.

I looked Devonte up and down. He looked panicked, stressed. Something had obviously happened, but whatever it was would have to wait. The Adams situation was far more important.

'Sit down,' I said softly, gesturing to a chair the other side of my large mahogany desk. I placed my brandy upon the table. 'Drink?'

'Not for me, Mister Garg,' Devonte said and nodded. 'Thank you.'

I took a sip from my own and just as I placed it back, Tienna entered the room. She too looked worried. I also noticed a pink squint in the corner of her eye. She'd been crying. Someone had died. But that wasn't important. Not now, not yet.

'Ah, Tienna, nice of you to join us. Please sit also.'

She sat in a seat next to Devonte and waved away an offer of a drink. The light in the room was a dingy amber. The blinds were pulled shut.

'I call you both here today, 'cause I know you both as my best. Do you understand me? The best. I cannot have anyone else in my family nor in this Mafia talking about what I am going to get you both to do. It stays between the three of us. Don't worry, you will be paid - paid in high. And don't forget the loyalty you both owe me, eh? This is important to me, and to our protection. I also need my money; and it ain't comin' from none of our petty crimes anymore.'

I paused.

'The death of Ms Adams. It came at the wrong time for us; it wasn't what we needed and whoever dunnit has pulled it off a real charm, but its shot us in the back and the damn police. The Chief may still be in our pay pockets, but he's got plenty of jumped up detectives who want a catch of the Mafia. Now we ain't got nothing to do with Ms Adams' recent parting, do you understand? I want you to find who did it. Dun' kill 'em, dun' turn them into the police. Just find who dunnit and tell me. I'll have your pay. Any questions?'

I sipped my brandy. It was warm.

Isabel

Isabel shifted uncomfortably in her chair. While she had to admit that the detective was pretty attractive, there was little chance he'd go for her. Besides, she didn't want to be in this moment right now. She didn't want to talk about the night that her sister died. It was fuzzy in her memory, and besides, Alice was the only person that that had ever taken her seriously. To talk about her death would be like pouring salt an open wound. She wanted to go back the music room, play her piano, and not think about any of this.

"Why don't you just go away?" Isabel spat, before her father had the chance to answer the detective's question. "We're a happy family! We don't need you coming into the picture!" Her mother, father, younger sister, and the detective both all started at her. It was an extremely rude thing to say, but Isabel didn't care. She felt tears starting to come to her eyes.

So as not to embarrass herself further, she stormed out of the kitchen and went onto the balcony to have some crying time to herself. She hoped that no one would follow, even though she knew one of her family members probably would.

Lacey Lonergan

Even though the massive home was air conditioned and comfortable, Lacey's face was burning and he was sweating through his undershirt. The second he'd asked about the family's whereabouts the night of the murder, Mrs. Adams's mood had switched almost immediately from sultry and seductive to icy and cold.

"I was at Mrs Pavelle's baby shower. You next, darling. Why don't you tell him where you were?"

Lacey quickly jotted down a note to talk to Mrs. Pavelle to confirm that Mrs. Adams had been there, and to ascertain when she'd left in case it was before the actual murder. As genuinely grief stricken as she seemed, you could never be too sure. Lacey glanced at Mr. Adams, who started to tell his side of the story, when the now oldest daughter interrupted.

"Why don't you just go away? We're a happy family! We don't need you coming into the picture!"

Lacey started to tell the young girl something before she abruptly stood and stormed out. Mrs. Adams was clearly mortified. Not knowing what else to do, Lacey stood, slipping his notebook into his breast pocket before trailing after the girl. He'd dealt with teenagers on cases before. A reaction like this was not unusual, no, but it was unpleasant. He trailed her through the kitchen to the balcony, where he saw her sobbing. Gingerly, he rapped a knuckle on the doorjamb, causing the girl to bolt up and whip her head around. Lacey opened the door and stepped outside, back into the crushing heat. The young girl stared him down, her gaze icy and full of enmity for the young officer.

"What do you want?"

Lacey eased himself into a chair, trying to be friendly and amicable.

"I know that this, talking about this, I know it's rough, but you gotta do it. You wanna help find the person that did such an awful thing, right? Then you gotta work with me. I mean, trust me, this isn't any more fun for me than it is for you. I don't wanna be here, you don't wanna be here, let's work together and get this done with so we can both get over here as fast as we can, alright? How's that sound?"

Desdemona

Once the officer had followed Isabel out, a stricken and not altogether sane Desdemona rounded on her husband with a loud glare. Had their youngest not been in the room, she might have done more than that. As it was, she forced herself to turn away and in doing so saw that Clara had pulled a book from a pile and chosen to hide in its pages.

Nobody was talking.

"Well he's a nice one isn't he?" Mona announced at last. Her husband grunted, his face almost impassive to her needling. Mona tried again.

"They do know how to pick them don't they? Always so young and attractive!" In better times Mona might have been more inclined to play matchmaker for her eldest daughter Alice, but since Alice was gone that wasn't possible now and he was too good a catch to let slip through the net. Obviously.

"Yes, I did find him rather handsome," Mr. Adams remarked dryly.

Mona took a big drink from her glass to keep herself from throwing it at him but she dropped further back in the chair and sat in a moody silence until the officer re-entered the room with her second daughter in tow. Mona would never be able to think of Isabel as her oldest.

"Your daughter has agreed she's ready to continue," the officer said.