street signs | a zodiac story

xi | moment of clarity

chapter 11, moment of clarity

"So how do we approach this?" Cancer asked the people in the car
"Aggressively?" Scorpio suggested, "she probably did it anyways,"
"We should be sensitive, what are you talking about?" Pisces countered, "She literally just lost her husband to an unknown assailant,"
"She is probably a murderer Pi," Scorpio reasoned, "she probably would kill you too if she would kill her husband,"
"If she killed her husband," Cancer stressed the 'if', "she did it cause he cheated, not because he  was annoying like Pi,"
"What the fuck Cancer  you were supposed to be the nice one," Pisces joked, they all laughed a little before pulling into the manor driveway. 

"Who is going to knock?" Cancer asked, all  of them exchanged glances that resembled 'I don't want to', and so they all mentally agreed to all do it at the same time. This didn't work as planned because they were so horribly out of sync that it sounded like a swat team was at this poor woman's door.

The  door swung  open, revealing Leslie Hill,  clearly disheveled. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her calm demeanour she revealed to the public was now in ruins. Her once rich and loving facade was now just pallid and broken, unable to even portray some sort of hollow jocularity. She had clearly lost weight, her spindly fingers traced the door frame and her chapped lips parted to ask;

"Who are you?"

Her voice was no longer the mellow  they heard  on television, the once soft and smiley Leslie Hill was now but an empty carcass, void of all care for herself or anyone else for that matter.

"We're apart of the mafia, and we have  reason to believe you murdered your husband," Scorpio  deadpanned
Leslie went to close the door, but Scorpio quickly jammed it with  the  barrel of his gun. She opened the door once again, and invited the three in reluctantly. 
"Are the kids home?" Scorpio asked, force lacing his tone as he walked through  the house as if it were his own.
"No, they don't even know of Porter's death," Leslie explained, "they wouldn't be able to understand, so I sent them to their grandparents' house for the time being until I get my shit together."
"Understandable," Scorpio sat down on the couch and invited his co investigators to join him
"Was porter..." Leslie searched for her words, "Involved?"
"Oh no," Scorpio controlled the entire investigation, "we're investigating because rumour has it, they're going to pin it on one of our families, and can you guess why that would be unfortunate?"
"Because you-"
"Yes that's exactly right, because we have our own little economy and we don't want  the death of your shitty husband impeding that," Scorpio spat, the anger from his breakup now being reflected on the grieving woman, "so you're going to answer our questions with a smile, because it would really be a shame if not one but two of the Hills destroyed our little system, wouldn't it?"
"I'll tell you anything," Leslie's fatigue rung through her words, "I have nothing else to lose,"
"Where were you on the night of the murder," Cancer's tone was much more comforting than that of Scorpio's, "also  is there anything Pisces can get you? Sorry for how Scorpio acted, I hope that doesn't inflect on the two of us poorly, we mean nothing but good will and to find closure on the death of your husband,"
"I was at work, helping with a surgery, I can give you the phone number and address of the surgeon if you would like," she smiled, much more comfortable with the new method, "also a tea perhaps? you should be able to figure out the kitchen fairly easy, also make one for yourself"
Pisces walked away, as Cancer gestured to a piece of paper and pen for her to scribble down the credentials of said surgeon, which she did promptly.
"Do you have any other suspicions on who could've done it?" Cancer asked politely
"None other than his old assistant, Joseph Wood, but in all fairness," Leslie paused, thinking on whether or not she should say, "Porter would've deserved it if it were him, he ruined that man's life."
"Thank you for your honesty, Leslie," Cancer smiled sweetly, Scorpio looming intimidatingly behind him.
"I understand why you would think it's me," Leslie could  feel  the tears pricking the corners of her eyes, "I know it's not, but  no one else does, I've heard what they say about me,"
"No one  suspects you," Cancer reassured you, "we have three other suspects being investigated at the moment and presently, you're of the least interest."
Leslie's eyes were filled with hope and respect for Cancer as Pisces stumbled  into the living room, focusing all of his energy on not spilling the tea. 
"Here," He still remained focused as ever, eyes locked on to the mug as he placed it down gently  on the coffee table, "it's a little full,"
The tea was almost spilling over, and his two partners and their suspect looked at him as though he were the dumbest person ever.
"What?" he scoffed
"World class idiot," Scorpio chuckled, earning a playful punch from Pisces 
The trio- or better, Cancer and Pisces, apologized profusely for Scorpio's attitude near the beginning of their interrogation before shaking Leslie's hand and wishing her a fast recovery. Pisces gave her his contact information in case she needed anything whatsoever to apologize for Scorpio's erratic behaviour. 
They all got into the car, and couldn't help but laugh a little bit to recover from the tense atmosphere.

-

"Chief I'm serious," His smile faltered, the chief wasn't used to seeing his subordinate lose his jocularity, "I don't think I can support you down thi-"

and as the man fired his last round, the younger man's body hit the floor. 

"No loose ends."

-

wow what a chapter, im in the writing mood and have been for a while so im gonna work on chapter 12 right now i am not even joking it  is  a good week to be one of saturn's readers isn't it?

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