Take Me Back To Paddington (SERIES)

Chapter 38 - The Answers

Lisa's eyes stung. The pain had been building up in her while she headed for Krauss' business place that she once visited with her best friend, and now, as she stood in front of the red door as her gaze fixated on it, she didn't know how much longer she could keep the tears from staining her cheeks. Keeping her eyelids open for an uncomfortably long time would mean welcoming the tears brimming in her ducts. And blinking those eyes would mean giving way to tears.

She settled for the latter. With one blink, a heavy drop of tear strolled out of her eye and was soon followed by an equally hard drop from another one. But the tears stopped only after a few falls, as though she had cried so much that there were no more tears left to shed. Besides the wet tracks trailing down her face and the dampness of her thick curly lashes, the only evidence of her deep-set sorrow was the heaviness of her heart, as though a heavy weight pressed down on it, making each breath a torment.

There was no guarantee that Lisa would find the solution she was so desperately in search of, but for the sake of a love she believed so dearly in, she trusted that this last resort would be worth it. She dipped her hand into the front pocket on the left side of her double breasted brown trench coat and clenched a fist around an object, which in so little a time, had become her most precious possession.

She pulled it out and unclenched her fist to reveal a necklace that had once been a part of Chae Richards. The memories and moments she had with her girlfriend before she stole that necklace replayed again in her mind, inviting a greater sorrow in her cloudy-dark life without love. Sighing, she took one hard look at the necklace and secured it again. It was only a matter of time before its pendant rested on Chae's chest once again. That was a belief she held on so strongly to.

With a calm breath, she feasted her eyes on Krauss' door once again. It was barely even 5a.m., so the man should be in bed, sound asleep, enjoying the peace of mind that had been so rudely taken away from her when Chae was snatched away into the cold arms of death.

Lisa retrieved her hand from her pocket, but she was not about to release her fist just yet. She brought it to the red door instead and banged hard enough to awaken him from the deepest of slumbers. Barely letting her fist rest for even a moment, she pounded again, harder than she had at first.

After a while, Krauss wrenched open the door from the other side. His groggy eyes just as disoriented as his ruffled hair and the rest of his face. 

"What the fuck?" He mumbled.

Lisa's jaw clenched instinctively as she watched him getting his consciousness back on. His lips twitched to crack a smile when his vision revealed to him who was standing at his doorstep, and he was scared to be proven right about the screaming soul of Lisa Isaac that he could hear. I'm a dead meat, he thought.

But it was unfortunate for him since his guilty smile wasn't an expression Lisa wanted to see. She kept her position there with anger and exasperation that no man would be able to tone them down. Because at that point, only Chae's lovely touches could tame her brutal quintessence of conviction she had for a man like him; a criminal, a liar, a manipulative bastard she wished to be damned to hell. 

So she tightened her fist until she could almost hear her bones cracking, and without the luxury of a second thought, she swung the firm ball of her fingers right into Krauss' face, delivering a heavy blow that had him losing his footing. Pain erupted in her knuckles once her hand was in contact with his cheek but she couldn't award herself with self pity. Lisa knew the pain was necessary, it was the only evidence of a well-delivered punch.

With a loud groan, Draco staggered backward from the impact of the blow that had apparently broken a bone or two in his nose, and at once, Lisa seized him by the lapel. Giving him no moment to adjust to the pain she had just inflicted, she dragged him with her into the living room. Krauss' growling voice was a lot like the sound of a wounded animal. Perhaps a heavier blow would be an end to the undesirable sound. But that wasn't what the detective wanted either.

Silencing him was a part of Lisa's plan, but that would only come if he failed to give her the information she had come to milk out of him. With long strides, she headed for a stool by the counter of Krauss' bar while pulling him so gracelessly that he stumbled with each step. Once she arrived there, she sat him down on the furniture and glared at him, her eyes spewing venom. His hair spilled over his forehead, his nose was red and sore. His whole body would be just as painful if he didn't start talking. Lisa freed her grip on his shirt and stood in front of him, her body shivered as adrenaline raged through her.

"You better start talking now" She aimed a stiff finger at him like it was a barrel of a gun.
Krauss' first response was a cough.

"Talking?" He snuffled, as though there was a blockage in his nose.

Lisa grabbed him by his collar once again, this time, it was hard enough to cut off his airways. She leaned in until her face was barely an inch away from his.

"I know everything you did to Chae, Krauss, you have tricked her just like you tricked me" She said. "You better answer the questions I have for you," Lisa demanded in a menacingly calm voice. "Or I swear my face will be the last you'll ever see."