Deceit [h.s]

Ten

Elizabeth:

Benjamin was right about something: the older agents loathed him. They were merciless in their questioning, making Ben uncomfortable and pissed off. The meeting had only been going on for ten minutes, but things seemed pretty bad.

I looked around, only recognising half of the faces inside the room, one of them being Sebastian. I watched him intently, realising that now would be the perfect moment for the boys. We were together, which meant I could let them know if he went home or something. The biggest part of me refused to believe he was such a liar. How could he be smiling at me right at that moment while keeping my father hostage?

Deciding to act fast, I snatched my phone and typed a small message to Liam, praying he would see it immediately. Each passing minute was important.

Li, something major happened today. I can't explain now, but we are in a meeting and will be here for at least another two hours or so. Now would be the perfect moment. If anything changes I'll let you know.

I pressed send and looked around one more time, paranoia filling my body. Claire was dead and apparently no one could fathom why or how. Obviously she had been meddling with the wrong people inside the agency, that was my only plausible explanation.

They are already on their way. Keep an eye on him.

I tried to focus on what Benjamin was saying but the task was almost impossible. Sebastian had noticed my previous stare and kept looking at me with a puzzled expression, although his left eye dropped in a charming wink.

If I could see past my father being held hostage, I would have surely swooned a little over Seb.

"The preliminary autopsy showed that she was shot in the head, twice. Judging by the distance and inclination of the wounds, it was someone taller. No signs of struggle were found on her place nor signs of breaking and entering. That means she knew her murderer and if we could make an assumption judging by what we have, it was probably a boyfriend or sexual partner." Ben stopped and waited to see if anyone asked questions. When silence was the only sound, he kept talking.

"No prints were found on the scene, nothing was stolen and we managed to place the time of her death between one and two in the morning. The bullets used to kill her came from the victim's weapon, which was not found in the scene. We are trying to understand what truly killed her, the possible hidden motives and proof that can tie someone to this case." He was on the brink of breaking down, I could sense it.

Despite his words, everyone knew we had nothing. Only a dead agent inside her house and a missing director. The agency was threatened, and for a moment I wondered how an insider could be doing so much damage.

"Agent Jones, I have a question." A man rose his hand, although I could barely see him.

"Yes, agent Carter?" Ben asked, although I could distinguish the annoyance on his tone.

"From what you've told us, we have nothing to work with, but is there a possibility that the murder of miss Claire Holdings is linked with the disappearance of former director Jeremy Winters?" I watched closely Sebastian's reaction, but he kept the composure all the time. He was either the best liar out there, or truly innocent like I wanted to believe.

"At the present we have no evidence which could possibly link those two events." Benjamin curtly answered. When five other hands raised, undoubtedly to explore more the possibility someone had come up with, I knew we would be there for a very long time.

...

"Ben, come on. You have to admit this is at least weird." He seemed incredibly nonchalant about the whole thing, although I could see where he was coming from. Benjamin didn't know Harry like I did.