Criminal Detective

Sisters

"...My partner was actually my brother" Claire said which caught Samantha's attention quite quickly. Once Claire studied her body language and found interest, she continued.

"He used to work for Adkins. It was kind of like a tradition for people who got promoted to that position to just follow the trend. Seeing as that would keep them safe and help them earn more. I never really understood the full gist behind it, but I did understand that my brother did what he did to make our lives as easy as possible"

"I on the other hand. I didn't have the guts to do it. Just like your sister, I wasn't fit for stuff like that. But in an attempt to protect me from losing my life, because they lived by a strong "with us or against us" code, he convinced me into doing it. So that he wouldn't lose his little sister"

"Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with the act for long and it cost him his life"

"Did you..." Claire turned to Samantha whose eyes locked with hers as she tried to find the truth behind all that Roberto told her.

"Kill him?" Samantha nodded then Claire sighed "Nope. I killed my partners but not my partner"

Samantha arched an eyebrow which made Claire chuckle "One of them accidentally killed my brother, and aside from the fact that they also tried to kill me, and were pretty sucky people, they also worked for Adkins" 

"Oh" Samantha's eyes settled with a small hint of tranquility. Her body language spoke, and it told the world that she had finally gained clarity about something that was constantly at the back of her mind. She then turned to Claire who remained silent while she fiddled with her fingers.

"I'm sorry" Samantha apologized to which Claire simply nodded with teary eyes.

"And up until the time I buried him and a couple of years into my jail sentence I would continue to ask myself, what would've happened if I had just done this? Or that? Or this? Wouldn't he be here right now? If I wasn't incompetent, wouldn't he be breathing?"

Claire balled her fist then let out a shaky breath before she continued.

"But all those thoughts eventually disappeared. Thanks to my friend, Natasha. She told me that unless I was the one who pulled the trigger then I wasn't responsible for his death, his decisions were. And, in as much as I wanted to ignore all she said and coax my mind into believing bullshit about me. She was right. Because, I wouldn't have had to play any cards right if he simply didn't willingly offer himself to Adkins. I probably wouldn't have even worked my way up to that position if he had warned me about it all from the start"

"I wouldn't have been closely related to that life  if he made better choices. His choices rubbed off on me not the other way around" Claire said then turned to Samantha who studied Claire with a look of piety and understanding behind her eyes.

Claire ignored it as to not break down in her narration then continued.
"Listen, Samantha. The moment your sister was born a singer and had a strong love for ChickLit was the moment fate knew what path to lead her too. Just like the moment my brother's desire to do more for me was the moment fate set his life towards the direction it ended"

"We all want to believe we could have done something but the truth is unless we changed it all from the very beginning, things still would have ended this way. We aren't Gods, we don't have superpowers, and we can't see the future. Otherwise, we would've advised them, helped them to make better decisions, and also turned them away from any and every thing that could ruin them. But, we couldn't and that's not our fault"

"We shouldn't blame ourselves for what fate had already arranged. It does suck but trust me, if we both weren't equipped with our current knowledge of what happens to them after they both took the paths they took. We would still do everything we did the same way, all over again just because we would never see this coming" Claire said then looked down to her fingers which she fiddled with "And, that can never be our fault"