Safe?

Chapter 4

The huge man was dressed almost exclusively in black and his white shirt seemed almost lost in the midst of so much darkness. Indeed, on top of his clothes, the man had longish shaggy black hair and the darkest eyes ever.  With his tanned skin, I’m sure people didn’t notice him at night.

“Ms and Mr Sterling, I’m Agent Lawrenson.” He came to shake our hand, but Ben and I crossed our arms to show him not to bother with niceties.

“Inspector Forbes told me that you wanted to talk to me Ms Sterling?” I kind of lost all my confidence when his dark stare focused on my face.

“Yeah… Hmm… I don’t want to be away from my brother…” I stammered like a five year old.

Damn it!

“Oh! You poor baby!” He teased me. “You don’t want to be away from your brother?!”

He was glaring at me and his eyes appeared even darker, if that was possible.

“So tell me,” He was clearly annoyed now. “Do you want to be shot right there in the head like your parents’ friends and their daughters last night?!” He shouted pointing at his forehead. “Answer!” He shouted again. “Is that what you want?!”

“Fuck you!” Ben and I yelled at the same time, effectively cutting his outburst off.

“Excuse me?!” He took a step back as my brother stood up.

“You have no fucking right to play that card, Sir! We’ve lost absolutely everything in the last few weeks. Imagine how it was like to discover that the father we worshipped, was in fact a fucking monster.” Ben was shaking. “Our entire life was based on lies. People all over the country are hating on us, or even worse pitying us. All our so-called friends have turned their back on us and you,” He poked the huge man in the chest. “You would like us to accept to be apart from each other when the only thing that’s keeping us alive right now is to be together?!”

Agent Lawrenson was stunned and he didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Inspector Forbes had the tiniest smile on his tired face.

 “What if we allow you to communicate on a daily basis via an untraceable mobile phone?” The big man offered.

Ben seemed to ponder over it.

I shook my head vehemently.

“No, no, no… Ben!” I exclaimed.

Ben ignored me.

“How long would it last?”

“Until we find the two men who shot your parents…” Agent Lawrenson tilted his head slightly and turned to me. “Of course it’d be much quicker if your sister accepted to describe the two men…”

“What do you mean describe the two men?!” Ben interjected.

The Federal agent took a step back, his eyebrows deeply furrowed.

“Lily?” Ben asked me.

“I’ve seen the men, Ben… “ I turned to Inspector Forbes. “I thought you knew…”

“They threatened to shoot you if she spoke.” Forbes explained to Ben.

“You’ve known what they looked like all along and you haven’t said a word?!” Ben yelled at me and I shrank under his glare.

“I did it to protect you…” My voice was small. I hated to be a source of disappointment to him. “What if I do talk to the police and they manage to get to you before Mister Big Mouth here catches them?!”