Blood and Snow

Chapter Three

"Hey Belle, it's me again! I'm not sure if you realized, but you forgot the case file in my office and have yet to retrieve it for the past day and a half." Lillian spoke into the phone, recording her message. She hasn't seen Belle since last night, and she's already tried calling her twice. "Look, I understand that you really didn't like this assignment, but Richard was the one who told me to give it to you. So please, if you're not responding because you're salty about it, know that your deep, burning hatred for this case file is directed at the wrong Foxxe sibling! Thank you, see you tomorrow!"

Then, realizing what she might have said made her sound annoyed, she quickly added, "And no, I'm not annoyed or anything. I'm just concerned because you didn't show to pick up the file, and the secretary that always smells like potato chips said that you didn't call in sick today. Please, give me a call back when you can." Then Lillian hanged up.

She sighed and put her head on her desk, contemplating her life choices. 'I don't think anything bad happened, someone would have reported her missing, wouldn't they?' Lillian huffed and sat up. The familiar ringtone she set for her brother started playing, and she answered, "Hey bro, how's things going?"

"Pretty swell I'd say, thank y-... Are you okay, Lillian?" Richard said, concerned.

"I don't know, how could you tell?"

"You don't have that sarcastic, smart-mouth attitude that you usually do. You actually sound a bit glum... Do you want to talk about it?"

Lillian thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you alone?"

"I'm in the break room, but no one else is in here and you're not on speaker."

"... Okay."

"Splendid, now, what appears to be the problem, O great sister of mine?"

Lillian laughed at his words, "One, don't talk Olde English with me, you know I can't decipher their fossil language."

"Alright, and two?"

Lillian looked at the ceiling, staring at nothing as her mind wondered, "I'm just worried about Belle, is all."

"Your marshmallow friend?" Richard said in a teasing tone. Lillian cleared her throat, "Belle is not a marshmallow! She just doesn't know how to defend herself, okay?"

"Don't know how, or doesn't have the heart to?"

"..."

"I have proven my point. But if it makes you feel better, I can go to her place after work and see if she's alright?" her brother offered. Lillian smiles and glanced at the clock, "Thanks, Richie, that would help me feel better. Your shift ends hours before mine."

Richard chuckled, "Now that's a nickname that I don't hear often. No problem Lillian... Oh shoot, my break ended thirty seconds ago! I have to go, Sis, but I'll give you a call back when I visit her!"

"Okay, later, brother!"

"See you soon, sister!" Richard said before hanging up. Lillian smiled, 'I'm the only one he ever goes out of his way for.'

Her brother usually didn't care about what happened to Lillian— or Belle, for that matter— on the job because they got to sit in a nice, cozy office. Meanwhile, he's always going to crime scenes and forensic labs and blah blah blah, all of that boring police stuff. But he always made sure she was happy, after all...

}—————{

'... What are brothers for?' Richard thought. It had been four hours since he talked to Lillian, and true to his word, he was going to check on her friend. He didn't know where she lived, but it sure was a good thing that everyone who works with the law has their information in the database. As he was driving through the city, it began to start snowing again. 'At this rate', he thought with a small smile, 'The kids will get a snow day.'

He stopped and turned to the right, entering an apartment complex parking lot. Richard parked his cruiser, then got out and headed towards the main entrance. 'Apartment C-20.' he read from the small slip of paper he had scribbled Belle's address on. He greeted the man at the front desk and headed towards the stairs. He could just take the elevators, but he never trusted those things.

They nearly killed him once.

As he ascended the staircase, Richard began to remember something. Calling back on those memories, he smiled.

...

A fifth-grade Lillian coming home from school one day, telling their parents excitedly about a new friend she made.

...

Lillian and Richard in sixth-grade, his sister pulling him by the hand, excited to introduce him to her friend; a shy girl with pink eyes and blueish-purple hair. Richard knew it was dyed, but he kept that to himself.

...

Lillian in seventh-grade, coming home sad, telling her sick brother about the new kid at school. His name was Lefte Barbarossa. It was only the his second week at their school, and he was already causing trouble. Richard hated him already.

...

Richard and Lillian in ninth-grade, walking through the hallways, looking for Belle. They found her in the library and asked her why she was there alone, it was a big library. She wouldn't tell them. Richard thought that she looked afraid.

...

Richard and Lillian in tenth-grade, looking for Belle again. They found her, but she was crying. She never told them why.

...

Richard was in eleventh-grade, he was looking for Lillian. His sister hadn't met him at the entrance when it was time to go home. He heard yelling and laughing. He turned the corner and saw  his sister and Belle, Lefte was picking on them. Lillian was in tears, Belle's nose was bleeding. Lefte was calling them degrading names and dehumanizing them, venom in his voice. Lefte smacked Lillian. Richard lost control of his actions. Lefte ran away with a black eye. Turns out that he's not as tough as his ego makes him out to be.

...

It was twelfth-grade, Lefte hadn't dared to go near Lillian or Belle again. Not since last year. That "fight" with Lefte made him want to make a change in the world. So he decided on graduation day that he would become a police officer. No one would hurt the innocent people of his city. Not on his watch.

...

Richard stopped, he reached apartment C-20. He was at the door for nearly ten minutes, knocking and calling Belle's name, saying that Lillian was worried about her.

There was no answer.

It was dark outside when Richard got back into his car, using the bluetooth feature to call Lillian as he started to drive away. It picked up on the third ring, "Hey Rich, any news for me?" came an answer from his sister, her tone gleeful.

Richard took in a deep breath.

"Richard? You alright?"

"... She wasn't home."

"Oh..."

His heart dropped at the gloom in her voice, he hated it when Lillian was upset like this. "Don't worry about it, Lil..." he said with reassurance, "I'm sure that Bell's fine. She might be out getting groceries or visiting a relative, she'll be back tomorrow, won't she?"

There was a pause, then, "You're right, I should stop worrying so much. Belle's a lawyer, she knows how the law works. If someone wanted to hurt her, she'd throw at least ten different potential jury-decided punishments that would make the bad guy do a U-turn."

Richard laughed, smiling, "That's the spirit now! Don't loose that spirit!"

Lillian giggled, it wasn't normal for her to giggle, "I won't, thank you, Richie. I'll call you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And with that, he hung up.