Caught in the Crossfire ↳ KNIVES OUT

Chapter 2

It had been a week since Harlan Thrombey's death. They had a beautiful funeral service with just the family. Rosie was upset when she found out Ransom wasn't coming, and also confused as to why Marta and Fran weren't there. She had overheard the conversation when everyone agreed that they weren't going to be invited, she just didn't know why. While still being extremely sad and quiet, often only talking to Meg, Rosie was now out of her room and in the presence of the rest of her family. Tears were always present on her petite face, she was crying so regularly, that the small water droplets on her face were as normal as her nose, mouth and eyes. To make things worse, the police were crawling throughout the immense mansion. The family were annoyed by their presence, as they had all assumed the death was suicide, and did not know why they were being hassled. It was on this day that everyone that was at the house at the supposed time of death was going to be questioned. This made Rosie nervous, especially since she would have to talk to the 'scary men', as she called them, alone.

Just before midday, Meg had picked Rosie up, resting the little girl against her hip, and was trying to reassure her that the police officers were only there to help, and that they weren't scary. They started to walk towards the front door of the house, when they heard a car pulling up. It was Marta Cabrera, Harlan's nurse, who was probably here to be questioned, as she was at the party the night of Harlan's demise.

One of the officers on the porch, not knowing who she was, asks, "Excuse me, ma'am?" Marta looks up, seeing that the officer is speaking to her. Now having her attention, the officer continues, "Are you with the help?"

This seems to infuriate Meg, as she marches towards Marta, Rosie still on her hip. She grabs Marta's hand with her free one, pulling her, gently, in the direction of the house, while angrily telling the officer, "Hey! Her name is Marta, she was Grandad's nurse, she's with us. "The help?" What the hell."

Marta turns to the officer saying, "It's ok, sorry." Meg almost immediately disagrees, saying, "It's not ok. Cops, man." The two older girls laugh, as Rosie smiles slightly, still anxious about the officers all around her.

As the walk into the house again, Marta starts up a conversation. "How are you? This week, how have you-"

Meg cuts her off, already knowing what Marta was going to say. "Yeah. It's been rough, the whole week, just awful. And now this-" She gestures to the cops, "We thought we were done."

Marta nods solemnly, before speaking again, this time directing the question to Rosie. "How are you, Rosie?" Rosie looks up from where she had her head resting on Meg's shoulder.

"I'm okay." Rosie says meekly.

Marta looks unconvinced, but after a look from Meg, she changes the subject. "Walt called me, but yeah I thought the cops got our statements already, what are we-"

Meg cuts her off once again. "I dunno, they've got more dumbass questions, or something." Meg pauses, taking in a breath. She turns back to Marta, asking, "How are you doing?"

Marta sighs, "Not good. Alone, lots of just, this," She motions to her red eyes, and tear-stained face. "And not knowing what to do next."

Meg then assures Marta, "Anything you need, we're always here."

Rosie then adds on to Meg's previous statement, "You're part of the family Marta. We all love you." The way she says everything so innocently is enough to make everyone's heart shatter.

Marta looked at the young girl with a smile, as Meg readjusts Rosie on her hip. "Thank you. Both of you." Marta says, looking over to Meg when speaking the last sentence. She pauses, before hesitantly asking, "I wanted to ask, but I didn't want to bother you guys, I didn't hear anything, is the funeral is there a day for it, or..." Marta trails off after seeing the ashamed look on Meg's face.

Rosie looks confused, before asking, "Wasn't it yesterday?" Meg looks down as Marta's face falls.

Meg hurriedly tries to explain to Marta, "Marta, I told them that all of you, Fran, everyone who worked with him should have been there, you were closer to Grandad than anyone, maybe excluding Rosie, these past few years, but they got on this roll about it was for the family and it was a family thing, they took a vote and we got outvoted. I'm so sorry."

Marta tries to reassure her that it was okay, but Meg just responds with, "It's not okay. This idiot family." Rosie giggles quietly.

🔪

In the foyer, the eldest of Harlan Thrombey's children, and Rosie's adoptive mother, Linda Drysdale, opens the door for the three girls. Meg puts Rosie down, and walks out of the room, as Linda goes  to talk to Marta. Rosie goes and holds onto her mother's hand, seeking comfort during the confusing time.

"How you doing, Kiddo?" Linda questions to Marta, holding Rosie hand tightly.

Marta seemingly dodges the question, and instead replies with, "Hi, Linda, how are you?"

Linda makes an 'Eh' noise, while shrugging her shoulders slightly, "The funeral helped, I guess. Just seeing him. I thought you should have been there, I'm sorry. I got outvoted." Rosie scrunched her face up in confusion. From what she heard when she was eavesdropping, her mother was against Marta being there. However, she didn't say anything, otherwise she would be in trouble for eavesdropping.

Just as she said that, Richard Drysdale, Linda's husband, and Rosie's adoptive father, enters the foyer, appearing to be arguing with someone over the phone. "I'm not the cop, so I don't know! No-- if you want to know how Rosie is then come down here! Alright fine, get arrested. Die up your own ass for all I care." Richard hangs up the phone, turning to the three in the foyer, that were listening to the conversation. "He's not coming." He says simply. He then turns to Marta who looks confused as to who they were talking about. "Ransom. Little shit. Missed the funeral too." Rosie looked down upon hearing that Ransom wasn't coming, and that her dad had called him a 'little shit'. She didn't know what a 'shit' was, but she knew it was bad, and really mean. At first the family tried to not swear in front of her, but that turned out to be impossible, so Rosie just got used to it.

Suddenly, State Trooper Wagner pokes his head out of one of the doors that leads out of the foyer. "Excuse me, we're ready for you now, we'd like to see you one at a time." He requests politely.

Linda offers to start first, muttering about how she hoped Walt and Donna were on their way. She turns to her daughter, who is still holding her hand, seemingly lost in her own 7 year old fantasies. "Rosie. Why don't you go find Joni, okay, honey?" Rosie only nods before rushing off to find her Auntie Joni.

That's chapter 2! Next chapter will be the interrogations!