"It's okay," Zach murmured in my ear. He continued to rub slow circles on my back. "You told me you'd just had dinner."
I gave Zach a fleeting smile before turning back to Alex. "I don't know exactly what time it was, but it was dark outside. We'd just finished eating and Mom sent me down to the basement to get ice cream from the freezer." Alex's face blurred as I pictured myself walking back up the stairs, the cold tub pinched between my fingers. "I was about to head into the kitchen when..." I blinked. I'd forgotten this part. "Mom and Dad were talking and he was really worried about something. I could hear it in his voice. I felt bad for eavesdropping." My breath hitched. "But then the doorbell rang." I licked my bottom lip. "I went into the kitchen with the ice cream and my dad gave me one of those reassuring smiles, the ones you just can't buy into. And then he heard the man at the front door and his face just changed," I whispered, reliving that terror-filled look in his eye. "Hide, he said." My voice vanished.
Hide. That was the last word he'd ever said to me.
My chin trembled and I covered my mouth with my hand. Zach squeezed the back of my neck, pulling me towards him and giving me a kiss on the side of my forehead.
"Where'd you hide?" Alex's voice was quiet, but firm, I knew I had to answer him. He wasn't quitting on this interview just because I was struggling.
"I ran back to the basement, but I wanted to see what was going on, so I just hid on the top step and watched through the crack in the door."
"Could you see everything okay?"
"I could see enough to get a clear picture."
"What happened next?"
My brain protested, spiking with pain. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to relive it. My breath hitched and I pressed my ear to my shoulder, trying to wriggle away from it. My knee bobbed erratically and I squirmed in my chair.
"Lucy. Calm down." Alex tapped my arm. "Lucy, just breathe and talk your way through it."
I sucked in a long breath, held it for a minute then slowly expelled it. My eyes crept opened. "Mom started screaming. Dad was yelling at this guy to let her go."
"Who was the man at the door? Had you seen him before?"
"It was that guy in the photo, William Tenner. I'd never seen him before." Pressing my fingers into my eyes, I tried to hold back the tears. "Dad always kept his work stuff really private. He worked in an office so it's not like he was a field agent with a partner or anything. We didn't...I'd never met any of his colleagues." The word colleagues brought bile into my mouth. I was still reeling over the fact that he'd been killed by one of his own.
Alex let me sniffle for a few minutes, but not long. He soon cleared his throat, forcing me to gather my composure.
"We can stop if you need to," Zach said.
"No, we should keep going while it's fresh in her head."
I opened my eyes to see the tail end of Zach's glare.
"It's okay. I can...I'll try." Pressing my lips together, I pinched the bottom of my chin and forced the memories back. "The guy had a gun...it had a long silencer on it. He shot Mom first. No. He didn't. He had her by the throat. It was Dad. He was trying to call the police. He shot Dad in the shoulder and stamped on his hand... and kicked him in the face. There was blood." I sucked in another quick breath. I had to get this out before I completely lost it. "Mom was yelling and the man was asking something. I can't remember his words, but Dad didn't know or shook his head and Mom got shot. In the leg. She screamed. It—" I shivered. "It was really scary. She was in so much pain, you know?" The words were punching out of my mouth in erratic bursts.
"What did the man want? Try to think of his words." Alex's voice was so calm. How could he sound so level-headed when my emotions were pitching so high? I felt like Dorothy on her way to Oz.
"He wanted to know something about Dad. I—" Shaking my head in frustration, I tried to recall the words. "I can't remember."
"Okay, that's fine, just keep going. It might come back to you. After your Mom got shot...what happened?"
"Well, then he shot Dad."
"So, you're Mom was still alive?"
"No. No, Mom was dead."
"So, she died from the bullet wound to her leg?"
"No." I slumped back into my seat. "He shot her in the head."
"And what about your dad?"
I rubbed the side of my face, wiping the salty tears into my skin. They were streaming in torrents from my eyes and dripping off the bottom of my chin.
"Lucy, did he kill your father after that? Did he shoot your father?" It was a struggle for Alex to ask. He almost looked guilty as he uttered the questions.
A quiver jerked down my spine as I remembered what came next. "I don't want to do this anymore." I fumbled out of my seat, my hands hitting the floor. I sprung up and dashed from the room, making a beeline for Zach's bed. I wanted to bury myself beneath the covers and never come out, because what came next terrorized me.