TO THE POLICE

Philippe knelt in front of four men,now five cortesia William, begging for his life. How he had lost more than a kilo of 'the stuff', he had no explanation.

"start talking cunt" William barked.

It wasn't the first time the stuff had gone missing in his possession. The first time, Marauder had let him off with a warning, but now, Marauder was dead, and these fuckers were in charge.

They were called fuckers behind their backs by people who knew how they dodged their way to power. Some, the very men they commanded. Though not to be trifled with and hated, but they were feared and respected. Almost anything they wanted, they got, damning the consequences and the means.

"I don't know boss one minute it was where I stashed it, the other minute, it was gone" he lamented through broken lips.

He looked terrible. He was a man though not so huge, was a bit on the average side of height. His body was covered in bruises, His eyes were swollen shut, lips broken and bleeding, hair a tangled mess of grime, sweat and blood.

Blood because he was bleeding from the gash on his head. It dripped from his head which was bent low. He was shivering and with each breath he took, he practically laboured for it. Felt like little needles were pricking his lungs.

"I did warn you when you were bringing in this cunt...I told you he was going to be nothing but trouble" Bart said with a casual look at the man before going back to whatever held his interest on his phone.

"boss I swear it will never happen again...I...I..I...wi...l...bbbbe more ccc...are..ful this time" he stuttered. Shaun snorted.

"you've done it once philly" he said, drawling on the name philly.

"what's the guarantee it won't happen again?

A wise man once said, you should not let something happen to you twice before you learn your lesson and it has happened twice already"

"you are always making mistakes... flimsy... silly...mistakes" Griffith said, laying emphasis on each word at the same time poking Philippe's chest with his index finger, slowly.

"you know the rules" Glint said.

Philippe's eyes went clouded with fear.

Glint fished a switch blade out of his pocket, activated the bolster and stood up from the chair he sat.

He approached Philippe and just when he was about to stick it into Philippe's gut, Glint's phone rang.

He cursed and picked it up

"this had better be good, he said without waiting to hear from who called.

"we haven't found the bodies boss" said a voice over the phone..

"Keep an eye out and update me with the latest developments"

"yes boss"

The line went dead.

"My friend at the station says no bodies have been found" Glint said from where stood, the switch blade, hanging at his sides.

"well I hear the search continues tomorrow" William replied.

"No bodies means they are still alive"

"well it could also mean they drowned and floated downstream or they're sunk deep somewhere at the bottom of the river"

"Well it's a bloody river not an ocean. How hard can it be to find three little bodies" Bart snorted speaking of it as though he was talking about his favorite tv show, without a bloody care in the world.

The men fell into an unsettled silence.

They were huddled together in the room they used to discuss important issues, in the same house William was initiated.

They had eyes and ears everywhere, the force, the media, even in the government.

They weren't people to be trifled with, yet just 3 kids had managed to cause them lots of trouble. They didn't find it the least bit funny.

"Well I don't believe anything unless I confirm with my eyes"

"until then..... apparently, we will know by tomorrow"William snorted.

Glint grunted and turned back to Philippe.

"lift it up" he said to the man standing behind Philippe. Instantly, the man drew Philly's head back by pulling on his hair and Glint completed the work he meant to do. He passed the blade slowly across Philippe's throat, moving his hands as he cut deeply.

Blood dripped down from Philippe's throat as his severed windpipe wheezed and gurgled in a struggle to draw air. His eyes were wide, his 10 fingers gripped his neck, his body convulsed before he went absolutely still.

Still using the same blade, he cut both the man's hands, severing it at the wrist, snapping bones as he went through then he handed it to the man who held Philly's hair.

"put them in the general room, right where everybody can fucking see them so it can serve as a reminder of what happens to fuckers who have it in mind, to play games"

He rubbed his hands and the blade on the dead man's shirt then pocketed it before standing up. He went to the counter and poured himself a shot of brandy.

"what if they can't find bodies" he asked suddenly.

"Then we hunt" Griffith replied.

"if we can't find them afterwards, means they're dead" Shaun said eyeing them.

After the man has put up the decoration of body parts up as instructed, he came back with two men and a boy, no more than 12 years old, who held a mop and a bucket.

*********

The girls ran to Bertha the moment they heard her scream.

"shhhh....it's only a bad dream" Sam cooed as she held Bertha and rocked her to and fro.

"so what's your story" asked Catherine.

The television was still on, but she had turned down the volume.

"She saw them die" Annie said, her eyes getting moist, facing the floor.

"saw who?…..who died?"

"Our parents" Jonathan answered, after he had swallowed a mouthful of porridge.

"oh mi god" Sam gasped.

"tell us what happened love" Catherine prompted, moving closer to Annie as she held her hands.

Annie told her the full story.

Catherine teared up and let it fall. She held a crying Annie whose shoulders heaved from her sorrow"

Sam held Bertha who had joined the crying spree and a sobbing Jonathan.

Sam and Catherine were helpless against the weeping children. They felt their pain too, though they hadn't the faintest idea about how it felt to loose both parents at the same time.

Their parents were in another state and they came down to the house to take a vacation away from their usual stressful life. They had no idea they were going to run into three helpless kids with dead parents and no relatives. They were sure there was no one because they asked.

"the only person we could have gone to is in on it. Shot my mother in the face like it was nothing" the boy they now knew was Jon said when they had asked.

Sam motioned to Catherine after the crying children had subsided the tears.

"come on Cat" she said as she stood up from her position on the blanket spread on the floor. As she stood, Annie went to Bertha and held her close, mummuring inaudible words into her ears.

"what are we going to do we can't just leave them here. The police are sure to come knocking and if they find them here... I have no plans of being on the front page of a morning news paper" sam said.

Catherine looked at the children, then at her cousin.

"look at them .... they're helpless" she said feeling deep sympathy for the children.

"I feel sorry for them too but they cannot stay here. What if they get found here and we didn't take them to the police, they could accuse us of kidnapping them or worse, actually killing their parents" Sam replied.

Catherine looked at the children for a moment then made up her mind.

"okay...they stay today, then tomorrow, we take them to the police" she eventually agreed.

They gestured to Annie who was watching them to come over.

"tomorrow we will take you to the police station. They can help you out. We do not live here... after our vacation, we go back home and you can't come with us" Catherine said watching Annie for a reaction. The girl just stared at her and nodded.

"did you find anything with us when you found us? Our clothes are in there" said Annie.

"yeah we found your bags" Sam said pointing to the empty bags.

Annie looked at them and noticed they were empty.

"our clothes...." she started to say but Catherine cut her statement off.

"We hanged them to dry.. they were soaked through"

"can I have a bath please" Jon asked suddenly. Their heads turned to him.

"sure.... go upstairs you will find it easily. Catherine said.

Jon wasted no time as he bolted up to go find the bathroom.

"I think I need that bath thingny" added Annie.

She turned to go after her brother when her eye caught something on the table that had been moved to create space for the blanket.

it was a box.

"Where did you find that" Annie asked pointing at it.

"it was in one of your bagpacks" Sam replied.

Annie walked to the box, lifted it and muttered under her breath. "no wonder one of the bags felt odd" she tried to open it, it would not budge, then she remembered the bunch of keys her mother gave to her.

She felt her pockets for them, but they were nowhere to be found. She raised her head in alarm.