Fractured

Chapter 47

Chapter 47

I was ready to get up and 'go to the bathroom.'  Because with every second still in the presence of Patrick, it was making his case more credible.  He figured it out and there wasn't much left we could do.  Luke would try to brush his words off and act confused as to what Patrick meant when he brought up his last name.  Luke would probably try to at least sway him to ponder over it instead of jumping too conclusions - that Francis was the traitor.  It was a good shot, I knew, to try to make him question himself.  However, with me sitting there and now sweating bullets, clearly uncomfortable, it only furthered Patrick's speculation. 

I didn't move, no matter how much I wanted to leave.  I realized it would only cause more suspicion.  Therefore, I was fucked in both ends, to put it in a more amusing way with how serious this was. I glanced over to Luke as calmly as I could after it sank in that Francis was most likely now figured out by him.  I could feel my eyes were wide and my breath was ridged.  In such a intensely quiet room, where I could feel Patrick's eyes, I needed to look as laid back as I could.  I did the best I could as I moved my eyes to Luke.  Who, I noticed, kept up his stone mask.  

His eyes were calm on Patrick's.  Lips were flat, body relaxed as could be.  The only disturbance on Luke's face was the deliberate lowering of his eyebrows in 'confusion.'  "Yes... that is my name.  Could you elaborate on why that might matter?" Luke asked, in an annoying tone, very convincingly.  He nonchalantly looked over to me with a blank face, offering me nothing other than a sideways glance of no importance since Patrick was watching us.  Probably to see what my reaction was to this.  I was sure he could see my tense body and unsuccessful reaction.  All he could do about it was hope I could handle it. 

Both of us glancing back to Patrick, he scoffed and looked between us.  "Cut the bullshit, copper.  I'm not going to buy your let's-play-stupid approach.  I know it's Francis.  You can't change my mind,"  he said in a confident voice that told us he would not budge on the matter.  Unfortunately, I had to believe it.  Even if we somehow got him to believe otherwise, Francis would still be in serious danger.  No turning back now.  So, as Luke also saw, we needed to just brush it off and act like we don't care - to at least give the illusion that he didn't hit us in a soft spot.  Glancing to Luke, he gave him an amusing smile.  "Alright then," Luke chuckled.  "You go after whoever Francis is when you get out of here.  Can we move onto the next question now?" Luke asked in such a calm voice.  I didn't know how he did it, how he could do it so calmly.  If I was him, I would have blown up in Patrick's face and have been clearly shook up at my brother now clearly being a target.  But he brushed it off, played stupid, and was moving on.  He deserved so much credit for that because I wouldn't have been able to do that.  After all, there was no more we could do now at the moment.

Patrick clearly though wasn't buying Luke's act - even when it was entirely convincing.  "Sure we can," he chuckled under his breath, shaking his head and looking very satisfied at the moment.

"Why come at us with knives?  And why come at me specifically?" Luke asked, showing he put all his attention now on this question.  Which I wouldn't have been able to do as successfully.  My thoughts were glued on Francis.  I wanted to leave the room and get on the phone, tell him what happened.  I wanted Francis to be safe, to stay with us, to never return to the gang. I wanted to do it now!  Leave and talk to him as soon as possible. It was hard to just sit there after that, even when we still needed more answers. 

Patrick gave a dramatic sigh, and sat forward more.  Resting his elbows on the table, his eyes found mine.  They didn't leave either.  He just stared at me.  To at least try to regain something back from my uneasiness before, I stared back at him.  His smirk fading slightly, a more hateful look entered his gaze before he finally looked back over to Luke, smiling slightly again.  "We went in with knives because we knew this would go down behind a police station."  He laughed and went on.  "You think we would fucking shoot off guns when a station is a couple yards away where we would have been heard?"