Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 2

P A R T - E L E V E N

Chapter Eleven: Absurd Realities
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Alice inhaled and exhaled steadily through her nose, forcing herself to control her breathing since her heart was beating so hard inside her chest that she thought she might faint. "Okay," She breathed, walking further into the room and over towards the dining room table. "What about?" She asked, licking her lips briefly as she tried to control her facial expressions and hands, knowing that these people were trained to read body language too, and she didn't want them to see how nervous she was.

"Why don't you take a seat and we can tell you," One of the agents said, motioning to a free seat with her hand, her palm facing upwards. Both of them were dressed in similar suits, navy blue and fitted, with white shirts underneath. The Agent who spoke to Alice directly was dark skinned, with deep, dark brown eyes and a pin straight brunette bob, with half of it tucked behind her ear. The other, with a more lighter brown skin tone, had her hair curly and neatly pinned up into a bun, her green eyes watching Alice carefully also with her palms face down on the table, covering some brown files.

Alice didn't respond verbally, and instead glanced at her father as she made her way over to the free seat and carefully sat down, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears. Purposefully, she placed her hands on her knees and held them there, ignoring the urge to fiddle with her rings as she wanted to. She looked at each of the agents in the eye, and waited for them to continue... "Would you mind if we had some privacy with your daughter?" the same Agent asked, but her focussed eye contact suggested it wasn't exactly a question.

Sophie and Richard excused themselves with little protest, glancing at each other a little anxiously as they made their way upstairs since the living room and kitchen were connected. Alice continued to breathe carefully, fighting the urge to take short, sharp breaths and forced herself to take deeper ones, more normal ones, so that she could seem calmer than she was. "Right, Alice." The first Agent began, "My name is Agent Tiffany Harris, and this is my colleague Agent Lauren Wood," she continued, motioning to herself, and then her partner. "We're from the CSIS, as your mother told you when you arrived, and there is something we need to discuss with you, urgently."

"Okay," Alice breathed, and cursed herself since the nerves were obvious in her voice. Agent Harris watched her carefully, picking up on her tone instantly, but continued talking.

"We understand-" she began again, picking up the files in front of her and opening one, "-That you were friends with a boy named Jasper Hunt." she continued, "Who went missing a few weeks ago, is that correct?"

"Yes, we were friends." Alice replied calmly, holding the eye contact.

"Okay," Agent Harris murmured, glancing at Agent Wood as she began to write something down on a notepad. "And... were?" she asked, turning to look back at Alice and tilted her head. Alice's heart jumped, but she kept her expression the same.

"We didn't really get along before he went missing. He, I think, was pursuing a relationship with me and I didn't really want that." Alice explained, "So... yeah, were." she continued and Agent Harris nodded, as Agent Wood wrote down what Alice had said.

"Right... and how would you describe his behaviour... before he went missing?" Agent Harris asked, still holding the file and briefly glancing down at it.

"He was rude... um, pushy? The last time I saw him he was drunk, and acted really pissed off with me." Alice replied, furrowing her eyebrows a little and shrugged her shoulders slightly. "My friends Candice and Fei were there, they can-"