Chapter Three

Adriana's scream was loud enough to wake the dead, if only screams had such power. She ran as fast as she could into the alley, her Uggs thumping on the concrete, until she came upon her parent's bodies, which lay in grotesque poses.

"Mum! Mum!" she cried, kneeling down next to her mother. Her arms and legs were spread every which way, and her mouth was hanging slightly agape, as if she wanted to say something. Her beautiful blue dress, which so brought out the eyes that were now closed, was now sporting a large red spot right over her heart. Blood had spilled out around her, soaking the rest of her dress and some of her blonde hair. Adriana grabbed her mother's wrist, feeling for a pulse. Her arm was warm, but there was no blood flowing through it.

"No!" Adriana screamed, hot tears pouring out of her eyes. "No! Mum! Wake up! Wake up! Please, Mum, wake up!" It was no use. Her mother would never hear her again.

Adriana spun around to look at her dad, praying that there was still some hope for him. But one look told her that her prayers would not be answered. His once white shirt was also stained from deep red blood. His suit jacket was torn at one of the shoulders. His eyes were closed, as was his mouth. If it weren't for the blood, Adriana would have thought that he was sleeping.

"No!" she yelled again, throwing herself on top of her father. With her ear on his chest, she listened for a heart beat, but none came. "No, Dad, please don't leave me! Don't go, Daddy! Please! Come back, Dad, come back!" Tears flooded out of her dark brown eyes as she clutched her father.

Why? Why would someone do this? They were innocent people. They had never done anyone any wrong. They didn't even live here. Who would possibly want to kill them? Nobody in the entire world had any reason to want to hurt them. It wasn't fair. They didn't deserve to die, they didn't deserve to die—

"Oh, my God," came a voice from the entrance of the alley. Adriana recognized the voice and snapped her head up to see Claudia running towards her.

"They're dead!" Adriana screamed. "Someone killed them! They're dead!" Claudia kneeled down next to Adriana, her red high heels matching the blood that they both sat in. She put her arms around the girl, who seemed so much younger than she was as she cried over her parent's corpses.

"Shh," she soothed. "Shh…it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright—"

"No—it's—not," Adriana choked out, hyperventilating. She couldn't breath. The smell of blood was so strong, and now she was soaked in it. Her jeans were done for; she'd never get the blood out. She wasn't even going to try to with the Uggs. "They're—dead. Someone—killed them. But—why? Why—would—someone—do this?"

Claudia didn't know what to say. What did you say to a girl who was looking at her parents, their bodies formed in the shape of death, their clothes covered in their blood? Besides, she didn't have a maternal bone in her body, even where Adriana was concerned. She just held the girl close, stroking her smooth, brown hair, trying to calm her down.

"These—are—my parents," Adriana explained in gasps. Claudia didn't say anything; she knew who they were. "They didn't—deserve—this. They were—good people." She finally took her eyes off of the bodies and looked into Claudia's. "Why? Why—did—someone—kill them?"

Claudia tried to hold her own tears back. She had to be strong. For Adriana. "I don't know," she admitted, and Adriana's tears started to brim in her eyes again. It wasn't the answer she was looking for; she wanted closure. Claudia tried to calm the waters. "I'm gonna call 911, 'kay? They'll come and figure this out." She started to stand up, but Adriana grabbed her hand.

"No!" she insisted. "Please stay here. Please?" She liked having Claudia's arms around her. It didn't matter that she was a complete and total stranger; she'd take whatever comfort she could get.

Claudia squeezed Adriana's hand. "I have to call the police. It'll only take me a second." Adriana let go of her hand, and Claudia stepped out of the pool of blood to make the call. Adriana grabbed her mother's hand and whispered, "It's gonna be okay. We'll find out who did this to you."

*

"I told you everything I know!" Adriana screamed. She and Claudia stood at the entrance of the alley, still soaked in blood. They were talking to the police commissioner and a detective, both of whom were frustrating Adriana to no end.

"Yes, we understand that," said the police commissioner, holding a pen and a notepad, writing down everything that Adriana had said. Unfortunately, it wasn't a lot. "But this has been a traumatic experience for you. Sometimes, with all the emotions running, you might forget something."

"I didn't forget anything!" Adriana shouted, and Claudia squeezed her hand. "These are my parents we're talking about! Why would I forget anything? I want you to find out who killed them!" She peered around the two police officers to see the action in the alley. She couldn't see her parent's corpses; they were surrounded by forensic detectives, the coroner, crime photographers, and other police personnel. Both sides of the alley had been blocked off with saw horses, and large crowds had gathered at either end. Some were reporters, others were just citizens who had heard the commotion. Adriana wished they would all go away. Didn't they have any respect for the dead?

"Look, we're trying to work with you here," said the detective. "Now, did your parents have any enemies that you know of?"

"Enemies?" asked Adriana, confused.

"Someone who would have a motive to kill them," explained the detective.

Adriana shook her head. "We're not even from here! We don't know anyone here! How could they have enemies?"

"Could be a xenophobe," the police commissioner muttered to his detective.

"A what?" asked Adriana.

"Someone who's afraid of foreigners," explained the detective.

"Afraid enough to kill them?" asked Adriana. America was a crazy country, with crazy law enforcement officials.

"It's a possibility," said the detective. "And in murder cases, we can never rule anything out." Just as he said this, another detective came upon the group.

"Find anything out, Harper?" asked the police commissioner.

"Honestly," said Harper, glancing at Adriana nervously, "not much, Mac. We can rule out a mugging, though. They still had all their valuables: jewelry, money, and such." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I don't think this was random."

Adriana felt her blood boil in anger and confusion. "What are you talking about? This has to be random! No one would want to kill them!"

"Shh, calm down," Claudia said soothingly. "They're just trying to do their job." Adriana didn't want to hear it. They needed to do their job better.

"What are you even doing here, Mrs. Corinthos?" asked Mac accusingly.

"I was walking to my car!" said Claudia defensively. "My brother lives in the apartments right across the street from Che Loir. I was visiting him. We turned on the T.V. and fell asleep, and I didn't wake up 'til a little after midnight. I was heading towards the parking lot. I passed the alley and saw Adriana with her parents. Happy?"

Mac didn't look convinced. "Can your brother confirm that?"

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Of course he can confirm it. Here." She pulled out her cell phone. "Wanna call him? He's probably asleep, so he'll be pissed off, but you're welcome to give him a ring."

"That's not necessary," interjected Adriana. "Claudia didn't have anything to do with this."

"How can you be so sure?" asked the first detective. "You don't even know her."

"Are you seriously accusing me of this?" asked Claudia, gesturing to the crime scene.

"Well, based on your family's history—"

"Screw my family's history! I didn't do this!"

"Okay, calm down," said Harper, jumping into the argument before claws started coming out. He turned to the first detective. "Lucky, don't start jumping to conclusions. We have zero evidence. It's not time to start picking out a suspect."

Adriana was about to agree with him when a commotion came from the center of the alley. Two gurneys were outside the circle of investigators, and on each of them was a black body bag.

"No!" she screamed, realizing what was happening. "No!" She was about to make a run for the circle, but Claudia grabbed her elbow.

"Let me go!" she yelled. "Let me go!"

"We have to take your parents' bodies to the coroner's," explained Mac calmly, having endured things like this too many times before. "We need to have an autopsy."

Adriana felt her stomach sink to the ground. Not an autopsy. They couldn't do that. It wasn't fair. "No!" she screamed again, tears starting to pour down her face. "They're my parents! You can't do this!"

"We have to," said Mac, raising his voice so that Adriana heard him over her sobbing. "Don't you want us to figure out who did this?"

"There has to be another way!" She tried getting out of Claudia's grasp, but it was no use; Claudia held her tight.

"I'm sorry," said Mac, and he sounded like he really meant it. Adriana stopped trying to fight Claudia, and sank to the ground, hugging her knees up to her chest and burying her face in her legs. She didn't want to watch her parents being hauled away on those gurneys. The sounds were enough. She could hear the grunt of a couple police officials lifting the bodies, and then the creaks as they laid them as gently as possible on the gurneys. She heard the zippers of the body bags, and then the sound of the wheels on the ground as the gurneys made their way to the entrance of the alley, to the coroner's van. There were more grunts as the gurneys were folded and placed in the van, which soon drove away, Adriana's parents riding in the back.

Adriana didn't just cry; she howled. She didn't care who heard her. She would never see her parents again. Some stranger was about to cut them up to tiny bits. She couldn't wrap her head around it; her parents, dead? It couldn't be. It just couldn't.

She sobbed and sobbed, until she felt a strong hand grab her elbow to help her up. As much as she just wanted to sit on the ground and cry, she got up anyway, not having any strength left in her to fight back.

The hand belonged to the police commissioner, whose eyes were somber as he spoke to her. "We need to take you down to the station, okay? It'll be awhile; with you being from a foreign country, a lot of things are going to get complicated. We'll get you an attorney."

"What about Diane Miller?" suggested Claudia.

"Who?" asked Adriana, wiping her eyes.

"She's a great lawyer," said Claudia. "She'll help you out. I'll call her as soon as we get down to the station."

The detective named Lucky glared at her. "What do you mean 'we?' What makes you think you're going?"

"She needs someone down there with her," insisted Claudia. "She can't go through this alone." Adriana wished people would stop fighting her battles for her. She might have been a basket case, but she could still speak for herself.

"You have no relation to her," Lucky was saying. "In fact, you two barely know each other. When did you meet, today?"

"Lucky," calmed Mac, "knock it off. It's not your call to make." He turned to Claudia. "But, he's right. You should go home. We can take care of this."

"But—"

"Please," insisted Mac. "Just do as we ask. Call Diane when you get the chance."

Claudia let out a huge breath, her hair blowing with it. She wasn't going to fight with the police. It wouldn't be worth it. "Fine," she obliged reluctantly.

"Alright," said Mac. "Now that that's settled, let me talk with Lucky and Harper, and then we'll be on our way." He pulled his two detectives over to the side to talk to them privately, leaving Adriana and Claudia together.

"This reeks everywhere of Corinthos," Lucky accused in a whisper, once they were out of earshot.

"As much as I'd like to agree with you," said Mac, "we can't just go around arresting people. We need a warrant from the judge. We'll send someone to his house some time in the late morning, see if he has an alibi. Then we'll go from there."

"I'll go," volunteered Lucky eagerly. "If Sonny's gonna be brought down, I wanna be the one to do it."

Mac shook his head. "No, Lucky." Lucky was about to object, but Mac held up his hand. "You and Harper stay on the biotoxin case; we still have to figure that out. I'll assign someone else onto this one. Got it?" Harper nodded in an understanding way; Lucky just crossed his arms and fumed.

Over on the other side of the alley, Claudia put her arm around Adriana. "It's going to be okay," she said. "They'll figure this out."

Adriana sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I know. I just wish you could come down to the station with me." She was surprised at the words that came out of her mouth. She didn't even know Claudia; why would she want her to hold her hand through this?

Claudia smiled. "You'll be okay. Mac's a good cop. So is Harper. Lucky and I don't really get along, but he's pretty decent, too."

"Thanks for everything," said Adriana. "You don't even know me, but you're still helping me."

Claudia was about to respond, when her phone rang.

"I'm so sorry," she said, taking it out and looking at the screen.

"Don't worry about it," said Adriana. "You should answer it."

"Nah," said Claudia, putting the still ringing phone back in her pocket. "It's just my husband. It's probably not important."

*

"Damn it!" yelled Sonny, throwing his phone at a vase of red roses. The vase cracked, water spilling everywhere and the roses falling to the floor. Max heard the crash, and he came running.

"Boss, what's wrong?" he asked, noticing the broken vase.

"Where the hell is Claudia?" Sonny asked him menacingly.

Max shrugged. "Don't know, boss. She went to her brother's tonight, but she hasn't come back."

"Where is she?" Sonny asked in a deadly whisper. "It's almost two in the morning. She should be back by now!"

"Maybe if you called her—"

"I just tried!" Sonny shouted. "She didn't answer!" He started pacing across his living room floor, his stomach twisting in nervous knots. "I need her here, Max. She's my alibi. Without her, I could go to prison!" He grabbed a photo off of one of the side tables and threw it at the ground.

"I'm sure she'll be home soon, Mr. C," assured Max, wanting to keep his employer calm.

"Yeah, she better be!" yelled Sonny. He refused to go to prison. If she wasn't back in two hours, he was running. He'd go to Puerto Rico, hide there until the whole thing blew over. He wasn't going to jail for the explosion of the Coluzzo shipment.

And he most certainly wasn't going to jail for murdering the Browns.