Chapter 4: How? Why? Who…

"Good evening miss, I am Officer Jefferson. I would request that unless necessary you would leave this area- it's not the best of places to be…"

Silverlight pegged him with a hard glare- she was annoyed about being interrupted in her conversation- until she processed what he had just said. Jefferson? Mark Jefferson? 'Oh, for fucks sake,' she thought. Thinks keep getting better and better.

Silverlight stared at Officer Jefferson, wondering just how fucked up her luck was, she realized he was expecting an answer.

"Officer Jefferson, you can clearly see that I am completely fine with being here none of these people frighten me or bother me."

Mark shrugged and said, "Madam, that's up to you who your company is, but don't do anything illegal, alright?"

Silverlight smiled charmingly but said nothing. She turned, walked away, than quickly made her way back home. Where for the second time she slid down the wall and lay on her hall floor with her head in her hands, wondering just why she stayed at school anyway.

After an hour of laying static in the floor, she went upstairs took off the wig and the contacts whilst changing into her pjs. She shut away Silverlight, master killer and thief extraordinaire into her closet and unlocked Switch, cheeky Belfast girl with an attitude, letting herself relax into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Going back to school was a nightmare and the mountain of work she was given just kept growing. To add to her stress, she hadn't heard from any of the Girls at all and Tam wasn't in school.

However, the straw that broke the camel's back was Peter Roberts. He was the resident dickhead of the year and was big and very musclely. SO, when he slammed into Switch at the end of school, sending her bag and files everywhere, she just wanted to sit down and cry knowing that she couldn't fight back without, err, killing him.

Those feelings were lost in an instant when Mark strode up to Peter and slammed him into a wall, holding him up off the ground by his collar.

"Listen up, Roberts. Listen really good cause I'm saying this only once. Don't ever touch Switch Dougan ever again. Don't talk to her, don't ask other people do it for you, and don't even look at her. Hell, don't even walk in her fucking shadow. Because if you do I will cut off your balls and give them to that girl you assaulted on Spencer Street to wear as earrings."

He shooed away the gathering crowd and picked up Switch's stuff as Peter left, uttering death threats all the way. Grinning from ear to ear, Mark handed Switch her school things back while she gaped at him open-mouthed.

"Christ, Jefferson. That was the stupidest, bravest thing; anyone's ever done for me!"

He laughed well naturedly, and all of a sudden the most peculiar feeling came over Switch. She felt like hugging him and being all silly and also… Not. So, like a completely, she leaned forward and kissed him.

It was weird, kissing somebody. She had never been kissed by a guy or worked up the courage to do it herself, so the only sensation was… Peculiar. But, it was quite nice and Switch opened one eye to see Mark doing the same, looking at her in surprise. It all seemed to be going well, when a teacher started yelling at them from across the yard. "Jefferson and Dougan, in my Office! Now!"

They broke apart and Switch's grin was the antithesis to Mark's look of horror. She looked up at him and whispered, "When I say run, follow me." At his raised eyebrow and shaking head she snorted and whispered, "Fine then, coward. Don't want to get in trouble? Your choice, 3, 2, 1… Run!"

Her last word was a shout and she took off, flipping the interfering teacher off and scaling the fence in one move, running down the street and out of sight. Mark joined her a few seconds later and they fist-pumped then flopped to the ground exhausted. Switch knew that she was being incredibly stupid by kissing him. But she didn't really care. That was, until the happy fog clouding her mind dissipated, and she remembered that he was a police officer, and she was Silverlight- deadliest criminal in the city!

Switch panicked and scrambled to her feet. Mark rose as well and looked quizzically at her. "Would you mind telling me… what that was for?"

Switch gulped and shrugged. All she could think of was, 'Leave-leave-leave!'

"It seemed like the thing to do at the time, you know, to say thank you and whatever." Mark's face lit up, and he was about to reply when a low, VERY pissed off voice came from directly behind her.

Switch turned around and nearly rolled her eyes. It was that Peter idiot, backed up by his five friends. She looked him directly in the eyes and said "Peter, what is your goddamn problem?" He smirked and his next words sent ice cold shivers down her spine.

"Sicilian brothers stick together, little girl. Simul in Armis." Shit-shit-shit! Together in Arms- the motto of the Sicilian brotherhood. Well, if he was one of them then Switch decided to let a little Latin of her own skip out.

"Scelus est sua lege et praeceptis obediare," Peter paled and went green, he recognized the motto of the Syndicate Ancient, the oldest crime family which she and all of the Girls belonged to. It meant, 'Crime is its own law and we obey the rules.' He backed away slowly and Switch let out a long breath. She closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. As she began to relax, Mark spoke up from behind her,

"Uh, Switch… Would you mind telling me just why you used the only known statement of the force's knowledge associated with Silverlight who is our city's most wanted criminal?"

Switch had no reply. She had completely overlooked the possibility he might actually be working in the Silverlight case. No, instead, she had just assumed that he was just trying to be impressive! So, for the third time, she ran off. Only this time, she didn't go home. She went along aiming to get to Cassie's house, which was an hour and a half away.

Quickly, darting into an alley to avoid getting spotted she paused for breath and put her hair up into a ponytail, and put in blue contacts. She whipped off her jumper to reveal a nice pink tank top, and took her tights off grateful that she had worn shorts that day. She kept her pumps on and crammed her clothes into her schoolbag. She tried to jog but her shoes kept falling off, so she walked briskly until she came to no.23 Cadogan Street.

Frantically she knocked on the door.

No reply…

She tried again.

Still, nothing…

She slammed her fist at the door, defeated, and sat down on the porch. The house belonged to Cassie and contained all her hard copy files on their threats and potential foes. She needed to know if Mark, his parents or his siblings were there.

She sighed, decided to give up for the time being, and made her way back home. It had gotten much darker and she was almost an hour away from home, so she put her jumper back on and untied her hair, taking out her contacts and placing them in her pocket.

'Oh God,' she thought, watching a large group of about ten guys dressed in Reebok and JB sports gear come down the road towards her. She was only two streets away from her road and didn't want any hassle. So, when one of them yelled to her, "Hey, sexayyy!" she ignored him, and kept walking. She did however mentally feel for her pocketknife with a hidden 6in switchblade in the lining of her shorts. Just in case.

Actually, she did end up taking it out of the lining and put it in her pocket as they crossed the road and hurried towards her. She didn't let it face her, she just flipped them off as they attempted to be *cough* 'Sexy Beasts'. As she got to her house she tried to shake off the feeling that she was being watched. Her fears, however, were affirmed when someone grabbed her by the neck and pushed her face first into the mud.

"Switch Dougan, cute name, quirky, unsuspicious, right? RIGHT?" Switch spat out the mouthful of mud she was holding onto the ground, determined to say nothing until she saw her assailant. The voice did sound familiar though, but strange, it hitched and caught in the speaker's throat now and again. She felt handcuffs lock around her wrists. "You are under arrest for avoiding police arrest, theft, attempted burglary, attempt to incite violence, murder and suspected murder of Alice Jefferson and Gareth Beatty. You are not required to say anything but…"

It was then that Switch knew, she just knew, that it was Mark who was arresting her. 'For fucks sake', she thought. Who does he think she murdered? Where did he get any damn evidence? She decided to interrupt him and said, "Where did you get this information? Please, Mark, just tell me. I need to know." He said nothing and she tried again. "Mark, it's me! IT's Swi-" she was cut off mid-sentence as she was tossed to the ground. Switch looked up and saw a disturbing mirror of her when she received the news of her parent's death. He was absolutely furious, but had tears running down his face the whole time he spoke.

"You are not Switch! You are Silverlight and you tried to get close to me so you could murder my sister just because she had money! All you are is just-"

"Some sick fuck that shot her in the back of the head execution style, because I wanted her money. Yeah, tell me about it.

While Mark furrowed his brow in thought Switch noticed a movement in the shadows. She could've sworn she saw a black… Cloak? What the hell? She thought about who it could be, and then realized who used black cloaks:

The Sicillian Brotherhood.

Fuck…

(A/N: muchos gracias to my beta extraordinaire, Rose31276! Next chapter to be posted on Wednesday, and then you're gonna have a bit of a wait because that's when I'm sending the next hunk o' text over to Rose, so chapter 6 should be on Saturday/Sunday xP buhbye! xo)