CHAPTER 21
Chris woke up to find Rebecca still in his arms. He slid out from underneath her and went into the kitchen. Jill was sitting at the table.
"I just brewed a fresh pot of coffee." She said. Chris poured himself a cup and sat down.
"Are you going to phone Claire today?" Jill asked. Chris put the cup down.
"I will do it now." Chris said. He went to the phone and dialled his sister's number.
"Hello." She answered.
"Hey Claire listen I have something to tell you." He said.
"Should I sit down Chris?" she asked.
"Yeah maybe you should." He answered. He heard the sound of footsteps then Claire came back on the line.
"So how did the mission go?" she asked.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Well don't leave me in suspense what is it?"
"I am so sorry Claire but Joseph was killed last night." There was silence on the other end then he heard a scream on the other end.
"HE CANT BE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING MARRIED." Claire cried down the phone. At that moment Chris felt helpless. He so wanted take his sister into his arms and hug her.
"I am so sorry honey I really am." Chris said.
"How did he die?" she asked.
"You don't want to know Claire really you don't." Chris answered. Claire seemed to accept this and said nothing more about it.
"Should I come to Raccoon city?" she asked.
"No we are going to be really busy I will call you as soon as I have the time."
"Good bye Chris." Claire said hanging up the phone.
"What's the matter Claire?" Vivian asked sitting down next to her. Claire fell into her arms and began sobbing uncontrollable.
"Chris just told me that Joseph D….d….d…..d" she couldn't get the word out and with one final attempt she managed.
"Joseph is dead." Vivian sat stunned for a moment.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Chris told me I wouldn't want to know and I believe him." Claire answered. Claire seemed to settle down a little.
"I am so sorry Claire." Vivian said. Claire got up and wiped her eyes.
"Well I had better be getting ready for work." She said, before heading up the stairs.
Claire went up to her room and fell down on the bed. She felt like someone had ripped her heart out. She got ready and went to work. The day seemed to go by in a blur and she hadn't noticed that it was time to go home.
"Claire its time to go." Her boss said.
"Oh ok thanks." She got her coat and left. She walked to the park and sat down. It was still quite bright and there were kids playing in the park. Claire couldn't help but cry. She thought Joseph was the one she would marry and have kids with. She was about to get up when a little girl ran over to her.
"Hey miss you ok want some of my ice cream to make you fell better?" the little girl asked.
"No I am fine thank you." Claire answered. The little girl smiled and went back to playing with her friends. Claire got up and walked home. She sat down and picked up her favourite picture. Tears ran down her cheeks as her eyes rested on Joseph.
"Why did you have to die." She said to the picture. She hugged the picture close to her chest. Vivian came in a few hours later to find Claire curled up on the seat sleeping with the picture held close to her chest. She shook her gently.
"Come on Claire wake up." She said. Claire sat up and rubbed her eyes. The picture fell to the floor and the glass smashed. Claire started crying again.
"Now I have ruined it." she said. Vivian lifted the picture up and gave it to her.
"No you haven't you have just ruined the frame you can always get a new one." Vivian said. Claire hugged Vivian.
"I am so glad you are here I don't know what I would have done without you." Claire said.
"I don't know what you would have done either." Vivian said.
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"So what is our plan of action then?" Barry asked.
"Well we will have to do some detective work at the precinct see if we can find any clues as to what umbrella are up to and see how deep the chief is in all this." Chris answered.
"Why do I get the feeling he is up to his chubby cheeks in this." Jill said.
"Because he probably is we have been sent on leave so he can hide any evidence of wrong doing with us there he wouldn't be safe." Rebecca said.
"She is probably right we are going to have to wait till our two week holiday is up then start investigating." Chris said.
"So what do we do in the meantime sit and twiddle our thumbs?' Barry asked.
"Well I think that you should get your family to safety Barry this could get real ugly real quick and you don't want them in the firing line do you?" Chris answered.
"I have a cousin in Canada I could take them there." Barry said.
"Well you get on that meantime we will just have to sit and twiddle our thumbs until our holiday is over." Jill said. Barry got up and left.
"Do you really think this will get nasty?" Rebecca asked.
"Possibly I mean Umbrella is a huge company and accusations like this could be very bad for the public image." Chris answered.
"I can see why Brad decided to make like a ghost." Rebecca said.
"He is a coward he ran when we needed help." Jill said.
"He was right though if he hadn't have flown away and left you guys stranded you would have never found me in that house and I would have probably." She stopped, shuddering at the thought.
"Well looks like we will have to find something to do for two weeks." Jill said.
"Well we could go on holiday." Chris suggested. Jill and Rebecca both sighed, shook their heads and fell back into their seats.