Everyone sat and chatted as I stuffed food in my mouth as quickly as I could.
“You better slow down girl, before you make yourself sick,” My father said with a little force behind his voice. He was right, I was not even tasting my food. I was starving, so bad that I was pretty much inhaling it.
I slowed down a bit to taste my food and actually enjoy it. I was still very pale and I knew that the food would work wonders on that. I knew that I didn’t want to be sick; hanging over the toilet. Slowing down was a must.
“Yeah, keep eating like that and you’re going to turn into a cow, Elizabeth.” Landon said while laughing. I smacked him. At the exact same time I did that to him, the doorbell rang. My father got up, still laughing over Landon’s joke, to answer it.
“Say that again and I will dunk your head in your milk and drown you.” I screamed at Landon, through fits of laughter, while we played back and forth hitting each other.
Landon stopped and the look on his face had changed. He was looking past me. My mother’s laughter stopped as well. She looked in the same direction as Landon. I looked up and my father was standing in the door way leading to the dining room, with a very serious look on his face.
“What’s ……?” I never finished that sentence. There was a person standing behind my father that I hadn’t noticed before.
When my father walked into the dining room, a police officer walked into the place my father had moved from. My heart stopped, or well at least skipped a few beats.
“Elizabeth, I am Officer Benton and I have come to ask you questions about the disappearance of Lucas Sheath.”
Chapter 28
I sat there a minute, staring at him, my food forgotten. What was I going to say? I didn’t kill Lucas, but I didn’t help him either. My heart was beating so fast that I thought I was going to have a heart attack, right there in front of the officer.
“Nice to meet you Officer Benton,” I said while holding my hand out to him. He walked over to the dining room table and shook my hand. “What can I help you with?”
“Well Elizabeth, Lucas has been missing for a couple of weeks, now and I needed to ask you questions about his disappearance.”
I had to stay calm and serious about all this. One mistake about how I play this off will send me straight to jail. I thought back, to the day I went back to school, after he fell over the falls. Remembering what I had said to his friends that were worried about him.
“Well of course, you may Officer. I will tell you everything that you want to know and what I can help you with. Please have a seat and we can talk comfortably.” I smiled at him warmly.
“Elizabeth, you were the last to be seen with Lucas, what can you tell me about after you left school with him?” Officer Benton was looking at me very seriously. I knew he was watching my emotions on my face.
“Oh, I took Lucas home as soon as we left school. I had to get home and talk to my mother.” I said looking over at her with a smile.
“Yes, this is true Officer. I had told Elizabeth to come straight home from school because we needed to make arrangements, for when her father arrived back home.” She said looking at him sweetly. The woman couldn’t lie; she never has been able to. Now, she was protecting me by, only telling half the truth.
“Where were you at Mr. Marcus?” Officer Benton asked while looking over at my father.
“I was away on business. I was on my way home. My wife was going to surprise me with a homecoming party. This is Landon,” my father said with a smile motioning at Landon. “He traveled back with me; I am making him a partner at my gym. So, I wanted him to stay and try it out for a little while before he decided to take the job. Since we have plenty of room here, I just had him stay here in our home, in the guest room, instead of forking over the money for a hotel. I want him to be as comfortable as possible while he makes his decision.” He looked over at Landon. Landon nodded in agreement.
“I love it