CHAPTER FIFTEEN

          LUCY HAD PRETTY MUCH ISOLATED HERSELF THE LAST FEW DAYS, ONLY SHOWING UP FOR WORK AND GOING STRAIGHT HOME. The raise in rent should have her struggling but the fact she was now twenty grand richer had helped her immensely. 

She had put aside five grand for her student loans and ten grand towards getting the hell out of that building. Lucy needed about fifteen more for a down payment on another apartment. The other five would go to rent here in case Richard increased it more.

The brunette sat on the couch in her living room, wearing a pair of dark green pyjamas with thick socks covering her feet. She was flipping through channels mindlessly but there wasn't really anything on tv that caught her interest.

There were three firm knocks on her door and she muted the tv, hoping whoever it was did not hear the program on. The woman waited, to lazy to get up but then there were more knocks and she got up with a roll of her eyes. Lucy peeped through the peephole, furrowing her brows.

Lucy unlocked the door and opened it slightly, peering up at the tall dark skinned man. "Can I help you?"

"I am looking for Lucy Moreau." he said, offering a polite smile.

"Who's asking?"

The brunette had been pretty distrustful the last few weeks and she had no idea who this man was or what he wanted.

"I am agent Turner, FBI." He opened his black jacket to reveal a badge and she bit her tongue harshly. "Just here to ask you some questions, may I come in?"

This was a justified moment to start panicking and she did, internally. It took her a few seconds before she opened the door and let the man inside. Her mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts and scenarios of getting arrested. Hell, she didn't even know what this was about but it had to be about the robbery or Rio.

What other reason would the FBI have to show up at her door?

"Sorry, it's a bit of a mess." she tried , offering him an apologetic smile.

"Not a problem at all." he shrugged, peering around the room as if he was searching for something. "I'm the one barging into your home."

"What can I do for you, agent Turner?" she crossed her arms over her chest but kept the polite smile on her face, thinking back on what she should be doing as to not look guilty of anything. Lucy had seen so many crime shows this shouldn't be that hard.

"Some ugliness bleeding in from the city." he said, taking a seat on her couch and she did the same. "Seems like this area has seen a bit more of it as of late. We try to stay on top of it."

"That sounds scary." she furrowed her brows and tugged her foot underneath herself as she tried to keep herself small.

"Have you seen anything weird?" he questioned, looking at her as if he could search her brain himself and it made her quite uncomfortable. His dark eyes bore into her own and she held his gaze as best as she could.

"Like what?"

"You know," he shrugged with a grin. "seen anyone around that didn't quite fit the vibe here?"

Lucy pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side, as if in deep thought. Lying had been something she had mastered from her brothers but they were usually little white lies she could stick with. "I don't think so. You know, I work a lot so i'm usually in out and out of here pretty fast. Should I call anyone if I do see anything strange?"

"That would be very helpful." he nodded, taking his car from his breast pocket and handing it to her. "You can call me at any time, and please do if you see anything out of the ordinary."

"Of course," she nodded, taking the card. "thank you, agent Turner."

"Call me Jimmy." he smiled, getting up from the couch and taking another quick look around the room. "I'll see myself out."

Lucy dropped her smile the moment the door closed and she let out a long anxious breath as she fell sideways onto the couch. 

"Fuck."

✧✧✧✧✧

          THE PHONE HAD GONE TO VOICEMAIL TWICE AND LUCY WANTED TO RIP HER HAIR OUT. He was not answering and she needed to speak to him about agent Turner. The woman pressed call once again and peered through the door opening in the bathroom at Beth's house. She hadn't been the only one the FBI agent had visited.

The strawberry blonde had called her a few hours prior with the news that she, Ruby and Annie were going to do another job for the gang leader and if she wanted in. Lucy had shut that down immediately but still came over to hear their genius plan.

"Are you stalking me, ma?"

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief when he finally answered and ignored the teasing tone in his voice and locked the bathroom door before whispering. "I'm so screwed and it's all your fault."

"The fuck you on about?"

"The FBI showed up at my door this morning." she revealed, biting on the nail of her thumb with anxiety. "He was asking around about suspicious activity in the neighbourhood and if i've seen anyone that didn't quite fit in. He's also gone to see Beth and asked her the same. What am I supposed to do?"

He was silent for a moment before she heard his muffled laughter.

"Are you laughing at me?" she all but gasped.

"Nah," he chuckled. "don't worry about it, ma. It's all good."

"This was the FBI." she put emphasis on the last word as if to get through to him. "The feds, Rio. Not the local police."

"I'm aware, Lucy. You have nothing to worry about."

The brunette kissed her teeth and he could hear it on the other end of the line. It would be their ass on the line and not his and she had no idea how to get out of this.

"Whatever." she muttered and hung up the phone with a huff.

Lucy turned the device off and made her way back towards the living room where Beth and Annie were talking hurriedly amongst themselves. Ruby wasn't there yet and she plopped herself into one of the comfortable chairs opposite of them.

"I mean, we shouldn't be cleaning a bunch of counterfeit money when the FBI is on our trail." argued Beth, holding a steaming mug of tea as autumn approached.

"It was your idea!" retorted Annie.

"Can you keep it down, you're giving me a headache." grumbled Lucy as she leaned back as far as she could.

"You don't get a say in this." shot Annie as she looked at her friend with narrowed eyes. The situation getting to all of them. "You're not even part of it since you're refusing to have anything to do with this."

"Annie." glared Beth as she smacked her sisters arm.

"Sorry," grimaced Annie before continuing. "look if the guy knew anything he would have said so."

"He gave his card to me and not to Dean."

"Maybe he didn't know if Dean could read." snapped Annie. "Look, I got fancy lawyer bills coming out the wazoo, dog. I talked to her for fifteen minutes and it cost me eight-hundred dollars!"

"You know how much a criminal lawyer costs?" said Lucy, resting her feet on the coffee table and ignoring Beth's look of disapproval.

"I need this payday," she all but whined. "we didn't get the last one. Look, it was probable someone stealing an Xbox or something. It was nothing, I swear."

"It wasn't nothing!" glared Beth. "It was the FBI."

"Okay ... two Xboxes."

Lucy rolled her eyes at their bickering and said, "Annie, I can loan you the money. I got my paycheck early. Just be careful, the FBI snooping in our business is not a good sign, okay?"

"Really?" Annie perked up before shaking her head. "No, we're going to do this job and it's going to be perfectly fine. We wash some cash at Walmart and then we're done. Easy as that."

"What have I done." breathed Beth, pinching the bridge of her nose just as Ruby entered. "We're so screwed."

two chapters in one day! it's slowly getting there, can't wait for it to almost entirely focus and lucy and rio.