- 8 -

                                    

                                          
They sat silent; a dark, eerie atmosphere between them thick enough to cut with a knife. Race, Jack, Albert, Jojo and Justine were circled around a table with the contents of the two files spread out on it.
Jack held a photograph of Lilly; one that was taken when she was still a child. Her big, brown innocent eyes were exactly how he remembered them when he first met her. It seemed that everything but her innocence had changed in Lilly. In his eyes, she was always Jack's sweet little sister. 
"aww, is that Lilly?" Romeo suddenly spoke, resting his head on Jack's as he looked at the photograph he held. "she's so cute- look at her wittle nose!" 
"Romeo-" Jack tried to swat him away as if he was a fly, accidentally hitting him in the face. 
He reached over his head and grabbed one of the papers. "so, what is all this?" He asked as he read what was on it. 
"evidence fo' a murder." Race gave the shorter boy a deadpanned stare in which his eyes widened. He gently put the paper back onto the table and scrambled away, leaving the five in silence once again.
Albert clicked his tongue. "so you's tellin' us that yer daddy killed her parents?" 
Justine's head was bowed down as she kept her gaze fixated on the table. "yes." She replied in a whisper.
"I don't understand, why didn't he jus' do it himself?" Jojo asked, rereading the horrifyingly detailed process over and over again. 
"yeah, why have someone else do his doity woik fah him?" Race added. 
Jack stammered as his eyebrows furrowed. "no, no, it all makes sense." He spoke. "I remembah that day too good. Everyone kept mumblin' 'bout who was gon' get their stuff- it's what they do when rich people die- so's if 'er uncle was theah, it would cause too much suspicions. Someone else had ta do it."
"but what was in it for my dad?" Justine asked, slowly lifting her head to face the four newsies. 
"what does he do?"
"he's now the chief operations officer of the clothing factory." She replied. 
"which is..." Jojo trailed off as he looked around at the group for an answer, but they all stayed silent, shrugging their shoulders. 
Jack slammed a hand onto the table, startling the other four. "tha position next ta chief executive officer." He pointed a finger at Justine, who's posture stiffened. "yer faddah is his second in command- second to tha very top and that's what was in it fah him." 
Jojo nodded. "it all adds up."
Justine took a deep, shaky breath as she rapidly shook her head. "this has to be a gag- a cover up!" She aggressively stood up and stomped away, making her way straight to the door. 
"an' wheah's you goin'?" Jack jumped out of his chair and followed her. With a short jog, he was able to reach out to her and grab her arm, stopping her from getting any further. 
"home. I need to be with Julia."
"you's goin' back home?" Albert inquired as he and Race approached her. "aftah ya jus' found out yer faddah's a murderer?"