“I…Reggie. Reggie did this. They’ll understand that,” she says and I blink. It’s then I see the white reside on her nose. Dang it. I look around the bed and don’t see anything, but on the floor almost under the bed is an empty vile and an old straw.
“Dawn, are you high?” I ask.
“He made us. He said he would kill us and then…. Glenna’s dead,” she moans. “She’s dead, Ellie.”
“I know, Dawn. I’m so sorry.”
“She dead. He killed her, Ellie. He killed her.”
“Put this on, Dawn,” I tell her softly, realizing that she’s too messed up to make sense at this point. She finally pulls away from Glenna and I wrap the robe around her. “Sit down in that chair. I’m going to get a cloth to wash your face.” She nods, her gaze never turning away from Glenna, but walking like a zombie to the chair.
I quickly go to the bathroom to wet a washcloth. When I walk back into the room, I stop abruptly. Dawn is standing at the bed, she’s pulled the sleeve of her robe down—almost like a glove—and she’s holding a knife. She’s using the tail end of the robe to wipe it clean. She puts it down beside Glenna, and just keeps staring at it.
“Dawn. What are you doing?”
“I…” her face jerks up to look at me, panic written all over her. I’m starting to get an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I hate myself for what I’m imagining right now, but I can’t help it.
Why would Dawn wipe the knife clean?
“I can’t stand to see her blood,” Dawn says and I nod, but my gaze moves down to the now bright red stain on the robe.Fury“You’re quiet, Ice.”
Ellie flips over to her side, stretching one leg over my waist, her hand on my shoulder, her head burrowed against my neck.
“I’m sorry, Liam. I just…” She gives a heavy sigh, before struggling to find the words to finish. “My sister is a mess.”
“Wolf is good at fucking with people’s minds. She’ll heal,” I tell her, although I’m not completely sure. I do think she will get better, but I’m not sure how anyone gets over seeing someone they love murdered.
“Maybe…” Ellie says, dragging her finger through the hair on my chest. “The police aren’t going to find Wolf, are they?”
“There won’t be anything left of him for them to find,” I tell her. “But, they will try. He’s wanted for the murders of Reginald Cleary and Glenna. They’ll investigate until they can’t find any leads.”
“They won’t see the fight at the back of the hotel on surveillance cameras of the hotel or the surrounding buildings?”
“Nope,” I tell her, not elaborating. There’s no point. “Why are you so worried?”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble. Any of you really. Wolf has already ruined enough of Devil’s life. I don’t want anything else to happen.”
“Trust me, Ice. It’s going to be okay.”
“Do you think Dawn is telling the truth?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Something just seems off, Liam.”
“She’s been through some heavy shit, Ellie. You can’t really judge her right now. I think she might still be in shock.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Is there something you want to tell me, Ellie?”
“I don’t know anything, not really. It’s just, I can’t get it out of my head at the way Dawn was cleaning off the murder weapon. Is that normal?”
“Fuck if I know, Ellie. Dawn lived through a nightmare. I have no idea what normal would be after that.”
“You’re right. She’s not talking to me, so maybe that’s what has me all screwed up. She even asked me to leave her alone. I just don’t know what to do.”
“I know it sucks, Ice, but you can’t do anything. You just leave her alone and let her work shit out. She’ll either reach out to you or she won’t.”
“That answer sucks, Liam.”
“I know, baby.”
“So, what comes next?” She asks and I let out a sigh.
“I’m going to need to go back to Tennessee, Ellie.”
“We knew this day was coming,” she says, and the sadness in her voice hurts.
“You said you’d come back with me,” I remind her.
“Liam, I can’t just leave right now.”
We shift on the bed so that I can look at her. I want to see her face and more importantly, I want her to be able to see mine. I need to try and reach her.
“Why, Ice? What can you do here?”
“Well, I mean, I know the police are focused on finding Wolf and my sister isn’t really in trouble, but she goes this week for an interview with the lead detective. She will need an attorney. Her mental state is not good and that’s being nice. There’s just a lot of chaos. Plus, I need to give Harvey at least two weeks’ notice, I can’t just leave him high and dry. He’s been good to me.”