Page 138 of Sweet Dominion

Dima tapped the pen against his notebook. “Where were most of the daggers, Lei?”

Lei glanced at TT who had finally finished putting them all on the ground. “I had to dig the daggers up from different spots around Dream Lake.”

Dima pressed on some more. “Just around the Jones Estate?”

Chen shook his head, answering before Lei could. “Some were much further away. I remember one night that damn ghost made us walk 15 minutes to an old grave to get one.”

"A grave?” Dima scribbled down notes, his curiosity clearly piqued. “And you could see the ghost too, Chen?”

“Not as well as Lei,” Chen admitted. “I got the feeling that she liked him more. But I could see hints of her from time-to-time and. . .like a shadow or projected movie on a screen going in and out. . .most of all, I couldfeelher.”

Chen shivered slightly. “It wasn’t a good feeling.”

Dima didn’t miss a beat. “What were you supposed to do with the daggers?”

Lei’s eyes were on TT as she closed the top of the trunk and just climbed on top of it. “The Bandit just kept saying that this was the key to freeing them.”

Rose jumped back in. “Them? Who? Was she talking about all the people that were brutally killed duringthe Week of Blood?”

Lei furrowed his brows. “She never made it clear. She just kept saying each dagger was the key.”

Dima studied Lei. "Each daggerwas the key?”

“Yes.”

“That’s it then.” TT bobbed her head over and over. “I’m starting to figure it out. . .I mean. It has to be.”

What has to be? What does she mean?

Chapter twenty-six

The Key to Everything

Moni

I watched TT as she stood on the trunk and gazed down at all the daggers. “Maybe, we should go eat an—”

“Moni, just give me a minute.” TT’s voice held clear irritation. “I’m thinking.”

I glanced up at Lei, unsure whether to insist. But he smiled at TT, completely absorbed by her determination.

Okay. Fuck it. Everything is okay. I’m just worried about her too much.

Additionally, I couldn’t tell if TT liked Lei yet, but it was clear that Lei was totally taken with her. There was a warmth in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before, something soft and protective.

I was also finding that I loved their reactions.

Fine. Let’s see where this goes. Guess we’ll just live on this helipad.

Dima crouched down to examine the daggers now spread across the helipad. He tapped one with his pen and then another. “Yeah. I have to agree with Chen and Lei. I don’t think these daggers are weapons. It wouldn’t make sense.”

Lei nodded. “Their shapes aren’t efficient for real protection or fighting. And the thin wood. . .it wouldn’t make sense to use something like that in combat.”

TT, still perched on the top of the trunk, looked at Dima and then at the daggers. “The Bandit had guns. He. . .I mean. . .”

TT beamed. “Shemade her own bullets because her father was a blacksmith and taught her when she was a kid.”

I could see the gears turning in Dima’s head as he processed what she said. “So, why are they wooden?”

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