Page 100 of Nave
All that mattered was Lolly.
I wasn’t sure I took a breath until I felt her against my chest, until she was wrapped in my arms, safe.
“It’s going to be okay,” I assured her.
Against me, she was shaking like a leaf. A sad sob caught in her throat, and a moment later, her hot tears wet my shirt.
“What is going on?” Ariah’s voice asked, appearing behind me.
Lolly tensed, pulling out of my arms, tears still wet on her cheeks, to turn and look at Ria.
“I… I didn’t take your dogs out,” she said, her voice wobbling.
“Oh,” Ria said, gaze sliding around the scene: Lolly’s tear-stained face, her dirty shirt, Kit’s nightgown-clad body, the gun in her hand, my presence, Dezi’s as well. “That’s okay,” she said, making her tone more placating. “They’re fine. Are you okay?”
Lolly’s good hand raised, trying to wipe at her face, only to realize how dirty her hand was.
Another sad whimper escaped her.
“It’s okay!” Ria assured her, moving forward. “That’s fine. Anything dirty can get cleaned up, right? Why don’t we go and wash you up, okay?” she asked, moving in at Lolly’s side to wrap an arm around her. She led her away, keeping up a one-sided conversation in that sing-song tone until they disappeared inside Ariah’s house.
“What happened?”
“Come on,” Kit said, turning to walk back from where she came.
It was only then I realized she was barefoot.
Once she was past Ria’s house and sure she wouldn’t be overheard, she started talking.
“I was asleep when the dogs woke me up. As soon as I was awake, I heard this awful shrieking and scratching at the door. I grabbed my gun and ran out there to find Edith at the door. She was frantic. And she still had her leash attached,” she explained.
“I figured Lolly must have taken her for a walk. And something happened. I put Edith inside and just… ran. It wasn’t long before I heard the struggle. Some asshole had just knocked her onto all fours, then whipped her over onto her back. He came over her. And I just… shot.”
On that last part, she waved a hand outward toward where a body was sprawled on the ground.
“You’d have been proud of her. She was going to stab the bastard with a screwdriver. I just moved first.”
“You’re a badass, babe,” Dezi said, sauntering over toward the body, nudging it with his shoe once, twice. The third time was more of a kick, to be honest.
She really was a badass.
Kit’s aim was perfect.
One shot, dead center of the forehead.
Instantly fatal.
“See what happens when you pick on our girls?” Dezi asked Ben’s dead body. “Stupid fuck.”
I was busy looking at the rest of Ben.
And I could see that Lolly put up a hell of a fight. Not necessarily in terms of physical damage. But emotionally? Yeah, she’d done everything she could to fuck with him.
There was a stain on his shirt.
And mud streaked across his face. Mud that matched the stuff Lolly had on her hand.
“It’s compost,” Kit said.
