“Do you think they’d tell us?” Mila suddenly whispers.
“Tell us what?” I frown a little.
“If, you know, they killed her.”
Darla exchanges a look with me before answering, “Probably not.”
“They’d be more worried about solving Mary-Beth’s murder, I reckon.” Nandi sighs. “Especially while they still have us all in one spot.”
“What are you saying?” Darla queries.
“I’m saying that the damn door was locked,” she snaps back, raising herself onto one elbow. “The assholes upstairs didn’t get to her; one of us did. Doesn’t it bother you that there’s a murderer among us?” Nandi bites.
“Of course it does,” Darla snaps back. “But there must have been a genuine reason for them to hurt Mary-Beth; otherwise we’d all be dead by now, wouldn’t we?”
“Unless they’re waiting for the right time to silence us.” I feel Nandi’s stare on me before I see it. “You’re awfully quiet over there, Jenna.” She props herself up on both elbows. “Know something you wanna share? You were closest to Mary-Beth that night.”
“Not really.” I pull my knees up and inhale the faint musk of cologne on the sweater. “I vaguely remember her moaning or something, but I figured she was having a bad dream.”
“That’s it?” Nandi’s gaze becomes critical.
“It’s what I told the sheriff, isn’t it?” I meet her eye with the same intensity.
Darla sighs. “It’ll come out in the wash. There’s no point in us turning on one another now when we need each other most.”
“Speak for yourself.” Nandi flops back on the sofa. “I don’t need anyone else.”
“Perfect,” I sass. “Then why are you still here?” Her headstrong nature was great while we were in captivity, helping to keep us together and somewhat calm. But out here?
It’s irritating.
“Waiting for my free bus ticket, is all.”
Darla chews the inside of her lip and then twists to look at Nandi, who once again reclines, eyes covered with an arm. “How exactlydidyou end up there, again?”
“What does it matter to you?”
“It strikes me as a little out of place that you were already there when we arrived, is all.”
“You mad I wasn’t on the short bus with you all?”
Darla’s jaw firms before she answers in a level tone, “You just seem rather unaffected by the whole ordeal. As though being here is an inconvenience.”
Mila trembles in my periphery, so I offer my hand, which she gratefully takes between hers. Conflict seems to be a trigger for her, and I wonder if it’s how her addiction started.
“Maybe I’m better at compartmentalizing,” Nandi sasses. “Or maybe I don’t give a shit about those assholes. Refuse to give them any power over me.”
“Or maybe you knew all along that you weren’t in any trouble,” Darla tests.
Silence hangs thick in the room before Nandi eventually peeks out at our forthright brunette. “What are you trying to say, girl? Spit it out.”
“I’m saying,” Darla explains, straightening her back. “Maybe you were never part of the trade. Maybe you had some other reason to be there.” She pauses, swallows. “Maybe you weretheir informant on the inside, and maybeyouknow how Mary-Beth ended up dead.”
My heart exists in my throat.
“That’s some crazy White girl shit if ever I heard it.”
“But you’re not denying it.”
