She never locks this.
Urgency had him fishing out his keys and shoving the spare into the lock. Darkness filled the lower level. Out of habit, he reached for his weapon, tucked in the back of his pants, but he’d left it at home.
Who needs a gun when they’re moving furniture?
He hoofed it up the stairs and into her kitchen. Also dark. His guts churned. He grabbed a long kitchen knife.
“Mara!”
The silence was deafening.
He cleared the first floor. No sister, nothing out of place. He checked the front door. The bolt was flipped closed, no sign of a break-in. Though concerned, his blood pressure didn’t jump, neither did his pulse.
Maybe she’s sleeping.
Shehadbeen putting in long hours at work.
He flew up the stairs, flipped on the hall light. His sigh of relief filled the quiet space. Though her bedroom was dark, hall light spilled into her room. There she was, in bed, buried under a comforter. Time to get her lazy ass up.
“Wake up, sis.”
She didn’t stir.
“Mara, let’s go.”
He pulled back the comforter and recoiled. Her naked torso was covered in dried blood, a single gunshot wound to her abdomen.
His heart cried out, anger surging to the forefront.
God, no.
Her face ashen, her eyes lifeless. She was gone, but he had to try. After not finding a pulse, he removed her pillow and craned her head back to open her windpipe. Thirty compressions before he breathed life into her.
Nothing.
Another thirty. Two more breaths.
Thirty compressions, two breaths.
Still nothing.
Dread flooded him.
He pounded on her chest. “Mara, come on! Breathe. We got this. C’mon, sis, don’t leave me.”
Nothing.
Her lifeless body was taking the assault like a champ. Like a Santini.
He stopped pounding, but he couldn’t see, couldn’t hear.
His eyes clouded with tears and he released a gut-wrenching scream. Then, he kissed her cold forehead, his heart shattering into a million pieces.
“Who did this to you?”
He waited for God to whisper the answer into his ear, but he was met with an eerie silence. He pulled the blanket up to her neck, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently closed her eyelids.
She looked like she was asleep. He wanted to remember her this way. And she would want that too.
