Page 85 of The Quiet Witness

Emily bounced in between them with a beaming smile, leaning heavily on Kate’s shoulder and pulling her straight out of her thoughts. “Please tell me I get to go along for this one.” She ran a sweaty hand over her temple, brushing back the brown strands out of her face. Showing a faint scar just below her hairline. She must have felt Kate glance at it, as she rushed to hide it beneath a strand of sticky hair.

Heather popped up behind her, hesitantly stepping into their circle. “May I volunteer as well?”

Georgia lifted an eyebrow toward Kate, leaving it up to her.

Escape, drinks, going out with people. What if I just… enjoy the evening and decide then and there? A chance like this won’t just pop up again. Meaning… I have to take it but before that.

Kate rose on her toes, scanning the room for a hair color akin to hers. “Hey, Isabel!” The woman turned, blue eyes dancing in her flushed face. Kate waved her over. It had been Isabel’s first lesson, but damn, she had found her flow on the pads.

This place, it had been good to her.

Isabel walked up, squeezing in between Georgia and Emily. “What’s up?”

“We’re going out for some drinks, feel like coming?” Georgia’s keys jingled together as she got ready to leave.

A shadow passed over the face of the girl who might as well have been her sister. Isabel rubbed her fingers together. Kate stared at them, the movements exactly like her own, twirling over, under and around. Tips already turning reddish. What the…

Talk, she needed to have a chat with her, just to be sure. Kate bumped her shoulder against Isabel’s. “Come on, girl! It’ll be good fun.” Emily joined in from the other side, squishing the hesitant Isabel between them.

But what do I know? My very first get-together.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s alright, I’ll come with.”

Georgia swung the doors open, and the girls followed like a horde of chattering birds.

They charged through the long hallway, decorated with quotes in all different colors and sizes. A couple of minutes later, they stood, looking out over the sand-colored steps and parking lot. The wind howled around the building with a vengeance. Kate shrugged her hoodie over her head, jamming her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket.

“I’m just going to grab my jacket from the car.” Isabel charged ahead, with Emily and Heather lost in conversation behind them. Kate turned to Georgia. “You know, Georgia, I could get used to doing this.”

“It is amazing, isn’t it? The feeling you get when you’re able to help others.” The shelter's leader shook her head, closing her eyes. “It helps us become whole again.” A shoulder bumped against hers playfully. Georgia leaned in closer, whispering “You and Lucien, huh? You must be getting serious if he is letting you take over a lesson.”

“Is it yes? I didn’t know it meant so much for him.”

“For all his faults, and he has them, believe me.”

No shit, the charismatic killer for hire had them. Kate hid a small smile behind a hand, pretending to yawn.

“Lucien cares about every single girl that enters this place, and all the ones who haven’t yet found their way here, and who may never will.” A small, rueful smile played along her lips. “I can see he cares a lot about you as well, hun. More than he dares admit.”

A loud shriek pierced the air. The four women froze, eyes widening, that scream… in it was pure terror.

Kate whirled around, searching between the cars for the source. There, next to a dark grey KIA, three men, surrounded…

Oh, Gods no. Isabel.

Heather’s white face lost all its flush. She backed away with her hands in front of her, as if she could shield herself from the harm of seeing it.

“I-I can’t,” Georgia uttered under her breath, pale as a corpse. She stumbled before following Heather, pushing through the double doors, it screeched over the floor before it banged shut. Shutting out Isabel.

Georgia can’t stay.

Kate’s hands balled into fists. She, she couldn’t back away. Not from this.

Her feet led her straight to the men towering over Isabel, who had shrunk in on herself. Looking nothing like the girl who had looked so… alive mere minutes ago.

Kate’s jaw clenched, seeing the red hand print embedded on the girl’s cheek.

One of the men, greasy hair sticking out, nudged the tallest of the three, nodding his head in Kate’s direction. Raising her chin, she stopped just short of Isabel, who was sobbing into her hands, shoulders shaking.