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“I’ll call the police,” I lie. “They can’t make you go with them now, Ally.”
After spending about half an hour in the pharmacy drive-thru, I finally get Ally back to my dad’s townhouse. I help her up the stairs, then into bed and under the covers.
“Can I get you anything else?” I ask. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” she says.
That’s a first.
“It’s starting to hurt again, though.”
“They said you can’t have the pills until five, Ally. I’ll set an alarm, okay? Do you want me to turn on the TV?”
She nods.
I open the Netflix app and flip through the suggested viewing, stopping onChilling Adventures of Sabrina.
“Have you seen this? I think you’d like it.”
“I haven’t seen it,” she says. “That’s fine.”
“I love you, Ally. I’ll be right back, okay? I just have a couple of things to do downstairs. I’m not leaving.”
I close the door behind me and make my way back down the staircase. I lock all of the windows and doors and then go to my dad’s closet, open the safe, and remove and load one of the three guns inside.
I’ve never used one before. Neither had my dad—not ever in his life. He hatedthe damn things.
Then, he found his daughter’s body in the pool in the backyard, and everything changed. Now, he goes to the shooting range every weekend.
I shove the gun into my waistband, close the safe, and head back out to the kitchen just as the front door opens but is stopped by the chain lock.
“Devon?” my dad calls. “Are you here? Why’d you chain lock the door?”
“Yeah, hold on a sec,” I tell him.
I make sure the gun is hidden under my shirt and then go to the door, push it closed, remove the lock, and let him inside.
After he passes through, I quickly bolt the door again and put the lock back in place.
“I have to tell you something. You aren’t going to like it.”
“What? What’s wrong? Did something happen at school? Is it…is it about your sister?”
“No, Dad. Um…Ally is here. She’s upstairs.”
“Oh, hell no,” he says. “No fucking way. Get her out of here—now.”
“Dad, listen. It isn’t what you think. She’s hurt.”
“I care just about as much as she cared about you.”
“Lower your voice…please. Let me explain. And then, if she has to go, I’m going with her,” I say.
“There had better be a good goddamn reason why that girl is in this house.”
“Sit down,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “I’d rather not.”
