37. Ellie
Chapter 37
Ellie
“Dawn, honey. You need to get dressed,” I tell her, my heart hurting as I see Dawn. She’s still holding Glenna. She won’t let her go.
“She’s dead, Ellie.”
“I know, Dawn. But, listen. The cops are on their way. You don’t want to be naked when they come.”
“The cops?” she asks, her eyes going wide. I see the fear there and I rush to reassure her.
“They have to come, Sis. Glenna is dead. We need to report it and make sure they know who did this.”
“No. Don’t call the police, Ellie. We can’t let them find her. We have to hide her.”
“It’s too late, Dawn. We have to let this play through. Glenna is gone. We have to report the man that did this. We have to make sure that he can’t hurt any other women.”
“I…Reggie. Reggie did this. They’ll understand that,” she says and I blink. It’s then I see the white reside on her nose. Dang it. I look around the bed and don’t see anything, but on the floor almost under the bed is an empty vile and an old straw.
“Dawn, are you high?” I ask.
“He made us. He said he would kill us and then…. Glenna’s dead,” she moans. “She’s dead, Ellie.”
“I know, Dawn. I’m so sorry.”
“She’s dead. He killed her, Ellie. He killed her.”
“Put this on, Dawn,” I tell her softly, realizing that she’s too messed up to make sense at this point. She finally pulls away from Glenna and I wrap the robe around her. “Sit down in that chair. I’m going to get a cloth to wash your face.” She nods, her gaze never turning away from Glenna, but walking like a zombie to the chair.
I quickly go to the bathroom to wet a washcloth. When I walk back into the room, I stop abruptly. Dawn is standing at the bed, she’s pulled the sleeve of her robe down—almost like a glove—and she’s holding a knife. She’s using the tail end of the robe to wipe it clean. She puts it down beside Glenna, and just keeps staring at it.
“Dawn. What are you doing?”
“I…” her face jerks up to look at me, panic written all over her. I’m starting to get an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I hate myself for what I’m imagining right now, but I can’t help it.
Why would Dawn wipe the knife clean?
“I can’t stand to see her blood,” Dawn says and I nod, but my gaze moves down to the now bright red stain on the robe.