“Itch my ass. You’re signaling your husband.”
Xavier laughed. “Willie act like we’re playing spades for money. Motherfucker, just tell me what you’re going for. I’m tired of them beating us.”
“Come on, kids.” Dad stumbled around, rounding all of us up. “Y’all need to get up and move around. It’s been raining all day and y’all been stuck in the house with all these adults. At least, go down to the basement and play.”
Emily’s dad Willie nodded. “Yeah. Get their butts running. Darryl and Emily will be up all night, if they don’t run.”
Everyone laughed, except Emily.
She’d been playing dolls with Xavier’s little daughters. They’d just turned six years old. Once they heard the word “basement,” they rushed down to hide.
Frowning, Emily dragged herself from the couch, kicked a doll, and fisted her hands to her sides. “I don’t want to play with. . .Mr. Grady today.”
Willie got so mad, spit flew from his lips. “Ain’t nobody asked you if you wanted to play with him. Get your ass over there and play, Em. Always hanging around adults and listening in on conversations. You’re too damn sneaky and nosy.”
“But, Kennedy is asleep.” Emily pouted. “I’m tired too. Can’t I just go back in her room and—”
“No, you’re not. You’ll just go back there and wake her up.” Willie waved her away. “Go on now. Go on. All y’all get out of here. Let the adults play.”
Darryl and I had been playing video games. Grimacing, we saved our spot and then turned it off.
Chuckling, my dad grabbed Emily’s hand. “Come on, y’all. It’s raining outside. We’ll go play hide and seek in the basement.”
“No.” She twisted her had away from my dad. “I don’t like the way you play.”
Shock covered my dad’s face. “Oh, come on, Emily. Why do you say that?”
“Emily Chambers!” Willie rose from the table. “Get your ass down there. Why do you always have to make a big deal about things. You see your brother and Max do what they’re told.”
Darryl and I had already headed to the door leading to the basement. Our parents had known each other all their lives, growing up together and then eventually moving into the same building of brownstones as adults.
Dad tried to help Emily out. “Hey, girl, how about we grab you all some ice cream first? You and I can get it from the bodega and take it down to the basement later.”
Darryl stopped in the door way. “I want chocolate.”
“Vanilla!” I yelled.
Emily just glared at us and then stared at the floor. “I don’t want any ice cream.”
“Man, get this girl before I hurt her.” Willie sat back down at the table as the other adults laughed. “I told you my wife spoiled the shit out of her.”
“She’ll be fine, Willie.” My dad patted Emily’s back and she flinched. “The poor girl is just missing her mother. That’s all.”
“I have to get my jacket.” Emily kept her hands fisted and hurried down the hall, but I saw her stop and slip into the kitchen. Her family’s kitchen had two entrances. She sneaked in and I leaned my head to the side to see what she was doing. Pulling out the silverware draw, she grabbed a steak knife.
At the time, I didn’t get what she was doing. She ran out of the kitchen, hurried to her room, and came back out with her jacket folded in front of her.
She never saw me see her with that knife, and I never told anyone that she’d grabbed it.
“Be nice to Emily.” My dad nodded his head at her as she got to his side.
Darryl and I walked down to waste time until Dad and Emily came back with the ice cream.
The basement door shut behind us, ending the last moments we’d had of a normal life.
Dad never brought the ice cream back. It was the last time I’d seen him alive.
Stop it.
Crying, I backed up from the door and wiped away my tears.
I hadn’t thought about that day in a long time. And today wouldn’t be the day where I thought about it anymore.
I had to find Emily. I couldn’t live without her. It wasn’t a sex or romantic thing, and we were more than siblings could ever be. I just knew that where Emily went, I would go. And what she wanted, I would make sure she had.
She was my soul.
I must go to where the bomb happened and see what I can find out.
Chapter 13
Emily
Luka stepped inside my office, taking up most of the doorway.
“There’s a dead woman in the back of the gallery,” Luka said. “Still warm. We might’ve just missed who killed her as we were climbing up the ladder. It’s a straight shot at the center of her forehead. No gun or nothing else was left behind.”
“Dead woman?” I shrieked. “In my gallery?”
A surge of nausea crept up my throat. I tried to rush away to see what Luka was talking about.
Kazimir grabbed my arm. “No, you shouldn’t look.”
“Don’t worry.” I moved from his grip. “I’ve seen dead bodies before.”
I hurried out of my office, made it to the back, and froze.
I knew who the dead woman was.
Fuck you, God.
Kennedy, my best friend, lay on the ground looking like a beautiful frozen doll. Blue dress and heels. Perfect makeup. Hair done up in a bun. The only indication of what had happened was the bloody hole in the center of her forehead.
All my paintings from last night lay against the wall.
“Kennedy,” I whispered. My knees buckled a little. I forced myself to stand straight, but on the inside, I wanted to curl up around her and cry. I wanted to tear my hair out over and over and over again until my head ripped into silence.
Kazimir walked up to her and kneeled, studying the hole. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“Last night. This morning, she was supposed to be giving the paintings to the person who commissioned the lions.” My voice cracked at the end. I fisted my hands, holding the tears in, keeping the grief down in my stomach. “It was a secret buyer. She’d only talked to him on the phone.”
Luka shook his head and then took his time looking at every painting. “Are all of the paintings here?”
My eyes watered.
I did a quick count. “No. They’re not all here. I did twelve paintings. Kazimir took one last night. There’s only ten now. Maybe the killer took the other.”
Kazimir rose to his feet and walked over to me. “Which one is missing?”
I scanned each painting and then my own mind. “It was the family of lions.”
“What else?” he asked.
“Why does it matter?” I hugged myself and sighed. “Sorry. It was the family of lions tearing an antelope apart. Instead of red paint, I used gems.”
Luka put his gun away and rubbed his face with both hands. That didn’t ease my mind. Both Kazimir and him appeared like they knew exactly what was going on. Frustration pushed away my sadness, and the reality of Kennedy being gone was a tremendous crash into my world. Part of me wanted to grab my phone and call her up, letting her know about what happened.