The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) - J. R. Ward Page 0,85

needs must and all that bullshit.”

“He’ll never get out of there,” V sneered, his icy eyes flaring with pure violence. “Not alive, at any rate.”

“Good thing you have more than one table.” Butch clapped his bestie on the shoulder. “You sick fuck.”

“Don’t knock it till you tried it.”

“Nah, I’m a good Catholic boy. I go that route and my body would incinerate on the spot—and not from hot wax.”

“Pansy.”

“Pervert.”

The pair of them chuckled at their inside joke and then got serious again—because with a squeak of the brakes, the ambulance stopped.

“Let’s do this,” Rhage announced as the double doors were opened from the outside and the scent of pine trees flooded the sterile interior. “Let’s move him into the Tomb.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

As soon as Mary walked into Safe Place, Rhym came up to her. “Hey, Bitty has been asking for you.”

“Really?” Mary shrugged out of her coat. “She has?”

The other social worker nodded. “Right when she woke up. She didn’t want to come down for First Meal, so I took her a tray and told her that I’d send you to the attic when you got here.”

“Okay. I’ll head up right now, thanks.”

“I’m going to take off, if it’s okay?” The female covered her mouth as she yawned. “She actually slept—or shall I say, after a bath, she got into a nightgown and headed to bed. I checked on her every hour or so and she seemed to be out like a light.”

“Good. And yes, of course—I’ll take over from here. Thank you so much for staying with her all day. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

“I wouldn’t have been anywhere else. Call me if you need me?”

“Always. Thanks, Rhym.”

While the female headed for the back of the house, Mary took the stairs in a rush, stopping only to drop her things off in her office before going up to the third floor. When she got to the top landing, she was surprised to find the door to Bitty’s room open.

“Hello?” the girl called out from inside.

Mary squared her shoulders and walked forward. “It’s me.”

“Hi.”

Bitty’s suitcases were still packed and by her bed, but she was over at the old desk, brushing her doll’s hair.

“Rhym said you wanted to see me?”

To herself, Mary added, Any chance you want to talk about something? The mother you lost? The infant brother who died? Your maniac father? ’Cuz that would be great.

“Yes, please.” The little girl turned. “I was wondering if you could please take me to my old house.”

Mary recoiled before she could catch the reaction. “You mean where you and your mahmen used to live? With your father?”

“Yes.”

Easing the door shut, Mary went over and almost sat on Bitty’s mom’s bed. She stopped before she did, though. “What are you—why would you like to go there? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“I want to get some more of my things. My uncle doesn’t live in Caldwell. If I don’t get them now, I may not be able to pick them up when he comes to get me.”

Mary glanced around. Then walked around, stopping at the window that overlooked the front yard. Dark, so dark out there—seemingly more so than on a July night when it was humid and warm as opposed to cold and blustery.

Pivoting to face the girl, she said, “Bitty, I’ve got to be honest with you. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Well, for one thing”—Mary chose her words carefully—“the house has been abandoned the entire time you’ve been here. I’m not certain what condition it’s in—it might have been looted. Or suffered roof damage. In which case I’m not sure what we’d find there?”

“We won’t know if we don’t go.”

Mary hesitated. “It could bring up a lot of memories. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“Location doesn’t matter. There is no escape from what I remember. It is with me every waking minute and in my dreams all day long.”

As the girl spoke in such a factual way, she didn’t miss a stroke of that brush. They might as well have been talking about the schedule of laundry or what was being served down in the kitchen.

“You must miss your mahmen a great deal,” Mary prompted.

“So may we please go?”

Mary rubbed her face and felt exhausted. “You can talk about her with me, you know. Sometimes that helps.”

Bitty didn’t even blink. “May we?”

Annnnnnnd that door remained firmly closed, apparently. Great. “Let me talk to Marissa, okay? I’ll go find her right now and see what I