the “please don’t leave me too” vibe from my body. If pushed too far, Mari would leave, and I’d suffer hell for it. Wondering where she had gone and if someone else had hurt her, maybe even taken her life.
“I will,” she said.
“Use the cellphone—” Harrison nodded toward the sofa “—to call me if you need anything. My number’s programmed in.”
We waited outside of the apartment after we’d walked out of it, listening while Mari locked the door. Then I took a deep breath, not ready to do what had to be done, but determined to claim a girl who never had anyone claim her before.
Even though the girl I looked at was Sierra Andruzzi, my roommate, she looked different to me somehow.
Every person I’d ever seen in death had always looked peaceful. In death, Sierra looked extremely pissed off. Like she was mad that it took Armino so long to end her life, or that he had actually done it and she wasn’t strong enough to fight him off.
Detective Marinetti had told Harrison that her hands were frozen, like claws. Armino had stabbed her to death. Even though Armino was only a suspect, my gut told me he had killed her.
There were times I had worried that one day I’d find Sierra dead, but from something self-inflicted. Though she was hard to rattle, I saw the struggle in her eyes, how tired she was, and she’d sleep for days. Other days, she was so wired that she couldn’t sleep. I had tried talking to her about getting help, but she’d always laugh at me and tell me I was the funniest girl in all of New York, and even though she liked me, she’d like me even better if I’d mind my own fucking business.
That was when I knew I could help her, cook her meals when she was too tired to get out of bed, but not directly. After all, Mari was similar. She couldn’t accept kindness either.
Mari.
The thought of her made my palms sweaty. She had checked on me, texting with the new phone Harrison had given her as a “birthday” gift. He’d told me on the ride over that she paid him two bucks for the phone. She wouldn’t accept it without paying for it. Either way, I was just glad I had a way to keep in touch with her.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done it, but after seeing Sierra, I told Mari the conclusion I had come to about Harrison. He was in love with her. I told her not to answer if she didn’t want to, but the situation made me uneasy.
I considered Mari my sister. Harrison was my brother.
In his eyes, though, she was a woman. A woman he was in love with. It explained why he was so fucking grumpy all of the time. He must’ve been harboring his feelings silently since whenever.
That aside, she had texted me that she was going out. She promised me that she’d keep in touch, but it made me worry. What that prick of a landlord had done to her could’ve easily ended in the same way it had for Sierra.
The entire night felt like a nightmare.
I looked up when the door to the investigation room opened. Scott walked in and sat across from me. He slipped a cup of coffee my way. I took it but couldn’t bear the thought of drinking it. I wanted to erase Sierra’s face from my mind, but guilt ate me up inside. I was all she had. How could I want to lessen the impact of her death, when I was the only one who seemed to care about her life?
“This isn’t your fault,” Scott said.
I slid the coffee between my palms. “I know.”
“Girl like her.” He shrugged. “Bound to happen.”
Girl like her. Bound to happen.
Scott’s attitude was one of the things I disliked about him the most. It was no secret that he saw things that haunted him. There were times I saw them in his eyes, the ghosts, and I’d know that he was still human because he could be haunted. But there were other times when I wanted to throttle him for being so careless with his words.
It was no secret that Sierra was looking for an easy way out with a rich man. It didn’t matter who he was or what he did. She craved security like she craved food after being starved her entire life. Scott, though, acted like she went out every night