Her skin is pale, her lips blue, her eyes void of all emotion.
What happened?
How did I get here?
Why is she dying?
She blinks, her chest rising and falling as she gasps for air…
She’s not dead…
“I’m dying,” she whispers, gasping for air again.
I shake my head. “No, you’re not.”
She stares up at me, her eyes glassy, and whispers one final word. “Daisies.”
“Yeah, daisy friends forever,” I whisper back as she takes her final breath.
Daisies. I’d forgotten she said that to me. At the time, I believed she was referring to our daisy friendship. But her wallet had a daisy on it, and Camilla mentioned Clover hiding her secrets in the daisies. Was she referring to Clover’s wallet that she always carried with her? Or a specific spot where daisies grow? Like, say on that piece of property with the house that Ellis and I are looking into? It might be a long shot, but what if it isn’t?
I need to tell Ellis this once he comes out of the apartment.
I glance at the doorway that Ellis disappeared through. Sirens are echoing from outside, and the music from the apartment suddenly quiets. Shouting follows. Then a few guys come barreling out of the doorway and run by us.
“Am I going to be okay?” the girl whispers to me, her glassy eyes staring up at me.
I nod, glancing from her to the doorway, then back to her.Where the hell is Ellis?
“Don’t you dare fucking move!” Ellis shouts over the clattering of glass.
A second later, an older man with a scruffy face and grey hair sprints out of the apartment. His face is familiar, but it takes a moment for it to click.
Jerry, the landlord of the trailer that Clover and her mom used to live in.
He skitters out of the apartment, nearly tripping over the loose carpet in the hallway. Then he runs for the stairway, which is right beside me. Ellis stumbles out not too long after and yells at Jerry, who quickens the pace. But as he nears me, his eyes land on me, then the girl.
He misses a beat but then runs faster.
Anger flares through me.
Anger for the girl’s hand I’m holding.
For Clover.
For every fucking girl that’s been hurt in this town.
And as Jerry passes by me, I stick out my leg and trip him. He falls onto the floor in a heap of limbs and grunts. His head slams against the wall, and he curses as he rolls over and attempts to push back up to his feet. Blood trickles from a wound on his hairline. When he gets his feet under him, he stumbles back down.
Ellis catches him then, shoving him back down on the floor. Then he pins him down and slaps a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.
“Get the fuck off of me,” Jerry growls out, flinging his head back.
Ellis dodges the move, then hauls him to his feet and begins reading him his rights. Then he retrieves his phone and calls for backup.
“Fuck you, man. I didn’t do anything! They wanted the drugs!” Jerry babbles on, high as hell.
Ellis struggles to keep him still and has to move him to the side when the paramedics arrive. I move out of the way and let them work on the girl. As I’m stepping away from her, I peer over my shoulder at the doorway that leads to the now quiet apartment. The sight of the woman with blond hair hurrying in there keeps replaying in my head.
