MY LEGS almost give out from under me. I reach for the banister of my stairwell, but it’s not enough. I sink onto the first step. My head is spinning, and for a moment, I have to put it between my legs.
We found Dawn’s body early this morning.
No. It couldn’t be.
“She…” I gulp. “She’s dead?” “Yes.”
I didn’t realize until this moment that I had believed Dawn was still alive. Even though I saw that blood on the floor in her house, I still truly thought she had to be okay.
But she’s not okay. She’ll never be okay again. Now she will spend the rest of eternity buried in the ground. There will be a funeral, where we will talk about how much we miss Dawn. About what a great person she was, about how she was taken from us far, far too early.
“What happened to her?” I manage.
He hesitates for a moment, as if he’s not sure he wants to tell me. “She was beaten to death with a blunt object. She died of head trauma.”
I let out an anguished cry. That sounds like an absolutely horrible way to die. Beaten to death. Poor Dawn. Even though she was strange, there was an innocence about her that made her seem almost like a child sometimes. Who would do something like that to her?
I lift my eyes again to look up at the detective. He thinks I am the one who did this to her. He thinks I somehow beat her to death with a blunt object. As if I could do such a thing.
I mean, physically I suppose I could. Dawn was such a small person. She could not have weighed more than 100 pounds dripping wet. And I am admittedly in pretty good physical condition. He just caught me going for a run. So I suppose it isn’t out of the question that I theoretically could have done it to her.
But why? Why would he think I did it?
“This is terrible.” My voice trembles as a tear rolls down my cheek. “I… I can’t believe it.”
“It’s a terrible thing,” he agrees. “So you see why we want the person responsible for doing this to her to be brought to justice.”
I swipe at my eyes with the back of my hand. “Yes. Yes, of course.” “So would you mind if I took a look around your house?”
I stare at him. “Around my house? Why would you—”
“Like I said. We just want the person responsible for doing this to her to be brought to justice.”
“I…” My mouth feels almost too dry to get out any words. I have to clear my throat. “I have an alibi for that night. I told you that already.”
“Right.” He nods. “Right, the boyfriend. I forgot.” “Right,” I say tightly.
“Unless…”
“Unless what? I have an alibi.”
He shrugs. “Well, unless both of you killed her together.”
I don’t even have the words to respond to that one. But something is tugging at the back of my head. I should get a lawyer. I need to get a lawyer before this gets out of control. I need a lawyer before something happens that I can’t undo.
But doesn’t that look guilty? Why should I shell out a bunch of money for a lawyer? I didn’t do anything, for God’s sake!
“I have to go to work now, Detective.” I’m struggling to keep my composure. “So if you don’t have any other questions, I really need to go.”
He shoves his hands into his jacket pockets. “Okay, we’ll talk more later then.”
No. No way. “I hope you find whoever did this to Dawn,” I say. “Believe me, Miss Farrell,” he says. “We will.”
