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stain on the carpet. Same stain I was now staring at a day later while Mike was under the carport, tinkering on his boat. We'd hardly talked since yesterday morning. What was there to say?
    The best I could hope for Erika was that she died quickly. My own death was playing out every minute, painful and slow.

Chapter 6
Deena

    It had happened two days ago on Tuesday.
    Bang, bang, bang.
    The hard knocks on my front door at midnight near made me jump out of my shoes. I'd just watched the first half hour of Letterman, and was nearly asleep.
    Bang, bang.
    I yanked the drawer of my end table open. Snatched up my loaded Chief's Special—one of my two weapons. I kept a second gun just like it in the nightstand beside my bed.
    "Deena!" Stevie's voice muffled from my tiny front porch. He sounded scared, like a little boy. "Open up!"
    My heart lurched. I threw my gun back in the drawer—didn't want Stevie to know I had weapons around. Then ran to undo my various locks.
    The minute the door cracked open Stevie heaved through it, pushin me backwards. I did an awkward two-step and caught myself before I fell. Stevie shoved the door closed and relocked it. He turned to face me, chest all aheave and cheeks pink. His green eyes looked wild, his hair was askew, and his hands waved in the air, nowhere to land. From waist up his blue work uniform looked wet. Worse, blood smeared the fabric. The whole front was red. And on the sleeves, especially the right one—more blood.
    I reared back, a hand at my mouth. "What happened to you?"
    Stevie paced, fingers in his hair. "I can't tell."
    "What do you mean you can't tell?"
    "I can't tell ."
    "Stevie!" I caught him by the wrist. "Are you hurt?"
    He looked down the front of himself, face twistin. "No."
    "Where'd this blood come from?"
    "I don't know."
    I forced calmness into my voice. "It's on your uniform. You have to know."
    "I can't tell you nothin. I didn't do nothin!"
    "Where did this happen? When did you first see the blood?"
    "I didn't see it. It was never there." His voice rose. I knew the tone of his lies, had heard it often when Stevie was in a desperate state. He strode away two steps, palms pressed to his temples.
    I turned him around. "But it is there. We're both lookin at it."
    "It's not there."
    I surveyed him. "You're wet. Did you try to wash it off?"
    "No. I didn't go in Turtle Creek."
    Turtle Creek. That would be some chilly water in the spring. The biggest part of the creek ran through the back of the cemetery—just a block from my house—and down the hill near the large stone steps.
    What had Stevie been doin in the cemetery? And whose blood was this?
    My brother's teeth started to chatter.
    "Stevie, come on in the den and sit down. You can tell me what happened." I pulled him by the arm, laughter rollin out from the TV. The sound grated my nerves.
    "Nothin happened. I didn't do it." Stevie allowed himself to be led.
    "Didn't do what?"
    No answer.
    I nudged him onto the couch and turned off the television. Took a seat in our mom's old rockin chair. "Listen now." I leaned forward. "It's Deena, your sister. You know you can tell me."
    "No I can't!" Stevie flipped his hands up and down.
    "Were you with someone who got hurt?"
    "No."
    "You didn't see anybody get hurt."
    "No!"
    "And it's not your blood?"
    "I'm not bleeding." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Just my brain."
    "Then whose blood is it?"
    "I was so mad ."
    Oh, no. "Who were you mad at?"
    "I don't want to talk about it."
    "You have to talk about it."
    "No, I don't!" Spittle shot from his mouth. "No, no, no!"
    "Okay, okay." I held up my hands, palms out.
    Stevie looked down at himself. "Get this off me!"
    "You want to take off your uniform? Go ahead. I'll give you a robe to put on." And I'd throw those clothes in the washing machine fast, before anyone else saw them. Whatever Steve had gotten himself into, it couldn't be good.
    Just like that, Stevie's expression switched to angry. His chin came down and his mouth