CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ACKIE SAID: “No… don’t say anythin’. Let me think.”

I walked away from the bed. My brain was stiff.

Ackie put his hand on Blondie’s arm, then he took her wrist and raised it. I just stood there and watched him. “She ain’t been dead long,” he said. He covered her with the sheet and came away from the bed.

He said: “We’ll look in the other rooms.”

I stayed right there and let him do it. He came back after a while and shook his head. “There’s no one anywhere.”

I sat down.

“You see, they didn’t kill her… they’ve only taken her away,” Ackie said.

He went out of the room again.

I repeated after him: “They’ve only taken her away.” I guess I felt as bad as when I thought she was dead.