Free Sole Witness by Jenn Black

face– Kimber’s face– no. I can’t.
Send someone. Please.”
    Somehow she made it through the rest of the
conversation.
    She picked herself up off the floor and forced her
shaking limbs to stumble out of the bedroom and down the hall without looking
back. As if the flickering image of Kimber’s shattered skull wasn’t indelibly
stamped on her brain.
    Oh no. No no no.
    Lori stepped outside, leaving the front door wide
open and no longer caring. What did it matter? What did anything matter without
Kimber?
    Kimber had come to Lori for unconditional love. And
what had Lori done? Argued with her and stormed out of the house. That’s right.
What a good friend. Kimber needed her to protect her broken heart, and Lori had
left her alone to die.
    To die!
    Lori collapsed in the middle of her walkway, half on
a stepping-stone and half in the wet grass.
    Kimberley. Without her, Lori would never have made
it through geometry. Through life.
    No.
    Lori stared straight in front of her, eyes open but
unseeing. Nobody knew Kimber was here—not even Marco. Someone had killed Kimber
because they wanted to kill Lori. Someone was after her . Tommy might
have been shot for the same reason! Lori’s head reeled.
    Everybody around her died.
    Her dad. Her sister. Her best friend. Even Tommy.
She barely had anyone left. All she had to do was reach out, and bang. Loved
ones dropped like flies.
    She was a black widow. She was cursed. And there was
nothing she could do.
    Lori heard the sirens before the first of the
flashing lights careened around the corner. Police cars. An ambulance. A fire
truck. A fire truck? Lori twisted around to glance at her house. Not on fire.
That’s the one calamity she hadn’t yet caused.
    She did her best to answer questions, but the
faceless officers and nameless technicians seemed to be speaking from the other
side of a deep void. One by one, they left her alone and went inside.
    Another car screeched around the corner and pulled
in front of her house.
    The passenger door flung wide and a hugely pregnant
woman struggled out of the seat. Lori hoped she didn’t give birth on her lawn,
just in case her death-curse now encompassed people she barely knew.
    The driver door opened and a tall form loped around
the rear. Even with the sirens blaring and the red-and-blue lights blinding
her, Lori recognized the masculine, take-charge silhouette.
    He was probably here to arrest her.
    *          *          *
    “Jesus,” Carver said with a disgusted sigh. “They
left her in the grass.”
    Throat suddenly clogged, Davis couldn’t speak.
    Lori sat unmoving, her long skirt riding up and a
lost expression on her face. Pale knees jutted forward, leaving her legs tucked
underneath. Head down, shoulders bent, her arms lay limp in her lap.
    He was by her side in less than a second, kneeling.
    “Lori.”
    Her eyes were the only movement. Huge and glassy,
they peered at him as if he had all the answers. He had nothing.
    “Lori, listen,” he tried again and faltered. He laid
a tentative hand on her shoulder. She didn’t react. “What happened?” he asked.
    “I don’t know,” she whispered.
    Carver tried to kneel down and almost toppled over.
Giving up, she straightened and said, “Try. Start from the beginning.”
    Lori jerked her head up as if startled to hear
Carver’s voice. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
    “Do you want to stand?” Davis asked. If only he
could touch her.
    She nodded.
    He looped his arms under hers and drew her closer.
She shivered, her skin damp. Cold. Davis hugged her to his chest as he pulled
her to her feet, then stepped away.
    She still stared at Carver.
    Carver glanced at Davis. He shrugged. No doubt Lori
was still in shock.
    “Did you just get home?” he asked Lori as she
clutched her arms around her middle.
    Still looking like a small, lost child, her head
dipped in a slow nod.
    “Where were you before?”
    “At the mall,” she answered. Her once-spiky