Free Till the Break of Dawn by Tracey H. Kitts

police. All I can remember is giving them the address and reporting, “My friend has been murdered.”
    *****
    An hour later police were still swarming the house. Bill was in shock. After he was questioned one of the officers pulled me aside. His name was Darrell. He moved to town a few years back and had become a regular visitor to Our Place on his days off. He ran a hand through his black hair and I noticed he had started to gray at the temples. Darrell was about fourteen years older than me, but other than the gray he didn’t look it. He was sexy and under normal circumstances I would have appreciated the smile he tried to offer me. Actually, I had never seen him in an official capacity before and hearing everyone refer to him as Lt. Kirkland was throwing me off a bit. I kept forgetting they were talking about Darrell.
    “Dawn, we’re about to take out the … I mean Mandy. Could you maybe distract Bill for us, please?”
    I nodded. “Sure, Darrell. I’ll take him into the kitchen.” Then I remembered that Bill’s kitchen, like mine, didn’t have a door just an open archway. Normally, I liked houses designed with open areas like this. But now I would have given anything for a door.
    “Darrell,” I said, pulling him back by the hand. “Could you please take her out the back?”
    He gave me a questioning look.
    “The kitchen doesn’t have a door.”
    Reality dawned on his handsome features and he gave me a sympathetic pat on the back.
    “Sure thing.”
    We had considered closing the bar for the night. But after thinking it over we realized that when people heard about Mandy they would need a drink. It wasn’t about turning a profit; it was about being there when your friends and neighbors needed you. Well, they’d need a place to sit around and vent at least. Jamie had decided to go into town and get the bar ready, leaving me to help Bill as best I could.
    When I found him in the living room, he was sitting in a corner chair, staring at the carpet. I knelt in front of him and waited for his eyes to focus on me.
    “Dawn,” he said softly. “I don’t know what to do.”
    I took his hand in mine, no longer caring about the grease. His eyes looked so much like Mandy’s that I had to look away as I pulled him to his feet.
    “Let’s get you cleaned up, then we’ll figure something out.”
    While Bill washed his arms up to the elbow I looked through the cabinets until I found a bottle of spiced rum. Remembering that Bill didn’t like it straight, I rummaged around in the refrigerator until I found some pineapple juice and poured him a drink. After pulling up a chair beside him, I poured myself one to match.
    “She was my responsibility,” he said, his voice still soft. “She was staying in my house.”
    I put my hand on his arm and Bill lowered his head. Heavy tears fell onto my hand and my throat felt tight. I wanted to say how he couldn’t have known something would happen. I wanted to tell him that everything would be all right somehow. Not because I believed it, but because that was what he needed to hear. Only I couldn’t speak. Instead I pulled my chair closer, wrapped my arms around him and cried.
    After several minutes I pulled away and wiped my eyes before downing half my drink.
    “Bill, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling, losing both of them like this.”
    He looked confused and I knew instantly I had made a mistake. “Both of them? What are you talking about?”
    “You mean she didn’t tell you?”
    I couldn’t believe that Jamie and I were the only ones to know about Mandy’s pregnancy! I thought that surely living in the same house with her brother she would have shared the news with him. She must have been waiting for David to come to town so they could tell her family together. Well, no sense holding back now.
    “She was pregnant.”
    Bill looked like I had hit him instead of spoken to him. “My sister was pregnant?” he gasped. “How far along was