Free Till the Break of Dawn by Tracey H. Kitts Page A

she?”
    I couldn’t bear the pain in his voice. It took all I could do to answer, “Three months. I think she wanted to tell you once David was here. She told me and Jamie when she asked for our help with the wedding.”
    He nodded. “That makes sense. All of the signs were there. She was sick sometimes for no reason, slept late when she never did before.” He finished his drink in one gulp and pushed the glass toward me. I took that as my cue for a refill. “Shit. What am I going to say to David? Till now all I could think was what would I tell Dad … But what do you say to a man who just lost his whole family?”
    I would never know the answer to that question because I stepped outside to give Bill some privacy to call both David and his father. The coroner had already gone by the time I sat down on the front porch steps. Cops were filing out in twos and threes. Darrell walked over and sat on the step below me.
    “How is he holding up?” he asked, gesturing toward the house.
    “Good, I think, considering the circumstances. He’s calling their dad and her fiancé. I came out here to give him some privacy.” I paused. When Darrell put his hand over mine I started crying again. “Actually, I’m just a coward. He didn’t ask for privacy but I offered it because I couldn’t stand to hear him tell Jonah that his daughter is dead.”
    A few minutes later Bill stepped outside and Darrell and I both jumped at his sudden appearance. He looked pale and older than he had only a few minutes before.
    “My aunt is going to drive Dad back tonight. David will be here in the morning. I’ll let you all know about the funeral arrangements as soon as we have time to go over everything.”
    I rose to meet him and Bill hugged me tight.
    “Thank you so much for staying, Dawn, but you should go.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I plan to get stinking drunk and pass out in the floor. By the time Dad gets here I should have thrown up enough to be able to talk.”
    Darrell sighed. “Jesus, Bill. Are you sure you don’t want us to stay?”
    Bill gave him a half-hearted smile. “You gonna arrest me if I get drunk and pass out in the yard instead?”
    Darrell shook his head. “No. But you call if you need me.”
    Bill went back inside, mumbling something about needing to find the rum bottle. I turned to Darrell. “I don’t want to leave him like this.”
    He shrugged. “Me neither. But what choice do we have? He is a grown man, and he’s not under any suspicion. He’s free to do what he wants.”
    “Yeah, but staying in the house where his sister was just murdered? Isn’t that a little grim?”
    “I imagine it’ll be a fucking nightmare,” Bill said, emerging with the pineapple juice in one hand and the rum in the other. Apparently he was going to skip the glass this time. He turned up the rum and then chased it with a swig of juice before adding, “That’s why I plan to stay outside.”
    “Call Maggie,” I said, making it more of a request than a demand. “I don’t think you should be alone.”
    Bill sat down at my feet on the top step and took another drink.
    “Eventually,” he said. “But first I’m gonna sit here and get good and drunk and not think about anything for just a little while.”
    When I still hesitated Bill patted my leg and said, “I promise I won’t do anything stupid. I need some time.”
    His words trailed off. I didn’t have any siblings, so I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he was going through. I only knew that he was hurting and there was nothing more that I could do. I felt helpless.
    “Come on,” Darrell said, taking me by the hand. “I’ll give you a ride.”
    Jamie and I had taken my car to drop off the catering menu to Mandy and she had driven it into town to open up Our Place. I hadn’t even thought about not having a way back into town until he mentioned it.
    Darrell opened the door for me and I realized I’d never ridden in a cop car before. For some strange reason that