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“Hands up!”

“I can explain,” she said, wondering how on earth she’d be able to explainthis.

“You’re trespassing. This is government property. I’m calling the police. Do not move!”

“I just need a minute. I know her,” Iris told him and pointed at Daphne’s body. “I mean, Iknewher. I was just saying goodbye.”

“You’re going to stand right there, with your hands up, and I’m going to call the police to take you away.”

“Please, I’m begging you… Just give me one minute to… say goodbye.”

“How did you get in here?”

“With a key,” she answered honestly. “I can show you.”

She reached for the key in her pocket.

“No! Hands up! Follow me down the hall to a phone. Now!” He yelled.

“I can’t,” she said mostly to herself.

She looked down at Daphne before her eyes went to the device that sat there.

“I can’t, or I’ll never see her again. We only have one visit left. Maybe none. I don’t know.”

“What are you talking about?” the security guard asked. “Follow me! Now.” He reached for the walkie-talkie on his hip, likely about to call for another security guard.

She used that as her chance and grabbed the device, pressing the single button that she’d built with Daphne’s instruction. Right before she could press it to Daphne’s body, though, she heard a loud sound. Her hand let go of the device, which clamored against the metal of the open drawer but didn’t discharge. Then, she felt herself moving backward.

“Ah, hell,” the man said. “I told you not to move.”

“What?” she asked before she looked down and saw red on her brown coat, a coat that Daphne had bought her the previous winter. “Oh,” she said.

“I’ve got to call an ambulance. Stay here,” he ordered.

Iris couldn’t exactly go anywhere. She fell to her knees first and then to the floor, where she lay down on the cold concrete, feeling a sense of calm come over her. There wasn’t any pain from the bullet. That probably wasn’t good, she reasoned. Then, she heard it.

“No!”

It was Daphne’s voice. No, it was Daphne’s scream. Iris looked up and saw Daphne standing in front of her now.

“No, we only… have one more… I can barely… see you.”

“I’m here, Iris. I’m here. You need to pick it up.”

“Pick up?”

“Sweetheart, I need you to pick it up.” Daphne’s hand was going through the device over and over as if she was trying to grab it herself, but she couldn’t. “Iris, please. Get up, love. Get the device.”

“But I’m… alive. It won’t work on me.”

“It should fix you.” Daphne continued to try to grasp the device. “Iris!”

“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t move anymore.”

“No, this isn’t how it ends.”

“He’ll come back. I’ll tell him… to use it on you.”