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“Poole blood.”

Sonya watched it drip from her cupped hands.

“It’s all Poole blood.”

On her wild laugh, the door slammed shut.

Silence fell.

“You’ll die again tonight,” Sonya spoke with a calm that surprised her. “And the next night, and the next. That’s your hell for the time being. I can live with that. For now.”

As she walked away, her phone played “It’s Gonna Be Alright.”

“That’s right, Clover. That’s goddamn right.”

When she reached the kitchen, Cleo held a potato on a wooden spoon with one hand, and carefully made slices in it with the other.

“What are you doing to that potato?”

“Making it an accordion. Then you do this butter and herb thing. Meat and potatoes. Men coming.”

She looked up, and quickly set the knife aside. “What happened?”

“You didn’t hear anything?”

“No, it’s been quiet. I thought after your flower delivery you might’ve gone back to work awhile.”

“I saw Dobbs. In the Gold Room.”

“Jesus jump-roping Christ, you went in there?”

“No, no. She blew open the door, and I saw her inside. You didn’t hear all that banging and booming?”

“No, nothing.”

“So just for me this time,” Sonya murmured. “As Trey would say, interesting.”

“You saw her? What were you even doing near that damn door, Sonya?”

“She started up with the banging, and, I don’t know. It pissed me off, and I guess I needed to stake my claim. My house, you know. Then while I’m standing there, she blew the door open, and I saw her in there.”

She sat because now that it was over, maybe her legs were a little shaky. And told Cleo the rest.

“I like your slapback, but, baby, stay away from that room.”

“You’re up there every day.”

“I don’t go near that room. Take Clover’s advice. Stay away.”

“Her dress was torn. Down by the hem of her skirt. I wouldn’t have gone in even though in that moment I was more mad than scared.”

She shook it off.

“Done now, so maybe that’ll be it for a while. Now I want to watch you make potatoes into accordions.”

Sonya flipped open the sketchbook, and laughed at the image Cleo had drawn while she’d carried flowers through the house.

“Itislike a part monkey, part raccoon.”