Page 87 of Ruined

“I told you he was a bad man,” I said.

“Are you fucking serious? A bad man?” She pointed at him. “That murdering rapist is a bad man?”

I couldn’t help it. The adrenaline mixed with anger surged through me. “It’s not my fault that you didn’t take me seriously,” I said. “Everyone in the Dahlia District knew to stay away from him. I don’t talk to anyone, and Istillheard those rumors. You knew what he was like. You chose not to listen.”

It was so dumb to be arguing about this. Two servers fighting over a club member. As if there wasn’t a dead body lying between us. Like she hadn’t just saved my sister and me from being raped and murdered.

She looked away, then crossed her arms over her chest. Whatever. I had no idea what her problem was, but we could deal with it later. I finally clicked the button to call Dahlia.

“Who are you calling?” Mel asked.

“Dahlia,” I said.

“What? Why?”

“Doesn’t she have some sort of connection to a company that deals with this kind of thing?” I nodded at the body. “We can’t clean this up by ourselves.”

The phone rang. I turned away, looking out the windows into the night. The backyard was luscious with long palms stretching in each direction, a purple lit fountain to the side. A set of knives hanging along that concrete wall in the back, lit by hidden lights.

“Yes?” Dahlia asked.

“Aldrich is dead,” I said.

“Dead? How?” She shifted the phone. “Was it that serial killer?”

Huh? What was she talking about? “What serial killer?”

“The one who has been killing johns. He took out a few of them by the bridge in Sage City.”

I glanced at Mel. She was still staring at his body. She bent down and shoved him, letting his body rock into stillness once again.

“Don’t move him,” I said to her. She shot me a pissed off look.

“Who are you with?” Dahlia asked.

“Mel.”

Dahlia let out a long, deep sigh. “It wasn’t the serial killer, was it?”

“No.”

“Send me your location. I’ll be there soon.”

While we waited, Mel and I were silent. Mel wandered back and forth in the living room, but I tried to stay still, to avoid creating a bigger mess. About an hour later, a white van arrived.The Cultivation Service, we make your garden shine!was written on the van in a flowing cursive, a phone number printed below it, and green leaves bordering the design.

Dahlia rolled her eyes when she saw us. She pointed to the van behind her. “They brought you some clothes. We need to erase any surveillance footage from tonight. And Mel,” she turned to her. “You killed him, yes?”

“Yes.”

“You know what that means.”

And I knew what that meant too. Mel’s debt would be increased to however much it cost to clean up after us, and to lose a client like Aldrich.

“But you can’t—”

“Stay out of this,” Dahlia interrupted me, breathing fire as she spoke. “Another word about Mel’s punishment and I will make sure to double it.”

I closed my mouth, my heart sinking. Mel crossed her arms and looked away from us. I wanted to explain what had happened to Dahlia, how Mel had saved me, but I couldn’t do that now. The reasons didn’t matter to Dahlia. As far as she was concerned, a man was dead, and her server killed him.