Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 248926 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1245(@200wpm)___ 996(@250wpm)___ 830(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 248926 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1245(@200wpm)___ 996(@250wpm)___ 830(@300wpm)
Maxwell just held her head above the water. The blood red matted hair had transformed into long, black silky strands. He gazed at my sleeping mouse. “I didn't even know Em had a knife. When I woke up, he was screaming. She'd stabbed him in the dick first. I sat up and lost my voice. I couldn't scream. She slashed his throat next. He fell to the ground. I jumped up and called her name. She never turned around. Instead, she yanked his dirty shirt up and drew that damn cross in his chest.”
“She did it out of order.”
“Is that all you got from what I said?” Maxwell shook his shoulders as if trying to get something disgusting off him.
“What happened next?”
“She turned around. Moonlight hit her. Blood streamed down her face. She smiled at me. It was wild like. . .a demon had possessed her. I screamed in horror and ran away. I just. . .it freaked me out. . .I don't know. . .it was off. . .the shit was crazy. . .”
“That must have been Lunita too.”
Maxwell frowned. “Get her head, man.”
I did as he said. Her head lay in my hands. I looked down at this lovely creature who had gone through so much pain.
“You see this.” Maxwell picked up the bottle that he had earlier. “Don't put shampoo in her hair first. If I'm not around, then find a good conditioner. Use that first. It cleans, detangles, and moisturizes. Then, you can do the shampoo. You got me?”
I nodded.
He grabbed another bottle and poured clear yellow liquid onto the strands.
“Where did you go?”
He looked at me. “What?”
“Where did you go when you left the alley, screaming?”
“I ran to X. After several months of us missing, X was happy to see me. As an adult I can see how that must have fucked with his mind. He lost his daughters and then we go missing.”
I watched Maxwell massage more suds into her hair.
Maxwell continued, “I told X everything. His face held no judgement. He just asked me to take him to the alley. When we got there, Em was asleep on the ground and covered in blood. We took her back his place. Daryl slept through it all. X left. I guess he got rid of the body. Nothing ever came up.”
“And no one told her the next morning?”
“We didn’t even talk about it.”
“Not even X and you?”
“No, man. Brothers don’t talk about shit like that. We’re not. . .vulnerable or. . .”
I nodded. “Very similar to the Brotherhood.”
“Honestly, X never really wanted to talk to deeply about it. I think the shit scared him more than me.”
“Intriguing.”
“This is not fucking intriguing.”
“Lunita was growing up as Emily was. She was figuring out her style.”
“Her style.” Maxwell rolled his eyes, picked up the cup, and filled it with water.
“How many times did you catch her in the act?”
“Few more. She got smart. Em would go missing for a few days.” Maxwell frowned. “Then, she would return. I would wake up with her bloody ass in my bed.”
“She never knew what she did?”
“We stopped asking. I would go to X and wake him up. Next, we wipe her down.”
“When did Daryl get involved?”
“Once we hit those teen years, we were on some fuck school shit. It was all about getting money.” Maxwell's frown deepened. “Daryl always had a dumb hustle that got him in trouble. Em always got him out of it. Honestly. . .I think Daryl would do that shit on purpose.”
“Why do you think so?”
“A large part of him hated her. In his eyes, she was guilty of the fire—the purest evil. And Em. . .”
“What?”
“I think she agreed with him. Em felt guilty as hell. She did everything for him—gave him everything too. He took and would ask for more. She would help him and he would still glare at her with so much hate. That’s when X involved Daryl in clean up duties.”
Anytime they discussed her brother, I hated him. “Now it makes even more sense why Daryl began working with Fela so easily.”
Maxwell nodded. “And that was why it was easy for me to kill his ass too.”
“I need to know more. How many people came before the Tinder Killer victims?”
“I don't know. A gangster here or there. Her victims didn't pop up like that. It was more washing the blood off of her and making sure she didn't wake, confused and messed up.” Maxwell grabbed a towel. “It was the Tinder Killer shit that really opened our eyes. I hate that dating app was ever invented.”
“Now there was a pattern for the police to follow and victims being shown in the news.”
“Let the water out.” He wrapped the towel around her head. “I'm not going to blow dry her hair. I'll braid it up and do a nice pattern. She'll think she did it.”