But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

– Ruth 1: 16-21

“She’s gone.”

Rhoda looked up from where she was reorganizing a book display. Since she was the most recently hired employee at the bookstore, she always seemed to get the low man on the totem pole jobs, including morning restock. She’d been just about to finish up when Tobias’s voice had caught her attention, and her hand caught on the edge of the display as she turned, causing the whole thing to come crashing down. “Oh, really!” Rhoda grumbled to herself and forcefully pushed her dark hair out of her face as she knelt to start picking up the scattered paperbacks. But then the source of her distraction came back to her when a sharp wind whistled through the doorway, and she glanced up again.

She saw Tobias, leaning against the doorframe and staring at her—no, through her, since he didn’t seem to register the mess she’d made. He repeated, “She’s gone… I can’t believe she’s gone.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Who’s gone?”

His eyes finally locked on her, and Rhoda couldn't help but let out a small gasp as she finally took in his appearance. Tobias Eldon, neat freak extraordinaire, looked an absolute mess. Deep circles hung beneath his eyes, making their wild, lost gleam all the more noticeable. His shirt was wrinkled and haphazardly tucked in, his slacks had some sort of jam stain near a pocket, and one of his shoe’s laces were untied.

“What happened?” She stood and raced to his side, though she was uncertain of what to do. She wanted to embrace him, but he looked as though he were ready to jump out of his skin at the slightest provocation. “You should have taken the day off!” she berated him, but couldn’t put much force to the words, not when he looked like this. She was about to suggest that they head back to the staff room and sit there so he could calm down, but he seemed to already be a step ahead of her and strode into the back room, immediately fixing his attention on preparing a cup of coffee.

“You should have tea. Coffee’s just gonna make you more jittery.” But Tobias ignored her; he always did when she suggested tea over coffee. That, at least, let Rhoda feel more at ease, and she leaned into the comforting cushions of the sofa with her own cup of tea. “So what were you talking about? Who’s gone, Tobias?”

Tobias took a fortifying breath, as though suddenly realizing that he had been acting crazed, and spoke quietly. “Bedelia.”

Rhoda’s tea turned sour on her tongue. Oh. Her. “I’m… sorry, Tobias. But what do you mean, ‘she’s gone’? When did it happen? Last night? You look like you haven’t slept a wink.”

“I feel like I haven’t.” He gave a wry smile as he stared into his coffee, as though expecting that the dark liquid might have held all the answers.

Rhoda couldn’t help but wonder what he meant by that. Did he really not sleep at all? He shouldn’t have come in to work today if that was the case. Or maybe he had slept, but restlessly, tormented by nightmares. Rhoda thought wryly that Bedelia could certainly be connected to nightmares, as far as she was concerned. But now wasn’t the time for that. As much as Rhoda disliked Tobias’s fiancé, it wasn’t the proper thing to mention when he was already so clearly torn up over her. Even so, it was difficult to understand that Bedelia was just gone. After all, they had seemed so attached, so inseparable. It must have taken something impressively awful to make Bedelia just up and leave without warning.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she offered.

“No. Maybe. I…” He sighed noisily. “I don’t know.”

It certainly seemed like he wanted to talk about it. Or perhaps it wasn’t so much a want, but a need, as though he wouldn’t be able to rest until he put his feelings to words. Rhoda figured it was safe to ask a few questions; even if it did seem prying, at least it gave Tobias the option of refusing to answer. “Where did she go? Do you think she’s coming back?”

Tobias jerked away from her at that, spilling a broad trail of coffee across his shirt. He hissed at the burn, but made no move to do anything about it. He only stared at Rhoda, and she was fairly certain that the panic in his eyes had nothing to do with the coffee.

“No,” he said after a long pause. “I don’t think she will.”

It was at that moment that Rhoda felt a creeping sense along her spine, crawling up to rest at the back of her neck. There was something he wasn’t telling her, the unsaid words hanging thick in the air, and while one part of her wanted desperately for him to spit it out, another part begged that their conversation come to a swift end.

The tense moment was broken when their boss came in, newspaper tucked under one arm, traveler mug in the other. He was an older man, portly with grayed hair and a thick moustache. He generally came across as a grandfatherly figure; whenever he wore red, he could easily be mistaken for Santa Claus.

His moustache twitched and his bushy eyebrows lowered in consternation when he saw Tobias. “Eldon! What the devil happened?”

Rhoda suppressed a groan and resisted rolling her eyes. She was certain that she was about to get reamed for the mess she’d made of the front display, but perhaps Ovington’s concern for Tobias would delay the inevitable.

Tobias just blinked at Mr. Ovington, but then he glanced down at his rumpled state and grimaced. Even without the coffee stains, he looked a complete mess, and it seemed he was just now noticing this. “Sir, I’m sorry, I…”

Rhoda cut in, “I was just telling him that he shouldn’t have come in today. He’s got that virus that’s going around, you know, that one that gives you a fever and migraines and makes you throw-”

“Ms. Sterrett!”

“I think he might have given it to me too, sir. My stomach’s starting to feel a bit upset. It could just be that my milk’s spoiled, though.”

Ovington gave Rhoda a withering look, undoubtedly intensified by the paperback war zone he must have waded through to get back here, but she returned his gaze evenly. He rolled his eyes and massaged his forehead, nearly dropping his paper in the process. “Can’t have you spreading a virus. Go home and take care of yourself, Eldon. Sterrett, same goes for you.” Even as he said it, his expression clearly said, You had better not be pulling one over on me again.

Rhoda chose to ignore it, though. “Thank you, sir.” She took Tobias’s cup from his loose grip and emptied its contents in the sink with her own, dropped them in the trash bin, and before Tobias could offer a protest, she grasped him by the wrist and led him out of the bookshop.

Once they were outside, the cool air seemed to infuse Tobias with enough energy to complain. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.” He visibly shivered; the wind was starting to pick up and push the clouds overhead faster in their journey across the sky. Rhoda thought that was odd. There hadn’t been a forecast for rain.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rhoda chided. “You know you wouldn’t have gotten a damn thing done today, and I doubt you were feeling up to explaining that to Ovington.” Tobias’s distress had visibly increased since he’d noticed the state of his appearance, so Rhoda thought some clothing replacement was in order. She glanced up and down the sidewalk; she knew there was a thrift store somewhere in the strip mall, but she was uncertain of the exact location.

“But you didn’t have to lie so blatantly. He’s already suspicious of how often you get ‘sick,’ Rhoda.”

“What can I say? I have a weak immune system.”

Tobias snorted and shook his head at that, but Rhoda didn’t mind; she’d just wanted to make him smile. “You’re hopeless. Where are we going?”

She eyed him critically even as she dragged him forward. “Thrift store. You can’t walk around like that,” she said, indicating his coffee-stained shirt.

“I could just go home and change.” But he followed anyway. Rhoda had the feeling he didn’t particularly want to go home anytime soon, but she wasn’t going to ask about it.

Inside the store, Rhoda immediately set about choosing a new shirt for Tobias. He rejected her choice, of course, and made his own selection.

“Why don’t you ever listen to my suggestions?” Rhoda asked from outside the changing stall.

“I do listen. I just choose not to go along with them.”

“You should get pants, too. You’ve got a stain on the pockets.”

There was no immediate answer. Rhoda suspected that he was either ignoring her or inspecting his pants. “Grab a pair and throw them over.” She was a bit shocked at that, and even more so when he purchased them.

“What was that about not taking my suggestions?”

“It can’t be helped. You would have eventually had to make a good one.” He ignored the smack to the arm he earned for that and offered a quirk of a smile as he tossed the bag containing his ruined shirt and pants into a trash bin on the sidewalk.

Rhoda felt a sense of relief wash over her when she saw him smiling. He should smile more often. It wasn’t fair that Bedelia’s leaving had upset him so much. Rhoda was sure that the reason for Tobias’s strange behavior must have had something to do with her hurting him before she left. She had no evidence for thinking so, but did that really matter? Even seemingly nice people could be cruel and violent in certain situations, and Bedelia had certainly appeared to be a pleasant woman. Unfortunately, that just added to Rhoda’s dislike for her.

I bet she threw something at him. Or said something horrible. He deserves better than that.

“Did I tell you? My sister’s in town.”

“Huh?” Rhoda had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed the silence that had fallen between them. “No, I didn’t know you had a sister. How long has she been here?”

“Just a few days. Long enough, though.”

Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to go home. She was probably staying with Tobias and Bedelia… which meant she had probably been there for their fight. That must have been awkward.

“You should bring her over for dinner or something. What’s her name?”

“Naomi.” Tobias didn’t comment on dinner. He just tilted his head back and stared up at the dark clouds rolling across the sky.

“So he just left you after that?”

“Yeah. He seemed really out of it.” Rhoda idly stirred her hazelnut latte. She’d gone to visit Jael at the coffee shop where she worked as soon as Tobias ditched her. It was an eclectic place, very modern lines with quirky elements, like strange ceiling hangings and wall moldings and bold colors. It struck Rhoda as a place well-suited to Jael’s style, and she hoped she’d keep this part-time for a good while. She didn’t want to have to find a new coffee spot.

“Well, that’s no surprise. He loved her! It must have been a terrible shock for her to suddenly leave him like that.” She placed a chocolate chip muffin in front of her and shrugged at the raised eyebrow this earned. “On the house. You’ve been sitting around here long enough.”

“You’re just trying to fatten me up,” Rhoda accused, but she picked at one of the chocolate chips and popped it into her mouth regardless. “And they weren’t good for each other.” Truthfully, she just thought that Bedelia wasn’t good enough for Tobias, but she didn’t need to say it to get the message across.

Jael rolled her eyes and sat down across the small table from Rhoda. The place was quiet today, so Rhoda supposed she could get away with it easily enough. “Oh, please. You were just jealous.”

Rhoda scowled at that, picked off another chip, and tossed it at Jael. “Jealous? Me? You jest. I don’t get jealous.”

Those knowing brown eyes narrowed and a tight smile pulled across Jael’s face. Rhoda always hated that expression. She knew it meant she’d been caught. “You ought to know better than to lie to me, Rhoda. Especially about something like that. I know you too well.” Jael’s expression became a bit more playful. “And you get jealous for the most ridiculous reasons, over people you have no business acting like that over. You knew Tobias was taken.”

Clearly, it was time to shift the subject. “Oh, whatever. I swear, she must have done something terrible to him. Nothing ruffles him like that! I’m always pissing him off, and he just shoves it aside. He ignores problems, he doesn’t react to them. Something’s wrong.”

Jael didn’t say anything for a long moment. She just sat there, a contemplative look fixed on her face. But then it broke with a mischievous smile. “You wanna check out what’s going on, then? Play a little private eye?”

“Aw Christ, Jael, don’t start!”

“C’mon, you know you’re curious.”

Rhoda snorted and pointed at her with her spoon. “You, my dear, are a horribly nosy bitch, you know that?” She started piling her picked-off chocolate chips in the dip of the spoon.

“And you are just as nosy, plus you’re obsessed with Tobias.” She eyed Rhoda’s chip pile, but didn’t say anything about it. “Don’t weenie out on me. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, fun.” Rhoda sighed. “You know what Aras is going to say about this.”

Jael tucked a loose lock of teal-striped dark hair behind her ear, showing off a bright red tortoise-shell earring. Rhoda was fond of that set. It had been hers at one point, after all. “I expect the usual comment about us being crazed harpies, yes,” Jael confirmed, though she didn’t seem terribly concerned about it.

Well, if Jael thought she knew what they were getting themselves into, then she might as well go along with it. She’d get bored with it soon enough anyway, since Rhoda expected them to hit a dead end fairly soon in this wild goose chase. She had a feeling she was mixing her metaphors, but didn’t particularly care. “Fine then, whatever,” she finally said. She continued to pile her chocolate chips in relative silence, until Jael’s hand darted out and stole the spoon, dropping its contents into her mouth before Rhoda could let out much more than a squawk of indignation.

“I wonder what his sister’s like. Do you think she saw them fighting?”

“Probably.” Rhoda went back to popping individual chips into her mouth, suspiciously appraising Jael all the while. “I think that might’ve been at least part of the reason he was acting so strange.”

“Hmm, maybe.” She didn’t seem very convinced, though. She seemed distracted for a moment, but then her lips curved into a grin. “I wonder if she’s as cute as Tobias.”

“Jael…” It was all Rhoda could do to keep from growling.

“What?” she asked innocently, but quickly realized that wasn’t working and pouted, batting those gorgeous almond eyes of hers, as if that would change Rhoda’s mind. “I’m allowed to look.”

“Don’t.”

Jael dropped the cutesy act in favor of a smirk, but it didn’t hold much humor. “You’re absolutely no fun at all.”

“I’m loads of fun.”

“And a horribly possessive lover,” she went on. “I have no idea how you can even handle me and Aras going at it.”

What the fuck’s the matter with her? Rhoda thought, seething. It was as though she was actively trying to piss her off, and she had no idea why she would do something like that. But Rhoda reined in her temper and said, in a manner she thought to be quite flippant, “I can always go see Isabel whenever you have a sausage craving.”

“That doesn’t work on me, dear. I don’t get jealous; that’s your job.” But Rhoda’s words had done their job, and she could see the humor sneaking into Jael’s expression. She always did get a kick out of stupid euphemisms like that.

Enough time had passed by then for a bit of a crowd to build, but they hadn’t realized it until Jael’s manager barked out, “Yaldwyn! Move your ass!” He was generally a nice man and didn’t demand too much from his employees, but he wouldn’t tolerate them ignoring customers. Rhoda had considered applying for a job there if Ovington ever reached the end of his rope with her.

“See you tonight, then?” Rhoda asked as she downed the rest of her cooled latte and gathered the remains of her muffin to toss out.

“Yeah. Make sure Tobias and his sister show up for dinner.” She gave one last grin. “Like I said, I want to meet her.”

Rhoda just gave her a withering look and left.

By half five that evening, Rhoda had managed to convince Tobias to come over to dinner and bring his sister with him. It had taken persistent calls to his mobile and light-hearted threats of Jael hunting him down, but he finally gave in. By seven, Jael was finishing up in the kitchen and hollering out an order for someone to set the table.

“I swear, you’ve picked up that military-commander voice from your boss way too easily,” Rhoda groused as she tossed the cutlery into their generally acceptable places. She pointedly ignored Aras following behind her to straighten out the place settings. After years of him doing things like that, it was easy enough to ignore his more anal-retentive behaviors.

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” Aras said with a smirk. “She’s always had a bit of that matronly air, I think.” That smirk of his widened into a full grin when Jael’s only response was to flip him off over her shoulder.

Rhoda enjoyed watching those two bicker, probably because it hardly ever turned serious. In the rare circumstance that it did, they were smart enough to back off until their tempers cooled; otherwise, Rhoda didn’t think she would have been able to spend so much time around them, let alone live with them, which she’d been doing ever since college—hers and Jael’s junior year, Aras’s senior year. There had initially been that messy business with the three of them intermittently pairing off and breaking up, until they finally just decided it would be easier to keep things open between the three of them.

She leaned against one of the high-backed chairs at the table, simply watching as Jael finished putting together the meal and Aras finished setting out drinks. She didn’t know what she’d do without them sometimes. Rhoda knew well enough how disorganized she was, how haphazardly she dealt with her life most of the time. But these two, they knew what they were doing. As flighty as Jael could be sometimes, she always seemed prepared to handle whatever life threw at her, with a backup plan at the ready. Rhoda supposed that was why she had so many part-time jobs—in case one fell through, or something important came up and got her sacked. And she always looked put-together, though by no means “conventional,” which she practically regarded as a curse word.

And Aras, well, he was the best off of the lot of them, at least Rhoda thought so. But that might have been because he’d actually put his degree to use, while she and Jael only ever bounced from one trivial job to the next. He taught Literature courses at the local community college, sometimes acting as an adjunct professor at other nearby universities. He seemed to have an unending fondness for stories of all kinds; Rhoda suspected that he sometimes allowed his expectancy for life to play out like one of his tales to override his common sense, and to take on the roles of various beloved classic characters whenever it suited him (Cervantes seemed to be the muse he was channeling this month). Either that or he was just choosing to be an ass, but knowing him it could have easily been both.

“Hello, ground control to Rhoda.”

“Huh?” She looked up to find Aras staring at her. “What?”

He rolled his eyes. “Your man is here, go get the door.”

“Aw, jealous much?” she teased as she tugged on his ponytail and headed for the front hall. She regularly made fun of the brunet for his hair length, but he never cut it short. Rhoda was glad for that.

“Not my job.” And it really wasn’t; Aras never got jealous, and always let Rhoda know how utterly ridiculous she was when she acted that way. Still, it hardly stopped her.

“Will someone hurry up and get the damn door?” Jael yelled.

Aras smirked, and Rhoda answered the door.

Dinner passed almost uneventfully. The only thing remarkable about it was that Jael wouldn’t tear her eyes away from Naomi except to shoot Rhoda an unconvincingly innocent smile. And Rhoda wasn’t sure if it was just her being paranoid, or if Aras was being a little too friendly with Tobias. Not that it mattered, of course. Aras was probably just doing it to irritate Rhoda, because he did that sort of thing. If she hadn’t known him so well, she might have gotten angry.

But she also knew Jael well enough, and that did make her angry.

Rhoda did have to admit that Naomi was attractive. She had the same striking gray eyes as her brother, and strawberry-blonde hair paler than his bright auburn. They looked very much the same. There was a calm, confident air about her, much as Tobias usually held—however, rather than possessing that regular confidence of his, Tobias himself seemed a but high-strung. Rhoda figured he must have still been an absolute wreck over Bedelia.

“How long are you in town for?” Jael asked with a smile. Oh, Rhoda was sure that Jael hoped Naomi would be around for some time.

“For quite a while, I hope!” she responded with a laugh. “It’s taken forever for me to find Tobias again. You need to stop running off on me, mister!” Tobias didn’t seem to be in much of a joking mood though, since he offered only a weak smile in response to Naomi’s light-hearted teasing.

“Oh? You two normally live together?” Aras questioned, raising an eyebrow at Tobias. “Why’d you move here by yourself then? Five months it’s been, right?”

“Oh, you know… Needed a change of scenery. Old job sucked.” Tobias shrugged. “The usual sort of thing, really.”

When Tobias showed no indication of explaining further, Naomi took it upon herself to address Aras’s first question. “Toby and I do usually live together, yes. We… didn’t have the best situation at home when we were younger, but he’s taken care of me ever since.” She met Tobias’s sidelong glance and gave him a warm smile. He returned a small smile of his own, but was soon engrossed in his food once again.

Rhoda wondered why Naomi needed Tobias taking care of her. She seemed like a capable young woman, maybe only a year or two younger than herself. Does she have some sort of medical condition? Maybe she just meant that he looked out for her. It was difficult for Rhoda to imagine such a close familial bond, since her older brother and sister were less than protective, and she didn’t see enough of her younger two sisters to feel such a strong connection to them. Rhoda was surprised by the sense of regret she felt at this.

The brief silence was broken when Jael asked Naomi, “Do you need any help moving in?” But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she seemed to realize how delicate a topic that was and her eyes widened almost comically. “Er, I mean…”

“Ah, you’re concerned about Bedelia, aren’t you?” Naomi said it so bluntly that Rhoda wasn’t surprised by the choking noise Tobias made, though she was surprised by a similar noise from her throat. “Don’t be. She’s gone, won’t be coming back.” She made a flipping gesture with her hand. “Nothing to be concerned with,” she said with an odd little smile. Rhoda was rather shocked by her lack of concern.

“Naomi…” Tobias started, but she gave him one hard look and he shut up.

She leaned across the table to whisper conspiratorially to her three hosts, “Honestly? I never liked her very much.”

Tobias clenched his fist in his napkin, but said nothing.

Ah, so that was it: sibling jealousy. Rhoda might not have been able to understand the sibling part of that, but she certainly could identify with the jealousy part. Rhoda found herself beginning to like Naomi. Even is Jael couldn’t take her damned eyes off her.

The remains of dinner were soon cleared from the table, Naomi making herself extra helpful in washing the dishes with Jael. Rhoda was already reconsidering how much she liked this woman, especially since she couldn’t help overhearing how blatantly Jael was fishing for an invitation over to Tobias and Naomi’s place.

She wasn’t surprised when Jael left with them. She didn’t think Tobias was either, from the apologetic look he gave her as they left.

Neither was she surprised when Jael never returned home that night.

But she was absolutely furious.

The phone rang once, twice, three times, and Rhoda almost hung up just as she heard a click on the other end of the line, followed by a brief shuffling noise.

“Mm… Hello?”

“Isabel!” Rhoda nearly cried in relief. “Is Jael over there? Do you know where she is?”

“Rhoda?” Isabel sounded half-asleep—no surprise there, since her work on her dissertation had Isabel keeping odd hours—but a note of concern had crept into her tone. “Er, no…” A yawn punctuated her response. “I haven’t talked to her in nearly two weeks. What’s wrong? Did something happen? You sound awful.”

Rhoda certainly did feel awful. She’d been so angry last night and even more so by the morning, but when she went to the coffee shop and found out that Jael had never clocked in for her shift, she’d started to worry. Tobias hadn’t shown up to work either, and he wasn’t answering his mobile. She didn’t even know if he had a landline. When she called Aras from work only to find that he hadn’t heard anything either, the panic had started to settle in.

“She went over to Tobias’s last night after dinner,” she explained, “but she never came home. She didn’t go to work this morning either.” Rhoda paused to swallow her rising emotions; she refused to cry over this. “I’m really worried, Izzy.”

“Tobias?” Isabel sounded utterly confused. “But… he’s over here.”

“What?” What the hell? Rhoda didn’t understand. Why wasn’t he answering his damned phone?

“Yeah, he showed up over here really late last night. He was acting really weird, begged me outright to let him stay the night.” She yawned again, and Rhoda could just imagine her running a delicate hand through her blonde curls the way she always did upon waking up. “Why’s he hiding from Jael?”

“What? He’s not…” She paused. “Where’s Naomi?”

“Who?”

“His sister.”

“Huh. He didn’t say anything about a sister. Hold on a sec.” Rhoda heard the clacking sound of the phone being set down. Muffled by distance, she could just make out Isabel’s inquiring tone, followed by Tobias’s frantic, furious response, though she couldn’t understand the words—only that he was extremely upset about something. There was another brief moment of shuffling, and Isabel was back. “Rhoda? I’ve got no clue what to tell you. He’s a right mess, I can’t even get a coherent response out of him. All he’s said is that he can’t let someone find him, and now he’s saying that she shouldn’t even be here.” Isabel didn’t say anything more for a long moment. When she did speak again, it was in a frightened, urgent whisper. “What happened last night?”

That’s what I’m trying to figure out. “I wish I knew, Izzy.” Rhoda sighed, and ran a hand nervously through her own tangle of dark hair. “I’m gonna come over, okay? We’ll sort this out. It’ll be okay.” She didn’t know if she said that more for Isabel’s benefit or for her own reassurance.

“Okay.” A grating buzz pierced the background. “Someone’s at the door, I’d better answer it. See you soon.”

“See you.” Rhoda flipped her mobile off and headed straight for the door, barely even registering Ovington’s shouted demands to know where she was going. She ignored him and kept walking.

When Rhoda arrived at Isabel’s, she had expected the door to be unlocked. But she hadn’t expected it to actually be unlatched.

“Izzy?” she called tentatively, too unnerved to barge right in. “You there? Tobias?” When no response was forthcoming, she pushed the door the rest of the way open, and immediately wished she hadn’t.

She clasped a hand over her mouth as the scent of blood overwhelmed her senses and made her dizzy with nausea. There were viscous, dark red trails smeared across the hardwood hallway, giving the distinct impression that someone had dragged their feet through—no, no, she couldn’t believe that, even though it seemed to be staring her in the face. Helplessly hoping that her instinctive assumption was wrong, she called out again, “Isabel? Izzy?” Though her legs shook and threatened to give out beneath her, she edged her way down the hall. “Izzy, where are…”

The words died on her lips. Her eyes widened painfully with the prickling of tears, and she felt her mouth contorting into something much worse than a shrieking grimace. There on the kitchen tiles lay her Isabel, her beautiful Izzy, staring with dead eyes. Her hair fanned out like a halo against a grotesque contrast of blood pooled around her fallen form. There was blood streaked on the countertop and wall, as though someone had clung to them for purchase in a struggle, though the red liquid surrounding Isabel made it seem like she’d fallen where she lay and never had a chance to resist.

“Oh god… Oh god, Izzy…” Rhoda’s heart thudded harshly within her chest and she could hardly catch her breath between the silent sobs wracking her body as she slumped against the doorjamb. She couldn’t believe that her sweet Isabel had been killed so brutally. It was utterly incomprehensible to Rhoda. She felt like the fabric of reality had been stripped out from beneath her feet to leave her tumbling with nowhere to land.

Terror seized her once again, fear freezing in her veins. What if Isabel’s murderer was still close by? She had to get out of there.

Without another thought, she ran.

She’s dead. She’s dead. Oh, god, she’s really dead… Her heart raced with every step she took, her pulse pounding in her ears, as the terrible mantra wedged itself deeper and deeper into her mind with images she longed to burn away. But fast as her feet might run, there was no running from her thoughts; they sped along just as quickly as she, even faster, and overtaking all sensibility.

Should I call the police? She’s dead, she’s dead… Oh, god, I have to get away from here.

That, at least, Rhoda knew she was accomplishing. But where to run to? She wanted to run to Jael. But Jael was… no, she couldn’t think it, didn’t want to even consider it. Maybe her phone had died, maybe she was lost or side-tracked or something, anything. Anything but the same fate that stole Isabel away.

First Jael, then Isabel. Would Aras be next? Rhoda couldn’t bear that. Or would it be Tobias?

Tobias… he’d already lost Bedelia. Could it be connected? But why? It didn’t make any sense. And yet Tobias had been at Isabel’s earlier. Maybe he knew something.

Sense or no, Rhoda clung to that one desperate thought and her frantic steps led her to a familiar doorstep. She was about to knock, but paused to catch her breath. If she just barged in there, surely he’d think her hysterical, perhaps even more hysterical than he’d been at Isabel’s from what she could tell, and he hardly ever listened to her when convinced that she was acting irrationally. No, she needed to calm down, collect herself, figure out how to tell him what had happened and what she thought without coming across as completely manic.

It was when she felt her heartbeat even out that she noticed the screaming, and it picked right up again.

“You can’t keep doing this!” Muffled though Tobias’s voice was through the door, Rhoda could still detect the panic in it; it sounded alien, almost incomprehensible. “People will start noticing. Just… Just stop this, Naomi, it isn’t worth it.”

The response was almost too quiet to hear, but the calmness in Naomi’s voice made her response all the more chilling. “You think I’m not careful enough? Nobody’s going to notice. People die all the time in this city.”

Tobias barked out a harsh, choked laugh. “And, what, that’s supposed to make this better? You're going to get caught. We’re going to get caught. Our prints are all over there. You made fucking sure of that.”

“This wouldn’t have had to happen if you’d just listened to me in the first place,” Naomi said, louder and clearly taunting. “No one had to get hurt. You knew better than to get involved with Bedelia, I told you she was no good for you.”

Rhoda’s heart leapt into her throat. Naomi killed Bedelia? And Tobias knew… No wonder he’d been such a mess. But why? Why the hell would he just stand back and let his sister do such a thing? It didn’t make any sense.

“And the others? They didn’t deserve it... You shouldn’t have involved them.” Tobias sounded broken, as though the sheer weight of the situation was crushing his soul. It probably was.

Naomi made an unflattering noise. “I shouldn’t have involved them? Oh, that’s rich. That’s all on you, dear brother.”

Rhoda’s gut twisted. She suspected what they meant, but it couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.

Tobias didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to, as Naomi went on. “If you hadn’t run off when that nosy bitch Jael came over, I might not have had to take care of her. If you hadn’t gone to the other bitch’s place, I wouldn’t have had to take care of her, either.”

She killed them. Naomi killed them. Oh god…

“You just had to make that messy for me, didn’t you? Though I’m sure you enjoyed at least part of that messiness, didn’t you?” The question came out as nearly a purr, as soft and suggestive as it was deadly. But then Naomi’s voice grew low and cold, ugly with deep fury. “How many times have you done this, Tobias? How many times have I come to find you, only to find you in some other woman’s arms? You know how much that upsets me.”

Oh god…

“You know what I have to do then. You know I won’t stand for you being so close to anyone else. It’s your own fault, really. It’s your fault they’re all dead.”

And Rhoda couldn’t take another moment of listening; she had to do something, anything, to make Naomi pay for what she’d done. Too infuriated to assess the situation, she lunged into the house, fire in her eyes and a curse on her tongue—

—and it all came to a freezing halt when she found herself staring down the business end of a revolver.

“I was wondering how long you were going to stand out there.” Naomi smiled, but her lips were pressed thin and her eyes slit to slivers. “You should have just walked away, Rhoda. But I’m glad you didn’t. I’ve been looking forward to this. I always look forward to this part, with anyone so very interested in my brother, as I’m sure you are. It was obvious last night. It’s obvious now, the way he’s looking at you.”

“Naomi, don’t—”

“Stay out of this, Tobias.”

Rhoda knew she should have been more afraid. She should have, but somehow, having the assured knowledge of her impending death made her blood boil into reckless abandon, and she didn’t bother trying to contain her temper. “What the hell is this about?”

Naomi actually laughed at that, and her forced smile broke into a far more sincere one. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

“I know you killed them. I know you killed Jael, and Isabel, and Bedelia.” She hated having to say it, listing off the names like a shopping list. How many other people had Naomi killed before this? How many more would there be in the future?

“Hmm, yes. Yes I did.” There was that damned smile again. Oh, how Rhoda yearned to wipe it from her face.

“Why?” she demanded.

But Naomi just went on smiling, and after a moment, Rhoda realized that she was waiting for Tobias to say something. She looked to him, but he said nothing. He shoved his hands into his pockets, which were lined with familiar stains, only now Rhoda could recognize them as blood. The same blood she’d seen under his nails as he hid them from her sight, the same blood that streaked Naomi’s hair—and Rhoda would wager just about anything that it was also the same blood that covered her poor Isabel’s apartment.

Tobias looked… ashamed, and terrified, and lost. But still, he returned her gaze in silence, as though understanding that no amount of words could make up for what he and his sister had cost her.

But still, she wanted an answer. She needed one, even if it wasn’t a good one, even if it would never, ever make up for everything that had been lost. “Tobias… why?”

But still he had no answer.

And then Naomi decided to answer for him, an ugly smirk taking the place of that manic smile of hers. “Because nothing will ever get between me and my brother. I won’t allow it. I love him; he’s mine. Where he goes, I’ll follow, and destroy anyone who tries to get between us.”

Rhoda turned on her, and for all her churning rage, all she could manage was to spit at her. “You’re one sick bitch.”

Naomi just laughed again. And then she shot her.

Rhoda’s immediate thought was that heaven would be awfully more pleasant if it weren’t so starkly, blindingly white. Getting rid of the annoying beeping would help, too.

“She’s coming around!” someone shouted much too loudly for her comfort. She felt like her brain was rattling around in her head.

“What the hell…?” And then Aras was in her field of vision, and she knew that, somehow, she was still alive. That was all she needed to know for the floodgates to open. “Oh, oh god, Aras… Jael and Isabel, they’re…”

“Shh,” he hushed her, stroking her hair gently. “I know, Rhoda. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“It’s not okay!” She knew he was just saying it for her comfort, but damn him; even if she wanted that, and she wanted it desperately, it wouldn’t bring them back. It wouldn’t undo their deaths.

Aras just let her cry on him until her tears dried up, even when she continued to grasp at him, as though trying to prove to herself that he was real, that he was still really there. He was all she had left, and it pained her to realize that.

When she finally calmed down a bit, she managed to ask in a hoarse whisper, “How’d you find me?” She needed to know. There were so many things she needed to know that would go unanswered for the rest of her life, but she would take whatever answers she could get at this point.

Aras didn’t answer her immediately, and Rhoda knew something was wrong. “Aras?”

“…Tobias called me.”

Fury instantly raced through Rhoda’s veins. She’d cared so much about Tobias, and he’d been the cause of so much devastation. Rhoda knew this was an unfair thought, that she was blaming him of the same things that bitch Naomi did, but it was true. If he hadn’t known them, if he hadn’t been their friend, then none of this would have happened. It hurt too much too think about him.

Aras seemed to realize this, so he launched into an explanation. “He didn’t say much. Just that I needed to send an ambulance to his place right away, and to Isabel’s as well.” He paused, as though unsure whether or not to say his next words. “He said… he said where to send the police to find Jael’s body.”

“Oh god…” Rhoda could feel the same burning pressure behind her eyes that precluded tears, but she could produce no more.

“Rhoda.”

She looked up to meet Aras’s eyes. They held a deep sorrow that she was certain haunted her own now. He grasped her hand tightly in his, the way he did whenever he was about to apologize for something. “What is it? Tell me.”

He just looked at her for another long, silent moment of apology, before finally speaking. “The police couldn’t find them. There’s… there’s no trace of them anywhere.” He rubbed his face with his free hand. “They think Naomi planned ahead for an escape, that they’ve probably disappeared like this before.”

Rhoda forced herself to look somewhere, anywhere other than at Aras. She felt no surprise at his statement, only a cold numbness, but she feared he’d take it the wrong way. She had already expected what he’d told her from her brief confrontation with Naomi. Still, she didn’t understand how that could be possible. She’d seen the bloodstains; surely the police could lift dozens of fingerprints from Isabel’s apartment. It didn’t make sense. Maybe Aras just meant that they couldn’t find whatever escape route they’d taken. That must have been it.

She raised her eyes to find him still staring at her. “What?”

He looked even more nervous now than he had before. But Rhoda could sense him steeling himself to press on, and she didn’t know what to make of that. “There was… Rhoda, there was a lot of blood at Tobias’s place. More than just yours.”

She felt a chill rush down her spine. “How much?” Was it Jael’s? Oh, god, she didn’t think she could handle that right now.

“Enough for two people. They’ve already sent samples to the forensics lab, and they’re not saying much, but… they think it’s theirs, Rhoda.”

Her pulse pounded violently in her ears as the realization settled in. “Tobias and Naomi’s?” Aras just nodded. “But… I don’t understand. Why on earth…” she trailed off as a new possibility wended its way into her thoughts.

Could Tobias really have risked himself to protect her? Could he have actually confronted his sister, after standing by for so long? Or was it just some clever trick to throw suspicion off them, to make everyone assume they were dead?

Rhoda didn’t know. She didn’t think she’d ever know, nor did she expect to understand. But some part of her quietly rejoiced to think that maybe, just maybe Tobias had tried to make amends the only way he could.

Soon her eyelids grew heavy, though her heart lightened amidst a sea of bitterness. She clasped Aras’s hand tightly in hers, unwilling to let go. She slipped into sleep with the final thought that, wherever Naomi was, Rhoda hoped she suffered.