"They're in here," Leif said over his shoulder before he stepped into the room.
For a moment, I expected a group of men, but it was only him, followed by Forrest.
Leif started toward me, then stopped at the sight of the corpse lying against the wall.
"Looks like you two got busy while you were here," he said easily.
He could say that, but I knew he was referring to the senator. There was no way he could know what Woody and I did. I wasn't sure how I'd tell either of them. How did you even bring up something like that? Hell, if I waited long enough, Woody would probably blurt it out.
"Yeah." I glanced down at all the blood that was pooling around the dead man. His skin was paler now. Jaw slack. The blood around where his eyes had been was starting to dry, caking around the ruined sockets
Leif wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. "Good work."
"Thanks," Woody said dryly.
"It was mostly him," I said, "Don't worry, he didn't enjoy himself too much." I didn't know how I could be light at a moment like this. I was starting to think I was more broken than I realized.
Given the company I was currently keeping, I shouldn't bethatsurprised.
"That doesn't sound like Woody," Leif said with a laugh. "He usually gets a kick out of this."
"Not as much as you do," Woody told him."
Leif grinned. "True facts are true. Thank you for leaving enough of him intact for me." He flexed his hands, like he was ready to get to work.
"Intact," I echoed. I remembered he had an interest in the skin of victims. Forrest warned me I wouldn't want to see.
There was a morbid curiosity there, but that was all. I'd seen enough blood, guts and violence for one day.
Leif took the knife from my hand, then must have felt the gun in my pocket. He reached in, pulled it out, and put it into his own.
"Just in case," he said.
I didn't ask 'just in case what.' I couldn't guess. He was better qualified to carry it, and if the cops happened to turn up, it was better if I was unarmed.
He crouched down in front of the body and rolled him onto his stomach before he started to make an incision in the top of his back.
"Come on." Forrest put an arm around me and led me to the door.
I watched for a moment longer before I let him lead me away. He was right, I really didn't want to see what Leif was doing.
Mostly.
The idea of it should have made me want to throw up, but it didn't. Yeah, I was definitely unhinged in the head.
"Are you okay?" Forrest asked gently.
"Yeah, I'm fine, more or less," I said.
"Did he…" He let the rest of the question linger, not wanting to push it if I didn't want to talk about it, but clearly hoping I wanted to give him an answer. Hoping, especially, to give him the answer he wanted to hear.
"No," I said quickly. "He didn't touch me." That was all he needed to know for now. I wasn't ready to go into any further details.
"What about you?" I asked. "Did you…" Apparently, not wanting to finish sentences was contagious, not when the answers had the potential to be confronting.
"We have Savannah. She's safe," he said, responding as quickly as I had. "None the worse for wear, either. We got there in time. We left her at my apartment before we came here." He seemed almost apologetic for that, but he had nothing to be sorry for, not if she was safe and well because of them.
I owed them one for getting her out of there. Maybe more than one.