Spending it on what Dolly loved most seemed a fitting way to blow it.
I leaned on my cane as I looked around the store that held my little Dolly so captive. Makeup, stretching from the front of the store to the back. I glanced down at my girl and felt something like warmth fill my cold dead heart.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life,” she said in awe. She looked up at me, her long lashes batting against her cheek. We’d cleaned up at the motel and then come straight here.
“Can I help y’all?” a female voice asked from in front of us. I immediately shifted next to Dolly, protecting her, making sure no one fucked with us.
I glared at the tall, slim brunette before us, dressed all in black. Dolly gasped and stepped closer to her, her eyes fixed on the woman’s face. “Your face,” she said, her English accent sounding all proper and thick. “I want to look like that. How do I look like you?”
The woman’s eyebrows pulled down, and then her gaze roved first over Dolly, then me. Her eyes widened. “Oh my God! Are you cosplayers?” She stepped back to assess Dolly. “Alice in Wonderland, right? Steampunk?”
I had no idea what the fuck she was talking about, but I stepped even closer to Dolly, ready to pull her back. But Dolly’s eyes lit up at the mention of her favorite book. “Alice, yes! We’re in Wonderland. We’re on an adventure.”
The woman laughed, but before she had a chance to say anything else, Dolly pulled out her tube of ruined lipstick. “I need more of this. It’s all gone.”
The woman took the lipstick and studied it. “Vintage Chanel?” She shook her head. “You should keep hold of this. The tube alone will be worth something. Lucky for you, the shade still exists, just a newer formula and design.” She waved her hand. “Come on. If you’re cosplaying Alice, we need to make you look the part.”
Dolly looked back at me. I nodded, giving her permission to go. The woman led Dolly around the store, filling a basket with shit I had no idea about. But I didn’t care as I watched Dolly’s smile grow wider and wider with each new item added. This was what I had waited eleven years to see. Her face. Her body. My fucking girl killing so fucking beautifully it was like watching one of Chapel’s poems come to life. A damn symphony in motion—a slice here, a stab there, and so much deliciously warm blood spilling to the floor.
Death had a smell.
I had always imagined it smelled of roses, like Dolly.
I hadn’t been wrong.
As we walked through the store, people stared; stared, until I glared back at them. They must have sensed how much I wanted to see them robbed of life, because they looked away quickly, most fleeing the shop as if they could sense I was a predator stalking my prey.
I paid for the makeup, Dolly bouncing behind me in excitement. “You see all this, Alice?” she said to her bodiless doll as she held it up to the register. “All these pretties are for us. We’re going to be the two prettiest girls in all of Wonderland.”
My lip twitched as she took the bag from the cashier and turned my way. “Can we go back to the room? I really want to try all of this on.”
“Sure thing, darlin’.”
Just before we left, the cashier asked, “Where’s the cosplay event being held?” I stared at the woman blankly. Dolly did the same. The cashier pointed at the bag. “What will you be wearing all that makeup for?”
Dolly smiled. “For the killing . . .” She looked to me, confusion on her face. “Who’s next, Rabbit? I cannot remember.” She blinked, all big blue eyes and pink lips. I could still envisage the red blood staining her neck and cheeks. I had to stop from growling out loud at the thoughts those images evoked.
“The Cheshire Cat.”
Dolly’s eyes glittered, and she turned back to the cashier. “For when we kill the Cheshire Cat.” She held up the bag. “Now I will look my absolute best!”
Dolly turned, and I saw the cashier try to make sense of what Dolly had said. Non-killers, I thought. So fucking boring, living their mundane little lives.
“Rabbit!” Dolly called from the doorway. I turned to see her arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the floor. “We’re going to be late!” A cheeky smile formed behind her pursed lips, and her dimples caved in her cheeks. “Tick tock.” I couldn’t fight back a laugh as I walked toward her, shaking my head as she stole my lines. “Silly Rabbit,” she whispered when I joined her. I tapped her leg with the top of my cane, the mildest of punishment.