But sadly, it was empty. At the direction of the silver-haired funeral director, Lei reluctantly stepped into room C, where Eve was being displayed for just one day. Rooms A and B were empty. As her gaze scanned the area, the lack of visitors hit her hard. It seemed that nobody cared that Eve had died. Nobody but an elderly woman, sitting in the first row of chairs lined up in front of the casket. Lei hoped that woman knew something about Eve’s death. But how to bring it up . . . ? Her heart started pounding hard against her breastbone as she slowly approached the casket. How had this happened? How had a woman who’d escaped the horrid world they’d both been trapped in ended up dead in an alley? Lei felt a little sick as she stood in front of the casket, looking down at the woman who’d befriended her when she’d first arrived in Detroit. She was the one who’d told her which girls to avoid and which to trust. She was the one who’d talked her through one of the lowest days of her life.
