The Blue Room Vol. 2: The Blue Room Series by Kailin Gow Page B

me the way I felt about him! No – he was right. I was the patron, the
client; he was playing a fantasy for me. Luring me into the world of the Blue
Room. Making me think that the love I saw was real.
                Well,
the only thing that's real is Roz's body with the brains blown out of her
skull. A suicide over a love that never existed.
                How
can I have been so stupid? I think. How can I have been so naïve? Terrence Blue
wasn't a bad-boy in need of a good woman – he was a whoremonger, plain and
simple. And I was a fool to think any different.
                I'm
not going to make that mistake again.
                I'm
going to stay at the Blue Room. I'm going to find my way to this mysterious Mr.
X. I'm going to figure out what happened to Rita, to Roz. And I'm going to get
my revenge on all of them – all those rich men who think they can buy and sell
love from desperate women, without family or friends, with some distant cousins
in New York – and nothing else to call home. The Blue Room is a dirty business
– and if I have to get my hands dirty to solve this mystery, then I'm no longer
afraid.
                I
just have to get as messy as the rest of them. No more illusions. No more
willful blindness to the truth.
                Terrence
Blue isn't my friend. He's my enemy.
     
    *****
               
    The
next morning, I find a note slipped under my door. At first I think it's from Mrs.
Walters, but the scrawled chicken-scratch isn't Mrs. Walter's careful
handwriting.
                Come
to the cafeteria at 8 am. Important breakfast meeting for all Blues Girls.
                I
wonder who it's from. But after the shock of last night, I'm hardly in the mood
to cause any trouble by being late. I hurriedly get dressed into a pair of
sweats and make my way to the cafeteria.
                To
my surprise, the room is empty. There's no breakfast being served – not even
the smell of someone cooking. And there's no Blues Girls, either.
                “Hey!”
                I
whip around to see the three girls from yesterday standing in the doorway:
Brandi, Julie, and Scarlett.
                “What
do you want?” Immediately I'm prickly.
                They're
blocking the doorway, their arms crossed. I know at once that they mean
business. I gulp as they come at me in one single formation.
                “What
is it?”
                “Get
her!”
                They're
surrounding me like hawks. Then, they strike. One of them holds my wrists,
pinning me against the table. Another one holds down my ankles. Brandi, the
strongest of the group, sits on my stomach, straddling me.
                “You,”
Brandi's face is a mask of rage. “What did you do?”
                “Me?”
My mouth falls open. “What are you talking about?”
                “We
saw you. We saw you go into her room. An hour later she was dead.” Brandi
grimaces.
                “I
– I don't know,” I answer as truthfully as possible.
                “Did
someone put you up to it? Is that why you're here? Picking us off – one by
one?” Hot tears sting Brandi's eyes.
                “What
are you talking about?”
                “Roz
was our friend.” The way Brandi speaks, I know she's serious. She may have been
spreading bitchy rumors about me earlier – but now I see honest grief in her
face.
                “She
was my friend, too....” I whisper. “What are you talking about?
                “Your
friend?” Brandi pushes harder on my stomach. “So why did you kill her?”
                Kill
her ?
                My
eyes fly open in shock so wide that Brandi relents.
                “If
you didn't kill her – you must know who