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“Ah…” Elio said, looking over at us.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Anthony piped in.
“They didn’t… clean up,” I told Matej, the only one of us willing to give him the horrible truth.
Matej’s chest expanded as he took a deep breath, then carefully got to his feet, seeming as surprised as I was that he was able to stay on his feet.
“I heard it,” he said. “I can handle seeing the aftermath,” he said, taking his first few determined steps across the basement.
With that, Elio shrugged before moving to throw an arm around Matej, taking on some of his weight as Anthony and I went ahead, checking the area again before he made it to the top of the landing, sweat dripping, looking close to passing out.
“I need more fluids,” he said.
“Let me just set you down in the living room” Elio said, deciding it was the least terrible of the crime scenes. Though, looking at it again with fresh eyes, I was pretty sure there was brain matter on the top of the cabinet under the TV.
Elio nodded toward the kitchen, and all three of us moved in there.
“What now?” I asked. “We can’t just leave him here, weak as he is, with this mess everywhere.”
“No,” Elio agreed. “I was thinking of taking him to a hotel or somewhere he can rest and recover. But I don’t know if he’s going to agree to that. He’s stubborn. Has a lot of pride. This is his home. These were his people,” he said, waving toward the blood.
“We could clean it,” Anthony said, making me turn to look at him, brows scrunched. “Matej isn’t going to go to the police over this,” he explained. “He’s going to want to handle his brother. So he will need all of this cleaned up. It wouldn’t be the first crime scene I cleaned.”
“Mine either,” Elio admitted.
None of us realized Matej had mustered his strength and moved out of the living room until we heard him in the doorway. “What are you—“ His voice trailed off as his gaze moved around the kitchen, taking in the spray, the castoff, the handprints, like we all had less than an hour before. But for us, there was no emotional attachment. Matej not only knew men had died horribly here, but who they were, and what they’d sounded like as they’d been slaughtered.
I watched his Adam’s apple as he swallowed hard before forcing his gaze over to us. “What were you discussing?”
“Getting you somewhere safe. Then cleaning this up,” Elio told him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Matej said, the lift of his chin telling me that he was going to put a foot down about this.
“It’s not safe here. Especially when you’re not at your full strength,” Elio said, trying to sway him.
“I’ll eat and drink. I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow,” Matej insisted. “I’m not leaving my home.”
“I understand,” Elio said, even if I was struggling to. I couldn’t imagine trying to sleep in a house of horrors like this. Not even after the blood and brain matter was cleaned up. “But I am going to help,” he said. “No one should be trying to do this alone,” he said. “For now, please, let’s sit,” he said, grabbing another sports drink out of the fridge before leading Matej back out to the living room, leaving Anthony and I alone.
“I am going to help too,” Anthony said. “I can’t imagine what he’s going through. He shouldn’t do this alone.”
“I want to help,” I said, checking my phone.
“But you need to get back to Fury,” he concluded.
“Yeah. I mean, I have a while, but…”
Anthony looked torn at that. Between wanting to stay here and do a good deed and come back with me.
As if I needed more reasons to like the man.
“I can go back to the city by myself. I’m a big girl,” I said. “I’ve been taking care of Fury by myself.”
“I know. Just…” he said, waving around the kitchen.
“I will be safely in the studio most of the time. I mean, how long could it take? Five hours or so? It’s not like you’re trying to pass a forensics analysis. Just make it habitable again.”
“True,” he agreed, still not liking the arrangement.
