The furniture had been upturned. Though there were only tables and chairs in the dining area, none of them were upright or in their normal places. I couldn’t see into the kitchen on the other side of the far wall, but I hoped it hadn’t also been in the path of destruction.
“Viola, what’s going on?” I said, though it was pretty easy to figure out.
“Get out of here, Beth,” she repeated.
The gun was aimed at Ellen. She was curled into a ball on the floor but held a lamp as if she wanted to throw it at Viola. I had a lamp just like it in my room.
“No, no,” I said as I registered a scratch on the side of Viola’s face. I stepped toward Ellen. She turned the lamp my direction.
“I’ll shoot her,” Viola said. “She’s out of control.”
Ellen snarled, just like any junkie coming down, probably.
“Why don’t we call Dr. Powder,” I said. “Or I’ll go get him if he’s hard to reach by phone. Don’t shoot her, Viola. No matter what she does, don’t shoot her.”
Truthfully, I didn’t think she would. She was just using the gun as a threat to stop Ellen from continuing the destruction she’d begun.
Still, though, I knew you were never supposed to aim a gun unless you truly thought you would use it. It was a Mill rule, one I’d learned when she showed me the gun she kept holstered at her ankle. Unfortunately, Mill always thought she might need to use her gun, or maybe wanted to.
“I don’t know who you are,” Ellen said. “I don’t know who either of you are! I need help. I need … something. Help me! Get me out of here!”
I put my hand up, signaling her to stop.
“I tried all that,” Viola said. “She’s not listening.”
“Maybe if two people tell her, she won’t be afraid?” I said as I looked at Viola.
Viola sighed as a drip of blood from the scratch on her face rolled down over her jaw to her neck. “Go for it.”
“Ellen, you’re in Benedict, Alaska, a halfway house. You were convicted of…” I looked at Viola, but she was only glaring at the scared woman in the corner, gun still pointed, so I punted. “Drug possession and a slew of other things. Does that part make sense to you?”
She squinted hard my direction. “I don’t remember that.”
“Of course you don’t, you were strung out, big-time. But that’s what happened. You were sent to Benedict to get straightened out.”
“Not a recovery facility?” Ellen said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Viola?” I said. “Why is she here and not somewhere else?”
“Because she failed too many times in Anchorage. They booted her out of town. She can only go back if I give permission or if she swims. And it’s a cold, cold swim.”
“Okay, Ellen, if you have any memory left, does this make sense?”
She shook her head hard.
“Are you sure?” I said.
She snarled again. It was worse than some of the wild bear noises I’d heard.
“Ellen?” I said.
“I’m dying here. I need a fix, bad.”
It was my turn to shake my head. I wasn’t going to lie. “No fixes here. This is Benedict. We don’t have anything like that close by. You’re going to have to do this the hard way, I’m afraid.”
I did wonder where Orin got his weed.
“Then I’m going to die,” Ellen said. “I’m going to die.”
I shrugged. “Then so be it.” She shot me a look with wild eyes. I continued. “Or you can battle like you’ve never battled before and finally get yourself cleaned up. Your choice.” I looked at Viola and back at Ellen. “Or she can just shoot you—and she will if you continue to mess with her stuff. You want Viola to just put you out of your misery?”
I really hoped she wouldn’t say yes, but for the longest moment, I thought she might.
“No” was all she said.
“Then you have to get up to your room and stay there until you’re through it. Worse women than you have made it. You will, too, if you want to,” I said.
Tears started rolling down her gray face. “I don’t think I can walk.”
“We’ll help you,” I said. “But you have to behave.”
She bit her bottom lip so hard that tiny blood bubbles formed around her teeth.
It took more convincing—we had to get her to put the lamp down and let us lift her up. But we did get her upstairs and into the shower. Viola got her cleaned up and I changed her bedding and aired out her room. I filled a few water bottles and grabbed a couple of apples from the kitchen, which seemed to have been spared from damage.
We put Ellen, her eyes still big and terrified, into bed, though sitting up. I didn’t know if she’d decided to obey us or was just too tired to fight anymore. She had calmed down enough to stay on the bed, but it was going to be a rough night.
“Should we lock her in?” I asked Viola.
“Nah. If she gets out and tries to run, she’ll die of exposure. Problem will be solved for all of us.” Viola paused, noticing my questioning eyes. “Don’t worry, Beth, I’ll check on her through the night,” she continued as she closed Ellen’s door. “We’re past the worst of it. Now that she knows where she is and what’s going on, she’s still going to struggle, but maybe she’ll stay in her room. She knows she’s safe and at some point she might realize that others care about her.”
“How long before she can function?”
“Not sure. Couple more days, maybe. I’ve seen it happen sooner. Maybe tomorrow.”
I debated my next words, but then went for it. “Viola, Benny told me that Ellen is a test.”
Viola rolled her eyes. She still had a streak of blood on her face, but it had dried. “Of course she did. None of her business, none of your business, but there we are.”
We made our way toward the stairs.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this,” I said as I took the first step.
Viola laughed once. “Beth, this is nothing. Absolutely nothing. The girls who have come through here have given me hundreds of challenges. I screwed up a few months ago. I understand why the powers that be felt like they needed to ‘test’ me. But they aren’t going to take this job from me. This is a great place to send troublemakers. They don’t want to lose it, and no one else will run this place. It’s all going to be fine. My goal is to get Ellen clean and then convince her to stay that way, but not because it’s a test—because it’s what needs to be done. It will take some time, but I’m the one to do it. If she fails, then at least I gave it my best.”
We stopped outside Viola’s room.
“You’ve worked with other junkies?”
“So many, I couldn’t even count.” Viola frowned. “Ellen was particularly messed up, though. Honestly, I wasn’t sure she would survive, but I think she will now. At least until she uses again. I’m going to work hard to make sure that never happens.”
“You’re not just a babysitter. You do good.”
Viola smirked. “Let’s keep that between the two of us. Want to help me a little more? I need to get the dining room put back together.”
“Sure,” I said. “But I have to know, Viola. Would you have shot her?”
“If I thought I needed to.” Viola didn’t hesitate.
“Were you close?”
She smirked again. “Gun wasn’t loaded tonight, Beth, but don’t get me wrong, most of the time it is. I’ve had to fire it before, but I’m not giving you those details. Don’t bother asking me if I’ve killed anyone. I won’t answer, and anyone who would brag about such a thing shouldn’t carry a weapon. Anyway, let’s get the dining room cleaned up.”
As we worked, I asked about Randy’s wife. Viola had no memory of her at all, nothing. I asked her about the girls and their father again, but she wanted to talk about that less than she did about who she might have shot.
She did ease my mind one way. She said she had asked Donner to check on the girls, and he was going to drive out to Tex’s home the next day or so to make sure they were okay.
I was relieved that someone was going to do that. I wanted to go with Donner. As I told Viola good night, I tried to figure out how to ask him, how to word the question the right way so he would say yes.
But by the time I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes, I was too tired to think about anything else.