You're right, it is a dead end counter. Started the game over and it was 0. Killed her once and next day/loop it turned into 1. In the starting room with the deodorant, in the bottom left side of the wall, there is a counter. Was this on purpose or a bug? Either way, I think you should leave it in.
I could have sworn I already deleted the counter from the game... But Ig I didn't hahaha x'D I put the counter in there for game testing - so it's kinda useless now
