“I insist.”
“Really –”
I cut her off again saying, “Better views from up there.”
She gave me another smile and a, “Thanks,” then rolled herself out, down a ramp and to the front passenger side of Max’s Jeep.
Max opened the door and lifted Bitsy in without effort like he’d done it more than once before. I grabbed the chair and wheeled it to the rear of the truck, thinking he was so obviously strong and detesting that suddenly too. Bitsy was thin, though not skinny, and looked fit regardless of the wheelchair. But standing, as I saw in the photo, she was Anna’s height and Anna, I guessed, was my height which meant Bitsy was not exactly light as a feather.
I pulled the seat up at the middle, folding the chair as I’d done to Charlie’s time and time again, thinking Anna was blonde and she was my height. She was also, according to Arlene, funny. She didn’t look like me, I wasn’t hideous but I certainly didn’t have her beauty or her obvious effervescence, but we resembled each other.
Maybe Max, at long last, thought he’d found a replacement. Not the real thing, never to have the real thing again, but close enough.
“I got it, Duchess,” Max told me as I pulled up the back of the Cherokee to load the chair.
“Right,” I muttered and walked around him to sit behind Bitsy, not sparing him a glance. I got in and buckled up.
“It’s nice that you came, Nina,” Bitsy said into the car. “I know you’re on vacation and this is probably the last thing you wanted to do.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Max got in and I noticed he did this twisted so his clear, gray, too intelligent eyes were on me. I looked out my window.
“Please don’t worry. I’m fine,” I told Bitsy but spoke to the window.
“It’s just that,” Bitsy said as Max switched on the ignition and started to back out, “Max and I’ve been friends for a good long while and I’d heard about you so I was curious. And, without making a big production out of it, I couldn’t come to you.”
“Really, it’s okay,” I assured her again. “It isn’t every day a girl goes to a Police Station. I came out for an adventure and here it is. I’m having it.”
She laughed quietly at my lame joke but she did it without a lot of humor. “Yeah, great adventure, hunh?”
I didn’t reply. Instead I hesitated then leaned forward, reached through and curled my fingers around her shoulder. I felt it tense under my hand but I gave it a squeeze and then pulled away and sat back.
We rode in silence to the Station, not exactly comfortable since everyone was in their own thoughts and none of our thoughts were good. However, fortunately, it wasn’t a long ride.
I stayed silent and hung back as Max took care of Bitsy and she wheeled herself into the Station.
“I’ll go find Mick,” Max said when we were all inside, moving forward, as usual taking charge and Bitsy looked relieved to wheel herself to a bank of chairs.
I followed and she backed in beside one, giving me my cue to sit by her.
“This is stupid, this whole thing,” she muttered when I sat down.
Her head was tilted down but she was looking under her lashes at the reception desk.
“What is?” I asked quietly.
“I shoulda let Mick come up to the house, talk to me there,” Bitsy looked at me, I noticed her face had changed, the mask was falling, grief was moving to the surface and she whispered, “I just couldn’t.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her.
“It’s already a crime scene, my house.” She was still whispering. “I can’t go to the utility room. It’s roped off with yellow tape.”
These words made my heart hurt for her and my stomach pitch in revulsion at the knowledge she shared with me. So without hesitation this time, I covered her hand with mine. She turned hers so it was palm to palm and her fingers curled and, when they did, so did mine.
“You do this as you have to do it,” I said to her.
“I don’t want any more of this in my house.”