Page 80 of Solanum

"Yup," she agreed, taking a swig of her water. "How's Nora?"

"Quiet. Hiding. Asleep at the moment. Does she talk to you much?" I asked.

Sali shook her head, then shrugged. "Depends. She sits with me a lot. It seems to soothe her. She talks to Maggie more. She's closed off to Anita a little bit, I think."

"She won't talk to me or Anita much."

"Give her time. Like I said, don't give up on her." She leaned against the kitchen table facing me. "You seen my evil twin around?"

"She swept in here to fix some tea then trotted off outside. Something about the garden. Why doesn't she act like she got shot not that long ago?"

"She's a strange hippie who meditates her pain away." Sali shrugged, a smirk accompanying it. "Can't really know for sure. Whatever it takes, you know?"

"Yeah."

Maggie descended the stairs, her expression slightly drawn when she folded her arms over her middle. Her gaze met mine before she leaned into Sali's outstretched arm.

"Where'd you go, babe?"

"Checking on Nora. I can't get her to shower," she said, concern wrinkling her brow. "And she won't drink anything cold at all. Anita's coming by this afternoon. I'm worried she's going to get dehydrated."

"Is she eating?" asked Sali, her brow furrowed.

"Not much." Maggie looked to me then. "Caroline, do you know something about a bracelet?"

"What do you mean?" My brow furrowed and I looked between them.

"She keeps asking for her bracelet. Mainly when she's upset. She didn't have any belongings at the hospital," she said, rubbing Sali's back as if trying to soothe her. "I was thinking to go look for it at her condo."

"What's it look like?" asked Sali, her brow furrowed at the odd request.

"She said black stones, silver, with a—"

"A silver leaf on it." I nodded then, my stomach twisting in a knot. "I know what it looks like."

"I have her keys." Maggie nodded toward her purse by the front door.

"We'll go look for it," said Sali. "Maybe Caroline can get her to eat something."

"I'll try." I set my mug down on the counter. "Is she awake?"

Maggie nodded, glancing back toward the stairs. "Very quiet this morning."

"I'll go up." I trained my eyes on the stairs. "If you go find her bracelet."

"We will," Maggie agreed, urging Sali with her. "C'mon."

"Here." Sali reached on top of the refrigerator and pulled down a room-temperature bottle of red Gatorade. "See if you can get her to sip some of this."

"All right."

We parted, and I made my way through the oversized and eerily quiet house. Without Ben, his rowdy daughter, or the chaos from random law enforcement filtering in and out, the way their house fell into a steady hum unnerved me. There weren't any city sounds like traffic or sirens in this area to break the quiet or bustling batches of people rushing the streets. The serenity here, like a distant oasis far out in a hot desert, unnerved me some. I hadn't been back to work and didn't plan to until Nora was better. Or at least verbal.

I found her in the guestroom as always, curled up on the bed with Maggie's tablet perched on the pillow beside her. Three thick blankets wrapped around her despite the warmth in the room. Her hair, now stringy, oily strands, cradled her sunken cheeks. I set the drink down on the nightstand, then crouched at the side of the bed so that she'd look at me. Her lips, cracked and parched, pressed together before she even glanced at me.

"What are you reading?" I asked, using a single finger to stroke the back of her hand.

She closed her eyes, but I couldn't tell if my touch soothed her or caused her pain. "Nothing special."

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