Page 8 of Solanum

Chapter Two

"You okay?" I asked Nora as she stood in the bathroom of our shared motel room.

She held her white blouse under the hot water, attempting to scrub out the blood from the cuff of her sleeve. "It won't come out."

"It doesn't usually. Peroxide could help."

"Today sucked," she said, sighing. "I hate Spokane. I want to go home."

"Sorry, girl. We got a few more days out here at least."

"Well, I at least want my own room."

"Put in a request with Wilkinson. See where that gets you." I laughed at her, shaking my head. "All four guys are sharing a room with only two beds. We should be happy."

"Yeah, well, you snore. I'm not happy." She scowled at me and I only laughed more.

"I do not. Why are you so grumpy today?"

"Because yesterday was worse than today." She drew in a slow breath.

"The Four Point case…" I softened when I noticed her level of disturbance increase.

"What he did to that detective…" She shook her head, her resolve falling away. "I couldn't interview her, Caroline. I couldn't. All she did was scream and ask to die. Over and over…"

"I know. I'm sorry you had to see that…" I pushed myself up to sit on the sink beside her while she continued to abuse her shirt. "Was Anita there?"

"Anita and Walsh. A few other people I didn't know. The detective's girlfriend is an A.D.A., did you know?"

"Mercedes Bidwell." I nodded. "Yeah. I know. How was she?"

"Destroyed." Nora's red-ringed eyes met mine as she gave up on her shirt. "Everyone was devastated. Anita was so upset. I've never seen her like that. She could hardly hold it together herself."

"Anita? She's a damn rock…" My heart sank in my chest at the information she tossed at me, for all the people involved.

"She's not though…she has a really big heart. She's a good doctor…" Nora sniffled, swiping at her eyes as she looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm just tired. Everything hits me so hard sometimes and my life feels like it's closing in on itself. Like the past and present merge."

I nodded, listening to her while I fought my own tangled emotions. Less about my own history, and more about her present pain.

"I should call Maya," she said.

"You just talked to her like twenty minutes ago. She's fine and at work."

"Still…"

"Nor…" I turned off the water and wrestled the wet shirt from her hands. "Leave it. Come lie down."

She shook her head, staring up at the ceiling while fighting tears as if gravity would keep them in her eyes. I hopped off the sink and pressed my palm against her back.

"C'mon. Let's go." I urged her from the bathroom, and she listened to me, following me to the queen-sized bed in the room.

She sat down, swiping at her eyes before leaning her elbows on her knees. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Between the Four Point case situation, and that sniper shot that showered you with someone else's entrails, it's been a day…"

"A whole day. A year-long day," she said, leaning up to look at me again. "Why doesn't anything upset you?"

"Things upset me, Nora." I untied my boots, dropping one after the other on to the carpet. "Just differently."

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