Page 11 of Be A Detective, They Said. It’ll Be Fun, They Said

But Nina wasn’t giggling. She handed the keys to Marty. “You drive.”

I grabbed her hand. “Hey, you okay?”

She nodded, climbing into the backset, giving my hand a weak return squeeze. “Just some wild shit in their heads. I’m here to tell you, those people are loons, and it’s gonna be a long time before I get that kind of batshit out of my brain,” she said wearily. “I don’t know how people live like that, afraid of every damn thing. It’s not just Bigfoot they’re worried about, either. It’s electrical lines and 5G and phone tapping and…everything. All of ’em at once was a lot. It got dark fast.”

Marty reached back and brushed Nina’s hair from her face. “Hey. You up to going into the woods and sniffing around? Because we can call it here and now if need be.”

She gripped Marty’s wrist and shook her head. “Just give me a few and I’ll be fine.”

Not much spooked our girl. She was the epitome of strength and fearlessness, but her face said she’d read things that had upset her.

I decided to ride in the back with her, pulling her to me and easing her head to my shoulder, for which she gave me no guff. Instead, Nina pressed her silky head to my shoulder and let me stroke her cool cheek to calm her fears.

Nina rarely reached out for any kind of physical comfort. That she allowed me to comfort her meant she was afraid.

And if Nina was afraid, we all should be.

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