Page 92 of Bears Behaving Badly
Nadia sniffed and turned back to Annette, holding out a black cardigan with pearl buttons. “No, no, don’t put your arms through the sleeves! That’s not what they’re for.”
“Whatarethey for?”
“To help you look breezy and relaxed,” Nadia replied, exasperated.
“I’m neither. It’s a memorial, not a regatta, and the sweater eventually falls off.”
“Look, you demanded my help—”
“David and I called and politely asked where Lund’s memorial was taking place.”
“—and you’re getting it. Ah! David, that’s just excellent. No, leave that one unbuttoned, too. There. You two look marginally less horrifying than you did five minutes ago. I did the very best I could with the wretched material I had to work with.”
“It’s great,” Annette said, looking down at herself and over at David. “Thank you.”
“Very extremely great,” David said, giving Annette an appreciative once-over.
She could feel her face getting warm because her priorities were screwed and abruptly asked, “Can we talk about what happened with Gomph yesterday?”
“He couldn’t find you and was in high dudgeon. And then I left and have taken care not to be seen since.”
“Nadia, the whole point was for you to stay out of trouble by pretending to try to rein us in.”
“I am. My vacation started yesterday. And while I was chasing Gomph away from you like an aggrieved oxpecker—do stop laughing, David, I’m aware it’s an amusing mental image but get ahold of yourself—anyway, I made a rather large fuss about how I refused,refused, to miss my flight. And Oz was at my side, appropriately and loudly sympathetic. Everyone thinks I’m in the Badlands today and thus not helping you, nor hindering the bad guys. And speaking of hindering, have you seen Oz?”
“Have you? Because he looked terrible an hour ago.” David briefly explained Oz’s predicament and subsequent dispatchment to the studio. “But no witnesses and no plate number.”
“Why in the world would anyone want to maim an account—Oh, bugger.” Nadia raised stricken eyes to Annette. “I gave him all those account numbers to sift through. Lund’s wretched colleagues must be worried he’s found something.”
“At least we know he was on the right track.” When the women had nothing to say, he added, “Subjectively, that sucks, though. Worse than you having to cancel your vacation.”
Annette was still silent. Nadia’s vacations were plotted and planned like an invasion into a hostile territory. (Which was entirely possible, depending on Nadia’s destination that year.) Research began months in advance, as did the wardrobe dry runs. They were everything to her, and the prep work was damned entertaining to watch.
“I’m sorry. I forgot about your vacation,” she confessed.
“Me, too,” David added. Then: “The Badlands?”
“What?”
“I guess I figured you for… I dunno. Milan? Or Paris. Or Moscow. Or anywhere but South Dakota.”
“I wanted to see how bad your so-called Badlands are. And I would like to see a buffalo.”
Annette could picture Nadia soaring over Mount Rushmore, riding the thermals over 200,000 acres of wilderness with an occasional break to devour chipmunks and chicken nuggets. “I’m sorry.”
“It sucks that we wrecked your vacation,” David added.
“You didn’t wreck anything, the dead fuckstick did. And I’m glad Oz will make a full recovery.”
“A worry for another time. And maybe you’ll be able to see a buffalo anyway, since...”Buffalo. Sounds exotic. Or at least it would to someone from Great Britain, like Nadia. At least buffalo wouldn’t have to be imported. But are they exported? Because that would…
“Annette? Darling? You trailed off, and now you have a silly look on your face. Even for you.”
“Exotic pets,” Annette said slowly. “Lund was an importer and an exporter. We missed something.”
David snorted. “No doubt. Instead of getting ahead of it—any of it—we’ve just been reacting. Prob’ly missed a couple of things.”
“Maybe it’s not about the abuse per se,” Annette said. She could feel her brain trying to seize on…something. “Maybe it was his means to an end.”
