Page 37 of The Glass Dolphin

“He led me to several people I interviewed,” Alice said. “It was alongtime ago, and most of those people aren’t with us anymore.”

“Things get lost,” Laurel murmured.

“Or stored in attics,” Robin said. “Forgotten.”

Lost and forgotten. Alice honestly felt like that herself sometimes. She watched everyone for a few more moments, and then she stepped over to Kristen. “Listen,” she said as she hugged her. “I know it’s not the answer you want, but I’m going to keep working on it, okay?”

“I know you will, dear.” Kristen hadn’t shed a tear today. When she’d first met with Alice last week, she had. She simply didn’t understand how things could’ve gotten so mixed up. Alice didn’t either, but as a lawyer, she loved a good mystery.

She’d find the evidence…somehow. Now, what it showed still might not be what Kristen or Jean or Clara wanted. But Alice would find it.

“I have to take off,” she said to the group at-large, and that caused Julia and Maddy to turn toward her.

“Already?” Julia asked.

“We finished eating an hour ago.” Alice smiled at her as she left the kitchen and entered the living space. “How long were you planning on staying?”

“I don’t know,” Julia said. “All day?” She trilled out a light laugh and then smiled at El. “I have to get back to the inn anyway.”

“I’ll head out with you,” El said, and that made three of them.

“We should go over your wedding binder,” Robin said to Maddy, and the blonde woman nodded. Two more.

Alice turned back to Kristen. “Do you need a ride? I can take you home.”

“I’m going to get a RideShare with Laurel,” Kristen said. “But thank you.”

Laurel looked up from her phone, her eyes catching on Alice’s. She nodded to Laurel, who nodded back, Alice’s silent way of saying,Please make sure she’s okay and inside her condo before you leave.

“All right, you two,” Alice said as she faced AJ and Kelli. “Let me see if the baby will kick for me.” She grinned widely as she put her hand on Kelli’s bulging belly. She would rather do anything than be pregnant right now, but she knew the joy it had brought to Kelly’s life. Shad had never been a father, and he glowed every time Alice saw him.

“She’s not moving,” Kelli said as she placed her hand over Alice’s. Their eyes met, and Alice wanted to reassure her that everything was fine. Nothing had changed. Adjusting wasn’t Kelli’s strong suit, that was for sure.

Kelli pressed Alice’s palm into her belly further. “Sometimes, if you annoy her, she’ll kick back.”

“So she’s like you already.” Alice grinned, laughed, and took Kelli into a hug when her baby steadfastly refused to be budged. “I’m so happy for you, my friend. Being a girl-mom is the best.”

“Thank you, Alice,” Kelli whispered. “For helping Kristen, too.”

Alice moved back, her smile waning. “I hope I can,” she said. “It’s hard to recreate records from a time when there were no computers.”

“I thought they went back and scanned in hand-written records,” AJ said. “That’s what they did in the collegiate sports programs.” She cut a look to Kelli. “When I was covering those stories, I learned that.”

“Sure,” Alice said easily. “Because then, if the handwritten paperwork gets ruined with say, water or fire or other damage, it’s in the computer somewhere, right?”

“Right.”

“But, AJ, there was no record to scan. Computers didn’t exist until the mid-seventies. This record burned fifteen years before that.”

AJ pressed her lips together. “Yeah, I get it. It just feels…”

Alice knew exactly how it felt. “Unjust,” she supplied, and AJ’s eyes filled with tears. Alice grabbed onto her too, and she hugged her fiercely. “I’m going to keep working on it.”

As a lawyer, Alice was always very careful not to promise something she couldn’t deliver. So she couldn’t tell AJ and Kelli not to worry, that she’d handle this, that she’d find what they needed. It was very possible what they needed did not exist. That she may never find it.

She simply needed to do her best work and try until all the options had been exhausted. She loved Kristen so much, and she would do that for her.

Smiling her way past them, she swung her attention to Clara and Jean. It was obvious who the protector was and who was submissive. Jean’s chin shook, but she raised it to Alice. “Thank you for helping us with this.”

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