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Her smile tuned in and out. Her eyes looked empty, and she was looking at Tean, but also through him.
“Would you like to sit down?” Theo asked, getting up from his seat and favoring his stiff knee. Auggie was holding Theo’s hand. Clutching it might be a better word.
“No, thanks.” Missy went blank again. After a moment, she said, “The hotel has my stuff in storage, and now I have to convince them to rent me a room—any room—so I can shower, and then I have to get out of here.” A laugh snaked its way out of her on the last few words. She seemed to fight it, and then, after a long moment, managed to bite off the sound.
“You can use our room,” Jem said.
“No, I couldn’t—”
“Yes, please,” Tean said. “Let’s get your bags, and we’ll take them upstairs right now. Take a shower. Rest for a little while. If you decide you still want to leave today, we’ll help you pack, and if you want to get your own room and have a night to recharge, well, they’ll still have plenty of rooms later today.”
Missy waffled.
“Come on,” Jem said, bounding out of his chair. “Sorry, folks. Show’s over.”
“North,” Shaw wailed, “we didn’t get his autograph.”
“Here,” Emery said. “Let me show you the sleeper hold. How long do you think his brain can go without oxygen?”
Tean refused to look back.
They collected her bags from where the resort had stored them after the arrest, and then they took the elevator up to their floor. There didn’t seem to be much to say. Missy stared out from the dark hollows of her eyes and seemed to be seeing somewhere else.
The resort’s cleaning staff had straightened up the room: the bed was freshly made, the curtains drawn back, the water in the reservoir coppery in the afternoon light and shimmering like a struck gong.
“Take as long as you need,” Tean said. “Do you want someone to stay? Is that weird?”
Missy shook her head. “You didn’t have to—thank you.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“Let’s give her some privacy,” Jem said, taking Tean’s hand.
“If you need anything,” Tean said, “text. Or call. Or—do you have Snapchat? Jem made me get it.”
“We’ll be downstairs,” Jem said, and a smile fluttered on Missy’s lips before it was gone again.
They rode the elevator down.
“I guess now that Rod’s—” Jem stopped himself. “I guess we’re never going to know why he went after Missy, are we?”
“I imagine it was because he hated her and, of course, because he thought he could get away with it. But no, we’ll never know for certain.” Tean stopped. “She looked—we shouldn’t have left her alone.”
“She had her whole world turned upside down,” Jem said. “She never thought she’d be through something like that. She spent the last few days having her foundations washed out from underneath her, slowly starting to believe she was going to be convicted of a murder she didn’t commit. That’s a lot. It’s going to take her some time to find her way back to the world she knew.”
Tean touched his eyes.
“She’ll be ok,” Jem said, and he pulled Tean against him in a one-armed hug. “She’s tough.”
The elevator rocked slightly when it stopped at the lobby.
“The hot water,” Tean said.
Jem grimaced. “Oh. Damn.”
“Nobody told her about the hot water.”
“She can call the front desk.”
