The group soon packed their things and vacated the hotel. Marcus’s funeral would be held the following day and everybody wanted to bid him farewell. For Helen, these were perhaps the most excruciating hours of her stay. Having to collect clothes she had worn on her dates with him brought back the ugly memory of his tragic death. She remembered every single detail, but, the image that dominated her mind was Marcus, sitting on the saddle of his Harley, as their eyes met across the road. That night, she realized that their fates had been entwined and that was the main reason why she had insisted on dating him so much. At the same time however, Helen discovered that, as much as she would like to revisit Los Angeles one day, it would be impossible. They hadn’t met there, but most of their relationship had unfolded in the city of angels. That’s where Helen had known and loved her own angel.

Helen might have been grieving for Marcus, but Michelle’s outburst in her hotel room had been lingering in her mind as well. Her friend hadn’t been famous for her subtlety. Indeed, Michelle could be very blunt, but that was one of the things that Helen liked most about her. More importantly, though, she was the one who had offered her the job as her personal assistant. Had it not been for her, Helen wouldn’t have met Marcus at all. She valued her friendship with her and hated it that the two of them had barely exchanged words, until they boarded the plane. Luckily, she, Michelle and Olivia sat in adjacent seats, but she had to wait long enough for the boarding to be completed, as the noise from luggage being loaded and the chattering would make it hard for them to hear each other.

The massive jet engines roared, as they lifted off. Michelle looked out the window on her right, as Helen wrapped her fingers around her wrist.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.” She said in a sweet tone.

“Don’t be.” Michelle attempted a lazy tone, lightly shaking her head. “I told you about that song and I yelled at you. I’m such a catch. I’d hug you, but…” Michelle paused and looked over her headrest. “Mr. Creepy is watching. He’ll start being smart again.”

“Nope,” Rick’s usually happy voice came out drowsy; he even had a sullen look on his face. “Not anymore.”

“This is the part where you explain to them ‘why’.” Gina interjected.

“Death has that effect on you.” Rick explained. “My best friend’s friend just died. Don’t expect me to be all cheerful.”

Helen was intrigued, as a devious smile spread across Michelle’s face. She didn’t address him, though. Instead, she leaned over to Helen and whispered in her ear:

“Great. Now we’ll have two Gina’s. I’ll call him ‘Gick’ from now on.”

Helen gave a short laugh, biting her lower lip, as Michelle winked at her.

“There’s that cute smile again.” She pointed at her. “I was starting to wonder where it had gone.”

“I’m really grateful to you, Michelle.” Helen said in a more mellow tone. “I’ve experienced more in these past three weeks than in my whole life. I’m a little mad at myself for taking money from you. Now that is something I shouldn’t have done.”

“The job was just a pretext, sweetheart.” Michelle smiled. “It wasn’t much of a job, anyway. I couldn’t ask you to follow us down to California, flat broke. How would you pay for anything?”

“Pardon me for interrupting this tender moment, but can I have your attention?” Olivia joined the conversation, holding a newspaper in front of her. “We already know that Helen’s truck was found close to Narrowsburg. But, the paper says that it was heading towards New York, not Pennsylvania.”

“I’m not following you.” Michelle complained. “I can’t see much, either. Bring it closer.”

Olivia obliged, setting the newspaper down on Helen’s lap. The article confirmed her words.

“Ok, two questions.” Olivia went on. “One: Why was he on Route 97? Shouldn’t he be using the interstate? Two: Why would he be driving towards New York? What was he still doing there? I mean, shouldn’t he be heading in the opposite direction?”

“I can only answer the first one.” Helen spoke in a puzzled tone. “He wanted to avoid highways. Interstates are full of traffic cameras. It’s weird. He’d left Berwick almost 48 hours earlier. I doubt it’d take him more than six hours to get there.”

“We need to talk to the police.” Olivia said firmly. “Something is seriously wrong here.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Helen said with a nod. “What do you think it could be?”

“I have no idea, honey.” Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “It could be anything, really. This clue doesn’t mean much by itself, but his phone had been off all that time. Now, why would he do that?”

“Let’s not speculate, shall we?” Michelle suggested. “Let’s wait until after the funeral. The cops have a lot of explaining to do.”

Helen continued to stare at the newspaper, in the hope that Olivia had discovered an important piece of the puzzle. Part of her was desperate to believe that she didn’t know the whole truth. Still, she agreed with Michelle. Speculating was not a good idea. At any rate, the moment that she would confront the police was very close. Soon, she would have the answers that she so much needed…