It was not gloomy and rainy. Instead, it was bright and sunny. He hated it. And he hated the young man standing next to the pastor with an even greater passion.
Why didn't you protect her, Hardy? Huh? Why not? She claimed you cared more about her than I did, but at least I never let her DIE!
Ned knew, of course, that his thinking was irrational. After all, he had been in several situations where Frank had managed to get to Nancy before him. So he knew that blaming Frank was wrong….well, some part of him did. Most of him was boiling mad and overflowing with grief. As the pastor droned on, he shook, and began to clench and unclench his hands.
He felt a reassuring hand on his wrist as his fists clenched for about the tenth time. "Ned, please. Not here." He turned to look into the anguished blue eyes of Bess.
"But, Bess, he…" She silenced him with a look, indicating they would talk later, and turned to hear the rest of the pastor's words.
Afterwards, when it was all over, he wandered a short distance away, trusting that if Bess really wanted to talk to him, she'd follow. And follow she did, as well as George.
"Ned," Bess began. "You can't blame Frank for this." George nodded in silent agreement. "He's already beating himself up enough….he doesn't need you adding to the guilt."
"Besides," George added. "Nancy would be really mad at you if you keep blaming Frank."
The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. George was right – Nancy had berated him constantly for being jealous of Frank and blaming the other guy for things beyond his control. "Yeah….she would….." He turned his gaze to look at Frank, who stood as if frozen by the grave. Ned couldn't be sure, but it looked as if Frank might be crying, if the way his head was down and his hunched shoulders meant anything. Then he looked back to Bess and George.
"C'mon….we should be leaving." The three of them walked off to the cars, with Ned briskly leading the way.
Later
Bess and George were in Bess's room that evening, George doing stretches on the floor, and Bess silently applying nail polish, just for something to do.
"Bess," George said, breaking the little concentration her cousin had on her task. Startled, Bess spilled the polish on her bedspread.
"Oh no!" Bess frantically grabbed tissues to try to wipe it off.
"It was an old one anyway," George said, calmly. "It gives you an excuse to buy a new one."
"Yeah, but Nancy helped me pick this one out," Bess said faintly. George got up to hug her cousin.
"I'm sorry, Bess, I didn't know."
"S'ok," Bess sniffled. "I've shopped without her there before, it's just…."
"I know." George gave her another hug. She had never had much patience with her cousin's shopping addiction, or frequent attempts to lose weight. Nancy had had that patience, and understood the thrills of bargain hunting. George understood shopping only when it involved getting necessary clothing, like formal wear or sports outfits, than just for the fun of it. But she resolved to try a little harder, since Nancy was gone. She would adjust – everyone would, eventually.
"So," Bess said, after another minute of sniffling. "What did you want?" George suddenly felt reluctant to say, but since the thought was already there…..
"I wanted to ask you…..do you agree with Ned?"
"That Frank failed?" Bess queried. George nodded. "No. Frank loved Nancy. I've noticed that a lot of times on cases." She gave a wicked grin. "Especially that one in Egypt that I told you about."
George laughed, remembering her cousin's description. Bess had been so excited that she'd called George immediately after they got home to tell her that she'd accidentally interrupted a moment between Nancy and Frank.
"And I felt so embarrassed, and of course I left them alone immediately. Nancy denied anything, but she can't lie to me, George. I'm sure that more than just hand holding was going on on that balcony! I mean, they'd been gazing at each other the whole time we were solving the case…"
"Yeah, I noticed it, too…Frank would have done anything for her. If he could've, I bet he would've taken the bullet instead…." George trailed off.
Bess nodded emphatically. "Exactly. And Ned knows it. I think more than the rest of us, except perhaps Joe, Ned noticed how Frank felt, and how Nancy felt toward Frank. He was just better at ignoring it. What's upsetting Ned, though, was that Frank couldn't take the bullet instead."
"Yeah….I just wishing he would stop glaring at Frank like he'd like to kill him. Joe says Frank's really been devastated by all this…you know, he was in the hospital yesterday, and is actually supposed to go back tonight…they weren't going to let him come at all," Bess covered her mouth at that, "but I think Mr. Drew and Mr. Hardy pulled a few strings."
"Not let Frank attend the funeral?" Bess gasped. "That would've made him ever worse!"
George agreed. "But I'm not sure attending helped him much, either."
