Marina sighed. “I’ll go outside. It won’t take long. Why don’t you wait here? In case there’s news.”

Bette nodded in agreement. Actually, she was grateful not to be on the listening end of Marina’s conversation with Alice. Knowing Alice, she’d have plenty to say about Bette, and she didn’t want to put Marina in an awkward position of having to censor her words to spare her feelings. Alice would make them known to her soon enough.

Marina was surprised to see a clearly late afternoon sun slanting between the buildings. She glanced at her watch and realized they’d been there for four hours already. It could be a long night. She punched in Alice’s code and waited for her to answer.

“Marina? Where are you?” Alice interrogated. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“Sorry, Alice. We’re at the hospital.”

“We who? Why?” The alarm was evident in Alice’s voice.

“It’s Shane … she … well, she …. Cherie broke up with her last night. She was pretty harsh about it and Shane took it hard. Bette and I brought her to Cedars-Sinai. We’re in the Emergency Room.” Marina spoke quickly, her accent thickening, trying not to give Alice time to bring up Bette and Tina.

“What happened? Did she hurt herself? Did she OD? Did she…?”

“No, no,” Marina tried to reassure her friend. “She just … went away.”

“What the hell does THAT mean?” Alice demanded.

“I don’t know, Alice. It’s like she’s not there. I mean, her body is, but I don’t know where she is.”

“You know about Bette and T, right?”

“Yes,” Marina said quietly. “Bette told me.”

“Not the whole story, I’ll bet.”

“Enough,” Marina responded, “she told me enough.”

“Look,” Alice continued, “I know Tina is going to want to see Shane. But I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to see Bette right now. She’s really torn up, and I don’t blame her. That was a really low thing to do to her.”

“I understand. But Alice…” Marina hesitated, “we need you. Someone has to sign for Shane….”

“I can’t do that!” Alice yelped. “You have to be a relative, don’t you?”

“Yes. But you know the problem. Shane doesn’t have any family. At least none that I know of.”

“She has an uncle in rehab somewhere.”

Marina sighed. “There’s no time. If someone doesn’t come and sign for her, they’ll get a court order to commit her. That means Millview.”

“Fuck that!” Alice exploded. “Can’t you or Bette…?”

“No, they already know we’re just friends of hers.” Marina swallowed. “I told them … I said I thought Shane had a sister named Alice.”

“You WHAT?????”

“I’m sorry,” Marina gestured, “I didn’t know what else to say. We can’t let her go to somewhere like Millview.”

“How the hell am I supposed to pull that off?” Alice demanded.

“You’ll think of something,” Marina tried to soothe her friend, “you always do.”

“Thanks, Marina!” The sarcasm in Alice’s voice was discernible.

“Please, Alice,” Marina begged. “Just get here. As soon as you can. Besides, you know more about her than just about anyone.”

“Sure, I do…next to nothing, when it comes to her family, her life before….”

“I know it wasn’t good,” Marina choked.

“No, it wasn’t. All right,” she sighed, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Alice?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you could persuade Tina to stay home? Just for now? I don’t want to create any….”

“It’s a little late to avoid hurt feelings,” Alice stated bitterly. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks. And Alice? If Tina insists on coming, will you call me? So I can let Bette know?”

“Fine! For Tina’s sake, I’ll do that.”