Actually, she was once again running through the script she’d come up with on the slightly-over-the-speed-limit drive to the hospital. She’d had almost no warning and little time to invent something plausible that would enable blonde-haired, dark-eyed Alice Pieszecki to convince the hospital that she was, in fact, dark-haired hazel-eyed Shane McCutcheon’s half sister, and her mind was still mulling it over as she walked up to Marina and Bette.

“Hi, Alice,” Marina intervened in what she was certain was going to be an unpleasant scene. “Thanks for getting here so quickly.”

“Tina drove,” Alice said curtly, giving Bette a withering glance. “She’s parking the car now. Bette, I think it would be best if you went for a long coffee break.”

Bette lowered her eyes, unable to meet Alice’s hostile gaze. “Of course,” she stammered slightly, stood up, and headed for the elevator. “I’ll be in the cafeteria,” she told Marina. “Come get me if there’s any change.”

Marina nodded and gave Alice a warm hug. “Thanks for the warning,” she whispered.

Alice plopped herself down in the chair on the other side of Marina, as if she didn’t want contact with the seat where Bette had been sitting. “All right, Marina, what can you tell me about Shane that I don’t know? I mean, she confides in you, doesn’t she … more so than the rest of us.”

“Not really,” Marina murmured, wondering what she could say that wouldn’t violate Shane’s trust. She had confided in Marina from time to time, things she probably hadn’t told anyone else, but nothing that would help them now. “You know she doesn’t talk about her family, how she grew up.”

Alice nodded. “I know. Nobody even knows her parents’ names, as far as I know. I talked to her roommates and they know even less than we do. Poor Tina. I picked her brain on the way over here too and I know she didn’t really feel like talking about anything, much less about somebody else’s breakdown. She’s having a real hard time, Marina. I didn’t feel it would be safe to leave her alone.”

Marina’s eyes widened. “That bad?”

“Worse,” Alice sighed. “It’s like…like someone just turned out the lights inside. I’ve never seen her so … she’s just devastated. Of all the things she ever imagined, this was not one of them. That Bette would cheat on her. And not even try to hide it. “I mean, she KNEW Tina was at the gallery. How could she….”