I led him into the dining room and then to a chair. "Sit down, Skip. I'll get you a plate."
"Thank you."
I nodded to Lany and Sal as I made my way around the table to the small buffet Mrs. Martinez had put out. I loaded up two plates, one for me and one for Skip, and then carried them both back to the table.
"What would you like to drink?"
"Water would be fine," Skip replied.
"How about some milk?"
Skip raised an eyebrow, but it didn't go up as high as Lany's.
"Milk?" Lany asked. "I thought you all were going to have a drink." He waved his hand toward the small tray with several glasses and a bottle of whiskey on it.
"Alcohol is the last thing either of us needs," I said. "Skip needs sleep, and I can't drink alcohol with pain meds."
And I needed some pain meds.
"Is your arm hurting?" Skip asked.
I nodded. "Yes, it's starting to ache a bit."
A whole lot ofbit.
"I keep some pain meds in the infirmary for when Lany gets hurt. I can get you some."
I pointed to Skip's plate. "Eat first. I can wait."
Skip frowned but picked up his fork and started eating without saying anything.
I called that a win.
I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of milk for Skip and a glass of ice water for myself. I was not a big milk fan. I carried them both into the dining room and set them down on the table between me and Skip before taking the seat next to him.
I grabbed my fork and scooped up the first bite, but before I could get it to my mouth, I glanced up and saw Sal and Lany both watching us, smiles on their faces. "What?"
"It's nice to see you've finally joined the land of the living," Lany said. "You've punished yourself enough over something that wasn't your fault."
I grimaced as I dropped my eyes and took a bite of my food. I'd talked about the Julia situation to Skip because he needed to know why I was the way I was, but I wasn't ready to discuss it with Lany.
Frankly, it was none of his business.
I sent Skip a small smile when I felt his hand on my thigh. That was what I'd been missing even when I had been with Julia. That silent support from someone who cared about me. Maybe if I hadn't been so dazzled by her beauty, I would have figured that out much quicker.
"Was Joe able to find anything else out about Jean?" I asked to get the conversation on to something else.
Sal shook his head. "Nothing yet. I sent him home to his family but told him to be back bright and early to get to work. He said he still had a few feelers to put out tonight before he goes to bed so he hopes to have something for us when he gets here in the morning."
"Do you know how weird this is?" Skip asked. "I worked with Jean for two years before he decided we'd make the perfect couple. And now I find out that he was never even arrested. How—"
"We don't know he wasn't arrested," Sal said.
"Joe said Jean didn't have a criminal record. That means he was never arrested."
"There could be a hundred different reasons Jean's record is clean," Sal explained. "It could be something as simple as a paperwork snafu. Maybe his case hasn't been entered into the computer. We won't know anything until I talk to the D.A. in the morning and Joe has a chance to do a little more digging."
Skip's eyebrows shot up. "A paperwork snafu?"
