Page 50 of Good Dirt

Questions

E bby never thought she’d find herself coming to Henry’s defense, not after what he did to her. Yet here she is at the commissariat, muddling through her explanation in French, with Avery’s assistance. The police have sequestered Henry’s rental car, his digital camera, and his smartphone, which they found lodged in the riverbed. They have questioned Henry, but he’s still in the hospital.

Yes, Henry is just a tourist, she tells the police. Yes, both she and Avery have known Henry for a number of years. They all grew up in the same part of the United States. No, there is nothing in Henry’s past to lead them to believe that he might be connected, in any way, to the recent murder in the area. They say nothing about the day that Henry was supposed to have married Ebby, about the last time that Henry disappeared without warning.

“The car wasn’t abandoned, monsieur l’agent, ” Ebby says. “He couldn’t get back to it because he hurt himself. Didn’t your policiers find him on the ground?”

“Henry goes out every morning to take photos, wherever he is,” Avery adds, mimicking the clicking of a shutter with one hand.

The police haven’t arrested Henry, but they will send someone to question him at the hospital, once the doctors are through testing him. They ask Ebby and Avery more questions about Henry’s exact whereabouts yesterday, and also their own, around the time that they believe the woman was murdered. They ask again about the white SUV that Ebby saw near the vineyard.

“I couldn’t see who was driving or anything, just the SUV, turning in to that road around six.”

“And you did not think that this could be your friend Henry?”

“No, I…” Ebby doesn’t want to say, in front of Avery, that she had just seen Henry because he had come to the cottage to speak with her and that she’d been too distracted by the encounter to think too much about what she was seeing. She hears herself repeating the point Avery made earlier. “No. There are so many white SUVs.”

Ebby isn’t sure what their rights are, exactly. She takes comfort in knowing that Avery is an attorney, even if Avery is not a criminal attorney. Even if Avery happens to be several thousand miles, and six time zones, out of her jurisdiction.

Avery as tourist-attorney is fascinating to see. She is different. Polite but not warm. Her back is even straighter than usual and only now does Ebby realize that Avery has pulled her hair into a low, taut bun. When did that happen? And when, exactly, did she and Avery slip into this tentative alliance?