I've been reading "Fade to Black" and although I haven't gotten to Dot's part yet, I wanted to write this thing I've been thinking about.
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Dot had never been particularly close to Miss Bell. No one was. Mr. Lawrence was so jealously protective of her that it was hard to even speak to her. Like a child who didn't want to share his favorite toy. But Dot had always had the feeling that she was a sweet woman. A trustworthy woman. She knew Miss Bell would tell her the truth about what had happened to Buddy. She'd heard Miss Bell screaming Buddy's name on the sidewalk outside the studio. That had to mean something. Miss Bell had to know something.
When Dot arrived at Miss Bell's hospital room, the same man who'd been holding Miss Bell outside the studio was sitting in a chair beside her hospital bed. He had a dour look on his thin face, frowning when Dot entered. Dot assumed he was Miss Bell's brother, based on the similarities in their features.
"Can I help you?" He asked curtly.
"I'd like to talk to Miss Bell." Dot found herself faltering slightly. The man's gaze was intense, even with only one piercing blue eye focused on her. The other was half-closed, partially obscured by the large scar that covered most of the left side of his face.
"She's resting," the man began, only for Miss Bell to raise a hand and shake her head.
"It's alright, Roy." Her voice was soft and weary. "I want to talk to her too."
The man looked hesitant, but nodded, slowly extricating his long limbs from the chair. "I'll get a coffee," he said.
"I'll be here." Miss Bell managed a small smile.
The man left, and it was just Miss Bell and Dot.
Miss Bell looked tired. That was the first thing Dot noticed. More tired than she had ever seen her look before. She looked older like this, with her hair down and no makeup. Her freckles stood starkly out against her pale skin, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
"Where's Buddy?" Dot asked after a moment or two. There was no use in beating around the bush, she reasoned. Might as well get the question out there.
"I don't know," Miss Bell replied calmly, hands folded in her lap.
"How?!" Dot demanded, her forced calm immediately flying out the window. "You were calling his name! You had to have seen something!"
Miss Bell didn't flinch. Her expression was flat, but not cold. Resigned, perhaps. Defeated.
"Sammy took me away," she said. "I didn't see. But Joey did something. I know he did." Her hands formed into shaking fists. "He's gone. They're both gone."
No.
No!
Buddy couldn't be gone! Not like this! Not when it was Dot's fault he'd even been involved...
"There has to be something we can do," she tried to insist.
"There's nothing." Miss Bell wouldn't look at her. "They're gone, Dorothy. We couldn't save them."
"We can't just give up!" Dot felt on the verge of tears. This couldn't be happening. Buddy couldn't just be gone. What about his mother? His grandfather? They didn't deserve this either. They couldn't just be left wondering.
"I'm sorry," Miss Bell said. "If I had just..." She trailed off, her face twisting as she held back tears. "I should have paid more attention to Buddy. I shouldn't have been so focused on Sammy. I should have known he was too far gone."
Yeah, you should have, Dot wanted to say. But she didn't. She knew better than to rub salt in the wound. Especially when that man could come back at any moment.
"There has to be something we can do," she repeated weakly. She couldn't just give up. She wouldn't.
Buddy would never have gone to the studio that night if it hadn't been for her. He never would have gotten involved in whatever all this was if it hadn't been for her. He couldn't be gone. She needed to find a way to get him back.
Slowly, Miss Bell's gaze drifted over to Dot. There was nothing there. No light. No hope. Just resignation.
"If you want the truth so badly... Then you should find it," she said. For a moment, there was a spark in her eyes, a hint of the fire that would occasionally surface when someone pushed Miss Bell too far. "Find what Joey's hiding and drag those secrets kicking and screaming into the light."
Then the spark was gone, and Miss Bell was back to looking empty and exhausted.
"...What about you?" Dot asked, despite herself.
Miss Bell blinked, her expression still flat. "What about me?"
"What are you going to do?"
A rueful smile spread across Miss Bell's features. "I'm quitting."
Now it was Dot's turn to blink. "What about Mr. Lawrence?" She asked. "Don't you want to save him too?"
Miss Bell looked away, her smile dropping. "I wouldn't know where to start. Whatever happened to him... I don't know how to fix it."
So, she was giving up, Dot thought bitterly. Well, she wasn't going to be like that.
Mark her words, she would make him pay.
"Thank you for talking to me," she said, giving a stiff nod to Miss Bell. "I have to go." She turned to the door, beginning to leave.
"Good luck," Miss Bell called after her. "You're going to need it."
Dot shook her head as she exited the room, passing the man as he headed back to the room. He gave her a curt nod before re-entering the room. She wasn't going to rely on luck. Not for something as important as this. Besides, if luck had been on her side, Buddy never would have disappeared. No, she didn't need luck. She was going to find a way to save Buddy, one way or another. She would do exactly what Miss Bell had said. She would find out Joey's secrets and drag them into the light.
She would make Joey regret trying to sweep this under the rug.
