The beginning of the descent into madness
Jonathan had begun to head back to the city to develop their evidence, telling Nancy that she should probably get to know the area, purely because he had a feeling they'd be here a while.
Of course Nancy had agreed, she sat on the bus with Robin, who'd offered to show her the area, though it was a little weird feeling talking to someone who was wearing sunglasses and a blue Yankees cap, especially because she couldn't tell robins expression at any point.
Eventually they got off, robin leading her down the high street by gripping onto her hand, pointing out the video game store and going on a small rant about the new game about some hedgehog, and another about pac-man or something.
"Hey Robin?"
"Mm?"
"Is there anywhere Barb went a lot? Maybe we can find something there?"
She thought for a moment, pulling her cap over her eyes.
"Well.."
-*-
She bought Nancy to the old barn at the edge of town, leading her still by her hand.
The shorter woman looked around, curls bouncing on her shoulders as she took in the poorly lit room.
"Why did she-?"
"To think, to read, who knows" Robin sighed, perching herself on a small bench in the corner. "But whenever I asked where she was going it was always 'Perkins old barn' but I guess I just didn't ever ask why"
Nancy hummed, pulling her lip between her teeth as she thought, eventually making the decision to climb the ladder to the hayloft.
Something glinted In the straw, silver beneath strips of yellow.
"Hey Robin?"
"Mm?"
"That earring we found earlier, what did it look like?"
"Small silver hoop, why?"
Nancy poked her head down to look at the other woman, eyes wild with her realisation.
"I found it's friend"
Robin stood up, looking around frantically for something to pick it up with, knowing that Nancy holding it in her dress would be a little strange looking to the public, she remembered the handkerchief in her pocket, quickly scaling the ladder to hand Nancy the light blue piece of material.
Nancy smiled politely and took it, wrapping the metal beneath the carefully folded cotton.
"Byers is gonna freak right?"
"He's not really an openly freak out guy, but uh- who knows"
Nancy nodded as if to confirm her own sentence before quickly climbing down the ladder, robins hanky carefully tucked between her neck and shoulder as if it were a phone.
"So, about this whole evidence thing, how the hell are you gonna find who..y'know.."
Robin had paused
The reality of barbs death hadn't quite set in yet, the voicemail in her apartment still had the miss call from yesterday, the one where Barb was laughing and telling her how excited she was that the band was touring again this summer, telling her how well her baby cousin was doing in school.
And now she was gone.
Gently Nancy set a hand on robins shoulder, effectively wrapping her arm around her, and she squeezed.
"It's complicated, but Jonathan and I- well we've done a lot of cases and I promise we'll find who did it okay?"
Robin nodded, letting herself relax against Nancy for a little bit before they began to make their way back to the bus stop, the rain just hitting as they took shelter under the small glass structure.
"Hey Nancy?"
"Mhm?"
"Do you ever do like..spy stuff?"
Nancy hummed, pursing her lips.
"I suppose" Nancy thought for a moment as robins eyes raked over her expression, taking in the way she looked "I guess we've used disguises and things before"
Robin nodded, though she was unsure of where her next question would lead.
"Why don't you come on stage tonight? Maybe you'll be able to get a feel for some things, maybe whoever did it will come back"
Nancy nodded slowly, that wasn't actually too bad of an idea, guilt did things to people, made them feel things, took them to places they wouldn't return to without it.
"Is that a yes?"
Another nod.
That night the band gathered in the main dressing room, Nancy and Jonathan sat quietly in the corner as the band recouped.
A man with chestnut coloured hair and countless little moles came through the door, wordlessly wrapping his arms around Robin, perhaps he was her boyfriend.
The man pulled away "oh birdie..I'm so sorry"
Robin gave him a weak smile, pulling him back in and allowing her head to rest against his chest, presumably soothed by his breathing.
"Where's your fiancé Harrington?"
'Harrington' smiled coyly, looking at the floor and then at the hand resting on Robins shoulder, a silver band, intricately carved with flowers, dragons and what looked like a nail bat.
"He's uh- I don't know actually-"
"How do you lose a whole man dude?" The bassist, a Hispanic man with long hair, looked up from his tuning.
"You forget to cherish him" the redhead Nancy had seen previously had retorted, rolling her eyes before continuing "I saw him having a smoke in the alley"
"Go get your good luck kiss then dingus,we can't have you fucking up your solos"
'Harrington' rolled his eyes, ruffling robins and the redheads hair before jogging out of the room.
"So, you guys are down for being behind stage right?"
Jonathan nodded, taking the lens cap off of his camera and Nancy stood, adjusting the leather skirt she'd been put into so she'd fit in.
Twenty minutes into the bands set and something glinted in the rafters, dropping a sand bag and barely skimming the guitarist (Steve as Nancy had learned).
They'd been right. Someone was back.