People often tended to talk to her like she was still a child, or worse, a woman who needed to be managed. It was mostly men who did that, but Spence seemed far from the condescending type, not a single word from him felt the least bit disingenuous. Maybe it was also the intensity of his attention on her that left its mark even after the topic of their conversation shifted to something distinctly more unpleasant. Other than Aaron, Eleanor never felt listened to, not by anyone. Especially after her diagnosis, every word from her or change in mood was hand waved as 'a symptom', even by her own parents. It was difficult to ever feel taken seriously, in the face of that kind of indifference from your own family.
But the way that Spence looked at her while she spoke, it made her feel listened to for the first time in a long time. Certainly in the weeks since Aaron had disappeared. Those three magic words ('I believe you') would have been enough to make her feel comforted, but all of this combined with his efforts to connect with her on the subject of twins and that warm, contagious smile of his by some minor miracle had Eleanor momentarily forgetting her own misery. She hadn't realized just how alone she'd been in this, but sitting across from someone who already seemed to understand her, and more importantly her connection to Aaron on such a fundamental level, already made her feel less alone. That was something.
If they had met the way people met normally (say, at a cafe to get coffee, instead of a private investigator's office for a missing person's case), she probably would have already been two seconds away from asking him out. Eleanor could be a little aggressive, some might say, in general and when it came to the opposite sex. She'd never seen the point in waiting for someone else to do the asking, and weirdly, as much as guys liked to talk about how cool it was for a girl to make the first move, that wasn't always proven true in practice. She sometimes tended to scare them off. Something told her Spence wasn't someone who scared easily in any situation, which at least boded well for her brother's case.
He really was handsome, though.
New reincarnates go missing all the time. Naturally, all good feelings were doomed to fade, and Spence's confirmation of her worst fear made Eleanor visibly pale. Some cops she'd talked to had all but dismissed her concerns, saying that 'people with money always found reasons to disappear'. Clearly a jab at her mother, but Aaron? He wasn't like that. It just wasn't possible. And he wasn't a teenager anymore, but he was a new reincarnate. Eleanor didn't know what sort of predatory groups there were in the reincarnate world, but she knew what that meant.
"Aaron trusts too easily," she blurted out after a moment, wringing her hands together in her lap and trying to keep herself together. Stay calm for fuck's sake. I told you that's probably what happened to him. Why are we even here? At the irate sound of Helena's voice echoing in the back of her head, Eleanor unconsciously tilted hers like one might if they were listening to someone speak out loud, her expression clouded before her eyes focused back on the detective.
"What I mean is - he's very trusting. Ever since we were kids, except he never really... grew out of it." Eleanor frowned, trying desperately to remember anything else Aaron might have told her during those months after their dad's death about his search for answers, and realizing with a shock that he hadn't told her very much at all. Almost as if he'd been keeping his search, and his reincarnate status, a secret from her. Since when did they keep secrets from each other? She felt sick to her stomach.
"These groups you mentioned, who are they?" Afraid to know but more afraid not to ask, Eleanor steeled herself. "Are they dangerous?"