The approacher’s scent and the beating of her heart had reached Bella’s nostrils before the sound of their voice did. She had briefly considered moving to a defensive position, but did away with the thought. By the time the bespectacled woman spoke, Bella had already determined there was no threat to be had, and turned to face her fully. She parted her lips slightly and offered as friendly a smile as she could offer, nodding reassuringly to her.
“I’m sorry if I startled you,” she said, her tone light. She tried hard not to examine the woman in a manner that was too obvious, which was a little harder than she thought it would be.
“I was just…” Bella paused, glancing back to the table of abandoned research. “I heard about the missing girl. I came by to see if I could help? Oh, here, let me help you with those.”
She moved toward her, deliberately slower than she would have normally gone so as to not alarm her, and held out her hands. Even if she couldn’t really help them research the notes, at the very least, maybe she could find out a little info concerning what happened to the girl.