False Mermaid

“How do you know that? You never gave us a chance to find out. For Chrissake, Nora, we never even talked about what happened. Can you honestly tell me you don’t feel anything—”

“Of course not—it wouldn’t be true. But things happen, Frank, things outside our control—”

His eyes narrowed. “You met someone. Over there.”

“It’s got nothing to do with you and me, with what happened—”

He let go a bitter laugh. “Christ, some detective I am. It was staring me right in the face. Here’s an idea—why don’t I stand here and make a fool of myself just once more, and you can stand there, laughing—”

Nora had never seen him like this; the change was bewildering. “Do you see me laughing? I care about you, Frank, and God knows I’m indebted—” She winced, regretting the choice of words.

His voice became deadly quiet: “So that’s what you were doing with me that night—paying off a debt?”

The heavy metal door banged open suddenly, and a handcart piled high with file boxes seemed to roll on its own into the room. A uniformed officer, a wiry terrier of a man in his mid-fifties, cocked an eye at them above the boxes. “Where do you want these, Frank?”

Cordova shaded his face with one hand. “Just stack them up along the wall, I guess, Charlie. That’s not everything, is it?”

“Hell, no—I got another half dozen in the lockup.” He glanced sideways at Nora as he unloaded the cart. “You might need a bigger room.” When the boxes were unloaded, he spun the empty dolly with a dancer’s finesse, whistling as he steered it out the door and back down the hall.

Nora waited until the door was shut to speak: “Frank, please—you know very well that’s not what I meant.”

“Just tell me if you met someone. Yes or no.”

Nora felt her throat tighten. “Yes.”

“Is it serious?”

“I think so—yes.”

Cordova’s head had dropped forward. He stared at the floor for a moment, then took a deep breath.

Nora felt a sudden urge to reach out to him, but resisted. “I was confused. You were the only person I could really trust. In the morning, I was afraid I’d completely messed things up between us, and I didn’t want to do that. I see now that going away wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair—I’m so sorry, Frank.”

He looked up at her again, but he wasn’t listening. His eyes had gone flat, and he seemed to be looking straight through her. “I should give Charlie a hand with the rest of those boxes.”

When he had gone, Nora sat down at the table and buried her head in her arms. She had known since last night that this conversation was in the cards. But could it possibly have gone any worse?

A few seconds later, the door swung open, and Nora turned to see an athletic-looking woman about her own age, with pale blue eyes and a summer tan set off by short-cropped, naturally white-blond hair. She was dressed in a neat brown suit and a white blouse open at the throat. The ID on the lanyard around her neck said “Detective” in bold letters.

Frank Cordova, standing beside her with a couple of file boxes in his arms, looked thoroughly put out. He said, “Nora, I don’t think you’ve ever met my partner—”

The woman smiled and put out her hand in greeting. “Karin Bledsoe. I’ve certainly heard your name, Dr. Gavin.”

Taking in the polite but slightly frozen smile, Nora could only presume what else Frank’s partner had heard. No time to worry about that now. Charlie was back with the next load of files, wheeling his cart past them into the room.

“So, what are you two doing down here?” Karin Bledsoe asked, managing with her tone to make the meeting seem slightly illicit. “I thought you were working that Jane Doe case today, Frank.”

“I am. We just got an ID—Natalie Russo, one of our missing persons. I wanted Dr. Gavin to have a look at the evidence from the scene because it may have a bearing on her own case—her sister’s case, I mean.” Frank seemed inordinately uncomfortable, even considering what had just passed a few minutes before in this room. For a moment Nora couldn’t grasp the reason, until at last she felt an unexpected jolt—it wasn’t just happenstance or professional curiosity that had carried Frank’s partner all the way down here to the basement. Despite the conspicuous wedding band on Karin Bledsoe’s left hand, Nora suddenly knew that this woman was more than Frank Cordova’s work partner. And if her intuition was true, it put a whole different spin on the conversation she’d just had with him, not to mention his appearance on her doorstep last night.

Karin Bledsoe turned to Frank. “I would love to give you a hand, but I’ve got court today. That’s why I was trying to call you, Frank. Just in case you forgot. The duty officer said he saw you headed down here, so I thought I’d deliver the message in person.” She turned to give Nora a last look and another frosty smile. “So nice to meet you at last, Dr. Gavin.”

After Karin Bledsoe left, Frank wouldn’t make eye contact. He turned away to open the first evidence box, and began checking its contents against the inventory list.