“I know,” she said. “A whim sent me down there. I hadn’t been there at that wee hour of the morning in a long time.”
“Why would you ever be in that area at that hour?” he asked in surprise.
“When I was a teenager,” she said, “sometimes I would go sit on the bridge.” He sat back and stared. It wasn’t hard to understand what he was thinking… She shrugged. “I never really considered suicide,” she said, “but I did know several people who had completed the job, and it always shook me to realize that death was the best answer they saw. I’d sit there and ponder what the attraction was. That water is cold, dark, and often rough. What a way to go.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know because I haven’t told you. I haven’t told you much,” she said, with a shrug. “It’s not like we know each other.”
He snorted at that. “Knowing each other requires taking time to be with each other.”
“You mean, not just screwing like minks when we’re together?”
“Well, okay, that’s pretty damn nice too,” he said. “But getting to know each other, that’s a process that takes time.”
“Well,” she said, “it’s also a process that requires I open up a little bit—and you too.”
At that, his lips turned down, and she nodded. “Right,” she said, “not exactly your style either.”
He frowned. “Maybe,” he said, then turned the subject away from him. “Was there anything different about this suicide scenario?”
“No, not really,” Kate said. “She was pretty close to the shore and got caught up in some driftwood. So, instead of floating past or sinking, she was held right there for the divers.”
“At least her family will get some closure and can lay her to rest,” he said.
“True, yet it still makes me angry.”
“Except anger isn’t the emotion I’m seeing on you right now,” he said. “It’s more what I would calldefeated. As in, already too emotionally involved.”
She shook her head. “I’m definitely not,” she said, with half a smile. “But maybe weary. I just turned in all the reports and follow-ups on the pedophile case, which was a long and difficult case.”
“You solved it pretty damn fast, considering.”
“It should have been solved a long time ago,” she said, staring off into the distance. “So many more victims because it wasn’t.”
“And again, not your fault. You weren’t even a detective then. What’s it been? Four months now?”
She nodded slowly. “Four and a half.”
“Well, you’ve already shaken things up in the department and earned a commendation for having done so well.”
“Yeah, and I appreciate that,” she said, “but I wish instead that the kids had been helped.”
“Don’t we all,” he said heavily.
She smiled at him. “See? You’re no better.”
“Hey, you’re the one who’s making me depressed this morning.”
She laughed. “Well, I’m heading off to work anyway.”
“Did you get any sleep last night?”
“I did,” she said, “but it was a…” She shrugged. “It was a rough night.”
He frowned, as she got up and walked away. “You could say goodbye, you know.”
She reached up a hand and, without turning around, called out, “Bye.”