Nate nodded. “Then we’ll wait until then.”
Laura looked at him, but he wasn’t looking back. He only saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. He set his head back against the headrest, keeping his eyes right ahead on the map displayed on the in-flight screen. Watching their progress across the sky. He pretended not to pay attention as Laura closed the file, shuffling the pages back inside, and then tucked it away in the bag she’d kept at her feet. She closed up her flight tray, as if it was something for her hands to do, and then sat.
The two of them remained silent then. It was a stiff and awkward silence, a physical thing sitting between them that just kept growing and getting larger. A thing that wanted to grow. The longer it carried on for, the harder it was to break.
Nate adjusted his seatbelt slightly, settling into the chair more comfortably. He hoped it wasn’t going to be like this for the whole case. Or, at least, that it wasn’t going to affect the case. He couldn’t take more than formalities and politeness with Laura right now. He wasn’t ready for it. But they still had a job to do, a very serious job, and he didn’t want that to be affected by their personal relationship.
It was like everything had changed. Even though they were still talking to one another, and even though they were still discussing the case in the level that it needed, that was all. The banter, the friendly conversation, it was all gone. The dynamic between them had shifted. Maybe forever.
Nate wasn’t going to let it get between them in such a way that the case went unsolved. Justice still needed to be done.
He just didn’t know how long they could last like this before something was going to have to give—and if something had to, it was going to be their partnership.
***
Laura looked up with relief at a man bearing a sign with their names. It was makeshift, a bit of card drawn on with marker, but it was still an incredibly welcome sight. The man holding it was wearing a police officer’s uniform, which meant he was their contact, and he would have something to say to them in the drive over to the precinct.
Right then, Laura would have taken an escort from just about anyone—anything to break the awkward silence between her and Nate.
It was just before dawn, the inside of the airport too brightly lit and filled with bleary-eyed passengers all looking like they needed more sleep. The joys of the red-eye. Laura stepped quickly over to the young, dark-haired officer, wanting to get started as soon as they could.
&n
bsp; “Special Agent Laura Frost,” she said, by way of introduction. She didn’t add anything for Nate. She didn’t know if he would appreciate it right now.
“Special Agent Nathaniel Lavoie,” he said, sticking out a hand for the officer to shake.
He dropped the card into one hand, letting it slip to the side now it was no longer needed. “I’m Detective Gareth Frome,” he said, his Wisconsin accent lilting his words. “Captain Gausse sent me to pick you guys up.”
“Great,” Laura said, squaring her shoulders a little as she prepared to take the weight of her bag again. “We can get right to the first crime scene, unless your captain is waiting for us at the precinct.”
“No,” Frome said, looking between them with a little doubt. “She said you might want to go to a motel first?”
“No, we should get right to it,” Nate said, nodding sharply. Laura was glad he agreed. She couldn’t see any point to getting themselves settled in when they could just hit the ground running. They’d only been together again for a few hours, and already she was wishing she was sitting alone in her apartment instead.
“Okay there,” Frome agreed, turning to gesture at the exit. “If you’ll follow me, then.”
They moved behind him silently. Laura had no idea what he must have thought of them: surly agents from the capitol, not used to their friendlier Midwest ways. But it was irrelevant, so long as they got their jobs done. They weren’t here to make friends.
Which was good, because if that was part of the job description, Laura would probably have been fired by now.
“Um,” Frome said, hesitating as he stopped beside an unmarked car. There was a circular impression in the dirt on the outside of the roof. A place where he must have recently stuck up a temporary light on a chase. “Maybe I should talk to the captain, see if she wants to meet us there, eh?”
“Give her a call,” Laura gestured. “We’ll get our bags into the trunk.” She moved away, hoping that Frome would pick up on their efficiency and start to practice it himself. So long as he made the call quickly enough that she and Nate didn’t have to sit around alone together, everything would be fine.
She was more than aware of what she was doing. Distracting herself so she didn’t have to think about the problem. It was just another method of avoidance, like drinking always had been. At least this one was less self-destructive. So long as she kept busy, kept moving, they could just slip right by all those awkward moments and get back home again.
It wasn’t just how excruciatingly unbearable it was. It wasn’t just that it hurt because it was Nate, whom she had considered until now to be a good friend. It was how badly every single second of it made her want to tell him the truth, even though she was still too afraid—and more sure than ever, now, that it would only make him shun her faster.
Laura shoved her bag into the trunk and then walked around to the passenger side door, not waiting for Nate to put his bag in alongside hers. She took the seat in the front, so that Nate would have to be in the back. That way they wouldn’t have to sit next to each other. She looked up at the sky, at the sun breaching the horizon. The weather forecast was for a mild day, overcast but not cold.
Fine weather for exploring murder scenes.
“All right,” Frome said cheerfully, climbing into the driver’s seat. Laura looked around, happy to have him breaking the silence that had already begun to settle into the car. In her side mirror, she caught a glimpse of Nate sitting right behind her, his face pensive. She tried to put it out of her mind. “Captain Gausse will meet us there, so we’re all good.”
“Great,” Laura said encouragingly. “What can you tell us about the case on the way there?”
Frome started the engine, checking his mirrors as he pulled out of the waiting spot, right in front of the airport. “Well, there’s not much we know so far,” he said. “We’ve got a pair of twins. Such a shame, too. They were each killed in their own houses.”