Ava kept an eye out for the desk all the way in the corner and when she finally spotted it, she slowed her march a bit. As she drew closer, she was very confused by what she saw. As Miller had said, she was indeed positioned with a partner, their two desks pushed front-to-front just like the other set-ups in the bullpen. But the desk across from hers was occupied by a woman.
As Ava drew closer, the woman looked up. She was strikingly pretty, her blonde hair drawn tight behind her head. She studied Ava for a moment with intense blue eyes and gave a nod that looked rather forced.
“Ava Gold right?” she asked.
“Yes…and, are you officer Pawlowski?”
“I am. And from the shocked look on your kisser, I can tell you weren’t expecting a woman.” Pawlowski smirked and added: “Sort of like getting a taste of it from the other side, right?”
“A bit, I suppose,” Ava said. “I do apologize. Captain Miller said nothing about my partner being a woman.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” There was a thick undertone of aggression beneath Pawlowski’s tone. From what Ava could gather, her new partner had decided not to like her from the very start.
Ava answered by taking the chair behind her vacant desk. “Not at all,” she said.
“Good, because I was told that we need to head out and start digging into this sorry excuse for a case.” She slapped at the folders on her desk as she said this.
Torn between the few papers on her desk that needed to be signed and the notes on Pawlowski’s desk, Ava chose the notes. “What do you mean it’s asorry excusefor a case?”
“I mean there’s no case here at all.” She offered the folder of case notes over to Ava with an irritated look on her face. “I doubt they did this to you—to the infamous Ava Gold—back where you come from, but here, they saddle me, the lone female officer, with the duck soup cases.”
“Duck…duck soup?”
“Easy. Easy cases that Miller doesn’t think is worth the time of the menfolk.”
“I see,” Ava said. As she opened the folder, she wondered if this was actually true or if it was just Pawlowski’s bad mood speaking. As she started skimming through the scant details in the report, Pawlowski got to her feet and slid her jacket on. She also recited the details of the case as she knew them while Ava read.
“There have been more than a dozen suicides in the last two weeks over this stock market crash. Threaten to take money away and men lose their minds because…oh God, where will they get their power and influence now? But there was one from two nights ago that seems to maybenothave been a suicide.As you can see, this particular man seems to have jumped from Chrysler Building. And because of that building’s unfinished and already mythical status, it’s apparently much harder to imagine someone killing themselves there. That’s the gist I’m getting from all of this, anyway.”
Looking over the notes, that was pretty much the story Ava was pulling from it, as well. And it also made her think Pawlowski was right. It seemed like the sort of case that would be assigned to someone as nothing more than busy work.
Then why was Miller so happy to see me?she wondered.Was it an act? Am I going to be saddled to nonsense jobs while I’m here as some sort of punishment? And, if so, punishment for what, exactly?
“So, you ready to head out and waste our time on this case?” Pawlowski asked.
“Yeah, in a minute. I need to sign all of these papers.”
Pawlowski nodded and started for the doors without even looking at her. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you out front.”
Ava was left alone at her desk, still catching the occasional stray glance from one of the other officers and assorted employees. There was no pen on her desk, so she grabbed a loose one off of Pawlowski’s. She read quickly through all of the verbiage in the paperwork, signing her name where appropriate. It took less than five minutes and when she was done, she hurried out to meet up with Pawlowski.
She was standing on the stairs, studying the streets below. Ava was once again struck by how pretty she was, but there was also a subtle strength to her. She could see it in her shoulders and the way her back and neck were sturdy as she scanned the streets. Ava guessed her to be in her early thirties but wouldn’t be surprised to find that she might be a bit younger.
“Good to go?” Pawlowski asked.
“Good to go.”
Pawlowski waved her on as she started down the stairs. Following behind her, Ava could still feel that bit of hostility emanating from her new partner and it made her miss Frank very much.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ava stood in front of the unfinished Chrysler Building, craning her neck up and finding herself slightly in awe of it. Living in New York City, she was used to tall buildings, getting taller and taller every month it seemed thanks to the arrogance of man. But even though this one was unfinished, she could tell it was going to be something special. It was almost enough for her to look past the rumored “battle for the tallest building” that was taking place between men named William Van Allen and H. Craig Severance. She’d often heard of men comparing egos, even right down to the size of their manhood, and this, to Ava, seemed no different.
From what she could tell, the building was nearly finished—all seventy-five or so stories of it—and she didn’t see how it would ever be topped. She wondered if their would-be suicide victim had felt similarly about it.
As they neared the doors—another of the features along the lower levels that seemed to be perfectly complete—Pawlowski turned to Ava and frowned.
“Let’s not kid ourselves here,” she said. “There are lots of people in the city that know of you, or have at least heard your name. You should take the lead on this. Plus,detectivesounds so much more impressive thanofficer.”