***
“Hey.”
Not looking up from his desk, Edgar continued to read one of the documents.
“Edgar. Look at me.”
Standing in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but a see-through silk gown, Didi waited for him to at least acknowledge her return to the room. Her smile, which had been forced from the beginning, was starting to strain, but she was determined to get his attention. If this was to be a battle of wills, then there was no way she was going to lose.
Silence.
Realizing that it was too soon to give up, she made her way across the room and stopped next to the desk. After a moment, she slipped out of the gown and stood stark naked. When Edgar still didn't turn to her, she tossed the gown onto the desk, covering his hands and most of the documents he was working with.
“So I was thinking,” she said finally, “that it's been a while since we, you know, did it in the daytime.”
With obvious irritation, Edgar pulled the gown off the desk and dropped it to the floor.
“I get it,” Didi continued. “You only want to pay attention to whatever's on that desk. So...” With that, she sat on the edge of the desk and leaned across to him, making sure to brush her chest against his hand while resting her elbow straight across the documents. “You seem very calm,” she added with a smile. “You work better when you've got some passion in you, Eddie. Why not build up a head of steam, huh? If I'm annoying you, that's fine. Take it out on me. Bend me over the desk and show me how angry you are. It doesn't even have to take long. You can be done with me in just a few minutes. I want it quick and hard. Don't even bother about whether I enjoy it. Just unload yourself deep inside me.”
“I already told you -”
“And I'm not taking no for an answer,” she added.
“I'm really not in the mood for these games.”
“Who said anything about a game?” she asked, getting up and leaning over the desk, with her ass in the air. “Be a man, Edgar. Take control of your woman. Punish her for getting on your nerves.” She watched his face for a moment, hoping for some sign of interest. “I'm annoying, aren't I? So punish me, big boy. Let me know what a bad Didi I've been.”
“Please let me work,” he replied dryly.
“Edgar -”
“We can make love tonight,” he told her. “If I get done in time. I should warn you, though, that I might be tired.”
“Tired?” Staring at him, she forced herself to stay calm. “Eddie, babe, you need to use your imagination here. Remember how good things were before we came to Thaxos? You used to take me a couple of times a day, sometimes more, and you know what? I miss that. I miss being your chew toy.”
She waited for him to reply, or at least for him to look at her. At that point, anything would have felt good. As the seconds dragged past, however, she began to realize that she just wasn't on his radar. Finally, she felt her well of frustration beginning to flood over, and she knew she had to ask him outright.
“Babe,” she said hesitantly, “can you just tell me one thing? It's been on my mind like crazy, and I have to know. It's about James Nixon -”
“I'd rather not talk about James Nixon.”
“I know, but this is important. I guess I've been acting kinda weird lately because I can't stop thinking about whether he... I mean, whether you... Can't you just put my mind at rest? Tell me if -”
“I refuse to discuss the matter,” he replied curtly.
“But -”
“I refuse to discuss the matter,” he repeated, glancing briefly at her. “With you, with anyone. The only relevant truth here is the one I've told you before. I don't care what other people think.”
“Including me?”
“I can't be selective,” he replied as he moved one document aside and began to study the next. “Enjoy your evening out tonight. I'm sure you'll have fun in town.”
“Fun?” Staring at him, she finally felt the fight starting to drain from her body. “Sure,” she added, standing up and grabbing the gown. “I'll have fun, alright. More fun than you can even imagine. And you know what? I wouldn't let you come with me, not now, not even if you begged. I think it'd be good for me to have an evening to myself.”
With that, she turned and made her way out of the room. As soon as she'd pulled the door shut, she stood naked in the corridor for a moment. She was starting to wonder how she was ever going to get Edgar to tell her the truth about James Nixon, but all her usual tricks had been played out without success. Slowly, however, a faint smile crept across her face as she realized that she had one more possibility. It was unorthodox, but it might just mean that she'd know the truth about Nixon by sunset.
First, though, she was going to have to go into town and pay someone a visit.
“Hell,” she muttered, “I don't know why I didn't just do this in the first place.”
III
“Where exactly did you see her?” Cavaleri asked as she and Kate stood on the shoreline.
“I think she was over there,” Kate replied, pointing out to sea. “It's hard to be sure, though. I was panicking, and it was so misty this morning.”
The mist had passed now, leaving another bright, sunny morning, with the rich blue Mediterranean sea spreading out from the sandy beach. It was an idyllic scene, like something from a picture postcard, and it was almost enough to make Kate doubt what she'd seen an hour earlier.
Almost.
“And you're sure she didn't just go back to shore and run off without you seeing?” Cavaleri continued, turning to her. “You know what kids are like. They play tricks all the time.”
“I'm telling you,” Kate continued, “I saw a little girl out there, and she was drowning. And then she disappeared, and the only place she could have gone...” She paused as the full horror of the situation began to creep through her chest. “Oh God,” she added. “If only I'd been quicker...”
“There's a problem here,” Cavaleri replied. “As soon as you called me, I checked a few houses before coming out here. There are only three young girls on the whole of Thaxos who could possibly fit the description you gave me, and all three of them are right where they should be this morning. They're in school.”
“Then it must be -”
“And there are no visiting girls either,” Cavaleri continued. “You think I don't know who comes to the island? I know everything. I even double-checked with the hotel.”
“But -”
“There are no missing girls on Thaxos, Ms. Langley. Period.”
“I'm telling you, I saw a girl out there and she disappeared under the water. And a moment before that, there were two figures here on the beach, I think it was the girl and maybe a friend of hers.”
“Again, I can assure you that there are no missing girls.”
“Then obviously someone sneaked onto Thaxos and you don't know about it.”
“How?”
“By boat.”
“Let me explain this one more time,” Cavaleri continued, struggling to hide her irritation. “This is a small island, Ms. Langley. Boats only dock in the port town, and I'm given a list of any passengers who embark or disembark. There's a similar arrangement with the hotel. Added to that, the coastguard would have let me know if any unauthorized vessels were headed this way. In short, it's impossible for anyone to be here without me knowing about them, and I can promise you, with my hand on my heart, that there are no little girls who could possibly have gone missing this morning.”
“I know what I saw,” Kate said firmly. “I'm not an idiot.”
“Then I don't know what to tell you,” Cavaleri replied, “except that I've got a lot to do today, so I can't stand around here repeatedly telling you why you're wrong. Maybe it was a seal”.
“A seal?”
“Yeah, maybe you saw a seal and you just thought it had a little girl's face.”
Sighing, Kate realized that Cavaleri wasn't taking her seriously. Staring out to sea, however, she couldn't shake the fee
ling that she was right. She had seen a little girl out there, and no-one could convince her otherwise.
“Take my advice,” Cavaleri continued, with a hint of steel in her voice. “Keep your thoughts to yourself. If you go around telling people what you think you saw, you'll only stir up bad blood.”
“But -”
“I mean it,” she added firmly. “Don't mess with me on this one, Ms. Langley. I promise you, no-one on Thaxos wants to hear your crazy stories about drowning girls. There's simply no possibility that you saw anything here. Zero. Zilch. So shut up and move on. You thought you saw something, but you were wrong. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some real police work to get on with.”