The Girl Beneath the Sea (Underwater Investigation Unit #1)(91)

“Sometimes it takes decades. You know how it is, George,” she says to him.

He gives her a grunt—which I’ve learned to interpret as Georgespeak for, “Whatever.”

“It’ll take us a couple of months to build that case and give her a chance to try to plead. In the meantime, go off with your kid and your boyfriend somewhere and have a vacation. You’re going to be up to your ears in courts and deposition rooms soon enough.”

I’m about to point out that Run is not my boyfriend and that we’ll be staying in separate rooms while we’re in Australia, then realize how childish that sounds. I shrug instead as Claudine leaves us.

George and I sit and watch cars passing by for a minute before I finally say, “This sucks.”

“Yes, it does,” he replies.

“How do you deal with it? You probably went through this dozens of times.”

“Yep” is all he says.

After a few moments more of watching cars drive by, he slides his coffee-stained folders across the counter to me.

“What are these?”

“From my filing cabinet. Cold cases. Ones that got away.”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better?”

George gives me a funny look. “No. I pulled the ones relating to water. Victims, abandoned vehicles, weapons, that sort of thing.”

“You’re an odd man.” I pick up a folder. Inside are photos of some high school kids.

“They went missing eight years ago. A fisherman found one of their wallets in a canal.”

“That’s messed up. What happened?” I ask.

George shakes his head. “I don’t know. I was thinking maybe we find out.”

“We?” I ask.

“Yes, us.”

Realization dawns on me. “Wait? Are you saying these are our cases? UIU? Is that even still a thing?”

“The governor hasn’t shut us down. The state treasurer keeps sending us paychecks. It sounds to me like we’re still in the game.”

I flip through the other folders and see photos of cars with bullet holes, children’s shoes covered in blood, and a dozen other dark images of crimes still seeking justice.

“This is how you deal with it,” he replies. “Or at least how I do. You do the best you can, then you find something else that needs your attention. Every now and then, you make a difference. It’s not often enough, but in the scheme of things, it tilts the balance a little more toward the good guys.”

I weigh the stack of folders. “There’s a lot here.”

“Not to mention what else someone might throw our way—that is, if you’re still in the fight.”

I glare at him, letting him know that’s a stupid question.

“Can I take these with me on the flight?”





ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Mayne is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist, Looking Glass, Murder Theory, Dark Pattern, and Angel Killer; an Edgar Award nominee for Black Fall in his Jessica Blackwood series; and the star of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week special Andrew Mayne: Ghost Diver and A&E’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne. He is also a magician who started his first world tour as an illusionist when he was a teenager and went on to work behind the scenes for Penn & Teller, David Blaine, and David Copperfield. Ranked as the fifth bestselling independent author of the year by Amazon UK, Andrew currently hosts the Weird Things podcast. For more on him and his work, visit www.AndrewMayne.com.