The call came early that morning, just 22 days after Jevo’s disappearance. Mirena had been about to awaken Eloa so he could start getting ready while she prepared breakfast. She would later claim that she knew the instant the familiar buzz of the incoming call sounded in her ear what the call was about, but the truth is that her stomach turned to knots every time the phone rang. It was just that this time she was right.
She hurried to the phone, ensured that the camera was turned off, and answered. A young, smartly dressed officer appeared on screen.
“Yes?” Mirena said.
“Mirena Yassilnah Norboresk?” the officer asked?
“Yes?”
“Ma’am, we have received information about your husband. Can you receive officers in 30 minutes?”
“You’ve found his body, haven’t you?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I have no additional information. The officers will be there in 30 minutes.”
“If he were alive, you’d tell me.”
“Ma’am, I don’t know. I really don’t,” he said, but Mirena could see from the way he shifted his eyes downward when he said it that he was uncomfortable, that he knew. “The officers will tell you what they know when they arrive.”
Mirena slumped to the floor, silent sobs filling her heart.
“Ma’am? Ma’am, are you there?” The officer looked worried.
“Yes. Thank you,” she finally said. Her voice was tight and soft.
“Ma’am, they’ll be there soon.”
Much of the rest of the morning was a blur to her. She remembered only that Eloa slept through the arrival of the two police officers, that the body was pulled from the Bernedigo, that no, she couldn’t see it, it was too badly decomposed, that Briggin, reliable Briggin, the first of the uncounted visitors of the day, had arrived just as the officers were about to leave. But what she remembered most was turning, as she closed the door behind the departing policemen, to find Eloa standing with wide eyes peeking around the wall into the entryway, his face long and his lips pursed tightly together.
Later that night, after numerous visitors had shuffled through her house, mumbling their apologies and insisting that if there were anything she needed they would be there for her before silently disappearing, she once again found herself alone with Eloa. She tucked him into bed, and wandered the house as if lost. Eventually she found herself back in her bedroom. She opened her jewelry box and pulled out a small necklace that Jevo had given her shortly after they had met. She walked silently out to the balcony, and from her vantage point high above the city looked down at the bustle and drone of the uncaring masses. She reached back her arm and with a primal shout that surprised even her, threw the necklace into the night.