Melt (25 page)

This was the sort of photo she was always after, the one that captured something you would never see with the naked eye. Some pictures were like that, revealing something that happened too fast or was too small or too indistinct to notice otherwise. That was where the real value of a photo lay. With her mother, despite her smile, the camera captured her air of defeat. With Jordan, it probed below her exterior confidence. A single frame of time and space, frozen, allows you to see the subtleties in a way you couldn’t do during the unfolding of real time. In real time, too much happened too fast. This expression of Jordan’s happened in an instant and nobody saw it, not even Kelly. But her camera had.

In a sense, this photo revealed what Kelly had always known about Jordan, that at the core of her was a mild but ever-present fear. Though Kelly had sensed the fear, she didn’t know what caused it.

She stared into the dove-colored eyes on her screen, trying to tease out the mystery of Jordan’s unease, but even the truest photo couldn’t reveal that.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jordan pulled on her shirt and buttoned the first two buttons as she walked toward the opening of her tent. She pushed through the flap and nearly collided with Pippa. Jordan yelped and clutched her open shirt to her chest.

“Oh,” she said, relaxing. “Pippa! You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Pippa said. “Where is everyone?”

“Up on the glacier, setting out geopebbles.”

“Geopebbles?”

“It’s a GPS tracking device.” She buttoned her shirt the rest of the way. “I was taking advantage of being alone to have a shower. The feeling of clean won’t last long, but it sure feels good while it does.” She glanced around. “Did Kelly come with you?”

“No. I’m here alone.”

“I was just going to make a cup of herbal tea. Do you want one?”

“Sure.”

After Jordan turned on the stove to heat water, she sat at the table where an in-progress domino game was laid out. Pippa sat in the chair next to her and folded her hands together primly in front of her on the table.

“I guess I should have called first,” she said apologetically.

“Who are you here to see?”

“You.”

“Oh! Well, then, you’re in luck.”

“Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

Jordan shrugged. “Depends.”

“It’s about Kelly.”

Jordan nodded, feeling uncomfortable. She wondered yet again what Kelly was doing with this girl. It boggled her mind. Not that Pippa wasn’t cute and likable, but there was no escaping her youth and lack of sophistication.

“Do you like her?” Pippa asked pointedly.

Jordan adopted her most casual tone. “Sure, I like her.”

Pippa shook her head impatiently. “I mean, you know…
like
her.”

“Why would you ask me that?”

“She told me about you, about how she felt about you before, that she used to be in love with you.”

Jordan stared, wondering why Pippa was interrogating her. What was she worried about? Had Kelly said anything to make her think there was still something between them? Finally, she smiled and said, “She was my student and I was her teacher. She had a schoolgirl crush on me, and that was a long time ago. I’d have to say I barely know her now. But, you, clearly, are in love with her.”

Pippa stiffened, her mouth falling open. “How did you know that?”

Jordan laughed. “It’s obvious.” She got up to take the boiling water off the stove.

“I
am
in love with her,” Pippa admitted, sounding reluctant to say it out loud. “What do you think about that?”

“Pippa, it’s none of my business. If Kelly has said something that makes you think there’s anything between us now—”

“She hasn’t said anything at all. I just wondered because of how she used to feel, if maybe she still had feelings for you. Or maybe you do.”

The last thing Jordan wanted was to be involved in a love triangle, even if only in the mind of one young woman. “You have nothing to worry about,” she assured Pippa. “Not from me. It’s possible I will never even see Kelly again. Our paths crossed here by accident in a purely professional capacity. She outgrew her infatuation with me years ago. And whatever affection I had for her back then was entirely platonic. She’s all yours, Pippa.”

The girl smiled with relief. Jordan turned back to the counter and put tea bags in two mugs and poured hot water over them. She brought the tea to the table.

“Is that what you came to talk to me about?” she asked.

“Oh, no!” Pippa bounced in her chair, suddenly full of excitement. “It’s about the cave I fell into. I was hoping you could help. I think it might have some archaeological value.”

“Really? I understood it was just a rock fall type of thing. Never inhabited. Do you want sugar?”

“No, thank you. It wasn’t permanently inhabited, but I think somebody used it as a temporary shelter.”

“What’s there? A firepit? Tools or something?” Jordan took her chair.

Pippa shook her head. “Better than that.” She leaned forward and whispered, “There’s a body.”

Jordan stared into Pippa’s earnest face. “Is it possible you want the police instead of an archaeologist?”

Pippa snorted a laugh. “It’s a very ancient body. The thing is, it’s so amazing to get DNA samples from that time period. I mean, there might even be hair, and you know how valuable that would be.”

“What time period?”

“Fourteenth century. A Viking body from the fourteenth century.”

Jordan took a sip from her mug before asking, “What did you see in that cave, Pippa? Did you actually see a body?”

Pippa leaned back into her chair. “Not exactly. I don’t really want to draw conclusions. A professional should do the excavation.”

“Excavation? So these remains are buried?”

“Right. There’s a rock cairn. I think they’re under it. Like a burial mound. And an epitaph scratched into the wall above it. You know that wouldn’t be an Inuit grave.”

“Because of the epitaph, you mean.”

“Yes. The Inuit don’t write epitaphs because of the name souls. They don’t want to fix the name to a person who’s dead. They use the name again so it keeps living.”

“I’ve heard of that. The cemetery over by the airport, for instance, has blank crosses marking the graves. But that hardly qualifies as evidence that there’s a Viking body buried there. Why do you conclude that?”

Pippa looked evasive. “I can’t say. When the excavation is finished…”

“But, Pippa, to get an archaeological team out here is a big deal. You have to give us a reason. Who’s going to send a team all the way out here on the strength of your hunch?”

“But if I’m right, if a body of one of the Norse settlers could be found, it could open up all sorts of research possibilities. I mean, how often does that happen?”

“It’s extremely rare,” Jordan agreed. “Most of them seemed to have just vanished. Obviously, if there is a Viking body in that cave, scientists would be seriously interested.” Jordan observed her silently, debating the merits of her request.

“Please,” Pippa begged. “I know it sounds crazy, but it would mean so much to me.”

Jordan set her mug on the table. “I know an archaeologist working on Disko Island. Dr. Salvatore Lund from UCLA. We used to work together. Maybe he would take a look. If he thought it was a valuable site, he would be able to inform the right people and get something going. Would that work for you?”

Pippa smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

“I’ll give him a call,” Jordan said, “and see if he can find some time to come over.”

“
Mange tak!
” Pippa blurted, jumping to her feet. She hugged Jordan impetuously.

Just then, the sound of laughter drifted down to them from the east.

“That’ll be my team,” Jordan said. “Let me call Dr. Lund before it slips my mind.”

“I really appreciate your help.”

Brian, Julie, Sonja and Malik came hiking into view, followed by Atka. Brian waved and Jordan returned the gesture, then went to her tent to call Dr. Lund. It’s probably nothing, she would tell him. A young girl’s romantic imagination gone wild. But she felt the need to show Pippa she had no ill will toward her, that what she had said about Kelly was true, that there was nothing between them, no residual feelings. It wasn’t entirely true, but Jordan was accustomed to this sort of subterfuge. Burying the truth about her emotions when they might lead to pain or ridicule was her usual strategy. There was no harm in it, she reasoned, because she would never act on those emotions. Pippa had no reason to know that Jordan was attracted to Kelly. Pippa would never know that, nor would anyone else.

As long as they still call me the Ice Queen, she thought with a smile, I know I’m pulling it off. That nickname, whispered behind her back, was supposed to be an insult. She didn’t mind, because along with the intended slur about her lack of tenderness was an implied respect.

So there was not much chance, in this universe, that she would have poured out her heart to Pippa. And if she had, she wondered, what would her heart have said? Her heart had been silent for so long. It may have forgotten how to speak. And that’s the way she wanted it, she reminded herself.

* * *

Pippa recognized Malik as soon as he arrived in the kitchen, despite his new haircut and the amazing tattoo on his head. He greeted her in Greenlandic, asking how she was, and she told him his hair was awesome. They were in the midst of their conversation when Sonja walked up and slung her arm around Malik’s shoulders. “English, people!” she commanded.

Malik laughed. “Pippa and I are practically neighbors, but I haven’t seen her in a few years.”

“Hi, Pippa,” Sonja greeted her. “Small town, sure, everybody knows everybody.”

Malik nodded and went to get a soda.

Sonja grabbed an energy bar off the counter. She wore a flannel shirt open over a tight-fitting T-shirt. She removed her sunglasses and propped them on top of her head. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine now.”

“Well, you look good.” Sonja winked at her before unwrapping her snack.

Pippa got instantly hot in the face, suddenly remembering that Sonja was a lesbian. Malik came by again, popped the top of his soda can and said, “Watch out for this one.” He jerked his head toward Sonja. “She is a dangerous woman.” He smiled and walked away.

Sonja frowned disapprovingly. “Bullshit!” She took a bite of her snack. “Where’s Kelly?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Pippa complained.

“Hey, don’t get sore. It’s just that every time I’ve seen you, she’s been there too.”

“Not today,” Pippa stated flatly. “She’s just a friend of mine, you know, not my conjoined twin.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sonja took a bite off her energy bar, then stared at Pippa, chewing methodically, one hip thrust out, letting her gaze meander unapologetically down the length of Pippa’s body. “What’re you doing here?”

“I came to see Jordan.” Pippa was nervous but also excited at the idea that a lesbian was checking her out.

Sonja was actually nice looking, she thought, with her spiky blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her face was round and girlish with a pouty-sexy mouth.

“What’d you want with Jordan?” she asked with her mouth full.

“Just a science question.”

“You like science?”

“I love science!”

“What’s your thing?” Sonja took another bite.

“Genetics. Biophysics. Paleomorphology. Anything to do with evolutionary history, really.”

Sonja nodded appreciatively. “So you’re a little brainiac. What about fossils? You like those?”

Pippa nodded. “Love ’em.”

“I found one last week. Wanna see it?”

“Sure.”

“Come on. It’s in my tent.” Sonja led the way to the blue and orange dome, unzipped the flap and ducked through.

Pippa followed. Inside was a cot and sleeping bag, a couple of boxes and some canvas bags. There was a battery-powered lantern on an upturned box for reading. Sonja popped the last of her energy bar into her mouth, wadded up the wrapper and tossed it toward a paper bag serving as a trash can. She missed. Pippa scooped it up and dropped it in.

“Have a seat,” Sonja said, indicating the cot.

Pippa sat while Sonja dug through a duffel bag for a wad of newspaper. Then she came over and sat on the cot so close to Pippa that their thighs pressed against one another. Sonja unwrapped the newspaper to reveal a gray oval rock. She handed it to Pippa, who took it in both hands, recognizing immediately the clear black impression of a trilobite.

“It’s amazing!” she pronounced, running her index finger over its well-defined ridges. “A nice one!”

“It
is
a nice one. Who would have thought there’d be trilobites in Greenland?”

“Is it Cambrian? Greenland was near the equator then and had tropical forests.”

“Brian thinks it’s Ordovician. He’s more of a fossil geek than I am.”

“Where did you find it?”

“About five miles up. According to Jordan’s records, that spot was covered with ice just a few years ago. As the ice melts, I guess there will be a lot of things uncovered that haven’t been seen for millions of years.”

“Yeah, like the ice mummies.”

“The what?” Sonja wrinkled up her nose.

“The ice mummies they found a few years ago. Inuits frozen under the ice for centuries. The ice melted and there they were. All dried up, but still with patches of clothing and hair and everything. They’re in the national museum. You should go see them.”

“No, thank you! I have no interest in looking at freeze-dried humans. Rocks, inorganic stuff, that’s my thing. Not mummies or zombies or shrunken heads.”

Pippa snorted and handed the rock back. “That’s really cool.”

Sonja wrapped the newspaper around it and placed it on the box next to the lantern. Then she turned back to Pippa and smiled at her. “You’re cute. A cute little imp.”

“Thanks,” Pippa replied, embarrassed. “You’re a lesbian, aren’t you?”

Sonja laughed. “Yes. What about you? Are you into girls?”

“I would be, if there were any girls to get into.”

Sonja’s eyes widened suddenly as her lips curled into a smirk and Pippa realized what she’d just said.