Lake of Sorrows

Nora wasn’t sure what sort of reaction she expected. What should a person say when presented with such news? He took a step backward, a deep crease furrowing his forehead, and looked into her eyes, searching for a sign that she was telling the truth. When she nodded, his head dropped forward and words finally escaped within a long, slow exhalation. “Ah, no. No.”

“She’s been murdered.”

This brought Cormac fresh anguish. He lunged forward and seized her by the arms. “How do you know, Nora?”

As his fingers pressed into her arms, she found his reaction beginning to alarm her. She tried to wrest one arm out of his tightening grasp. “Because I found her body.”

All his urgency dissolved in an instant. He folded his arms tight around her and whispered through her hair. “Ah, Nora. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Are you all right?” He pulled back to look into her face, to see for himself.

“I’ll be all right. But what about you—are you all right, Cormac?”

He didn’t answer for a moment; he looked away, the muscles in his jaw tensing. He finally looked back at her, and she could feel the anxiety that radiated from his eyes. “Nora, there’s something you need to know right away. I was over at Ursula’s last night. I’m responsible.”

She received the force of that blunt statement as though she’d been struck in the face.

He realized his poor choice of words immediately. “No, no, I didn’t—I wasn’t even there very long. Maybe fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. She was fine when I left, Nora.” He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. “But I am responsible, you see. She rang me up on the mobile after you’d gone to sleep, just after midnight. I was here in the kitchen, finishing the washing up. Ursula said she’d heard someone outside the house and asked me to come over. She wouldn’t phone the police or the emergency services. I didn’t know what else to do. She sounded a bit drunk, and she seemed genuinely frightened. I was just going to try to calm her down, get her to ring the Guards.

“I thought something was off as soon as I stepped inside the door. The kitchen window had been smashed. She was trying to clean it up, and she’d cut herself pretty badly in the process; it was a nasty gash, and I ended up with blood all over my clothes from helping her bind it up. When I came back from putting away the bandages, Ursula was calmly pouring two glasses of wine, as if nothing had happened. I asked her what the hell was going on, and she said something about how shockingly simple it was to mislead a decent man.” He colored deeply. “I thought she’d made it up—the prowler. I thought she’d broken the window herself.”

“So what happened?” Nora felt a hand tightening around her heart, the familiar signature of her old enemy, regret.

“When I told her that there was no way I was staying for a drink, I don’t know what happened—she just went off.” Cormac’s anguish and humiliation were evident from the red flush that burned in his ears. “I turned to leave, and she came at me from behind. All I wanted was to get the hell away from there. I tried to shake her off, but she got in a good swipe at me, enough to draw blood.” He put one hand to his injured throat. “All I know is that she was alive when I left, Nora. Halfway up the hill I looked back. I could see her standing there in the kitchen. She was holding up a wine glass and laughing at me.”

He leaned back into the wall and sagged against it for support. On the left side of his neck Nora could see the three distinct scratches, still raw-looking. All at once she remembered the smear on his pillow.

“You’ll have to go to the police right away.”

“Yes. Of course.”

An expectant silence hung in the air, and Nora could sense that she hadn’t heard everything he had to tell. “There’s something else. What is it, Cormac?”

He closed his eyes and drew another breath. “It’s bound to come out when I talk to the Guards, and I don’t want you to hear it from anyone else.” He looked straight into her eyes. “I should have told you before now, Nora, and I apologize for that. Ursula and I were very briefly—involved, a long time ago. We were both graduate students, working out here with Gabriel. It only lasted for a few weeks one summer. I broke it off when I realized that Ursula was not…” He searched for the right words. “…not as honorable a person as I had imagined.”

“And that was something you couldn’t figure out before sleeping with her?” His eyes flashed, and she gazed into the wound her words had opened, quick as a blade. “I’m sorry, Cormac, I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“Not entirely. I don’t know what made me go over there last night. When she stopped by on Sunday evening, I thought there was something different about her. She seemed calmer, more thoughtful. I thought perhaps she’d changed a little. Maybe she had, maybe she hadn’t; maybe it was all an act.”