When the my Captain called me to his office and told me he was sending me to Greenland, I laughed. He did not. He said there was a missing persons case- my specialty- which was also somehow tied to a ship from Canada that was supposedly smuggling things off the log. I’m good at what I do, good at adapting. But this… this was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

It’s much colder than Copenhagen, much more remote, and the locals either hate me and my coworkers- Angelica Schmidt and Carson de Vries- for the crime of being outsiders, or welcome us because we’re trained police officers. There’s one woman in particular who seems to hate us with a burning passion. And unfortunately for me, she keeps popping up in the case.

She was the close friend and coworker of Toklo, the missing man. They worked together in close quarters at the Research Centre and often went out with each other. She takes care of Miki, his incredibly distraught younger brother. She’s an outcast as far as I can tell. According to the mayor and my guide, Kaitak, she’s estranged from her family.

She was blunt and quiet every time I’ve talked to her, not one for conversation I guess. So, I did something really fucking stupid. I decided that, if I was going to gain any information from her, I would have to do it by getting close to her. One of the first rules of police work is you don’t get close to anyone involved in the case, but I’ve never cared much for rules anyway.

So, that’s what led me to be here, standing over the stove in her cabin in one of her shirts, waiting for the kettle to heat so I can have a cup of coffee. She comes back in from letting the dogs out into the fenced area around her cabin, long silky black hair loose around her shoulders. She places a record in the record player by the fireplace, and comes over.

She likes old music. It’s Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, and she sways gently with me. I yelp when she takes her gloves off, and slides her cold-ass fingers under the shirt I’m wearing. She laughs, and I feel the puff of warm air she lets out on my jaw as she makes herself comfortable in the crook of my neck.

Her lips are rough but gentle as she places slow, small kisses along my neck. They’re barely pressed of her lips, but I know what it means. She takes me away from the stove, and brings me to the centre of her kitchen. I laugh as she brings to dance with me. I laugh because she’s trying to be sweet, and I’m stepping on her toes.

She spins me out, and then brings me back in against her chest. She laughs when I stumble, and plants a kiss on me. Sometimes, I’m able to forget about what I’m doing, and the fact that this isn’t me home- that she isn’t my home, or my girlfriend. She can’t be, because I’m lying. I’m bullshitting her for information about this case, and she thinks she’s found someone. She pulls back when I pause in kissing her back, and her head quirks like she’s a puppy.