He quickly ran into the exam room, and as expected, Ariel was gone. Nothing remained of her except the brown blanket she’d used to wrap herself.
“She’s gone?” Ashley stated more than asked, even though it sounded like a question.
Jake pinched his nose. “Another random coincidence.”
“They’re cleaning up their mess. And obviously anyone who saw that mermaid has to die.”
He shook his head. “No, not just anyone who saw her, but anyone who knows what we know.”
She glanced back toward the bodies and bit back tears. “I can’t believe this. This is my fault. I should have never brought her here. Garrison is dead because of me.”
“No, Ash, he’s dead because of some psychotic clan of mermaid creators, or whatever the hell she is, or they are. I don’t even know which way is up anymore.” He thought he felt crazy before, now he just felt like a rubber room was probably a better option than this insanity.
“Jake, maybe we should just get out of here.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to be here when the cops show.”
“No, Jake. I mean we should get the hell out of town. My cousin has a condo down in Florida. It’s usually empty this late in the summer. He spends the winters down there from Michigan. The keys are with the local real estate office and I’m on the VIP list.”
As smart as that idea sounded to preserve their lives, he felt the compelling need to find Ariel. Ashley must have known what he was thinking.
“Jake, maybe you can’t save her.”
“Maybe I can.” He stormed out of the office and got into his still running car.
The second Ashley’s ass hit the seat he sped off, annoying her as she struggled to click her seat belt. “Jake, slow down please.”
He was so mad he didn’t want to.
“Jake, saving Ariel is not going to bring back Cassie.”
Like a slow, creeping scorpion, he felt the insect legs of realization feeling their way all through his body. Maybe she was right. Maybe that’s exactly what he was doing. He slowed the car and pulled down one of the sandy beach access roads and stopped. “Is that what I’m doing?” he asked more to himself than Ashley.
“That’s what is seems like to me.” She twisted to face him. “Do you love her?”
“Cassie?”
“Ariel.”
He thought about the question. He kind of did, but not in the traditional way. It was something different. It was a connection unlike he’d ever had with anyone or anything. And maybe it was directly tied to what she was. Or maybe it was how they’d met.
“Well, do you?”
He met Ashley’s eyes. “I don’t know.”
She looked visibly upset. “You either do or you don’t, Jake. It’s not a trick question.”
But it kind of was. “Not like I love you.”
She formed an uneasy smile. It was one of those half-scared and uncomfortable smiles. It was the kind of smile that told him he’d just said the right thing but at the wrong time.
He huffed. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Hey, I get it. She was there for you when no one else was.” She looked away.
“Yeah, but…I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you don’t know. Because other people were there for you, Jake, you just didn’t take our help. My help. I was there for you from the start and you didn’t see it.”
He nodded slightly. “I know, and I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I was in a bad place, Ashley. No one could help me, and I didn’t want help. The truth is I was addicted to the pain. I was addicted to the hurt. And if I stopped hurting, I felt like Cassie was gone forever.”
“Jake, Cassie is gone forever. She’s gone from this world. Nothing you do will ever bring her back.”
He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw started to hurt.
“She will always be part of you. She will always be in your heart. Nothing can take that away.”
“I know all that.”
“You know it, but you’re not living it. It’s that simple.”
“Oh, thanks for that. Now you tell me,” he quipped sarcastically.
“Stop being an ass. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, but how…how the hell do I live it? It’s not as easy as just that.”
“Yes, it’s exactly that easy. It’s just that easy. You have to make the conscious choice to do it. You have to be better than the tragedy.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means that what happened does not define you. It’s not a part of you. It’s just the way it was. It was a tragic event, but you’re better than that one event.”
He didn’t say anything he just mulled over what she’d said.
“Right?”
He shrugged.
“Say it, say you get it.”
“I get it.” And he did. For the first time he got it. He glanced over the top of the dune, stretching his neck to see the ocean. But couldn’t quite make out the waves, so he got out of the car and climbed the dune, ignoring the protected dune sign and stepping over the hump.
When Ashley stepped up next to him, he said, “When I was first getting used to the idea of Cassie being gone, I would purposely make myself cry. I don’t even know why. I don’t even remember what motivation I had for it. But I would just want that pain so I could feel close to her. It felt like if I didn’t cry, then I didn’t love her anymore.”
“That’s not the way it works.”
“I know. But it seemed logical at the time.”
“Of course it did. Everything seems logical while we’re doing it. That’s why people make mistakes all the time. And I’m not saying you were mistaken to feel that way. But you were mistaken to keep feeling that way. You have to just acknowledge the feelings and then move on. You can’t dwell on them for weeks and months. I mean fercrissakes, Jake, you were going to end your life over it.”
“I don’t do well with guilt.”
“I can understand that. Guilt is a funny thing. Unless you’re a sociopath, you’re going to feel some guilt over things. In some cases, you’re going to let it linger.”
Jake shot her a look. “What did you say?”
“I said you can’t let it linger.”
“No, the part about being a sociopath.” Something she said brought back the conversation they’d had with Roger Pender.
“What about it?”
He turned to step in front of her. “Roger Pender.”
“Who?”
‘Roger Pender, Dr. Shepard’s former partner.”
“What about him?”
“He said something very interesting about sociopaths and their behavior.”
She shook her head. “So what? Where’re you going with this?”
Jake didn’t know how he knew, but it just came to him that Roger Pender knew more than he’d led on. “He did lie to us.”
“How do you know?”
“It was something he said. Or rather how he said it.” Jake jumped over the dune and ran to the car.
Chapter 33
They stopped at the gate of the community and the guard asked them whom they were there to see. After Jake said the name, the man at the gate turned and punched a combination into the pad and they drove in.
After parking, they headed over toward Roger’s building. The woman at the table smiled at them. “Hi, how can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Roger Pender?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure where he’s at today.”
Jake pointed. “He lives in that building, right?”
“I’m not sure which one he’s in this week.”
He narrowed his gaze. “I don’t understand.”
The woman shrugged. “He stays wherever he wants, we don’t keep track.”
Jake laughed. “So the residents just roam about from place to place?”
She chuckled. “No, not the residents, only the owner.”
Jake looked over at Ashley. “He owns this plac
e?”
The woman started going through her phone. “Oh, you’ll find Mr. Pender over at the library.” She pointed a skinny arm. “Head over to that brick building. He’s doing a reading. He reads Shakespeare twice a week to the residents.”
Jake swung the wide door open and stepped into what looked like every generic public library he’d ever seen. It had the modern side filled with computers on desks, and the traditional side with low shelves of books spread out wide for easy reaching.
They turned the corner of a curved wall and came upon a crowd of about twenty people dispersing. Roger Pender was packing some books into a briefcase when Jake approached. “You almost had me fooled.”
Roger looked up at him and cocked one brow. “Pardon me?”
“You really almost had me fooled. That whole innocent act, it was compellingly done. You had me convinced.”
Roger stood upright. “Son, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit, you old bastard—you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
He set his stance and eyed Jake. “The last man who spoke to me like that had to have his teeth surgically removed from the back of his throat.”
“Take your best shot, old man. I don’t think you’ve got the balls.” Jake readied himself, but he was a little nervous. Roger was probably in his early sixties, but it was clear he was strong as a bull. Jake also had a suspicion that the old guy knew how to throw a punch.
Roger turned a half smile. “Son, I’d tear you apart and leave nothing for the buzzards.”
“You don’t scare me.”
He laughed. “Then you’re not only ignorant, you’re also stupid and lack the self-preservation skills and situational awareness required to live long enough to enjoy the wisdom I have acquired.”
Jake sighed. “Look, I don’t want to fight you.”
Roger laughed. “Now that’s the smartest thing I’ve heard you say yet.”
“I just want to know the truth. I want this insanity to stop. And I don’t want you to sit there and deny what I’m talking about. I know you know it.”
“I’m afraid you know nothing.”
“I know too much, and whoever pulls the strings in your little group wants me dead because of it. They’ve already taken Ariel. And since you’re going to kill us anyway, why not share the truth? I just want to know she’s going to be okay.”
“Son, you don’t deserve anything, because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jake laughed. “Okay, have it your way. But know this. I may be just ignorant and stupid enough to blow this shit wide open. And it might kill me, but it might also kill you. So you have to ask yourself, Roger, is that the way you want to play it? After all, I’ve already come further than anyone else has.”
Roger stared at him, but Jake didn’t waver one bit in his face. He kept cold and hard, and the poker face was not going to crack. Roger must have seen the desperation in his eyes, or something in there that caused his aggressive posture to sink just enough.
Ashley stepped up to him. “Dr. Pender, we don’t want to cause any more trouble. We just want to live. We’ve both lost so much we don’t want to lose everything else. But know that we will fight back with everything we have. And although it might not seem like much compared to you, the first rule in any battle is to never underestimate your enemy. I assure you, I’m not one to be underestimated.”
She stepped smoothly between the two men. “Look, whatever the truth is, it can’t be worse than what we’ve already assumed. And it’s not like we can prove anything, anyway.”
Roger looked at her. For a long time his hard stare didn’t change, but then, it did. His glare softened with a long sigh and a slight turn of his head. He slid his phone out of his pocket and turned away from them, taking a few quick steps out of earshot in front of some rolling carts filled with books.
Jake looked at Ashley. “How do you feel about this?”
She nodded. “I feel good. I feel like if they wanted to kill us, they would have already.”
“Yeah, but it’s not for lack of trying.”
Roger swung around toward them, sliding his phone into his pocket in one motion. He approached and folded his arms over his chest. “Okay. You two perhaps have earned the right to know the truth. But there are conditions.”
Jake nodded. “We have conditions too.”
“You’re in no position to make any demands.”
“That’s fair. But I want a guarantee that no matter what happens, Ashley comes out of this alive.”
Roger stared at Jake for several long seconds before sliding his hand into his pocket, and pulling out his wallet. Only breaking eye contact for a brief second, he finessed a business card into his fingertips.
“Meet me at this address in two hours. We’ll proceed from there.”
Jake glanced at the card and looked to Ashley, who shrugged. They spun away and headed back to the car.
* * *
After parking in the dirt lot of the old marina, Jake looked out over the water and wondered where this was going. As suicidal as he was just a few days ago, dying was the last thing he wanted now. He especially didn’t want anything to happen to Ashley. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, even though he’d already said it, but he was in love with her all over again. Perhaps he’d never stopped loving her and he felt sick to his stomach that something might happen to her.
He glanced down the street when he heard an engine humming, but after a second it became clear it was not on the road, but in the water.
A medium sized pontoon boat, white with a faded yellow canopy and even more faded yellow outriggers, chugged slowly toward the rickety dock that led away from the marina.
Jake stepped up onto the weathered planks and turned to hold out a helping hand to Ashley. She was not the kind of girl that needed the hand, but he offered out of habit and because it was the chivalrous thing to do. He’d gotten used to doing those sorts of things for Cassie. She wanted a hand, doors opened, and things that used to define male chivalry. Jake didn’t hate doing those things, in fact he kind of liked it.
The skipper piloting the boat wasn’t familiar, but Roger Pender sat in the far corner, his elbows propped on the rail behind him and his arms spread like a waiting vulture.
Stepping over the small gap between the dock and the deck, he glanced back to make sure Ashley made the step as the boat drifted slowly by the dock.
Roger motioned for them to sit. “I told you there are conditions to this. That was not lip service.”
Jake sat. Ashley sat to his left away from Pender. “I’m sure.”
“I’ve discussed this with my colleagues and we’ve agreed. There have been too many deaths. We don’t trust you. We should just kill you.”
“You’re wise not to trust us.”
“You’ve surprised us at every turn. To top it off, Ariel is threatening to harm herself and her baby if anything happens to you. We can’t have that, not with the amount of time we’ve invested in her. And we may have an offer for you that will keep everyone happy.”
“Is that right?” He looked skeptically at Roger.
The boat chugged out of the open water and down the wide inter-coastal waterway. The tall, sandy hills rose up majestically on both sides and helped to usher them down into the river waters.
At the apex of a long, slow turn, the skipper turned the boat down a narrow, blind inlet that led them down a waterway just wide enough for the outriggers to scrape by the vegetation. The soft rustling of foliage was usually a soothing sound, but for some reason in this case it bothered Jake. Perhaps it was because he thought something sinister waited down this serene path.
Just as the trees and shrubs felt like they were closing in on them, it opened up to reveal a huge house. It was three stories, stone faced, and wrapped with porches and patios around the whole structure. It was not in impeccable repair, but it certainly didn’t look like a dump.
There weren’t any other house
s around, it was as isolated as any on these inlets that Jake had ever seen. He wondered if it could even be seen at all from the road. Looking beyond the house, he couldn’t even see any roads in the distance. He knew the landscapes around these waters, but this place seemed almost foreign.
The skipper stopped the engine and let the boat drift silently between the two docks that reached out into the water until it bumped softly into the tires.
Roger stood and stepped effortlessly onto the dock without a word. Jake let Ashley go first before he followed. At the end of the dock, they traversed a few steps up to a winding sidewalk of cement lined with red bricks.
Roger turned and faced them. “What you are about to see only a handful of people outside of the organization have ever seen. You have to understand that trying to blow the proverbial whistle on something like this will result in nothing for you. You will accomplish nothing, you will prove nothing, you will save nothing. We have the power to take your life, without killing you. You will only make yourself look like a fool.”
Jake nodded. “I understand. But why’re you trusting us?”
Roger sighed. “Ariel is making life very difficult for us. We don’t want her to come to the same fate as her mother.”
“What fate was that?”
Roger turned, “This way.”
They headed up the sidewalk and entered the large house. The foyer was spacious and open, yet effectively clinical. Jake felt like he was walking into the future. Everything was white marble tile and gleaming surfaces.
Roger motioned with his hand. “The things you think you know about us, about the world, may not be the same once you leave here. And the fact is, not every question you have will be answered.”
“Then why are we here?”
“You’re here because you’ve eluded your demise more times than anyone has in the past. You’re here because Ariel still wields some power over us. You’re here because she loves you.” He turned and walked down an arched hallway.
Jake followed, gauging the look on Ashley’s face. It wasn’t one he’d seen before, but he knew what it meant. It was a universal look that all women could muster when needed.
The Mermaid Page 19
