A Watery Death (A Missing Pieces Mystery Book 7)

by Joyce Lavene

  “And that’s just as well.” I covered his hand with mine. “What good will it do to document it? Maybe inviting hundreds of people to come here with nets and cameras? People around the world will start hunting them, like they did big white sharks after Jaws. We can’t let that happen.”

  “I think you’re overstating the case.”

  “Remember you said it might not be a good idea to bring Grandma Eleanore from the past? I think this is much worse, Kevin. Just because we know doesn’t mean everyone else needs to know.”

  “I think these are two distinctly different ideas.” He signed for his delivery of fresh flowers that would enliven the inn that day. “Look. I can’t do anything today. Let’s think about it and talk again tonight. If you really feel this would be bad, I won’t do it.”

  That was a relief. “Thanks.”

  “And you won’t keep trying to bring your grandmother back, because I think that’s a really bad idea too.”

  “Kevin!”

  “Later, sweetheart.” He kissed my cheek. “I have to get breakfast going for my starving guests.”

  Now I was sorry I’d found a way to convince him that seafolk existed.

  Angry and worried, I saw Mark Samson next door at the Duck Historical Museum. It was too early for him to be opening, but if he was there, maybe I could do some research.

  “Hello!” I stuck my head in the open doorway. “Mark? Are you in here?”

  “Good morning, Dae.” He grinned as he put on a pot of coffee. “We have our monthly meeting this morning. I know—awful time for it, right? It’s my turn to set up. Can you stay?”

  I was officially on the board of the historical society but rarely attended meetings. I knew I should be more consistent, but I had to attend so many meetings as mayor that the idea of one more set my teeth on edge. I loved our historical society and had used it many times for reference. But the meetings were very dry, and Mrs. Euly Stanley tended to be long-winded.

  “Could I just do a little digging? Something has come up, and I’d like to take a look at the back issues of the Duck Gazette, and anything else that pertains to my investigation.”

  “Your investigation, huh? Sounds fun. I must need a new job.” He shook his head. “I think cooking ribs must be getting to me if I think your job is exciting!”

  I didn’t ask him what he meant by that.

  The Duck Gazette had been the original newspaper for the town. It had been gone for many years, but the historical society kept it alive with microfiche. Anyone could still view the old pictures and stories, including information about the Blue Whale and its original owner, Bunk Whitley. A lot of Duck folklore would have been lost if it wasn’t for the museum and the newspaper archives.

  “You’re looking for stuff about mermaids, aren’t you?” Mark grinned. “I’m sure everyone will be. Good thing we’re having a meeting today so we can discuss how to handle the crowds we can expect.”

  “Wait. What?” I walked past the lifelike statue of my ancestor, Rafe Masterson, the Scourge of Duck. “Why would you think I’d be looking for information about mermaids?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe this morning’s copy of Duck Aloud?” He held up the newspaper. There was a huge headline—Mermaid Spotted in Duck—with a picture of Tovi.

  Without meaning to, I snatched it from him and stared at the picture. It was grainy and might or might not have been a merman at all. I could make out his face and the shock of black hair on his head. There was clearly a curve to his hips and tail.

  I knew most people would laugh at it, but many others would take it for gospel. No doubt it had already hit the Internet.

  “Sorry.” I gave the copy back to him with a sheepish smile. “I was stunned.”

  “That’s okay. I felt the same way when I saw it. I bought a bunch of copies and put them over there if you want to take one.” He looked at the picture too. “Manfred Vorst may have hit the jackpot this time. But look at the name under the picture.”

  My eyes went to the caption. Photo by Captain William Lucky. That was even weirder.

  “Thanks, Mark. I guess I’ll come back for that research. I’m going to pay Mr. Vorst a call.”

  “See you later, Dae.”

  I stalked quickly through yards and down side paths to avoid the crowded roads. Were there already thousands more people in Duck? It seemed that way to me. I had no cell phone service on my way to Manfred’s tiny office in an outbuilding in his yard, but I had a feeling the information was already on YouTube.

  Manfred was in his office when I arrived. He was on his cell phone with one hand and his landline with the other. I could tell from the way he was speaking that he was very excited about his latest work.

  I looked at the Duck Aloud website pulled up on his computer. Not only did Manfred have the grainy picture posted, there was a video that went with it. I wondered if the video included Cathi Connor.

  “Mayor O’Donnell!” He greeted me effusively. “It’s a wonderful day, isn’t it? No pun intended on your name. What can I do for you?”

  “You can take down these pictures and tell me why you put Captain Lucky’s name on them.”

  I had barely said the words when Officer Scott Randall drove up with Sheriff Riley coming in right after him.

  “I’ve got some questions for you, Vorst,” Sheriff Riley said. “Let’s start with why you killed Captain Lucky to steal these pictures from him.”

  Everyone started talking at once. Sheriff Riley accused Manfred of killing Captain Lucky to get the merman picture and video. Manfred started explaining why he hadn’t killed Captain Lucky and how he’d bought the images from him before he died.

  “I have the receipt right here.” Manfred produced it with a flourish. “I even took a picture of it for authenticity with the time stamp on my camera. You don’t have anything on me, unless you want to give me a medal for being a sharp business man.”

  “You should have told us about this when you heard Captain Lucky was dead,” Sheriff Riley said.

  “Oh. Is he dead?” Manfred managed to look surprised. “I’ve been so busy, you know. I can’t keep up with everything.”

  Scott nodded. “Don’t try to lie about it. I just saw the article about his death in your paper, Mr. Vorst. I think you know what happened to Captain Lucky.”

  “But that doesn’t mean I participated in it,” Manfred argued.

  “Never mind that.” Sheriff Riley stopped him. “You’re coming with me to answer some questions.”

  “I’m sorry, Sheriff Riley,” Scott said. “Chief O’Donnell said not to let you take him anywhere until we’ve questioned him.”

  The sheriff laughed. “This is my case as much as it is Horace’s. I’ll take him where I want. I don’t think you’re going to stop me, Officer Randall.”

  Had they all just lost their minds?

  “Why not take him to the Duck Police Department to be interviewed, and then if he seems guilty of something, you can take him to Manteo, Sheriff Riley? You know we don’t have a nice, big jail here like you do.” I smiled sweetly as I intervened.

  “You should interview Mayor O’Donnell while you’re at it,” Manfred said. “I know that Captain Lucky gave her a personal possession to hold for him. She could be as guilty of killing him as I am.”

  Sheriff Riley cuffed him, but he stared at me. “Is that true, Dae?”

  How could I explain that the coral horn needed to be protected because it gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach? How had Manfred known about it?

  “He didn’t give me anything of value. It’s a big seashell. He told me he was going out of town and asked me to hang on to it until he got back.” Only a tiny lie.

  The sheriff glared and told Scott to bring me in too. Scott looked fairly alarmed at the idea, his brow furrowed and eyes wide, but I wasn’t worried about it. I could explain this to Gramps.

  “It’s okay,” I told Scott. “I’m sure Sheriff Riley is only being thorough.”

  Manfred strug
gled with the sheriff. “This is against my constitutional rights. Let me go. I’ll take this to the Supreme Court.”

  “Pipe down, Vorst.” The sheriff shoved him into the back of his car. “Vermin like you were meant to be caught.”

  In contrast, Scott held the front passenger side door open for me. I got in, and he closed the door behind me. I definitely got the better of the two lawmen. But the result was going to be the same.

  I hoped I’d hear if Captain Lucky actually sold those photos to Manfred. If he could prove there was a merman in Duck, why didn’t he put them on the Internet himself?

  But this supported my idea that Lilly could have murdered Captain Lucky, hoping to get the pictures. But Captain Lucky had already given them to Manfred. I needed more answers.

  We drove to the new town hall, and Scott carefully helped me out of the car. Sheriff Riley jerked Manfred around like a fish on a line. We were a small parade going into the police department door with plenty of gawking faces following us.

  “What’s going on?” Gramps asked from behind the front desk. “Tuck, what are you up to?”

  Sheriff Riley grabbed Gramps’s arm and hauled him into Chief Michaels’s office. I was surprised that Gramps hadn’t taken that office already—it was the only one that had any privacy in the large room. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable being in there since his job was only temporary.

  Without much crime in Duck, we didn’t need a larger space or a real jail. We sufficed with what we had until prisoners could be handed over to the sheriff’s office, which was much larger and better staffed.

  “You better come clean on what you know, Madam Mayor,” Manfred warned. “I’m not taking the fall for this by myself.”

  I really didn’t know what he was talking about. Besides holding on to the coral horn and not telling anyone about it, I wasn’t guilty of anything. True, I knew about the seafolk—but that wasn’t a crime either.

  “Did you kill Captain Lucky to get that picture and video?” I asked him.

  “No, of course not. He asked me to hold it in case something happened to him. I guess he was scared for a reason since he’s dead now. Probably killed by one of these sea creatures, huh?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “But why would anyone want to kill him because he could prove there were seafolk?”

  “They didn’t kill him for that, I’m sure,” he retorted in a snarky tone of voice. “Why don’t you pick up one of his belongings and give us all some answers?”

  “That’s enough prisoner fraternization.” Sheriff Riley came out of the office.

  “You’re not a prisoner, Dae,” Gramps said. “But I want to talk to you a minute, please.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up. You’re not going free,” the sheriff said to Manfred. “I’m taking you back to Manteo for interrogation. Let’s go.”

  “You got the wrong man.” Manfred struggled and argued. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

  The two of them got out the front door, and Scott sat heavily in his chair.

  “I’m sorry, Mayor O’Donnell. And I’m glad they’re gone. I can’t believe Manfred killed Captain Lucky.”

  “He didn’t,” I assured him.

  “Then who did? The seafolk?”

  “I don’t think it was them either.”

  “If you please, Dae.” Gramps impatiently held the door open to the office.

  I smiled at Scott and preceded Gramps into Chief Michaels’s office.

  He shut the door behind us. “What is this all about? Is this what you were trying to say about the naked man who accosted you?”

  “Yes. There is a merman and a mermaid in Duck. But I don’t think they killed Captain Lucky.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there was no reason for them to kill him. Tovi is the merman. He’s very nice. Lilly isn’t quite as nice, but I don’t think she’d set Captain Lucky up on the ship that way, do you? What would be the point when she could just wrap her tail around him and drag him under the sea forever?”

  “Damn it, Dae, you should have told me you were involved in some way!”

  Gramps was more upset than I understood for him to swear at me.

  “I’m really only involved in a minimal way because Captain Lucky gave me the coral horn that calls the seafolk before he died.”

  “That horn is evidence. Bring it in so we can take a look at it.”

  “No one can blow it, Gramps. I think that’s what brought Tovi and Lilly to us in the first place.”

  “Do I need to send Scott with you?”

  “No. I’ll bring it in.”

  “Dae?”

  “I’ll bring it in, Gramps.” I glanced at his raised brow and annoyed expression. “The sooner Chief Michaels can take over again, the sooner I go back to not feeling like a teenager. You’re not the sheriff anymore!”

  I didn’t slam the office door, but I was irritated at the way he’d treated me. He didn’t even know what I had—just assumed it had something to do with the murder. I understood that he was under pressure to fill Chief Michaels’s shoes, but he didn’t have to take it out on me.

  Scott nodded to me, and I left town hall.

  The coral horn was still at Missing Pieces, but I wasn’t going there until I had a chance to shower, get the saltwater off me, and change clothes. I knew if I went to the shop first, I had a good chance of not leaving again until late. Everyone would be buzzing about the merman picture. It was the way the town’s grapevine worked.

  Plus I’d promised Treasure that I’d bring him to the shop. There was also the matter of taking all the family goodies I’d found in the attic to fill in the holes that had been created by sales the day before.

  Lucky for me that Gramps had Chief Michaels’s police car and didn’t need the golf cart. It would be a good way to transport everything to Missing Pieces.

  I walked home quickly and wasn’t happy to see someone waiting on the front steps for me. It wasn’t a good time to talk about the future of Duck or why the water tower wasn’t painted more frequently.

  To my surprise, it was Cathi Connors.

  “Can we talk?” she asked me.

  “Sure. Let’s go inside.” I opened the front door, and she followed me in. I knew what she wanted to talk about.

  “Dae, you have to put a stop to all this speculation about Tovi and Lilly. You know where this will lead. Both of us are history majors. Neither one of us wants to see new witch trials taking place in Duck—except with seafolk. It will be a freak show. Tovi and Lilly will be taken away and analyzed to death. You know it’s true.”

  I sat opposite her at the kitchen table. “I agree with you. We can’t let them be captured.”

  “About the photos and video—”

  “There’s nothing I can do about that. You know how the Internet is, Cathi. Once it gets out there, it’s always there.”

  “Then it’s too late to stop it.”

  “I won’t release the picture I got of Tovi changing into a merman. Not that it was much to look at anyway. The one in the paper wasn’t great either. This will all die down after a while. You can talk to Tovi. Tell him that he and his sister need to stay away from Duck for a while.”

  She got to her feet and paced the worn wood floor. “It’s not that easy. He feels like he has as much right to be here as we do.”

  “I’m sure that’s true. I know he thinks he knows all about humans, but he’s wrong. Explain it to him, graphically, if you need to.”

  “I’ll try again.”

  “He doesn’t want to leave because he’s in love with you, isn’t he?”

  “What?” She seemed puzzled. “No. I’m just friends with both of them. I have been for years. He’s in love with a human, but I don’t know who it is. Lilly just wants to protect him from us and their elders.”

  “Did she kill Captain Lucky to keep him from posting those pictures?”

  “No. Absolutely not! Tovi and Lilly told me about the pictures. They threatened Captain Lucky, but t
hey didn’t kill him. They aren’t like that, Dae.”

  I looked at her red eyes and pale face. “How did you get involved with them?”

  She smiled. “I was down by the water—this was years ago, after the divorce. I was thinking about jumping in and never coming back. I was so lonely, Dae. I just couldn’t stand it.”

  “I’m so sorry, Cathi.”

  “Don’t be. It led me to Tovi and Lilly. They suddenly appeared in the water. Tovi was lonely too. We tried being together, but he was looking for someone else, despite the rules of his people and the stupidity of mine. But it doesn’t matter. I’m happy for the first time in years. I don’t want anything or anyone to take that away.”

  Her eyes were fierce when she stared at me. I’d known Cathi all my life. She always seemed so strong and capable. I wondered if she really still loved Tovi but was content being his friend while he looked for the other woman. That didn’t sound like a happy ending.

  “What will they do? With the newspaper article and the Internet, they’ll have to go away or risk being captured.”

  “I’ve thought about it,” she said. “I don’t think they’ll be here much longer. You know they say seafolk are born from drowning victims. I’d be willing to die to this world, Dae, to be with them in the next. I hope they take me with them.”

  “You don’t mean that. Think about what you’re saying.”

  “I have—a lot. If they’ll take me, I’ll go.” She smiled and hugged me. “So don’t get everyone all riled up looking for me if I disappear. Just know that I’m happy and with them.”

  “Cathi—”

  “See you later, Dae.”

  I watched her leave the house, torn between trying to find help for her before she did something she couldn’t come back from and minding my own business. Was it was true that mermaids were drowning victims? I’d heard it all my life. I knew Cathi had too. But neither one of us could swear to it.

  On the other hand, I wasn’t in love with a merman. Maybe I’d be willing to take my chances if Kevin was a merman.