A Watery Death (A Missing Pieces Mystery Book 7)

by Joyce Lavene

  The desperate tone of her voice started me thinking. Was it possible Cathi had killed Captain Lucky? She obviously felt passionately about protecting Tovi and Lilly. It would explain the human touch I thought had been responsible for hitting him in the head.

  With a sigh, I went upstairs and played with Treasure for a while. He was so happy to see me. I was sure he thought I’d forgotten about taking him to the shop. I hadn’t seen Baylor anywhere, but he was probably with Mary Catherine.

  I asked Treasure if he wouldn’t rather stay at home where he could enjoy his privacy, but he went over and pawed at the special tote bag I’d made to carry him. That was good enough for me.

  Thinking about Cathi and Tovi, I got dressed in clean pink shorts and a tank top with the summer Duck logo on it. Who was I to stop Cathi if this was really what she wanted? My mood was contemplative as I took everything I’d scavenged from the attic out to the golf cart.

  Love was something different for everyone. I hoped Cathi wouldn’t end up going away with Tovi, but I wasn’t going to try to stop her. Captain Lucky’s murder was another matter. If I found that Cathi had killed him, it wouldn’t be right to let her swim away with no responsibility.

  I was down to the last two pieces I’d found in the attic—Gramps’s wedding memento and my mother’s souvenirs from her day at the carnival with a psychic. I didn’t plan to sell either of these and tucked my mother’s souvenir into the drawer of my bedside table. The case that held Grandma Eleanore’s pink garter was pretty in an old fashioned way. I picked it up to admire it, almost feeling her personal essence from it.

  But as soon as I touched it, there was a sharp zap, like from an electrical outlet or an appliance with wiring problems. I pulled back from it and let the garter fall to the floor. There was a bright red welt on my finger. That had never happened to me before.

  Treasure stuck his nose in the garter as he examined it. He sniffed it a few times and then walked away toward the bag I used to carry him.

  “Okay. I get it. I’m ready to go. We’ll have to take this stuff to Missing Pieces and then take the coral horn to Gramps. I hope you’re up for some travel.”

  He meowed and rubbed up against my bare legs. I laughed and put him in the bag. He was usually good in there when I carried him places with me. Fortunately he wasn’t the size of Baylor, or I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to carry him. I couldn’t figure out how Mary Catherine could balance that enormous cat around her neck without slumping forward.

  “I guess it happened with practice,” I told Treasure who purred in understanding.

  I scooped up the garter from the floor and put it in the drawer. Kevin’s strong words of caution regarding Grandma Eleanore rang in my ears from that morning. But could I just let it go the way he wanted me to and not bring Grandma Eleanore home if it was possible? It wasn’t like I was bringing her back from the dead after all—she’d never really died—just had become lost in time.

  There was a noise from downstairs. I thought it was probably Gramps on break and looking around for cookies to go with his coffee. I went down, hoping he wasn’t still frowning as he had been at the police department.

  I froze halfway down the stairs as I heard singing. With my heart racing and knees trembling, I went slowly down the rest of the stairs until I could see into the kitchen.

  “There you are,” Grandma Eleanore said in her cheerful voice. “Come down and have some tea with me. It’s seems we have a lot to talk about.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “How did you get here?”

  My words were slow and hesitant. I was excited and scared at the same time. I wanted to hug her and cry. Was she real, or a ghost of the past I’d brought forward?

  “Is that all you can say?” She came quickly toward me and took me in her arms. “Oh my Lord, how I’ve wanted to do that. My beautiful Dae. It’s so good to be home.”

  I stood completely still for about five seconds before I put my arms around her and hugged with all my might. “How is this possible? I didn’t do anything.”

  “Sometimes it’s not how hard you work at something—it’s doing exactly the right thing.” She left one arm around my waist, and we walked into the kitchen. “With our gift, it’s a matter of finding exactly the right item or person to see what we need. What did you recently find that belonged to me?”

  “I found the stuff from your and Gramps’s honeymoon in Wilmington. I was just looking at it after I opened the case that held your garter.” I stuck out my finger and showed her where it had zapped me. “What was that?”

  “My grandmother, who passed the gift to me, called it life spark. What she meant was finding the thing you needed to do to follow your heart.”

  “I can’t believe it. I thought it would be more complicated.”

  Grandma Eleanore reminded me so much of my mother, except rounder and softer. Their faces were so much alike. My mother had come to wear a lot of unhappy lines around her eyes and mouth before she died. My grandmother appeared to have avoided that kind of unhappiness in her life.

  “I wouldn’t have thought my garter would be the key.” She shrugged. “But it’s always a missing piece of our lives that frees us or holds us back.”

  “I’m glad you’re not angry that I kept trying.” I smiled. “Once Gramps told me that you weren’t dead—you just never came back—I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Gramps! I have to call him.”

  I pulled out my cell phone, and she stared at it.

  “I can see I have a lot of catching up to do,” she said. “You actually carry a phone around in your pocket now?”

  “Not just a phone,” I explained as I punched in Gramps’s number. “It’s information from all over the world. News and music. You can call or send messages to a person in China if you want to.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  “O’Donnell,” Gramps barked his name impatiently.

  “You have to come home right now,” I said. “You won’t believe what’s happened.”

  “Dae, I don’t have time to play games. I’m out at the Andalusia. Did you take that thing Captain Lucky gave you to the police department yet?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” I wiped tears from my face and eyes. “None of it matters right now. Come home, Gramps. Don’t do anything else. Just come home.”

  “What’s wrong?” His tone changed abruptly. “Are you in trouble? Are you hurt?”

  “Please, Gramps. Come home now.”

  “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  I sat down, trying to imagine the impact this would have on him. His life would be completely different now too.

  The front door opened. It was Mary Catherine, with Baylor wrapped around her neck and shoulders like a shawl, almost matching her hair.

  “Hello, Dae.” Her inquisitive green eyes went to my grandmother. “I don’t think we’ve met. Mary Catherine Roberts.” She held out her hand, and Baylor lifted his big head.

  “Eleanore O’Donnell.”

  Mary Catherine, stunned, sat in a kitchen chair beside me. “You did it. You really did it. You brought her back.”

  “I know.” I knew it would have a big impact on Mary Catherine as well. “Gramps is on his way home.”

  “I would imagine so.”

  “Would you like some tea?” Grandma Eleanore asked her. “You know, it feels like I just woke up here this morning. I can see there have been a few changes, but it’s as though they happened while I was sleeping.”

  “Is this the way everything was the day you disappeared?” I asked. “Are you the same age?”

  “As far as I can tell,” she answered. “It’s a little mixed up for me right now.”

  “I believe I need something stronger than tea,” Mary Catherine said. “How did you do this, Dae? Time can’t change, and people can’t swim through it like we do through water.”

  “You know about Dae’s gift,” Grandma Eleanore said. “You walked in without knocking. Are you living here? Are you married t
o Horace now?”

  I heard the screech of tires as Gramps turned sharply into the drive from Duck Road.

  “No,” Mary Catherine assured her. “I’m not married to Horace. I’m just…a friend of the family. Dae was nice enough to invite me to stay until I could decide if I should live in Duck permanently.”

  Grandma Eleanore smiled at me. “I always knew that’s how she’d be.”

  Gramps burst through the front door with his gun drawn.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded. “Are you hurt, Dae?”

  “Horace!” Grandma Eleanore scolded. “Have things changed so much that you’d come in here with your gun in your hand?”

  I thought Gramps might fall to the floor. The look of shock on his face when he saw her was so powerful. His mouth hung open, and his eyes bulged. The hand that held his sidearm dropped, and he staggered forward.

  “Eleanore? Is that really you?”

  “It’s really me, Horace. Our granddaughter brought me back.”

  She ran to him and hugged him, scattering kisses on his face like raindrops during a storm. They were so close that nothing could have come between them.

  He put his hands on her shoulders and touched her arms. “I don’t understand. How could this happen? It’s been so long. I never thought I’d see you again.”

  Their lips met and clung. They were both crying as they touched each other’s faces and spoke their names in sweet whispers.

  Mary Catherine and I were both crying too. I hugged her as we stood together watching this miracle happen.

  “This can’t happen,” Mary Catherine said as she wiped her eyes. “It’s against the laws of nature.”

  “She’s right here. I think the laws of nature may be a little bent in Duck, just not broken.”

  She shook her head and slowly walked outside. Baylor followed at her feet.

  Treasure peeked out of his bag, wondering what was happening and why we hadn’t left.

  “Let’s sit down a minute,” Gramps said. “A lot has happened while you were gone.”

  “I’m a little up to date, thanks to Dae’s regular visits.” She took his hand. “I know Jean is gone.”

  “Yes.” He swallowed hard. “It was a hard time to get through.”

  I could see I was unnecessary at that moment. “I’m going to Missing Pieces to get the coral horn Chief O’Donnell wants to see. Maybe you could drop Grandma Eleanore off at the shop when you go back to work.”

  “Don’t leave,” she said. “Stay a while.”

  “You two have things to say that you don’t need an audience for. I’ll see you soon.” I hugged her hard before I left. “I love you. We won’t be apart for long. I have a million things I want to talk to you about.”

  I picked up my bag and went out to the golf cart. Mary Catherine was waiting there.

  “You must’ve guessed that I’m on my way to Missing Pieces.” I stowed my cat bag behind me. Treasure stared at Baylor sitting on the seat above him, but didn’t come out.

  “Yes. Do you mind if I ride along?”

  “No. Not at all.” I wiped my eyes one last time and sniffed. “I had no idea this was going to happen, especially not this way. I didn’t know what to expect.”

  Her green eyes were focused on me as I backed the golf cart down the drive to Duck Road.

  “Whatever you did, Dae, I don’t know if it can stand. All my instincts tell me this is wrong.”

  “You too?” I shook my head. “Kevin pretty much said the same thing. You know, she wasn’t dead. Our gift allows us to go back in time when we touch something. I didn’t know that until recently, even though I was doing it. I didn’t resurrect her. I just kind of wished her home.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but when did the laws of time become mutable? When you go back to visit a time and place where an object you’re investigating came from, you don’t stay, and you don’t bring anything or anyone back with you. You’re only there a short while, and then you come back.”

  “That’s different. Grandma Eleanore wasn’t from the time she got trapped in.”

  “She’s not from this time either, Dae. She’s been gone for forty years.”

  I didn’t want to hear anything bad about Grandma Eleanore being back. It was a blessing, a miracle. Why couldn’t she see that?

  “You know, our relationship won’t change. And you’re still welcome to stay at the house. You don’t have to worry about not being part of our lives. It won’t be that way.”

  We were at the Duck Shoppes, parked as close to the loading ramp as I could get. I could have driven the golf cart right up to Missing Pieces, but people frowned on driving across the boardwalk.

  Mary Catherine smiled and hugged me. “I’m sure it will be all right, Dae. Do you want some help taking these things to your shop?”

  I let her help me take some stuff. Even with our two loads, I was going to have to make another trip. The old clocks were heavy. We talked the whole way to the shop.

  “Are we seriously thinking that the seafolk murdered Captain Lucky?” she asked.

  “No. I don’t think Gramps or Sheriff Riley want to think that at all.” I laughed. “That would mean admitting that there are seafolk. Neither one of them want to do that.”

  “What about you?” she asked as I opened the shop door. “Do you think Lilly or Tovi murdered him?”

  “I don’t think so. There are a few human suspects.” I told her about Cathi, Manfred, and whoever Tovi was in love with. “It makes more sense for a human to have killed him, Mary Catherine. But I don’t know which one. Kevin and Tess want to trap one of the seafolk.”

  “That can’t be allowed to happen. What is Kevin thinking?”

  “He wants to prove they exist. I think he’s still in shock because I proved it to him. I hope he comes to his senses. Tess just wants to know what makes them tick. She’s searched for them her whole life.”

  She put down the two clocks she was holding. “I understand that. But if you need help to keep it from happening, Dae, tell me. We both know what it would be like if this was proven to the entire world.”

  “Yes. We’re on the same page with that.” I hugged her again and thanked her for her help. “And don’t worry about Grandma Eleanore. Everything will be fine. Things have gone back to the way they should be.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” She glanced at the floor. “Come on, Baylor. Let’s not stand around all day.”

  Her feelings were hurt. I knew it would be hard on her to have my grandmother back. She and Gramps had such a good relationship. That was over now. I had to find a way to make sure she knew she would still be part of our lives.

  I’d managed to bring Treasure up with me. He crawled out of his cat bag as soon as Baylor was gone. I quickly closed the front door—or at least tried to—closing it instead on Mrs. Euly Stanley.

  “I’m so sorry.” I opened it quickly. “I hope you’re not hurt.”

  Mrs. Stanley looked fragile and old, but she was tough. She brushed off her green dress and straightened the cute straw hat she was wearing on her white hair.

  “Don’t fuss, Dae. I’m fine. I hoped I’d find you here. I heard you were researching mermaids at the museum as the news broke that we have two of them with us right now.”

  “That’s true. Would you like a cup of tea?”

  “I’d rather have a small glass of Jack Daniels, but I doubt you have it, so tea will suffice. Thank you.”

  We sat down together on the burgundy brocade sofa, and I remembered her diamond ring that I’d found. I gave it to her, and she sniffed.

  “Where in the world did you find this?” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I thought it was lost forever. But that’s what you do, isn’t it? A finder of lost things. Just like Eleanore and her grandmother before her. Thank you, Dae. I will treasure it. This ring brings back so many good memories of my husband, David. He’s been gone so long.”

  Treasure meowed when he thought he’d heard his name, but darted unde
r my chair to stare at our guest.

  “What can I do for you, Mrs. Stanley?”

  “I’m here about the seafolk, Dae. I have a story to tell you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  I had never thought of Mrs. Stanley as the storytelling sort. She tended to be a little sharp around the edges, impatient, and just not the type to share life tales.

  Maybe it was because I’d found her engagement ring. Maybe it was the warm weather. Whatever it was, she sat back against the sofa, her eyes becoming misty with the past.

  “It was my sixteenth summer. I was disappointed because my mother wouldn’t allow me to go with my friend, Stephanie, to a week-long college orientation at Eastern Carolina College. She said my friends were rowdy and there weren’t enough adult chaperones. I was furious with her and spent most of that week at the beach by myself.”

  I sipped my tea and tried to imagine her as a wild teenager. My imagination wasn’t that good.

  “I got up very early each morning and slipped out. I stayed out past my curfew. I dared my mother to say anything after she had treated me so unfairly. My mother, being a wise and sensitive woman, said nothing. So I found myself at the beach one evening as it was getting dark. I was staring at the horizon when I saw a man come out of the water.”

  Treasure butted his head against me for attention, and I scratched behind his ears.

  “It seemed as though he was floating in with the waves until he reached the shore and got up on his feet.” She giggled and put her hand over her mouth. “He was completely naked. Can you imagine?”

  “Well—”

  “Of course nowadays it’s nothing. But back then, people were appropriately clothed at all times.” She smiled and returned to her reminiscing. “It was the first time I had ever seen a naked body besides my own. Even then, I was careful not to look in the mirror as I got out of the tub. No good can ever come from that.”

  It was my turn to hide my smile.

  “But there he was—tall, handsome and very well-endowed—though I didn’t know it at the time. He walked right over to me. I couldn’t move. I was beyond amazement seeing him there. He started talking and asked me my name. He said he lived in the water, but sometimes he came to the land and could walk around on legs until sunrise the next day.”