“My little boy,” she had murmured, giving him a quick squeeze and a kiss on top of his head.
One perfect moment, catalogued and stored somewhere deep within, forgotten until now when only a mother’s love could drown the horror.
* * *
Shelly’s athletic shorts and underwear ripped apart as her legs fused into a fish tail. The sea churned, pounding her body with its force. Small eddies on the sea floor lifted chunks of sediment in an upward spiral of distress.
Below and to the right, several fathoms under the dock, she found the others.
Jet had Melkie’s arms pinned behind his back. He struggled to open his eyes in the salt water. Bubbles of oxygen poured from his mouth.
Lily was face-to-face with Melkie, not even an arm’s width separated the two bodies. The irises in Lily’s eyes swirled, indicating extreme mermaid duress while in merform. She smiled slightly at the same time she raised her right arm. Shelly didn’t know her intention until Lily’s long, sharp nails plunged into Melkie’s right eye.
A pool of dark liquid circled in smoke rings, the tiny tendrils pooling above his head in a cloud of crimson.
An eye for an eye.
“No!” Shelly screamed. “Don’t kill him.”
Lily hesitated, left arm drawn for attack over Melkie’s remaining eye. Jet kept Melkie pinned despite his violent thrashing to break surface. Jet looked at Lily and raised her eyebrows in question.
Shelly couldn’t stop staring at Melkie, couldn’t help the surge of pity stabbing her heart. The bubbles dribbled out slower. He needed oxygen.
Melkie’s mouth parted, opening and closing twice in two syllables—Mama. And with each syllable the sea poured itself inside Melkie, forced out the life essence. The bubbles from his mouth, which had spewed like a child blowing bubble rings, had dwindled to two, then one last bubble.
With a violent surge of her tail fin, Shelly sliced through the last six feet of water toward the gruesome trio. She grabbed Lily’s hair and yanked a fistful of angel-blond fluff.
“Let him go,” she pleaded with both of them. “Tillman needs to arrest Pellerin. He won’t be able to hurt anyone else again.”
Lily paused, eyes returning to their normal blue. “He’s here?”
“If he’s not here yet, he’s on his way.”
“Pellerin will expose us. He needs to die.” Lily’s voice was as serene and musical as an angel singing a psalm.
Shelly felt the pull of it, the magical notes of it tingling through her blood and drawing her to its will, strong as the ocean’s undertow. She gritted her teeth as she stared at Melkie, limp and lifeless.
“No. You said yourself no one would believe wild tales of mermaids. Release him.”
Lily paused, and then nodded at Jet, who released her hold.
Shelly grabbed Melkie’s limp body around the waist and motioned for her cousins to leave. “Go home.” Without looking back at them, she carried Melkie up toward air, fearing it was too late. She broke the water’s surface cautiously, only allowing her head to emerge. If the bay was swarming with cops, she’d have to abandon Melkie and leave.
“Shelly!” Tillman bent over the dock and reached his arms out toward her.
“Anyone else around?”
“Not yet, it’s safe. Is that Pellerin?”
She swam to him and Tillman took Pellerin’s body, roughly lifting it onto the broken dock.
“Did he shoot you? I heard a shot.” He grabbed her arms and pulled her to him, cradling her head in his hands. The rain and wind beat down upon them, but Shelly didn’t care. The nightmare would soon be over.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, throwing her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life. He clasped her to his chest and she felt his heart slamming against her breasts.
A wail of sirens sounded in the distance. Tillman released his hold. “You have to go.”
“But how are you going to explain—” she pointed at Pellerin’s inert body “—that.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just get the hell out of here before someone sees you.”
“No. Help me up.”
He shook his head, looking past her to the road. “They’re almost here.”
“Trust me, Tillman.”
He hesitated and then his strong arms pulled her out of the water. “You better know what you’re doing.”
Shelly bit her lips against the pain as fish tail and scales shifted to skin and bones.
Tillman rubbed her hands and frowned. “This hurts you?”
“A little,” she admitted. “Do you have something to cover me?”
He gave her his raincoat and she put it on while he retrieved her ripped gray shorts. “Put these on,” he said, thrusting them at her. He hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt as the shifting continued.
Flashing blue lights bore down upon them. Shelly stood and yanked up the shorts, deliberately averting her eyes from Melkie’s lifeless body lying a foot away.
“I’ll tell the police that Pellerin kidnapped me and brought me here,” she said as Tillman tied his shirt around her waist, protecting her from cops seeing the exposed skin through the torn shorts. “He planned to shoot me and push my dead body into the sea. We struggled, I clawed at his eyes, and the wooden dock split in the storm. Melkie fell in just as you came.”
Cars screeched to a halt along the bay’s sidewalk. Car doors opened, followed by footsteps and voices.
“Got it.” Tillman nodded and bent to whisper in her ear. “Act like you’re in shock and I’ll take your statement at your house later. Don’t talk to anyone else.”
Everyone was upon them, shouting questions. Tillman signaled the medics to check Melkie’s body. Shelly shivered, watching an EMT pump Melkie’s chest with rapid compressions while another EMT kept a finger on the pulse at the side of Melkie’s neck. When that yielded no results, they stopped the chest compressions and one of them swept a finger through Melkie’s mouth before placing a respirator mask over his face. Paddles were applied to the chest, and the strong charge made Melkie’s feet and head rise up.
A hand went over her shoulders, someone trying to lead her away, out of the rain and into a police car. She shook them off, unwilling to leave the medical drama. What if he lived and people believed his story of mermaids? What if he died and she was tried for manslaughter?
A stream of brackish water poured out of Melkie’s mouth and he gagged and coughed.
She didn’t know whether to cry or rejoice.
A voice close to her ear called out, “I think this one’s in shock.”
More hands pushed at her, this time toward the red lights of an ambulance. Oh, hell, no. If they took her to a hospital and ran tests, no telling what abnormalities doctors might uncover.
“No hospital. I’m fine.” Shelly dug in her heels, seeking Tillman in the crowd. He spoke with his men, pointing at the rotted wood. He sensed her alarm and looked her way. He left the group and headed over, shirtless, chest hair matted from rain. She wanted nothing more than to be held against that chest, shielded from the stares and questions.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t go to the hospital.”
Tillman waved off the medical personnel. “She has the right to refuse treatment.”
“She could be in shock,” one of them said with a frown.
“I’m fine,” she repeated. “No medical treatment. It’s...against my religion.”
“You heard the lady.” Tillman took her by the elbow and guided her to his car. “I need a blanket,” he called out.
Once they were alone inside his car, he spoke quickly. “I’ll be busy here for quite a while. Carl will drive you home and I’ll come by as soon as I can. Give Carl a short, preliminary statement, like the one you told me earlier.”
An officer rapped on the window, holding up a blanket. Tillman opened the door and retrieved it. He wrapped Shelly in it and turned on the car’s motor. “You need heat.”
As he radioed his deputy, the ambu
lance raced out of the parking lot.
* * *
Carl pulled the cruiser out from the dozens of flashing blue lights and the swarm of officers milling around the dock.
He didn’t speak and Shelly was grateful for the silence. Thank God, it’s over. The image of Lily sinking her fingernails into Melkie’s eye socket made Shelly shake all over again. She’d got there just in time to stop another murder—whether Melkie deserved to die or not. She couldn’t bear to think of her cousins sinking to such darkness.
The cruiser passed by the closed shops on Main Street. The pounding rain had driven folks inside their homes, the roads practically deserted. Shelly kept her gaze on the passing trees, their branches tossing feverishly and the Spanish moss dancing in the Gulf wind. As the trees seemed to press closer to the car, Shelly realized the street had narrowed and they were on a sandy back road.
“Sorry, you’re going the wrong way. My house is on—”
The car sputtered to an abrupt stop and she turned to the deputy in surprise.
A pair of swirling irises spun and glowed in the darkness.
Shelly couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Her entire body clenched in panic as she felt her own eyes begin to spin.
“I knew you were one of us.” Carl’s voice was tight and raw, not the grandfatherly tone she remembered from their earlier phone conversation. “Tell me what really happened back there.”
Shelly slipped a hand behind her back, feeling for the doorknob. “I gave my statement to Tillman. I’ve got nothing more to say on the matter. Ever.”
“You’ve betrayed your own kind, haven’t you? That’s why Tillman never arrested you for tampering with evidence or obstructing an investigation. You broke the code of silence and told him mermaids exist.”
She lifted the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. She was trapped in the car with a madman. No. Make that a mad merman. She bit her lip to stop a hysterical giggle.
“I know all about you and your cousins,” he went on. “Who do you think discovered Jet’s illegal operation?”
“You’re the blackmailer.” Anger replaced the fear. “And you let Tillman believe his father did it.”
“Oh, his dad was in on it, all right. Money’s tight when you’ve got a crazy kid and a princess for a wife. He didn’t know the details of how the treasures were recovered though.”
“Eddie’s not crazy! Don’t you dare say that about him.”
“Don’t let your weak human feelings blind you to the opportunities out there.” Carl’s eyes stopped spinning and he ran scarred fingers through his thick white hair.
Scarred fingers. Tillman hadn’t made the connection with the mer-signs she’d described to him earlier.
“What do you want from me?”
“First of all, don’t ever tell another human about us. There are more of us out here than you know.”
“I won’t,” she agreed immediately. He wasn’t going to hurt her.
“And second, our conversation tonight stays between us.”
“Done. Can we go now?”
“One more thing. When Jet starts up her operation again, I get an exclusive cut for my silence. If you don’t, I’ll make life hell for you and Tillman.”
Opportunistic scumbag. “What makes you think Jet’s going to do that?”
Carl reached for the ignition and started the car back up.
“Perry’s out of prison.”
Shelly kept her face pressed against the window. She’d rather look at the live oaks mournfully shrouded with moss than the profile of Carl’s lying face. Not only was he a threat to her cousins, but he pretended to be Tillman’s friend and right-hand man, while secretly working against him. Great, yet another person she might one day be forced to reveal as a fraud to Tillman. He might come to view her as a bad luck charm that did nothing but expose humans, especially those he was closest with, as greedy liars.
Tillman didn’t deserve this. Bad enough his father had led a double life and his mother was a selfish alcoholic. Not to mention the ex-girlfriend, Marlena, who’d dumped him after his father’s death, just when he’d needed her most. Eddie was the only person in his world who was exactly as he appeared on the surface. No wonder Tillman loved him so much and was willing to shoulder caretaking duty.
Shelly vowed never to let Tillman down if she could help it. She would love him and support him the rest of her life. And she wouldn’t let a sneaky bastard like Carl Dismukes come between them.
* * *
“Is he dead?”
Shelly asked the question as soon as Tillman sank into the velvet wing chair. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. The warm glow of the chandelier cast a flattering light on the trio seated opposite him on the couch. Shelly and Lily perched on either side, bookends of blond sunshine and jewel-colored eyes, with Jet in the middle, chopped black hair gleaming like onyx, dark eyes glowering. All had extraordinary skin, smooth and polished like marble. Now he knew their secret, it all seemed so obvious. Their unnatural beauty and perfection set them apart.
He glanced out the window. The storm had abated to a mist, the ocean calmed to its usual placidity, the morning sun hovered in the horizon. A fresh scent from last night’s rain blew in from the open window.
“Well?”
Jet’s impatient voice drew him back to their original question.
“Something worse.”
Shelly’s eyes widened. “How is that possible?”
“He’s incoherent and alternates between babbling about mermaids and calling for his mother.”
Jet jumped up and began pacing, while Lily showed no reaction.
But he was only interested in Shelly, who had buried her face in her hands. He went and knelt in front of her. “It’s okay,” he reassured her, placing a hand on her thigh. “No one takes anything he says seriously.”
She uncovered a pale, weary face. “I can’t help but feel sorry for him. When his lungs filled with seawater, he called for his mama. We all want our mothers when we’re desperate.”
The son of a bitch had gotten to her with that line. Shelly still grieved the loss of her own mother.
“You might not feel so sorry for Pellerin when I tell you what we found at his house.”
Jet stopped pacing and Lily stared at him, but he kept his gaze on Shelly as he sat beside her. “When I first questioned Pellerin, I noticed his dog whimpering and digging at an area under the far left floorboard of the den. When we searched his house, we discovered a loose board, pulled it up and found everything we need to send him away for the rest of his life.”
“What was hidden?” Shelly whispered.
“Mason jars filled with formaldehyde and the missing eyes of his victims.”
“Jolene and China.” Shelly took a deep breath. “I’m glad for their families that you can punish their killer.”
“There are several more unidentified eyes. I can’t tell you how glad I am to put this case to bed,” Tillman said. “My biggest regret is that I didn’t catch him before he got to the last victim.”
“The missing girl from Mobile,” Shelly guessed.
“Alice Hargrove. I suspect forensics will identify her by one of Melkie’s preserved specimens.” He sighed and took her hand. “But at least you’re safe.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Jet said. “Pellerin may be playing crazy for the moment, but a few weeks in jail might do wonders for his sanity and for building a court defense.”
Tillman scowled. God, Jet was one annoying woman.
“Where is he now?” Shelly asked.
“At a secure psychiatric hospital in Birmingham for evaluation. After that, he’ll be taken to a maximum security facility while awaiting trial.” He faced Jet. “This case is foolproof. Pellerin will be lucky to escape the death penalty for capital murder. Stop scaring Shelly.”
Lily spoke up for the first time. “I’m not worried a bit.” She smiled at Shelly. “Everyone will think he’s nuts.”
Maybe
Lily wasn’t so bad, after all, Tillman mused.
“Did you happen to find anything else when you searched his house?” Lily asked. “Like some jewelry? I want my rings back.”
No, his first impressions were right, Lily was that bad.
“I can’t believe you’re worried about your rings right now,” Shelly said.
Lily lifted her chin. “You know you’re dying to find out if your black pearls were under that floorboard.”
Shelly pointedly ignored her cousin and turned to him. “Where’s his dog?”
The sudden conversation shift momentarily confused him. “His dog?”
“You know, Rebel, the one you said everyone makes fun of.”
“I’ve been a little busy tonight,” he said drily. “It was missing when we got there.” At Shelly’s look of concern, he added, “I’ll call the animal control officer tomorrow and have him take a look out there.”
She jumped to her feet. “We need to find him now. You told me one of Melkie’s neighbors dislikes the dog because it chases his cat. He might hurt Rebel.”
“You’ve been through a shock. You need to get some rest, not run around after that mutt. We’ll look tomorrow.”
She leaned over, kissing him on the cheek. “No offense, but you look like hell.” Her sudden smile lightened his mood. “You’re the one who needs sleep. I’m perfectly capable of handling this myself.”
He rose with an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, all right. What’s a couple more hours of playing good guy when you haven’t slept for two nights, anyway?”
“Shelly’s right,” Jet said. “You should get some sleep.”
Tillman snorted. “Don’t tell me you’re suddenly concerned with my health.”
“I’ve been...wrong about you.” Jet crossed her arms, a sheepish expression on her face. “You’re not so bad, after all.”
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