by Kira Barcelo
Gage almost spilled a half-empty cup of iced tea, clearing that and the rest of his cheeseburger-and-fries lunch off his desk in order to find some notes. Sadie noticed no picture on the credenza behind him except for a framed one of a slim blonde woman in a cap and gown, smiling and standing in front of a stately red brick building.
“Is that Mrs. Gage?” she asked.
“Mrs. Gage?” The reporter turned to see the photo. “Uh, no. I’m not married. That’s a—a friend.”
“She’s very pretty.”
“Yes, she is. Anyway, let’s get down to business.”
Sadie flinched. She remembered that about him now. Eddie Gage was all sweetness and light until he was close to getting what he wanted. Then he could be standoffish and a bit of a jerk.
“I don’t have a lot of time,” she warned. “I’m supposed to be at lunch. And I don’t want to be late getting back to the store. My first week and all, you know.”
She sat back in the big, overstuffed chair, regarding him smugly. So he could be detached? Two could play that game.
“Sure, sure. This won’t take long, doll. I just want to give you a little piece of friendly advice. And maybe you can help me out, too.”
“Help you out? How?”
Gage ran his tongue over his teeth. To Sadie, that made him look almost like a predatory animal.
“Well, well, not so fast, honey. How do I know you won’t betray my confidence?”
Wasn’t he asking her to betray Dan’s confidence, simply by being there and talking about him without his knowledge? She hid her annoyance behind a forced smile.
“Eddie, why are you so spooked? Since when have you ever had to worry about trouble from me?”
“Ah, I don’t mean to be such a hard nose, Sadie. It’s just that—well, McCallister’s back in the picture. I know he’s pushing himself on you, and that he’s still a brute, spanking you like a naughty kid in front of the boarding house like that.”
Sadie felt the heat in her cheeks—both sets. She dropped her gaze. “So? That has nothing to do with anything. But, oh—he is a brute. He’s a caveman.”
That was enough to appease the reporter, who sighed with visible relief.
“All right, well. Just making sure.” He leaned across the desk, his voice dropping in volume. “You do know old Dan spent a little time in the hooskow, too, don’t you?”
“Dan? In prison?”
“Not prison, exactly. He was sent up to the Westfield Boys’ Reformatory.”
“Dan? Why? What the hell did he do?”
Gage’s laugh had a scoffing tone to it. “What didn’t he do? Typical schoolyard bully stuff. Used his fists to settle arguments. But it was this right here that got his ass sent up the river…”
From out of the desk’s side drawer he pulled out an old newspaper, its pages yellowed. He slapped it onto the table in front of Sadie. The headline read in bold black letters, PIER DESTROYED IN INFERNO. Beneath it was the caption, Local boy arrested for arson.
Sadie studied the picture. Thank goodness, it wasn’t a mug shot, though in some ways it was more heartbreaking, being a photo of a smiling boy of fifteen or so in a football jersey. The boy was lighter and smaller than Dan, but that handsome kid was him, all right.
“You wanted to see me because you wanted to tell me Dan burned down that pier back all those years ago?”
“No. Telling you he was a juvenile delinquent was an added bonus.” Gage smirked. “Helps for you to know that the Great Private Eye Daniel McCallister has a past. And a dark side. Which brings us to my reason for calling you here. Let me ask you a question, Sadie. Do you believe in the supernatural?”
“The supernatural? You mean, like ghosts?”
“Yeah, well, I mean like mythical creatures that aren’t so mythical after all. Things like mermen and mermaids that actually exist.”
How much more bizarre could this man get? Sadie shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a mermaid or—what did you say the other thing was called?”
“A merman. That’s the mermaid’s male counterpart.” Gage hesitated. “I have reason to believe that Dan McCallister is a merman.”
“Well…” Sadie grinned. “I’m sure the fella’s been called a lot worse.”
“This is not a joke, young lady. I’ve seen his car parked down by the marina and the beach late at night. Mermaids have been spotted in these waters since the 1700s. Mermen—the males—are rarely seen. Full mermen, that is.”
“Full mermen?”
“McCallister’s not a full merman. His mother was a human. But I spoke with an old timer in town who swears McCallister, Senior was a merman.”
“That all very interesting. A merman, huh? I would think that’s less dangerous than being a P.I.” She rose from her seat. “It’s been entertaining, Eddie. But I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Sadie—wait!”
He startled her, jumping up so quickly and running to the door before she could read it. She had never seen the reporter quite that way before. His whole demeanor changed. He appeared almost desperate to keep her there.
“Sadie, honey, humor me, will ya?” Eddie Gage coughed out a laugh. “Look, you’re in touch with him. What’s more, he must have feelings for you. Why else would he be helping you out?”
“I don’t understand. What do you want me to do?”
“Follow him. See where he goes. Observe him. Does it suddenly smell like the ocean when you’re around him? Does water hold some weird fascination for him? Does he ever carry an aquamarine? You know, that blue stone.”
She tried not to react outwardly to those suggestions. “What if any of that’s true?”
“Follow him. Observe him. If he happens to change, see if you can get a picture…and bring it to me. Think of it, Sadie. A creature that’s half man, half fish. And we discovered him.” Something even more frightening flashed in the reporter’s eyes. “Please let me be the one who breaks that story. Proof that merfolk exist. Why, you and me, Sadie—we’d be rich beyond our dreams! And it’s not like you’re the only one that no-good P.I.’s ever double-crossed. Let’s catch him, Sadie, you and me.”
Of all the things—Dan, a mythical creature! Just the mere thought should have made her laugh all the way back to Mr. Barrett’s store.
But there was something crazed in the reporter’s demeanor, something like ambition out of control mixed with hatred that frightened her. She couldn’t get down that stairwell and out onto the sidewalk fast enough.
Dan, a merman. How absolutely insane.
Still, that business about the scent of the ocean…and the aquamarine. How could Eddie Gage have known about those things? Unless there was some truth to what he was saying.
There was only one way to find out.
And why had Dan burned down that old pier? She remembered the day it happened. The black smoke, gusts of it, had billowed as far as neighboring towns. Was it just some silly boyhood prank? Or was there a more sinister reason?
So many questions swirled through her head and she was in such a rush not to be late coming back from lunch that she didn’t notice Dan standing behind a lamppost across the street, his face bearing the shadows of disappointment.
* * *
What she was doing was dangerous, but Sadie had to know. Even the cab driver seemed reluctant as he slowed his taxi right beside the boardwalk.
“You want me to wait for you, miss?” the man asked, accepting his fare from her hand.
“No, thanks. I’ll be fine.” Sliding across the backseat, she opened the passenger door.
“You gonna be long? Maybe I should come back?”
“Um…I’m not sure. I’ll call you. Thanks again.”
“Oh-kay. Don’t really like leaving a lady out here like this. You be careful, miss.”
“I will. See you later. Maybe.”
Sadie didn’t wait until the cabbie left, immediately walking from the street to the beach. It wasn’t completely abandoned. There were ho
mes on the other side of the street, large old Victorians with carefully tended small gardens. There were cars parked outside the homes, so there had to be people inside.
However, the beach was abandoned. It was late, almost eleven-thirty. It was even way past the time for people to stroll along the sand or for dog owners to be out with their pets for some fresh sea air.
And what did you expect to find out here? She asked herself.
She wasn’t certain, but she didn’t believe a half man, half fish would earn his living as a detective. That was just a little too far-fetched even for her to believe. What troubled her was that little matter with the aquamarine necklace and a kitchen that smelled as if the whole house were located right there on the beach, rather than a few miles inland.
Her heart beat faster. Was she out of her mind? The beach was lovely at night, but with a tranquility that was downright eerie. It was so dark that it was hard to tell where the sky met the sea in the velvety darkness. Gentle waves rolled in, the sound of the water’s movement an almost hypnotic, supernatural song.
She walked under the pier and debated with herself. How long should she stay out there? How was she going to call the tax drive back? Was there a phone booth up there on the boardwalk?
Then again she could always call her “protector”. A breeze whipped in from the Atlantic, lifting her skirt around her legs.
“Looking for me, Sadie?”
Not expecting anymore, she gasped and nearly lost her footing on the sand.
“Dan?” she called out to the figure standing several feet away behind one of the pier’s support columns.
“You’d better hope it’s me and not some other man out here. What were you thinking, Sadie, coming out here alone at this hour?”
In the coolness of the night, Dan was out there shirtless. As he approached her she could see his bare, broad shoulders. Despite her trepidation, she imagined herself lightly laying her hands on his chest and running them along his skin, just for the pleasure of touching that wonderfully masculine body. Around his neck, she noticed, was the necklace, with the blue stone dangling between his pecs.
But Dan brought her out of her reverie with a hard, stern glare.
“Answer me, Sadie,” he demanded. “Why’d you come out here at this time of night?”
She could have lied. Coming up with a plausible lie, at least for her, required more than a few seconds’ worth of time, though. As it was, she was probably in for a hard spanking anyway, knowing Dan. Better to tell the truth.
She raised her chin defiantly. “I was looking for something.”
“Really? What were you looking for at eleven-thirty at night?”
“Well, first, what are the odds of you being here, too? Either you followed me…or you knew I was coming. Which is it?”
Typical schoolyard bully. He’d probably stared down his classmates the same way. Sadie refused to be intimidated.
“A merman!” she replied loudly. “A mythical creature that is not so mythical after all.”
Dan nodded. “I thought you forgave me. What happened to that, huh, Sadie? I tried to help you. I tried to protect you. But you came here—”
“To see for myself.”
“That’s a lie!” He set his jaw. When she willfully refused to back down, even after he’d raised his voice, he closed whatever space was between them. “You came here to betray me!”
“I came here to see a merman. I came to see you, Dan McCallister…if you really are one. And I’m not lying. I could have lied to you, but I’m telling the truth.”
His lips parted and he wavered slightly. “You went to see that reporter behind my back.”
“And you spied on me. I went to see what he wanted to tell me about you.”
“Yeah, but you’re here because—why? Because you think you’re going to make some money off this ‘mythical creature?’”
“That’s not why. You’re thinking the worst of me. That’s not fair. Is that why you burned down the pier, Dan? Because people thought the worst of you?”
Again she surprised him, this time making him flustered.
“No, that’s not why I burned down that pier, dammit,” he muttered. “I don’t want to talk about that, Sadie. I want to know why you came here. And I want to know the truth.”
“The truth is…” A wave came in farther than the ones before it had, so far in that it reached her calves. Sadie gasped at the shock of the cold water against her skin but went on. “I wanted to see if it was true. If you really are a merman. Because that would explain it. It’d explain why there’s something different about you, Dan. I can feel it, that there’s something different about you. Please tell me if it’s true.”
In the dim light under the pier, she could see his Adam’s apple rise and fall as he swallowed hard. Dan’s eyes narrowed at her and he shook his head, but the crack in his voice betrayed him. His hands closed roughly around her arms, with emotion and yet not in anger.
“This isn’t—it’s not a fairytale,” he stammered. “This is something that could give you nightmares.”
“I don’t scare that easily. Not anymore, anyway. Especially because I was fine coming out here by myself in the middle of the night.”
Dan scowled at her. “That’s not brave. That’s foolhardy. You should know better than that, Sadie.”
“Oh, well. You can spank me later.”
She’d meant the remark to be cute and giggled. Her laughter was cut off abruptly when Dan warned, “I can’t be as flippant about your safety, Sadie. You will be getting turned over my knee for this.”
“You sure take this protector stuff seriously, detective.”
Finally, his mouth found a smile. “Yeah, I do.”
“Just so you know…so do I.”
Did he believe her? She hoped so. That man was so hard to read sometimes. But she knew she’d moved him because the next moment he was taking her into his arms, giving her a subtle kiss. It was a prelude to a longer kiss, with his tongue in her mouth. Excitement and anticipation coursed through her.
And then his hands dropped down to the front of her dress. Her nipples were small erect peaks. With his thumbs he made a circular motion around them, and that just lit a fire inside her.
She couldn’t let him be the only one doing the pleasuring. Her own hand traveled down that fit chest of his, finding his sex through the crotch of his pants, hard and waiting for her.
They couldn’t do that there…could they? Have sex out there on the beach? Wasn’t that too scandalous? Both of them giving into their desires in such a public area wouldn’t exactly do much to tidy up her already sullied reputation. His, apparently, was tarnished as well, even if it was more conveniently buried in the past.
But they had the pier over them. And the night covered them, too.
And she wanted him. Goodness, it had been so long since she’d been with a man. That wasn’t something a girl forgot, however. It wasn’t just sex for the sake of sex, either. It was that intimacy, the way Dan enveloped her in his arms as he lowered his face to hers for a kiss, the care he took in getting her all worked up.
She wanted him. Badly. Sadie began to undo his belt, but then his hands catching her wrists stopped her.
“Baby, baby—not—not here,” he blurted.
“Ohhh…” Falling against him, she nibbled on his neck. Ran her tongue along his warm skin. “Come on, baby. Let me give myself to you.”
“I want you. I do. Just not here.” His hands lowered to his belt and he finished the job she’d started. “You came here for something. I’m going to show you. Right now.”
The resolve that was so strong in his tone evaporated with his actions. He hadn’t made a move yet, other than to kiss her mouth again and again, and letting his mouth drift down to taste the cool skin of her neck. The tide was coming up around them, the water coming up to their shins now. Yet Sadie stayed put. She didn’t mind the water’s temperature at all. Her arms curled around Dan’s waist and she allowed herself an
intimate squeeze of his firm, sexy male ass.
Then, to her pleasant surprise, Dan finished unbuckling his belt and slipped his pants off his body. At the same time he freed an enormous erection. The shiver going through her body had nothing to do with that slight nip in the night air.
“Take me, just take me,” she urged.
Dan drew her into his arms for a tight embrace. “I want to. But I need you to see this first. Before anything happens between us, I want you to know what you’re getting into.”
She could almost have forgotten the whole merman thing. Her attention was so focused on his body. How good he felt up against her like that. How her body was close to physically aching for him.
Instead of reaching down and taking his sex into her hands, Sadie swayed her body against his. Sadie could feel her panties already dampening and he hadn’t even touched her yet.
“Sadie…Sadie, honey…”
No doubt, he would have tried to talk her out of it, had she not shut him up…with more kisses. Kissing was something she’d always loved to do with a man. Dan was damn good at it, too.
Sadie knew what she was dealing with. Frankly, he could be as stubborn as she was. Certainly he had no trouble showing her who wore the pants in that relationship. But when his hands traveled behind her and slowly unzipped her dress, she grinned. If ever that was an argument she was glad to have one, it was that one. He stepped away for a few brief moments just to toss her clothes and shoes in alongside a pile of his garments on the higher ground beneath the pier.
“I need to show you. Afterwards.” His breath was becoming heavier, hot against her shoulders.
“Uh-huh. That’s good. I want to see it.” Please don’t think badly about me. Those words were on the tip of her tongue. She was afraid to bring them up, to ruin the moment, to remind him that she wasn’t all that innocent. Her innocence had died a long time ago.
“This is new,” she mused out loud after he’d eased her down in to the water.
Sadie relaxed when she heard Dan laugh. He had her situated on her hands and knees in the water, with him on top, wrapped around her body. He didn’t enter her immediately, instead stroking and massaging her butt cheeks, fondling them. Gently he parted her legs, just enough to fit his hand. His fingertips found that throbbing, moist little button, and she gasped as he began touching her perfectly, with a teasing, circular motion.