by Joyce Lavene
But what proof did I have?
There were dozens of people at town hall already, working on the big pirate ship float that was being built on the back of Mad Dog’s flatbed truck. I’d been surprised that he’d volunteered to let us use it—until I found out that he’d traded Chris Slayton the use of the truck for a ride in the parade.
I didn’t blame Chris for accepting, and I didn’t care if Mad Dog still thought of himself as being on the town council. He wasn’t—that was all that mattered.
“You’re squishing, Dae,” Nancy said as the early morning breeze blew her straight, reddish brown hair into her blue eyes. “Take a shower and forget to take off your shoes?”
I met a merman!
“No. I was splashed by a truck that went by on Duck Road as I was walking here.”
She looked into my face intently. “Are you okay? You look kind of strange. And you might want to rethink that story since there haven’t been any puddles on the road in weeks.”
I thanked her and moved away to speak with Chris and Jamie Slayton. Nancy sometimes knew me too well. Not that my story wasn’t a little crazy sounding. I’d been so busy thinking about people living in the water that I hadn’t thought of a good reason that I was wet and sandy.
“Morning, Dae,” Chris said. “The weather report is sunny, ninety degrees, and dry for this morning. Good news, huh?” He put another piece of black tissue paper on the hull of the pirate ship float.
“Very good news,” I agreed as I put tissue paper on the float too.
I wanted to ask him and Jamie what they thought about mermaids and mermen, but I couldn’t talk about it yet. There had to be some intelligent way to get the subject out in the open.
“I could smell the bread baking at the Blue Whale this morning while I was walking up here,” Jamie said. “I’ve been starving ever since. I’m sorry Kevin couldn’t be here to help out with the parade. He was really good at organizing everything last year.”
“Dae will be good at it too,” Chris said. “Are your shoes wet?”
I thought of another excuse for why my tennis shoes were squishing—a better excuse than I’d given Nancy. “My dryer is broken.”
We continued working on the last minute touches for the pirate ship as more floats, trucks, and convertibles lined up in the parking lot. I wished I could talk to Kevin about what had happened with Tovi, but there just wasn’t time. Even though the parade wasn’t until nine, there was so much to do.
I grabbed my clipboard and the official Duck Mayor’s coat from my office in the town hall building. I set aside the wet tennis shoes—I always kept an extra pair of comfortable but worn sandals there. I wasn’t walking down Duck Road in the parade this year, so I thought they’d make it through the event. Once the parade was over, I could go home and grab another pair of shoes.
When the clear plastic was stripped from the mayor’s coat, I saw the smiley face sticker that Darcy had left on the lapel. I tried the coat on right away. She’d done a wonderful job making it smaller and lighter. There were spots where she’d replaced the heavy wool with a lighter fabric in the sides and under the sleeves where no one would notice. She’d left the red sashes, ribbons, and gold coins that edged the neck, but the sleeves ended before my wrists.
It was a much better fit. I hoped the next person to wear it wouldn’t have to let it out, but if they did, Darcy could probably fix it for them too.
I closed the door to the office and looked in the full-length mirror on the back of it. The coat was still going to be hot for a day in the nineties, but if that was part of being mayor, I was glad to do it.
Had I really seen a merman on the sandbar? It seemed real enough, and goodness knew I had seen many other strange things. It was going to be hard keeping it to myself until I could tell Gramps, Kevin, or maybe Mary Catherine. Otherwise I was looking forward to the day and anticipating my visitor at sundown.
Under flawless blue morning skies, the biggest crowd ever—at least according to my estimates—stood and cheered the parade as it went by them on Duck Road.
There were a few floats—none as imaginative or grand as the town hall float. Dozens of boats on trailers were decorated with red, white, and blue streamers and pulled down the road with occupants waving. One police car with sirens wailing and lights flashing came through to remind people that Duck had a police department. Both fire engines and a squad of paramedics from Kill Devil Hills also joined the fun.
The Duck Historical Museum members walked through the streets dressed like pirates. Mrs. Euly Stanley wore the same colonial era dress she always wore. Vergie Smith from the post office strolled with her, wearing a lovely periwinkle gown.
Mike’s Surf Shop was represented by several area surfers wearing their darkest tans and very little else as they carried their surf boards and waved. Andy Martin gave out tiny ice cream cones to everyone, and Walter Perry, who owned Duck Donuts, gave out free samples of his pastries.
Miss Duck rode by in her boyfriend’s red convertible. Misses Manteo and Corolla joined her in the backseat. Miss Outer Banks rode in her own black convertible wearing a revealing swimsuit that every man cheered as she went by.
We’d asked Miss North Carolina to join us as well, but she couldn’t make it. We did get the Azalea Queen from Wilmington to be there along with the Honey Bee Queen from Albemarle. She even brought her princess bees.
Of course, there were marching bands from the local high schools and a few gymnastic classes whose participants did cartwheels and other acrobatic feats along the parade route. There were cloggers and square dance clubs that danced their way down Duck Road.
Mayor Lisa Fitz and Chief Heidi Palo from Corolla waved from their shared SUV as they tossed candy to the kids in the crowd.
It was a wonderful Fourth of July parade. Chris Slayton gave out flyers to remind everyone that there would be fireworks at Duck Municipal Park that night. Everyone was laughing as the parade finished. They were looking for something to drink, snacks, and places to shop.
At least I hoped they were looking for fun things to buy at my shop.
The parade ended at the fire department. Once all the vehicles had reached that destination, they were free to travel back on Duck Road. Walkers dispersed right away, some running back up the road to the Duck Shoppes.
“A wonderful parade!” Cathi Connor, principle of Duck Elementary School, said with a smile. She’d been with the Historical Museum group and was dressed as a mermaid with a long blond wig, and a gold tail she held up using a string tied to her left hand so she could walk.
Cathi and I had grown up together, friends through high school. She’d been married for a while and had left Duck but had come back a few years ago.
“How do you like my costume?” She pirouetted around me so I could appreciate what she was wearing.
“Is a mermaid considered historical?” I asked, desperately wanting to tell her about the merman.
“I think so. Yes. They aren’t around today, like pirates. But I think there were some mermaid sightings around Duck. We have plenty of firsthand accounts and drawings at the museum. You know, even Christopher Columbus claimed to have seen a mermaid.”
“If it’s good enough for Chris Columbus, I guess it’s good enough for me.”
“Darn straight.” Cathi grabbed my arm, and we walked away from the main group of revelers. “I can’t believe Captain Lucky was killed. I wasn’t surprised that you found him since you have a nose for that type of thing. Who do you think did it?”
“Yes, Mayor O’Donnell.” The owner of the new Duck newspaper, Duck Aloud, pushed his way into our conversation. “Why don’t you tell us all about it?”
Chapter Nine
Manfred Vorst was the editor-in-chief and owner of the newspaper. He was a pale little man considering he lived in a warm climate. His red hair was thinning, but he spiked it up to make it look like he had more. He had a sharp nose and blue eyes behind thick glasses. His newspaper had only been running for abou
t six months, but it was popular because his cartoons made fun of city officials.
I’d been featured several times with my gavel in hand and a crown on my head. He wasn’t exactly my favorite person, though I was happy to have a newspaper in town again. I wished many times it was more a real newspaper than a gossip rag.
“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “I went to the ship to return something Captain Lucky had dropped at my shop, and I found him dead in his stateroom.”
“I heard that he had drowned,” Manfred said. “He was just posed in his room but died elsewhere. Is that also true?”
“I don’t know all the details,” I denied. “You’d better talk to the police chief.”
“It sounds like you and Sir Horace will be running the whole town soon.” Manfred rocked back on his heels and sneered at me. “Once you marry Kevin Brickman, the show will be all in the family.”
“Excuse me.” I walked away from him but heard him questioning Cathi about our relationship.
Since I really wanted to talk to Kevin, I headed for the Blue Whale instead of Missing Pieces. The mayor’s coat was steamy.
Gramps went by in a police car. It was so odd seeing him in that capacity again. I waved, but he looked too deep in thought to notice me. I wondered if there was any new information about Captain Lucky’s death.
Which brought me back to thinking about seafolk.
I wasn’t sure why Tovi thought we’d even consider that someone who lived under water would have killed Captain Lucky. I supposed he didn’t realize that most people in Duck probably didn’t believe mermaids existed. They were fast to believe in pirate curses and ghosts, but I’d never met anyone talking about seafolk in casual conversation.
For all his boasting about understanding humans, Tovi didn’t know as much about us as we knew about him.
Cars and golf carts were hard pressed to get down any roads in Duck due to heavy pedestrian traffic. I walked on the side of the road, but almost everyone else walked right down the middle. There were so many strangers that I only saw a few familiar faces. I saw Althea Hinson, who was a librarian in Manteo, and Molly Black from the Curbside Bar and Grill.
“Thank goodness Kevin keeps extras on hand.” Molly smiled as she hurried by me. “The day has barely started, and we’re out of butter. Can you imagine? See you later, Dae.”
I reached the Blue Whale, which was also crowded since Kevin was holding open house all day. The double front doors were exposed to the strong breezes coming from the Atlantic. There was a wide circle drive in front of the inn with a large fountain in the middle green space. A mermaid smiled flirtatiously from her watery home as I walked by.
Kevin had left the hitching post at the front of the building to keep the original feel to the old place. Dozens of visitors were sitting on the rocking chairs that graced the verandah, cold drinks in hand.
I went quickly past them and headed to the kitchen where I knew Kevin would be. He had hired six high school students to walk around the inn and grounds giving out food samples and making sure everyone was happy. From what I could see, the idea was a huge success. I liked the inn better when it wasn’t so crowded that I could hardly move, but I was glad business was good.
Kevin was in the kitchen with a staff of three cooks. They were getting ready for lunch that would be served in the big dining room to the back of the building, as well as on the verandah and in the back garden. The wonderful aromas, as Jamie had mentioned, were enough to make my stomach rumble.
“Dae! I thought you’d be at Missing Pieces.” He kissed me quickly, his handsome face flushed from the heat from the kitchen. “Can you stay for lunch?”
“I’m definitely staying until I have a chance to talk to you. Is there anything I can do?”
“Not a thing.” His blue/gray eyes zeroed in on my face. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ll talk when you have time. It can wait.”
“I’ll set us up for lunch at the table over there.” He nodded to what I thought of as ‘our’ table in a corner of the big kitchen—the best seat in the house as far as I was concerned.
“Great. I can’t wait.”
I really couldn’t. The whole seafolk thing was about to explode out of me. I helped him get the small table set for us with plates and silverware. I snatched a few fresh rolls and smothered one with butter and honey while I was waiting.
Finally it was time for all the high school students to serve the buffet lunch. Kevin dropped salads, bread, and his Shrimp Almandine off at our table and then went to make sure everything was running smoothly inside and out before he sat down.
“That was one heck of a morning,” he said with a grin. “Good idea about hiring the students for servers. That kept my cooks working in the kitchen to get the food out. I think everything is going well. Everyone seems happy. Looks like a successful open house.”
“I met a merman.”
He was about to say something else, his mouth opened to form the words, but they never came out. “What?”
“A merman. He said his name is Tovi. I met him last night at the house, but he was naked, and I thought he was just some drunken visitor. He grabbed me and jumped on the sandbar this morning as I walked to town hall. I saw him disappear into the water, Kevin. He had a big fish tail and really strange eyes.”
“Have you eaten today?”
“If that’s a nice way of asking me if I imagined the whole thing, I didn’t. He was real. He said his people didn’t kill Captain Lucky even though it might look that way. I didn’t have a chance to tell him that no one would think that. He’s coming back again tonight. I think he might only be able to be out of the water with legs from dusk to dawn—kind of like the old mermaid stories. I’m not sure about that. But he jumped in the water before the sun really came up, and he isn’t coming back until tonight. I think that gives it away, don’t you?”
“I don’t think seafolk exist, Dae. It had to be some kind of trick.”
I stared at the man I loved. “You didn’t blink when I first told you about my gift. You were steadfast through a pirate ghost, a ghost ship, demon horses, me being taken over by a witch from the past, and traveling through time. But you draw the line at the idea of seafolk?”
He smiled and put his hand over mine. “When you put it that way, I suppose it sounds silly. But Anne and I worked through all kinds of supernatural phenomena, and I never heard anything mentioned about seafolk.”
Kevin had a psychic partner in the FBI that had made his transition here with me easier.
“But the archives at the museum are full of stories and drawings made from sailors’ accounts. Why doesn’t that make it possible?”
“I’m not saying it’s not possible,” he explained. “I’m saying no one has ever made contact with another species on the planet, with the exception of Mary Catherine and her kind speaking to animals.”
“I didn’t imagine Tovi or dream him,” I defended. “He was with me in the Duck Shoppes parking lot when I ran into Peggy Lee and her husband last night. They saw him too. He was real.”
“But it was at night, so he had legs.”
“Are you making fun of me?” I demanded hotly. “I couldn’t wait to get over here and tell you about this. I knew you’d understand, but you don’t, do you?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I don’t know what to say. If you say you met a naked merman and talked to him, I believe you. But you’re the only person in the world to ever do so.”
“That doesn’t make it impossible.”
“True. I suppose he knew English too. Or did he have some kind of translator?”
That was it. Despite my eagerness to see him and eat the delicious lunch on the table, I grabbed another roll and left him.
“Wait, Dae.” He got to his feet. “Don’t leave. I’m sorry. It’s been a rough morning.”
“That doesn’t explain you making jokes at my expense. I’m going to make some money. I’ll talk to you later.”
“K
evin!” One of the student servers called out his name. “Someone upset the soup tureen in the dining room, and there’s soup everywhere.”
“Wait,” he said to me. “Don’t leave until I get back. Let’s talk about this.”
But I was already determined to go. As soon as he’d followed the young man toward the dining room, I stalked out the front door. I was angry and embarrassed by what he’d said to me. Kevin never acted that way. What was it about seafolk that was so hard to believe?
A woman wearing an ankle-length green cotton skirt, her long gray hair wind-tossed around her interesting face, almost ran right into me. Or I almost ran right into her. I wasn’t exactly looking where I was going.
“I’m so sorry.” I smiled my perfect mayor’s smile and stuck my hand out in her direction. “I’m Mayor Dae O’Donnell. You don’t look familiar to me. Welcome to Duck.”
“Thank you so much, Mayor O’Donnell.” She shook my hand in a distracted manner. “I’m Tess Horner. Dr. Tess Horner. I’m looking for the gambling ship where the man was found dead. Do you know where that is?”
“Of course. You’re very close. Would you like some lunch before you go? It’s free here today.”
“No. Not right now, thanks. I’m very excited to be in Duck after receiving a call from a colleague who’s here on vacation. Perhaps you know something about what happened on the ship?”
I studied her carefully. She didn’t look like a reporter, and she’d added “Dr.” to her name when she introduced herself. But why would she be interested in Captain Lucky’s death?
“That’s not far from here. I’m afraid the ship isn’t open right now due to the investigation. Maybe you’d like to try your hand at some deep sea fishing or surfing until the police are finished.”
“I should have explained who I am.” Dr. Tess Horner smiled and pushed her hair back from her face. “I’m a marine biologist from the University of Minnesota. I’ve come all this way because my colleague feels sure your captain was killed by an aquatic human.”