by Joyce Lavene
I saw the stairs going up to the deck and pasted my big mayor’s smile on my face as I ascended them. I was wearing the pink shawl, but had the clippers wrapped in the ends of it. If I could get close enough to the net, I could free Lilly before anyone even noticed.
The auction appeared to be over—I was right about that part. Tovi was still lying on the deck. Lilly was crying softly, her head bent over her legs that would become a tail as soon as she hit the water. The winners and losers were enjoying caviar and champagne as they ogled the two captives.
“There you are.” Dillon slipped an arm around me. His hand missed the end of the clippers by less than an inch. “You look great, Dae.” He kissed my cheek. “How is your little shop doing?”
“Missing Pieces is fine. Are you back for the third Augustine bell?”
It was the only attraction and mutual love that we shared—antiques and ancient societies.
“I knew you were a good bet to find the third bell.” He sipped his champagne from a crystal flute. “It’s your gift, attracting missing objects to you. I wish you’d come to Jamestown with me. It was incredible. I can’t wait to show you my finds.”
I almost didn’t recognize him. It was his voice that made me realize it was Dillon. He’d changed during his last treasure hunt, doing most of the diving himself. He was tan and fit with streaks of sun blond in his dark hair. He and I were almost the same height, but his shoulders and chest were muscular.
He’d asked me to go on the treasure hunt to the sunken pirate city of Jamestown, but I’d turned him down. I wanted to see those strange and amazing things that he’d offered to show me, but I was tied to Duck with my heart.
“I can’t wait to see the pictures.” I reasoned that there was no point in alienating him and giving away my plot to free Lilly and Tovi. I accepted a glass of champagne and smiled.
“So what’s this about your seafolk?” He grinned. “Worried that you won’t get your share of the treasure?”
“No, Dillon. I know you’ll do anything for money, but this is like selling slaves. You have to let them go.”
“You know I’d do almost anything for you, Dae. But this is business. I’ve already auctioned your little seafolk. Will your conscience keep you from taking part of the profits?”
“I can’t.” I turned away from him. “I won’t do this. No amount of money would convince me. You know me that well.”
One of the men in a sharkskin suit called Dillon and beckoned to him. He left me standing there, only a few feet from Lilly. She stared up at me, her strange eyes questioning what I would do next.
A crewmember made the space between me and the net even shorter as he walked by with crackers and caviar. I reached for it and managed to upset his tray. Everything fell on the deck, and two other crew members came to his aid.
I managed to do a quick step around them as they tried to clean up. The net was against my leg, so I barely had to reach to cut a large part of it.
“Get Tovi and get away,” I whispered.
“Thank you.” Lilly got on her feet and put one hand through the hole.
I hid her movements as she extricated herself from the net. Tovi was only a yard away from us. He was starting to awaken, shaking his head and looking around.
“He’s awake, sir,” A crewmember with a rifle told Dillon. “You want me to lay him out again?”
Dillon responded with a laugh. “He doesn’t belong to me anymore. Ask Mr. Smith what he wants to do.”
All eyes turned to the man in the sharkskin suit. He was smearing caviar on a cracker and carefully balancing his champagne flute in the other hand.
There wouldn’t be a better opportunity.
“Go now,” I said to Lilly.
“But what about you?” she asked.
“He won’t do anything to hurt me. Go now!”
Lilly didn’t wait for another invitation. She grabbed Tovi in her arms and threw herself over the side. A huge splash came up and shot water crystals into the boat.
All the crewmembers ran to the side of the yacht, but it was too late. Tovi and Lilly had disappeared into the gray Atlantic. They would never find them.
Chapter Twenty-three
“Do you know how much that little stunt just cost me, Dae?” Dillon thundered.
“It was wrong. They weren’t things or treasures that could be found and sold. You had to let them go.”
I had no doubt I could convince Dillon of the rightness of Lilly and Tovi being free. I wasn’t worried about what he would do to me. He cared about me in some weird way. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Try telling that to the people who bought them and now can’t take them home.”
“Just give them their money back,” I suggested. “I’m sure they won’t care.”
“Honey, you don’t know the kind of people I do business with.” He reached out and ran his hand through my hair. “They want your head since they can’t have a mermaid.”
There wasn’t much I could say to that. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen. On the other hand, I knew he ran with a wealthy, dangerous crowd. Dillon was well-known for delivering the goods—drugs, treasures—if he said he had it, he had it. It was his reputation.
A discreet knock at the stateroom door where Dillon had taken me brought the steward in.
“Mr. Guthrie, your guests are leaving. They request your presence.”
I heard the whir of a helicopter as he spoke.
“All right, Jones. I’ll be right up.” When the steward was gone, Dillon smiled at me. “You owe me, Dae. You say you have the third Augustine bell?”
“I said a man came into the shop who said he had the bell. I can find him.”
“You do that. I’ll be in touch.”
He left me in the stateroom with specific instructions not to leave. No problem. Those caviar-eating customers on deck weren’t exactly my type. I didn’t have any reason to make friends with them, and if staying here spared my life, I’d stay.
But then I heard the sound of another vessel approaching. Apparently many of Dillon’s customers onboard had their own transportation within a short call away. I thought this was just another one of those until I heard a man’s voice on a loud speaker.
“Ahoy, Jamestown,” the voice said. “This is the Coast Guard. We are searching for Mayor Dae O’Donnell on a rescue mission. Please advise if you have seen her.”
It was getting light. I looked out the porthole and saw the gleaming blue and white Coast Guard vessel in close proximity. Gramps and Kevin were on the bow with the captain in his uniform.
“Looks like my ride is here.” I ran out of the stateroom and headed to the deck, despite Dillon’s orders.
The helicopter I’d heard had pontoons and was floating in the water beside Dillon’s vessel. Two other luxury yachts were close by, their passengers being picked up by skiffs heading from them to the Jamestown.
“Dae, I told you to stay below,” Dillon protested.
I waved to Gramps and Kevin with both hands. “I’m going home. It looks like most of your party is over. I guess I’ll see you later.”
He grabbed my hand. “I would never hurt you. You know that, right? I would’ve taken you back to Duck after everyone left.”
“I know.” I smiled at him. “At least I was pretty sure. Thanks for telling me.”
“You know we could be awesome together.” He grinned and took my other hand, turning me away from the Coast Guard ship. “There’s no treasure we couldn’t find. Your Missing Pieces could be a world market.”
What could I say? Dillon had always represented a siren’s song for me. Yes, he was bad. He’d done terrible things. But he and I both had our hearts wrapped up in the mysteries of the past. I could never be with him the way he wanted. Our only attraction was this one shared love.
“I think you remind me too much of my pirate ancestor, Rafe Masterson. I don’t want to live your life. You don’t belong in mine. Come to Missing Pieces when you can, and we’ll
settle up the bells. But that’s all we have together, Dillon. I’m sorry.”
He smiled sadly and leaned his head closer to kiss my cheek. “I like that you think of me as a pirate, Dae, since I know how much you like them. I’ll drop by soon. In the meantime, what are you going to tell the Coast Guard?”
“The truth. I fell off the pier looking for the mermaid and got tangled in your fishing net.”
“Good story. I think you have more pirate blood in you than you think.”
Dillon sent me to the Coast Guard ship in a skiff. A member of the crew helped me out of the boat and up the ladder to the deck.
Gramps and Kevin were quick to hug me and welcome me aboard. The Coast Guard captain insisted on debriefing me before he would allow Dillon’s yacht to leave.
I told him exactly what I’d told Dillon I would say. The captain was skeptical at first, since someone had mentioned that I’d been kidnapped.
“Are you sure no one coerced you into being aboard the Jamestown?” he demanded.
“Absolutely not. I was there by my own choice after Mr. Guthrie brought me up from his fishing net.”
“All right, Mayor O’Donnell,” he said. “Thank you for your statement. I’m glad you’re safe. We’ll head back now. Maybe next time, you should hunt for mermaids during the day.”
My decision not to press charges against Dillon wasn’t popular with Gramps or Kevin.
“The man is a criminal, Dae,” Gramps reminded me.
“I’m not denying that or that what he did with Lilly and Tovi was wrong. But he didn’t kidnap me. That was my choice to hold on to the net. I was lucky to survive.”
“How did you make it that far out in a fishing net?” Kevin asked.
“Tovi and Lilly shared their breath with me.”
Kevin’s blue/gray eyes were even more unhappy with that idea.
“I’m glad you’re okay, honey,” Gramps said. “But you should’ve helped the Coast Guard take Guthrie into custody and impound his yacht.”
There was no point in arguing with him. We were never going to see eye-to-eye on Dillon. I wasn’t even sure I understood how I felt about him. How could I explain it to Kevin or Gramps?
The return trip to Duck was much more comfortable than it had been leaving. We pulled in close to where the Andalusia was berthed. I’d forgotten there was going to be a large re-launch to celebrate the ship opening for business again.
I was a mess and cringed at the idea of representing the town at the event. Lucky for me that Cody, Rick Treyburn, and Dab Efird were there. There were also TV news crews, and Manfred Vorst on hand taking pictures.
Me, Gramps, and Kevin sneaked off the Coast Guard ship and made it past the crowd of spectators who were there to get free passes to the slot machines for the day. Several of the Duck businesses were also there to give out free donuts, surf board rentals, and video game passes.
But despite all that, Manfred’s eagle eye landed on me before I could leave the pier.
“Mayor O’Donnell!” He shouted above the music and Captain Carl Lynch’s speech. He ran over to us as he flipped a page on his notebook. “Welcome back. I heard you were rescued by an old friend. What was Dillon Guthrie doing sailing in these waters?”
“No comment.” Gramps grabbed my arm and pushed past him. “She’s been through enough today. Give her some space.”
Manfred moved, only because Gramps and Kevin both got in front of me. “Okay. Later, then, huh? At your office or Missing Pieces? You know I’m always around.”
I didn’t say anything. He was right. At some point I’d have to answer his questions just to keep him from following me around. I knew my story, and I was sticking to it. I wouldn’t include Lilly and Tovi. They’d been in the news enough.
There were dozens of golf carts waiting by the ticket office at the end of the pier, but Gramps’s or Kevin’s weren’t among them. Gramps held open the back door to his police car, and I got in. Kevin got in beside me, and Gramps maneuvered the car out of the parking lot.
“I’m sorry I thought you and Tess had set a trap for Lilly and Tovi,” I said to Kevin. “I should’ve known you’d realize it was the wrong thing to do.”
“I guess we don’t know each other as well as we thought,” he responded.
He still sounded angry. I realized we hadn’t had the opportunity to talk and smooth everything over about Grandma Eleanore and the seafolk, much less about Dillon. I wasn’t worried. We’d figure out a way.
“The crime lab can’t even find DNA on that hunk of coral you gave me,” Gramps explained. “I’m afraid we’re at a dead end for Captain Lucky’s murder. Unless we want to catch your seafolk and charge them.”
“I don’t think they’re to blame. May I have the horn back? How is Grandma Eleanore doing?”
“She seems to be fine,” Gramps replied. “While you were out chasing mermaids, we were coming up with a plausible story for everyone. The repercussions of her sudden appearance may go on longer than the usual gossip in Duck. A few people—Mad Dog and August Grandin—are calling for my resignation until her reappearance can be explained.”
“What do they think happened?” I asked. “Do they think you were hiding her in the attic all these years?”
“I don’t know.” Gramps eased the police car into the parking lot at town hall. “I’ll be glad when Ronnie is back and can take over all this mess. I’d forgotten what a pain it is.”
“When is he supposed to come back?” Kevin asked.
“I don’t know right now. Probably six weeks or so. I think Eleanore and I are going for a long trip somewhere as soon as he takes over again. We always wanted to go to Hawaii. Didn’t have the time for it back then. I have plenty of time for it now.”
Gramps looked pleased with himself. He smiled as he opened the back door for me. “Let’s go inside, and I’ll get that coral for you. If you don’t want to sell it, Dae, maybe you can keep it on your desk.”
“I’ve heard a lot of talk about Duck being named the mermaid capital of the world,” Kevin said with a wry grin. “I like that better than all the other distinctions they give towns.”
“Me too.” I rolled the idea around in my head. “Maybe we could make Duck a safe haven for mermaids. Like they do with birds and butterflies.”
“At least birds and butterflies exist,” Gramps reminded me. “I still haven’t seen one of these creatures.”
“I have,” Kevin volunteered. “More than once. It’s so amazing that I can hardly believe it—like looking up one day and seeing a dragon flying across the sky.”
Gramps chuckled as we walked into town hall. “You’ve been spending too much time with my granddaughter, Brickman. You’re losing your edge. What kind of lawman does that?”
“The retired, innkeeper kind, sir. I don’t mind losing that edge at all.”
I grabbed the coral horn from police lockup—I had to sign for it—and Kevin walked home with me. I planned to be at Missing Pieces all day but needed to change clothes. It made me smile when I saw him checking out my really short skirt. I didn’t say anything. It was good for a fiancé to still think you were attractive.
We didn’t talk much. Traffic on Duck Road was heavy and made conversation difficult, but when we reached the house, he put his hand on mine to stop me from going inside.
“I’m sorry that we had this disagreement about your grandmother and the seafolk,” he said. “I didn’t mean to be an ass about either one. I was just worried about you.”
“I know.” I touched his face and kissed him. “This thing with Grandma Eleanore isn’t something I plan on doing again. Good thing, since I’m not really sure what I did. I just felt like it was wrong to leave her there. Now that she’s back, we can be a family.”
“Sure. I hope it works out for you. You know that.”
“But you’re still skeptical.”
“Yes. That’s okay. I can be wrong. Who knew there were seafolk walking around Duck?”
I hugged him, and we lau
ghed. Everything seemed fine. Life was very sweet knowing Gramps would be happy, and I’d have someone to talk to about all the aspects of my gift.
“I have to get back to the Blue Whale to get ready for the hungry crowds at lunch.”
“It shouldn’t be so bad now. A lot of people are going home after the holiday.”
“Except for the thousands coming in to look for mermaids,” he reminded me.
“Except for those. I wish I had more mermaid merchandise at Missing Pieces. I think that’s going to be a hot commodity for a while.”
We parted happily. I watched him walk down the drive and around the bushes that kept our house mostly hidden from Duck Road. I was glad things were better between us. It would be nice if we never argued again, but I knew better. What was important was making up afterward.
I let myself in the house. It seemed very quiet.
“Grandma? Grandma Eleanore?” I knew she was here because Gramps had asked her to stay inside until their stories were set up. “Grandma?”
“Dae.” Her weak voice filtered down the stairs to me.
“Hold on. I’m coming.”
I ran upstairs to find her on the bedroom floor. I’d never seen another person—not even a dead one—so pale. There was no color in her skin at all. Even the light brown highlights left in her graying hair were gone.
“What happened? Did you fall? Are you hurt? Let me help you get on the bed.”
Nothing seemed to be broken as I helped her to her feet, but she was so weak that she had to lean against me to stand. We got to the bed, and she sagged across the quilt that she’d made before I was born.
“Let me call Gramps and an ambulance.” I took out my cell phone. “I guess we should’ve done that yesterday when you fell. I’m sorry.”
She took my hand and smiled. “Yes, please call your grandfather. Forget the ambulance. It won’t do any good. This was going to happen, sweetheart. I couldn’t stay here forever.”
Chapter Twenty-four