“Said the salt golem.”
“Harsh.”
“Truthful.” I grinned and went back to my fish. Mangrove snapper were an easy catch. After about three pounds of fish, I was ready to talk again. Even better, I had legs and could walk again.
Sam handed me my shorts. “I guess you don’t have to worry about shaving.”
“No body hair.”
“I noticed.” And his expression told me he liked the idea.
“How about you? Do salt golems get beards?”
“Not really. I can get a little one to grow, eventually. It takes a while, though.”
“Just like it’ll take a while before you can buy beer.”
“Buy beer. Get a job. Be treated like an adult.” He looked up at the house. “Is your mother ever home?”
I stretched a hand out to the ocean. “Her home is out there. This is just a house she keeps on land.”
“For when she wants to go hunting, I guess.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t like to think about it that way, but you’re right. Sometimes she comes out to find a mate. There aren’t always boats with men on them, and your hormones make you pretty focused on that. It’s enough to drive you on to dry land, even if you hate it like she does.” All at once, the moment turned melancholy. As much as I liked Sam, I couldn’t see where this would go, what would happen next. Was I going to turn out like Mom? Only spending time on land when I couldn’t find a sailor to take? It didn’t seem like a great way to live your life.
“Well, I’m hoping you don’t need to find another mate.”
“Another mate? So you’re mine?”
“For as long as you’ll have me.” He put his arms around me and kissed me gently. It felt too serious, like something people a lot older would say. But then, we weren’t like other teenagers and having him feel so sure about us was a great feeling. I tried to hold on to it when I saw the cop car out on the road.
“I think we should head inside,” I said.
The cop car hadn’t stopped, but it made me nervous. Sam’s arms felt too perfect around me, as if somehow this would all come crashing down soon. I sank into his kiss, trying hard not to worry about anything else.
I pulled him into the house through the kitchen doors. “You’re not hungry, but I think I should fix you something.”
“The only thing I want is you.” He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me on to the counter top. He kissed me while his hand moved down to my belly. Now that I knew what was coming next, I found it hard to sit still. I leaned back in anticipation, when the doorbell rang.
“You expecting someone?”
I shook my head. “Maybe they’ll leave.”
There was loud knocking on the door.
“Or not,” I said. “I’ll tell them to leave.”
“I’ll go with you, just in case.”
I opened the door to not one, but three police officers. The first two were in suits—I recognized them instantly as the detectives who visited the school—while the third was in a uniform.
“Can I help you, officers?”
“Is your mother home?”
“No. Is everything all right?”
“Can we come in?”
Behind me, Sam shook his head, but I opened the door. “Sure, but what’s this about?”
They walked in, looking around. I’d never thought having an entry way separated from where I lived was a blessing before, but I sure did now. I didn’t want any of these creepy guys going near my bedroom.
“You’re Danika DelMar?”
I nodded.
The detective kept talking. “I’m Detective Wilson. You already know Detective Mason. You turned 18 last week, didn’t you?”
“I’d really like to know what this is about.”
“You were at the beach last night, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“We both were.” Sam stepped almost in front of me. “Is this interview part of your investigation?”
They exchanged glances but didn’t answer.
“Ms. DelMar, your beach is west of Shoreview beach, isn’t it?”
Sam stopped me from replying with a look.
“Because those bodies, the two that turned up on Shoreview, after looking at the tides, they probably came from someplace west.”
“So?” Sam couldn’t stop me from asking it.
“Are you usually alone?”
“Gentlemen, I think we all know that you can’t interview a minor without a parent present.” Sam stepped up again, protecting me.
“Then it’s a good thing your girlfriend is 18, isn’t it?” Wilson sneered. “I think we should conduct this interview at the station. Why don’t you tell her mother to call us?”
He flipped a card at Sam, who let it fall to the floor.
“Am I being arrested?” I asked.
“This is only an interview.” He paused long enough to make me nervous. “For now.”
“Sam?”
“Don’t say anything,” he said. “I’ll get a lawyer. Don’t answer any questions.”
The cops glared at him, then pulled me out the door. The next thing I knew; I was watching through a cop car window as Sam dialed his cell phone.
Chapter Thirteen
We went into a small room with no windows and a video camera in the corner. When they shut the door, I broke out into a sweat. I was trapped. I couldn’t get to water, couldn’t get away. If they figured out what I was, I’d have no chance to get free. Walking into this little room might be the last thing I did as a free person. With all of that on my mind, I completely forgot about Sam’s warning not to say anything.
“Tell me about the girl.” Detective Wilson looked at me while he pulled out photos of the first body I’d found. Jen’s friend; I couldn’t remember her name.
“I think she went to the community college. I know she graduated from my school.” I kept trying to look away from the pictures but I couldn’t. Under the water, her hair had spread out around her face like a halo. In the photos, it was dry and lank. I never realized Mother Ocean made people look alive even when they were dead.
“That’s all you know?”
“I’m sorry. One of my friend’s knew her. I heard her name, but I can’t remember it.”
“Really?” He leaned forward; almost close enough to touch me. I could smell the stale coffee on his breath. “She’s been in the news and on TV, and you don’t even remember her name?”
I shook my head.
“Can you see why that’s a little hard for me to believe? Your interview with Detective Martin was two days ago, and you knew Tiffany Moore’s name then. And when you had class with her last year, I’ll bet you knew her name.”
“I did. I’m sorry. I’m nervous.”
“Why? If you haven’t done anything wrong, what’s there to be nervous about?”
I ran through all the reasons I could never tell him: I’m a mermaid; my mother the mermaid wasn’t going to rescue me from this anytime soon; if I went to jail, someone would find out the truth about me. I stopped myself, that wasn’t helping. “I’m in a police station. I’ve never been in one before. That would make anyone nervous.”
“Only criminals get nervous or the people who have something to hide.”
“I don’t have anything to hide.” I tried to sound normal but my rushed words betrayed me.
He leaned back and stared at me.
“Tell me about Heather.”
“Heather?”
“How’d you feel about her? You hate her, don’t you?”
“No, I mean, I don’t always love her drama, but that’s the way she is. She watches too much reality TV.”
“She watched.”
“What?”
“Heather’s dead.” He flipped the photo onto the table in front of me: Heather, lying on a slab, her throat torn out.
I couldn’t talk for a minute, looking at the raw meat where her throat had been. Heather was gone. Ryan was gone. How many m
ore of my friends would die? Why didn’t anything I did stop it? What kind of a monster would keep hurting people like this? Nothing in the ocean killed for fun, but this thing, it had to be in my ocean. My whole world didn’t make sense any more.
He ignored my panic and kept talking. “It happened last night. She went to school. Apparently you two had quite the fight in the cafeteria. She ran out crying. But you must have made up, since she went to your party. And then she went skinny-dipping.”
“Everyone went skinny-dipping,” I told him, my head spinning even as my eyes stayed locked on the picture.
“You didn’t. I heard you were too drunk.”
I jerked my head up to meet his eyes. “I wasn’t…I mean…”
“Maybe so drunk you did something you’re ashamed of?”
He took another photo out and lined the three of them in front of me, Tiffany, Ryan, Heather. The only one missing was Mara. She deserved to be there, to have someone searching for her the way the cops were searching for my other friends. Instead no one on dry land would remember her. My stomach churned, wondering how long they would remember me if I left. Did I matter? Did anyone?
I turned to his partner, Mason, who’d been very quiet this whole time. “I didn’t do anything to them,” I said. “They were my friends. I don’t deserve to be treated this way.”
“Oh really?” Wilson said sarcastically.
I flinched, but I kept my body turned toward Mason. “I’m done talking with Detective Wilson. I don’t want to be yelled at any more.”
“And you won’t be, Danika,” a female voice said.
I turned around and watched as a woman walked into the room. She looked tall and slim, with dark hair and dark skin like Sam had. My first thought was salt golem, my second was lawyer. I couldn’t tell which made me happier. “Detectives, I’m Rebecca Rosenwood, the attorney that’s been provided for Ms. DelMar. While she is officially 18, I think the courts will agree with me that interviewing her when you knew her lawyer was coming, without her mother present, was a bad idea. Nothing she’s told you so far is going to be admissible.”
Wilson suddenly looked like he’d swallowed something bitter.
“And unless you have actual evidence that Ms. DelMar was involved with the bodies in any way—”
“They were found in salt water,” Wilson said. “You know that ruins any bit of evidence we can find.”
“That’s not my client’s problem. It’s yours. We’re leaving now.”
She pulled my chair out and I stood up automatically. I’d been breathing easier since she opened the door, now, with her escorting me out of the room, it was all I could do not to gulp down air.
By the time she put me into her car, a respectable four-door sedan, I was practically hyperventilating.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I will be when we get out of here.” I opened the window and took a few more deep breaths.
“Text Sam. Tell him you’re okay and we’re going to talk for a bit.” She handed her cell phone to me.
I texted for a minute, then got a text back telling me Sam would wait at my place. “How long will this talk be?”
“A few minutes? Maybe thirty?”
“Can we head to the beach?”
My attorney nodded. I didn’t know how to think of her yet. I didn’t know what to think about any of this. Heather was dead and the detective said he didn’t have any evidence. When she drove us to Paradise beach, I sighed, grateful that it wasn’t a beach I’d put a dead body on. Before the engine stopped running, I was out of the car, standing on the boardwalk, breathing in that wonderful salt air.
“Guess they freaked you out.”
I nodded. She’d come up behind me almost silently. Now, she looked out at the water. She asked, “Want to go for a walk?”
“Sure, just…not too close to the water, okay?” I was barefoot. I hadn’t thought about it during the whole ordeal, but now I did. Bare feet and water could be a bad combination.
“So for the first little bit, how about I talk and you listen?”
“Okay.”
“Sam’s family has been close to mine for a while. I know that he’s a special guy. I figure you must be special, too.”
She glanced over at me for confirmation of this. I was glad I could keep my eyes on the sand, watching where the waves came in. I didn’t know if she meant mermaid—and salt golem—special. I didn’t want to give anything away.
“It doesn’t matter much, except I need to know now if you had anything to do with this. I’m your attorney, so I can’t tell anyone what you tell me. You can be completely honest.”
“I found the bodies.”
“And?”
“And made sure the police would find them. Nothing else.”
“If they had physical evidence tying you to the murders, you wouldn’t be out walking around right now. So you have to be really careful not to say anything that would give them a clue that you saw the bodies up close.”
I thought about the smell from Ryan’s body, the chemical scent that clung to his wounds. That was definitively something I shouldn’t mention, other than that I couldn’t think of anything.
“I should be okay.”
“You will be, because you’re not ever going to talk to the police alone. Actually, you’re not ever going to talk to anyone about this without me standing next to you. Is that clear?”
I nodded.
“I’d like to hear you say it.”
“It’s clear.”
“Good. So before I ask you about Sam and how long you two have been dating, I want to be sure there’s nothing else you need to know.”
There were so many things I needed to know that I doubted she could answer it all, questions about sea monsters and things that killed for fun. Maybe she knew all the details but I doubted it. Really I needed to talk to Mom or Grandma, some wise older mermaid who would tell me everything. I’d never met a mermaid like that though. Talking to Mom usually ended in a fight, talking to Grandma might be better but she was a long swim away. My attorney was right here, but even if she wanted to help, I didn’t know if I should let her.
“I…I’m sorry, I don’t think there’s anything you can answer for me.” She seemed to be like me or maybe like Sam, but I had to be sure before I said anything. Otherwise, I might end up locked in a room again. I couldn’t risk that.
She looked at me, her eyes sympathetic. “You need to remember that seeing the bodies means you saw things, little things, that the police probably missed. I notice a lot of things other people don’t. So does Sam. I suspect you’ve got talents like that.”
“More than a few.”
“But the police, at least as far as I know, uniformly do not. Whatever you do, don’t say anything that makes people ask questions. I know it’s hard to keep stuff inside but you never know what little thing will trip you up. It’s best to say nothing at all.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I swallowed hard, feeling a lump in my throat. Another batch of secrets I had to keep, another thing to remember never to mention.
“No problem. Now tell me all about how you met Sam.”
****
I couldn’t stop myself from running up the stairs, even though Sam was running down. We grabbed each other in a fierce embrace. I think I heard Rebecca say she’d call me. I might’ve heard Sam ask if I was okay. I didn’t pay a lot of attention. All that mattered was holding onto him and hearing the ocean behind us.
“Let’s go out by the water.” I spoke the words with my lips near his, practically kissing him the whole time. When I finished speaking, I kissed him for real. I kissed him hard enough to stop the world, and for a few seconds it worked.
He waited to talk until we were sitting on the sand, looking at the waves coming in and out of my beach. He said, “The police were totally out of line.”
I shook my head. I trusted Sam—after everything that had happened, how could I not? But since I trusted him, it was time to come clean. “
No, they’re not.”
He raised his eyebrows at me, asking the question without words.
“I found the bodies first. I touched them. I pulled them to shore.”
“That’s not true. You were with me in the water when one of them turned up, remember?” He spoke softly, as if he was afraid I’d gone insane.
“Okay, all of the bodies except for the body at my birthday party.” I turned to him, and realized he didn’t know. “It was Heather. They found her last night. She was killed during the party.”
Sam hugged me close. “I’m sorry.”
“And there’s another body, one the police don’t know about, a mermaid. I found her, too.”
He kept his arm around me and pulled me to his chest. “That’s a lot to handle.”
“It is, but it’s not the hardest part. The hardest part is constantly wondering, why me? Why am I finding them? The first girl, Tiffany, I found her right by my reef. The mermaid, Mara, I found her there, too. But Ryan, he was in the water by the sushi place.”
“That’s why you ended our date!”
I nodded, a small smile formed on my face despite the way the day had gone. “Did you think you did something wrong?”
“I thought I tasted too salty or smelled or said something stupid. Then, out in the water, I thought I saw something; but when I came back, it was gone.”
“You did see something. When you got back, I’d taken him toward the beach. I didn’t realize I was taking them all on a line from the house. I honestly thought I’d taken them away from the house. I don’t think the tides lead from my reef like that.” I knew the ocean. It didn’t work that way.
“Maybe they don’t. I’m a salt golem. You’re a mermaid. What’s the chance that we’re the only two people in town with secrets like ours?”
“I always thought I was the only one. When I met you I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll go along with it. Maybe it’s a joke or maybe not.’ But you’re real, and I’m real, so I’d say the chances that someone else like us is out there are pretty good.”
“Exactly.” Sam looked out at the water for a while. “Whoever they are, they’re killing people pretty nonchalantly.”
I thought about my cousins and the way I’d gone hunting. “That’s what some people do,” I said, feeling guilty.
The Mermaid and the Murders Page 14