Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Murderous, mourning mermaids
Gideon
Declan’s question—who wanted Winston dead—played over and over in my head while I rushed around taking people’s lunch orders and getting their drinks.
That, and his expression when he realized most of the people in the pub weren’t human. I wished he’d stayed and let me feed him. He was so worried about his grandfather, I wasn’t sure he would actually eat anything on his own.
Elwood had told me that when his son had married a human, they’d chosen to live their lives in the mundane world.
He didn’t understand it, but it was their life to live—at least it was until they had Declan.
At that point, Elwood had stepped in and made them promise that if their child showed magical abilities, they would come home so the child could learn how to safely use their magic.
You never knew how human/magic matings would go. Sometimes the offspring would have no magical abilities at all, and sometimes they would. As the years passed and Declan hadn’t shown any signs of magic, Elwood had never lost hope that something would awaken in the boy.
Which, I guess, explained why Declan hadn’t had a typical magical education. But it was obvious Elwood had been right. Declan did have some type of magic, even if he didn’t seem to think so. It was good that he’d come here so Elwood could help him learn about our world.
My wolf pushed at my mind, insisting that we should be the ones to help him. Goddess save me, my wolf had taken a serious liking to the pretty young man. He didn’t understand that Declan’s fear and worry were about his grandfather, and he wanted us to do something to fix it for him.
Personally, I wasn’t worried about Elwood.
He wasn’t only a well-thought-of member of the Ravenstone community, but he was a powerful witch.
He would be fine. What had me worried was the unjust killing of another member of the supernatural community.
I might not have liked Winston, but that didn’t mean I was okay with sitting around doing nothing while there was a murderer on the loose.
The alpha instinct to protect those I thought were mine was strong and urged me to rush ahead and find the person responsible and make them pay. Thankfully, Ravenstone was a fairly safe community, so this was rarely an issue.
I looked around the pub at the people who’d gathered here. This had become a safe place for supernatural members of the town, so my wolf felt a strong connection to most of the people who were here. There was quite a crowd for it to be so early in the day, so I was relieved when Sable arrived.
It seemed like word of Winston’s death had spread, and it was all anyone could talk about.
Everyone had an opinion or a theory about who might have wanted the vampire dead, but the one thing everyone agreed on was that Elwood shouldn’t have been taken in for questioning.
The witch was a good man—was always available to help members of the magical community here in Ravenstone.
The talk was typical small-town gossip, so I didn’t see any reason to step in—at least not until Missy Tempbeck opened her mouth.
“Well, you know who probably did it?”
“No, who?” another young witch, Sady, asked.
“Why, Brooke, of course.” Missy sneered. “Or is it Tulip now?”
Shit. I’d been so worried about Declan that I’d completely forgotten about Tulip.
“Sable, I have something I need to take care of. Can you handle this on your own?” I asked.
“I got it, boss. You got more important things to handle today. I didn’t like Winston, but being a pompous jerk doesn’t mean you deserve a stake through the heart.”
“Grady’s handling it. I just want to go check on Tulip and make sure she’s okay.”
I hated to leave Sable to handle the crowd on their own, but I wanted to get out to the lake.
Mermaids weren’t exactly nocturnal, but she did tend to keep close to the water for most of the day, so there was a good chance she hadn’t yet heard the news.
I wanted to be the one to break it to her if she hadn’t.
I should’ve gone straight there, but it hadn’t occurred to me.
I considered asking Declan to come with me.
I didn’t like the idea of him sitting there next door by himself worrying, but mermaids could be unpredictable.
There was no telling how she would take the news, and humans were delicate creatures.
Not only could he get physically hurt, but seeing a mermaid at their worst could be quite frightening—and since he’d already seen a dead vampire today, I didn’t think it was a good idea to subject him to an unhinged mermaid.
Besides, Tulip adored Elwood, and she would hate for his grandson to see her that way.
I made the short drive to the lake and parked near the landing. Then I walked down the dirt path to the bank where the water met the reeds near the rocky inlet I knew Tulip favored.
The pond shimmered under the midday sun, reeds whispering as the wind stirred the water’s edge. It looked peaceful—almost idyllic—but I knew better.
I crouched near the bank and reached out, drawing circles in the water. I knew she would feel the disturbance and pick up my scent in the water.
I continued to stir the water while I waited. There was no response, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The water stilled, went glass-smooth, and that’s when I knew she was close.
“I need to talk to you, Tulip. It’s important.”
The surface broke without a ripple, her green hair rising first, slick and wet against pale iridescent skin. Her eyes breached last—those strange, bottomless things that weren’t quite human and never tried to be. She said nothing.
“Winston’s dead,” I said gently. “Someone murdered him.”
Her face didn’t change. Not at first. But the water around her went still and dark, roiling with shadows. The pond’s peaceful hush turned to a strange silence—the kind that made prey freeze and predators sharpen their claws.
“You think I did it,” she said, voice flat and cold.
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you thought it.” She surged forward, stopping just short of the bank.
Not a splash, not a sound—just movement so fast I barely had time to shift my weight.
Her eyes blazed, teeth just a little too sharp behind parted lips, making me glad I hadn’t brought Declan.
He would have no idea how much danger he was in, and he might say the wrong thing. “How did he die?”
“Someone stabbed him through the heart with a crystal point.” I kept my voice calm and matter-of-fact. I could tell she was on the edge, and I didn’t want to push her over.
“If I’d killed him, you wouldn’t have found a body. I would’ve dragged him to the bottom and let my fish feast on his flesh.” Her tone was cold and unfeeling. That was why mermaids were so scary.
“I know you would have.”
“Then why did you come here and disturb my sanctuary with his name in your mouth?” She was trying to sound hard and tough, but I could tell she was hurting.
“I needed to tell you because you cared about him.”
Her face crumpled then—just for a second, a flicker of something raw. She sank lower into the water until it kissed her chin, her arms trembling as she braced herself against the mossy rocks near the edge.
“I loved him,” she whispered.
Silence settled again, heavy as grief. Her shoulders shook, and then the tears came. Big, silent sobs that sent ripples fanning out in all directions.
I waited while she cried. Eventually, she pulled herself together and took in a deep breath.
“He wasn’t a good man,” she said softly. “Not a good man at all. But he said he loved me, and I thought maybe—”
I crouched closer. “I need to ask you some questions. The crystal point came from Elwood’s shop, and Grady is questioning him, so we need to figure out who did it.”
She surged back up out of the water, making me stumble back again. “Not Elwood. He would never kill someone. He’s kind and only wants to help.”
“I know, Tulip. No one believes he’s a murderer. But I don’t want this to drag on. So I need to ask you some questions.”
She nodded. “You may ask.”
I hated to. Winston hadn’t treated her well, but Tulip had cared about him anyway, and it felt cruel to ask her questions about his death. But she might know something that would help.
“Do you know anyone who might want to hurt him?”
“Many didn’t like him, but to actually kill him…
” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I know the contractor was furious with him about non-payment.
Someone had tried to buy the building, but he’d outbid them.
He said they were furious about it, but I don’t know who.
He didn’t give me a name, but he wasn’t a gracious winner.
He said they were fools who only wanted the building because they believed it had gold in the walls.
Humans are weird about stuff like that, you know.
What good is gold? You can’t eat it, and pearls make much prettier jewelry. ”
“Humans are weird about a lot of things,” I said.
“That they are.” We shared a smile, but hers was still a bit sad.
“I’m sorry about Winston, Tulip.”
She sniffed and nodded. “Thank you, Gideon. It doesn’t matter anyway. He didn’t love me back. He only said he did. He had already moved on.”
My ears perked up at that. I hadn’t heard rumors of another woman, but that could be a clue.
“With who?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, probably that coffee witch. She was always hanging all over him, bringing him weird human food to try.”
“Lily, you mean?” I asked, and she nodded. “I don’t think there was anything there, Tulip. I think she’s just desperate to sell her coffees, and you know she isn’t really a witch.”
“Calling her a witch was me being nice, Gideon.” She scoffed.
“And she was desperate for something, that’s for sure.
But it doesn’t matter. He’s gone, and I have to move on.
You find out who killed him and tell me.
I’ll drag them to the bottom of the pond to a watery grave.
That would be a fitting end for them, don’t you think? ”
“I think we’ll let Grady handle them.”
“If you say so.” She pouted in disappointment, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t get to seek justice for Winston or because she didn’t get to drag anyone to the bottom of the pond.
“I do say so. Maybe we should have a support group meeting later today. We didn’t get to have one last night, and some people might be feeling unsettled after this.” By some people, I meant her, but she didn’t have to know that.
“Without Elwood?”
“I have the key to Elwood’s shop, and Declan’s here now, remember. Besides, I don’t think they’ll keep Elwood long.”