Chapter 12
An unfamiliar car parked next to Bel’s SUV, and she assumed that Agent Barry had sent a colleague to observe Ariella Triton’s autopsy in his stead until Olivia’s blonde head popped into view.
“Oh, good, you got the rental,” Bel said as the partners entered the morgue.
“Yeah, I found it in my driveway this morning with the keys in my mailbox. It was nice not having to find a ride to the rental company, so can you thank Eamon for me?”
“Of course.” Bel ordered herself not to smile. Thank Eamon? This was a completely different Olivia Gold than the one who’d wanted to cut ties with them six months ago. “Eamon loves doing stuff like this, though, so it’s no problem. He certainly keeps trying to throw money at me.”
“You’re his girlfriend. That’s different.”
“But I care about you.” Bel met her partner’s gaze and held it. “So, he cares too.”
Olivia cleared her throat with a soft grunt and turned her attention to prepping for the autopsy. “Did he take my car to the mechanic?” She asked as they donned the protective gear. “The rental was in the driveway, but my car was gone.”
“Umm…” Bel paused. He was the type to take a car without warning in the name of repairs, but he hadn’t given her the heads-up. “I don’t know. I doubt it, though. He would’ve mentioned it to me.”
“Then where is it?” Olivia asked. “It vanished overnight.”
“I’ll call him after the autopsy.” Bel held the door for her partner, and the women entered the exam room. “Maybe he had it towed to the shop for you.”
“I hope so. It’s weird not knowing where my car is.”
“Detectives,” Lina Thum greeted as they gathered around the exam table. “Are you ready?”
“I’m never really ready to autopsy a teenage girl,” Bel said.
“The younger they are, the harder this is,” Lina agreed. “To start, Ariella was still dressed when she was buried, and the fabrics are synthetic. They take a long time to break down, so her clothing is mostly intact. It should’ve preserved any present evidence.”
“I’m not seeing bloodstains on the fabric, though,” Olivia said. “Just mud from the storm.”
“Unless her clothes are hiding something, I still believe Ariella’s cause of death was strangulation.
There would be no blood,” Lina said as she settled behind the skull.
“There are no signs of blunt force trauma, and if she had any superficial defensive wounds, they’re long gone now.
Based on my initial exam, her broken hyoid bone is her only injury. ”
“Strangled to death.” Olivia shook her head. “It was either a spur-of-the-moment decision, or someone wanted to look her in the eyes as the life drained out of her.”
“I know one of your original theories regarding her disappearance was that a predator was stalking the party as his hunting grounds, and I’m not the detective, but I don’t think that’s right,” Lina said.
“What makes you say that?” Bel asked.
“Her lack of injuries,” Lina said. “She wasn’t fighting for her life.
If a predator had been on the hunt for drunk girls, his intentions would’ve been heinous, leaving more damage on her skeleton or skull, but Ariella’s death happened quickly.
Based on her burial site, the killer felt guilty or a sense of responsibility and care, so I can’t help but wonder if her death is linked to the mermaids.
Maybe she saw the killer, so he silenced her. ”
“That’s certainly possible,” Olivia said. “The mermaids were left in an arguably beautiful location. So was Ariella.”
“I don’t want to get too narrow-minded, though,” Bel said.
“We’re most likely dealing with separate cases.
A sheltered girl who’s afraid to disappoint her dad asks her best friend to fake date her boyfriend just so they can hang out?
Maybe the adrenaline of the police chase, combined with alcohol and the limited dating experience, pushed her to make regrettable decisions with another partygoer after Erik left?
Maybe halfway through a consensual encounter, she freaked out that she was cheating, and the hookup turned violent.
Or she saw someone she knew engaging in something they didn’t want her to witness.
Or perhaps she knew her attacker, and the choking was an accident. ”
“What’s your gut telling you?” Olivia asked. “Are our cases related?”
“No.” Bel shrugged noncommittally. “Connecting them seems like a stretch… but then again, we’ve seen weirder.”
“This case being one of them,” Lina said.
“But Bel might be right, and these aren’t connected.
Or they are, but the killer left her in the woods instead of the lake because of her hair.
We identified a few of the mermaids. As expected, the victims are from out of town, but our killer definitely had a type.
I’ll send you their information, and hopefully, you’ll find connections I can’t, but they’re all from different cities.
They have nothing in common except their similar ages, builds, and hair color, but Ariella obviously doesn’t fit that M.O. She’s a redhead.”
“She would’ve ruined his menagerie,” Bel completed the M.E.’s thought. “So he buried her.”
“Eamon texted me back.” Bel slid the coffee cups onto her partner’s desk.
They’d spent the past few hours looking into the identified mermaids, hoping to find connections between the victims or a lead as to the killer’s identity, but when nothing promising surfaced, the women needed an afternoon pick-me-up.
“He didn’t take your car. He only organized the rental to be dropped off this morning. ”
“Then what on earth happened to it?” Olivia stared at Bel as if her connection to the supernatural might gift her with an answer.
“I have no idea.” Bel was just as confused as her partner.
“It didn’t just drive itself away. I feel like I should call the police, but…” She gestured between the two of them.
“A lot of help we are,” Bel laughed.
“I know. What am I supposed to do? Put out an APB? I already called both the mechanic and the body shop. Neither has my car, so who towed it?”
“What about the tow company? Did their work order have a client name listed?”
“They weren’t called to move it, so there is no work order. I mean, who steals a crushed car?”
“Someone who needs the parts?” Bel shrugged. “We’ll find it.”
“I hope so. I can’t drive this rental forever.” Olivia grabbed her coffee cup off the desk and took a sip.
“Who knows? Maybe Eamon has another spare car collecting dust in a storage lot.”
“I’m sure he has a hoard of cars hidden away somewhere. Wasn’t he there when they were all invented? Man…” Olivia’s eyes turned dreamy. “The vintage classics he must have because he bought them brand new when they were first released. Yeah, he’d never let me drive one.”
“You know, I’ve never considered that, and now I’m kind of mad at him for holding out on me.”
“If I were his girlfriend, I’d be more upset that he gifted me an SUV and not one of his classics.”
“And what would I do with a classic car?” Bel cocked her head at her partner.
“Put a panting, dirty Cerberus on the original leather after a hike? No, the SUV is perfect for my lifestyle, but I’d love to take a trip along a scenic highway in one of his vehicles.
Preferably a convertible… I hope you’re happy.
You just made me realize I should go home and start a fight.
” Her face fell as the words left her mouth.
She meant it as a joke, but there was a very real, unsettled conversation lingering between her and the man she loved.
One she would gladly trade to argue about vintage cars.
“At least you have someone to argue with.” Olivia stretched her neck, and Bel wanted to ask if she meant that there was hope for her and Ewan or if she was merely ready to move on, but she didn’t want to risk the camaraderie Eamon’s kindness had bought them.
“Anyway.” She drank another few sips of her coffee before shoving it away with a grimace.
“It’s lunchtime, so we should eat, but even coffee’s bothering my stomach.
Ariella’s autopsy was hard to watch, then this.
” She gestured to the information they’d gathered about the identified mermaids.
“No connections. None of them lived anywhere near each other. They don’t have any mutual friends or interests, and they aren’t from Bajka.
All they had were similar appearances. How did he find them? ”
“Jax Frost had a job that required travel. It’s how he found the Matchstick Girls,” Bel said. “And Charles Blaubart was a sought-after plastic surgeon. People came to him.”
“So, we’re looking for a man who travels or inspires people to travel to him,” Olivia said.
“It’s a start, at least.”
Olivia grunted as she rubbed her abdomen. “The coffee is burning my stomach.”
“You need to eat.” Bel rose to her feet and grabbed her keys. “Come on.”
“I don’t want to eat.”
“You’ll feel better if you do. We’ll get smoothies. That’s easy on the stomach.”
“Fruit.” Olivia rolled the word around her tongue as she considered that prospect. “That thought doesn’t make me want to puke,” she said as they piled into the SUV.
It was a short drive through the picturesque town square, but just as Bel was about to turn down a side street to park behind the smoothie shop, familiar features caught her attention.
She almost ignored the recognition, but with a double take that nearly gave her whiplash, she slammed on the brakes.
“Bel!” Olivia screeched as the seatbelt choked her. “What are you—?”
But she shifted the car into reverse and lurched backward.
“Oh my god, Isobel Emerson, what are you doing?”
“At the autopsy this morning, we wondered if Ariella knew her killer and was attacked because she saw something she wasn’t supposed to,” Bel said.
“I remember,” Olivia grunted.
Bel pointed out the window and waited until her partner followed her directions. “Something like that?”