Chapter 16 #3
“Here’s her photo.” Bel opted not to point out that the killer was too smart to behave suspiciously on camera and placed the folder on the table, opening it to a printed shot of the mermaid stolen from her parents’ social media.
If he was even caught on camera. No, he’d be subtle and unassuming.
He wouldn’t be someone aquarium security would spot…
unless it was the father-and-son duo they were praying would show up.
“I think that’s her.” The guard pointed to a brunette digging through her purse.
“She looks a little like Ondine,” Olivia whispered.
“Yeah, that’s our first victim,” Bel confirmed.
“Okay, great. So now we just follow her. It looks like she’s alone.
” The guard waited to see which direction the girl took, and then he switched cameras, following her exhibit by exhibit.
She didn’t stay long. Her solitary visit enabled her to move quickly.
She seemed to enjoy her time, but it was an entirely uneventful trip.
If she’d encountered the killer, he’d either been careful to remain off camera, or he was so unassuming that he disappeared into the crowd.
“Was that helpful at all?” the guard asked as he pulled up the next date they’d given him.
“We need to watch all three before we can determine that,” Bel lied, withdrawing the photo of the second victim from the folder. They were the most recent mermaids and the only ones the aquarium had footage of, and she prayed the recordings were worth their trip.
Mermaid number two visited with her mother, and halfway through her day, she paused to talk to someone. Who spoke to her was a mystery, though. A maintenance man stood by the garbage can, his hunched form blocking whoever was part of this conversation.
“Do we ever see who she’s speaking to?” Bel asked.
“No.” The security guard rewound the file and played the interaction again, but the angle made it impossible.
“What do you think?” Olivia asked. “Could that be Erik?”
“She doesn’t look like she’s flirting,” Bel said. “I don’t know. It could be our killer, and he knew to hide from the cameras, or it’s a random visitor who just happened to be standing there.”
“I haven’t seen the Princes on the footage either,” Olivia said. “Yet another dead end.”
“Don’t give up. We have one more day to check.”
But Olivia was right. The third mermaid arrived with her friends, only to leave with them hours later.
They didn’t talk to anyone outside of their party, they never split up, they never stepped outside of the cameras’ boundaries, and they didn’t purchase any necklaces.
The security footage was yet another dead end.
“Griffin texted while we were inside,” Olivia said as they crossed the aquarium’s expansive parking lot. “Deputies are out looking for Ondine, but they haven’t found her. He’s asking if we have better news.” She scoffed as she texted the sheriff back.
“We don’t have any news.” Bel unlocked her cell in time to see Olivia’s text pop up in the group chat. Her boss’ message wasn’t the only text on her screen, though, so she clicked on Eamon’s name since Gold had already handled the work thread.
Eamon
Will you be home for dinner?
Bel
Probably. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do today.
Eamon
Cerberus will be happy. Can you do me a favor and stop at the store on your way home? I forgot fresh basil, and I didn’t realize how low we were on olive oil.
“Are you going to the station?” Olivia asked when they reached their cars, and Bel replied to Eamon’s request before climbing into the driver’s seat.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “It’ll be late by the time we get back. The night shift can handle anything we missed cause I need sleep. I’m running on fumes.”
“I need a good night’s sleep too, but it’s hard to relax when there’s so much at stake. I slept better when I was dating Ewan… don’t say it.” Olivia pointed an accusing finger at her partner, and Bel mimed zipping up her mouth and tossing the key.
“Anyway.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “Call me if you find anything or need help. I’ll do the same.”
The women departed the aquarium less than triumphant, and Bel made the solitary trip home, the sun long gone by the time she pulled into the grocery store parking lot. She forwent a basket since she only needed two items, but she barely made it three steps past the entrance when her phone rang.
“Can you pick up eggs while you’re there?” Eamon’s voice asked. “I need olive oil for dinner, so I decided to make dessert while I waited, but now I don’t have eggs for breakfast.”
“Are you tracking my location?” Bel doubled back for a cart. If Eamon was asking for eggs, he meant cartons of them. The man’s appetite was not easily satiated, and he had a cute habit of making Cerberus a gently scrambled egg in the morning so they could all eat together.
“Cerberus made me do it.”
“I’ll let it slide this time. Is there anything else we need while I’m here?”
“Only if you want something specific. I had groceries delivered earlier; I just forgot the basil. And put it on my credit card since you know a dozen eggs won’t cut it.”
“In that case, I’m raiding the organic snacks aisle,” Bel teased.
During the Matchstick Girl investigation, she’d traveled out of town to interview a victim’s parents, and unexpectedly spent the night in a small motel.
The less-than-luxurious accommodations had bothered Eamon, so he’d put her name on his account and shoved the credit card into her wallet.
He didn’t care how she used it, but her stubborn independence only tolerated the plastic because she swore to use it solely for emergencies…
and when he asked for expensive pasture-raised, organic eggs. Only the best for Cerberus, of course.
“So what dessert did you make?” she asked as she grabbed the fresh basil from the produce refrigerator.
“Banana bread. Half with chocolate chips, and half with walnuts for you to take for breakfast.”
“Oh, so domestic.”
“More like I was playing rough with Cerberus, and we knocked the bananas on the floor. They all split open, and he went to town. There’s probably dog-slobber bananas in this bread, but I’ve seen you kiss that animal, so you can’t complain… oh, can you grab more—”
“Bananas?” she finished for him. “Already doing—”
“Detective?” a female voice interrupted, and Bel spun around to find Mrs. Triton reaching for the same bananas. “I thought that was you.”
“Eamon, hold on.” She turned her attention to the mother. “It’s nice to see you.”
“Thank you,” the woman said.
“For what?” Bel reached for a different bunch of bananas.
“For not asking how I am. It’s why I’ve started shopping at night. Fewer people.”
“I understand.” Considering how this woman had thrown her out of her house the last time she’d been coherent, Bel fought the urge to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“I can’t even begin to comprehend the pain you’re going through, but I do understand the stares and the questions. ” She gestured to her throat.
“I can’t imagine what you went through to emerge with those,” Mrs. Triton said, and Bel regretted not putting Eamon on mute.
“It’s not something I ever wish to repeat, but I’ve made my peace with what happened. I’m still here…” she trailed off, realizing that was insensitive to say to the mother of a murdered child.
“Yes, you are.” Mrs. Triton didn’t seem offended by the comment.
“Well, it was nice to see you,” Bel said. “Have a good night.”
“Detective?” the woman stopped her from leaving. “About the last time we saw each other. I wanted to apologize for my behavior.”
“It’s all right.”
“No, you don’t understand; I didn’t take anything.”
“What you are going through is—”
“I swear to you, I didn’t take anything,” Mrs. Triton repeated. “You have to believe me. I don’t know why I behaved that way.”
“Mrs. Triton.” Bel sagged. Seemed they were doing this. “I spoke to your husband. You were inconsolable… he didn’t know what to do.”
“Excuse me?” Mr. Triton pinched her eyebrows at her words.
“He implied he helped you sleep,” Bel explained.
“He gave me something? Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know if he did; he just hinted at it, and honestly? Pain and fear. That night when you kicked us out of your home… You scared everyone, and your husband couldn’t take your suffering. I wouldn’t blame him. He didn’t want you hurting yourself.”
“Oh… I haven’t been doing well since…” Mrs. Triton sagged in on herself as she trailed off. “I’m not okay. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat.”
“I lost my mom when I was a kid. I understand that kind of grief.”
“I can’t get out of bed most days… I must’ve scared him, though, if he thought he needed to do something so drastic.”
“The people who love us always suffer when we’re in pain. Lord knows I almost made my boyfriend move out of the country because his fear for my life took over his rationality. And there have been plenty of times when I struggled to get out of bed.”
“You’re clearly a very strong woman, though. How did you overcome your paralysis? How did you find the will to keep going?”
“I got a dog. A very muscular bully breed who hogs the bed but chases away the nightmare,” Bel smiled at her unexpected double meaning because she had two bully breeds, and both of them were impatiently awaiting her return home.
“You again?” Ursa stopped short when she realized who’d requested her presence at the reception desk. “Who did I allegedly kill this time?”
“I just have some questions about tattoos.” Bel shrugged. Sheriff Griffin had held a press conference that morning, the Mars standing in the same depressing spot as the Tritons had two months earlier, and Bel had wanted to crawl out of her skin to escape the shame of her failures.
Is Ondine Mar’s disappearance related to the Mermaid investigation? Do you have any suspects? Are our daughters safe?