Chapter 17 #2
“What can I get you?” the teenager at the outdoor counter interrupted.
“Um…” Bel reoriented her brain. “I’ll have two scoops of coffee ice cream. No toppings or cone. Thank you.”
“And for you, sir?” The teen glanced in Eamon’s general direction, the after-dinner rush preventing her from fully acknowledging him, and Bel wondered if his power had something to do with her avoidance.
He’d lived in Bajka for a year now and was still widely referred to as the recluse who purchased the crumbling Reale Estate.
“Two scoops of chocolate peanut butter on a cone, and a half a scoop of vanilla in a cup, please.”
“We don’t do half scoops,” the girl said.
“Just charge me for a full one and give me a half,” Eamon said. “The kid is too small for a whole scoop.”
The girl looked up and, upon seeing no child, opened her mouth to question Eamon when Cerberus jumped up in excitement, politely resting his paws on the counter so that she could look him in the eyes.
“Ohhhh…” the girl laughed. “Cute kid. Does he like peanuts?”
“What dog doesn’t?” Bel answered.
“I’ll throw some on for him.” The teen took the cash and generous tip from Eamon and then fulfilled their order.
“Here you go, buddy,” she crooned as she offered the tap dancing pitbull his sweet treat.
“Good boy.” She patted him on the head, and Bel realized Cerberus probably played a large part in Eamon’s mystery.
People weren’t looking at him when he borrowed her dog.
“Thanks so much.” Bel smiled at the girl before taking a generous lick of her coffee ice cream, but an all-too-familiar voice, accompanied by a girlish giggle, cut her enjoyment short.
“Oh my god.” Bel grabbed Eamon and dragged him to the rear of the crowd so that Erik Prince and his pretty companion didn’t spot them. “Does he ever quit?”
“The girl is only offering her condolences for Ondine’s disappearance,” Eamon said, his hearing picking up the words hers couldn’t.
“With a giggle like that? She’s gunning for missing girlfriend number three, and him?” She shoved an irate finger at Erik Prince. “Always with the young girls. Leave the babies alone.”
“Now he’s thanking her for her sympathy and excessively complimenting her for caring.”
“You mean flirting?”
“Is it public knowledge that he’s a person of interest in your investigation?” Eamon asked. “Teenagers can be dumb, but publicly flirting with a murder suspect?”
“I’m getting ice cream with the inspiration for Dracula. I’m not much smarter.”
“You are because if Erik is guilty, his M.O. is to kill his dates. I, on the other hand, would slaughter everyone else to save mine.” He leaned forward and kissed her scars and then finally put the vanilla half-scoop with peanuts on the sidewalk for the anxious Cerberus.
“What if you helped me with this case?” Bel asked.
“I already have.” He quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Not like that.” She nodded at where Erik was making a fool of himself with the college student whose revealing top was three sizes too small for her.
“I can’t shake the feeling that the Princes are involved, but we can’t get a warrant to investigate them fully.
I can’t uncover evidence without one, but you could? ”
“You want me to break the law and find dirt on them?”
“You’ve never had any qualms about getting your hands dirty before.”
“But my involvement could do more harm than good,” he said. “You won’t have any legal grounds to use what I find.”
“We’re smart,” Bel said. “We could figure it out.”
“I have no doubt, but is that really what you want? Performing above the law to save your life is one thing. This is different. You’ll have to account for my involvement legally in the chain of custody. How will you explain how you found the evidence?”
“I don’t know.” She clenched her eyes at the brain freeze.
“I would do anything for you. You know that. Just make sure you’re willing to go down that route. Griffin doesn’t mind my shoving my nose in here and there when he can label it a consultation, but he wouldn’t overlook this. I’d have to cross a lot of legal lines.”
“I know. I shouldn’t have asked. I just hate that they’re getting away with it… that they might be preparing to get away with it again.” She gestured to the flirting girl saying her goodbyes to Erik.
“Let’s exhaust all legal avenues first.” Eamon threw out Cerberus’ long empty cup, and then, taking Bel’s hand, led them down the charming main street.
“You seem pretty convinced the aquarium is involved, and the killer had some embalming experience. What about the animal caretakers? Fish and mammals die in aquariums. Some are donated to science, some are disposed of, and some are turned into skeletons for exhibits. I’m sure that the handlers deal with plenty of dead animals. ”
“That’s a great idea.” Bel slid her hand out of his, opting to link their arms together so she could eat. “I hadn’t considered that our killer’s knowledge of body preservation might have come from fish.”
“Hey.” Bel knocked on Griffin’s office door first thing the next morning. “Where’s Olivia?”
“Mrs. Hubbard called,” he answered.
“What is it this time?” She leaned against the doorframe with a smirk.
“I don’t know,” Griffin shook his head. “She wanted company?”
“We already knew that,” Bel laughed. Old Lady Hubbard was a harmless woman who thought every minor and often self-inflicted inconvenience was 911-worthy, so the entire police department was well acquainted with her.
Most stations would ignore her requests for an officer, but the Bajka officers took turns checking in on her.
She might be overly paranoid, but she was a lovely person who always had a story, a cup of tea, and a sweet treat to offer.
Mrs. Hubbard was the one 911 call they wanted to receive.
“All right, I guess I’ll visit the aquarium by myself then,” Bel told her boss Eamon’s idea about how the caretakers disposing of the dead fish and mammals might be the key to their embalming questions.
“Keep me posted,” Griffin said. “But before you head out that way, can you stop by the Triton’s? The missus called. She wants to talk to you.”
“Any idea what about?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Okay. I’ll call when I finish with her.”
“Thanks, Emerson.”
Bel gathered her things and drove to the secluded family home, texting Olivia an update before she knocked on the front door.
“Detective, thank you for coming.” Mrs. Triton ushered her into the kitchen, and Bel couldn’t stop herself from scanning what seemed to be an empty house. Her hostess was nervous.
“I made a fresh pot of coffee,” Mrs. Triton said. “Would you like some?”
“Yes, please.” Bel stopped before the kitchen table, opting not to sit in favor of keeping the exits in her line of sight. “So, what can I help you with?”
“I wasn’t sure I should mention it.” The woman placed the mugs, milk, and sugar onto the table. “It feels ridiculous in light of everything, but it’s been nagging at me ever since we ran into each other at the grocery store. I can’t get it out of my head.”
“Okay.” Bel finally took a seat.
“It’s probably nothing.”
“Well, tell me, and we’ll decide that together.” Bel leaned forward, interest officially piqued.
“It’s about the day you and your partner stopped by,” the woman started.
“The grogginess, the memory loss… that wasn’t the first time that’s happened.
I’ve experienced it before, but that day was the worst. I think it’s because your visit woke me up rather than letting me wake naturally.
I’ve always assumed I just had a weird relationship with sleep since it happens periodically, but then I saw you at the grocery store…
” Mrs. Triton fiddled with her coffee cup.
“You said my husband implied he’d given me something to relax, that I’d been so inconsolable that I needed help, and you were right.
I needed an intervention. I wasn’t sleeping.
I was screaming and raging and crying. My husband did the right thing.
.. or I would believe that if this had been my first experience, but I don’t think it was.
” She met Bel’s gaze with a plea in her eyes.
“I’ve felt this high before. I didn’t know what it was, but this isn’t the first time I’ve woken with memory issues. ”
“I don’t want to put words in your mouth,” Bel said. “So what exactly are you trying to tell me?”
“My husband has been drugging me.” Mrs. Triton shoved to her feet.
“I haven’t been able to get that thought out of my mind.
I love him. I really do. And I trust him with my life, but the grogginess.
It isn’t normal. Deep down, I’ve always known that, and if he was slipping me something, he probably had a good reason, but why didn’t he tell me?
Why hide this? So when he left for work yesterday, I searched the house. Come with me.”
Mrs. Triton led Bel upstairs to her bedroom, where a solitary pill bottle sat on the shining wood of the vintage dresser.
“I wasn’t going to look. I wasn’t, but I reasoned it wouldn’t hurt to take a peek.
I didn’t find anything at first, and I told myself I’d satisfied my curiosity.
There was nothing here, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I kept looking until a casual search turned into a manic rush…
and that’s when I found this.” She plucked the bottle of Ambien from its resting spot as if it were scalding coals and shoved it into Bel’s hand.
“It’s a prescription with my name on it… only this isn’t mine.”
“Is there a chance you were prescribed this and forgot or didn’t fill the script, so your husband filled it for you?
” Bel accepted the bottle from the woman, and to her untrained medical eye, it looked legitimate despite it being a high dose.
“Were you ever in the hospital, and your husband had to act as your power of attorney?”
“No… I can’t imagine any reason he’d have this prescription in my name.”