A Watery Death (A Missing Pieces Mystery Book 7) (18 page)

“It’s really me, Horace. Our granddaughter brought me back.”

She ran to him and hugged him, scattering kisses on his face like raindrops during a storm. They were so close that nothing could have come between them.

He put his hands on her shoulders and touched her arms. “I don’t understand. How could this happen? It’s been so long. I never thought I’d see you again.”

Their lips met and clung. They were both crying as they touched each other’s faces and spoke their names in sweet whispers.

Mary Catherine and I were both crying too. I hugged her as we stood together watching this miracle happen.

“This can’t happen,” Mary Catherine said as she wiped her eyes. “It’s against the laws of nature.”

“She’s right here. I think the laws of nature may be a little bent in Duck, just not broken.”

She shook her head and slowly walked outside. Baylor followed at her feet.

Treasure peeked out of his bag, wondering what was happening and why we hadn’t left.

“Let’s sit down a minute,” Gramps said. “A lot has happened while you were gone.”

“I’m a little up to date, thanks to Dae’s regular visits.” She took his hand. “I know Jean is gone.”

“Yes.” He swallowed hard. “It was a hard time to get through.”

I could see I was unnecessary at that moment. “I’m going to Missing Pieces to get the coral horn Chief O’Donnell wants to see. Maybe you could drop Grandma Eleanore off at the shop when you go back to work.”

“Don’t leave,” she said. “Stay a while.”

“You two have things to say that you don’t need an audience for. I’ll see you soon.” I hugged her hard before I left. “I love you. We won’t be apart for long. I have a million things I want to talk to you about.”

I picked up my bag and went out to the golf cart. Mary Catherine was waiting there.

“You must’ve guessed that I’m on my way to Missing Pieces.” I stowed my cat bag behind me. Treasure stared at Baylor sitting on the seat above him, but didn’t come out.

“Yes. Do you mind if I ride along?”

“No. Not at all.” I wiped my eyes one last time and sniffed. “I had no idea this was going to happen, especially not this way. I didn’t know what to expect.”

Her green eyes were focused on me as I backed the golf cart down the drive to Duck Road.

“Whatever you did, Dae, I don’t know if it can stand. All my instincts tell me this is wrong.”

“You too?” I shook my head. “Kevin pretty much said the same thing. You know, she wasn’t dead. Our gift allows us to go back in time when we touch something. I didn’t know that until recently, even though I was doing it. I didn’t resurrect her. I just kind of wished her home.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but when did the laws of time become mutable? When you go back to visit a time and place where an object you’re investigating came from, you don’t stay, and you don’t bring anything or anyone back with you. You’re only there a short while, and then you come back.”

“That’s different. Grandma Eleanore wasn’t from the time she got trapped in.”

“She’s not from this time either, Dae. She’s been gone for forty years.”

I didn’t want to hear anything bad about Grandma Eleanore being back. It was a blessing, a miracle. Why couldn’t she see that?

“You know, our relationship won’t change. And you’re still welcome to stay at the house. You don’t have to worry about not being part of our lives. It won’t be that way.”

We were at the Duck Shoppes, parked as close to the loading ramp as I could get. I could have driven the golf cart right up to Missing Pieces, but people frowned on driving across the boardwalk.

Mary Catherine smiled and hugged me. “I’m sure it will be all right, Dae. Do you want some help taking these things to your shop?”

I let her help me take some stuff. Even with our two loads, I was going to have to make another trip. The old clocks were heavy. We talked the whole way to the shop.

“Are we seriously thinking that the seafolk murdered Captain Lucky?” she asked.

“No. I don’t think Gramps or Sheriff Riley want to think that at all.” I laughed. “That would mean admitting that there are seafolk. Neither one of them want to do that.”

“What about you?” she asked as I opened the shop door. “Do you think Lilly or Tovi murdered him?”

“I don’t think so. There are a few human suspects.” I told her about Cathi, Manfred, and whoever Tovi was in love with. “It makes more sense for a human to have killed him, Mary Catherine. But I don’t know which one. Kevin and Tess want to trap one of the seafolk.”

“That can’t be allowed to happen. What is Kevin thinking?”

“He wants to prove they exist. I think he’s still in shock because I proved it to him. I hope he comes to his senses. Tess just wants to know what makes them tick. She’s searched for them her whole life.”

She put down the two clocks she was holding. “I understand that. But if you need help to keep it from happening, Dae, tell me. We both know what it would be like if this was proven to the entire world.”

“Yes. We’re on the same page with that.” I hugged her again and thanked her for her help. “And don’t worry about Grandma Eleanore. Everything will be fine. Things have gone back to the way they should be.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” She glanced at the floor. “Come on, Baylor. Let’s not stand around all day.”

Her feelings were hurt. I knew it would be hard on her to have my grandmother back. She and Gramps had such a good relationship. That was over now. I had to find a way to make sure she knew she would still be part of our lives.

I’d managed to bring Treasure up with me. He crawled out of his cat bag as soon as Baylor was gone. I quickly closed the front door—or at least tried to—closing it instead on Mrs. Euly Stanley.

“I’m so sorry.” I opened it quickly. “I hope you’re not hurt.”

Mrs. Stanley looked fragile and old, but she was tough. She brushed off her green dress and straightened the cute straw hat she was wearing on her white hair.

“Don’t fuss, Dae. I’m fine. I hoped I’d find you here. I heard you were researching mermaids at the museum as the news broke that we have two of them with us right now.”

“That’s true. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“I’d rather have a small glass of Jack Daniels, but I doubt you have it, so tea will suffice. Thank you.”

We sat down together on the burgundy brocade sofa, and I remembered her diamond ring that I’d found. I gave it to her, and she sniffed.

“Where in the world did you find this?” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I thought it was lost forever. But that’s what you do, isn’t it? A finder of lost things. Just like Eleanore and her grandmother before her. Thank you, Dae. I will treasure it. This ring brings back so many good memories of my husband, David. He’s been gone so long.”

Treasure meowed when he thought he’d heard his name, but darted under my chair to stare at our guest.

“What can I do for you, Mrs. Stanley?”

“I’m here about the seafolk, Dae. I have a story to tell you.”

Chapter Eighteen

I had never thought of Mrs. Stanley as the storytelling sort. She tended to be a little sharp around the edges, impatient, and just not the type to share life tales.

Maybe it was because I’d found her engagement ring. Maybe it was the warm weather. Whatever it was, she sat back against the sofa, her eyes becoming misty with the past.

“It was my sixteenth summer. I was disappointed because my mother wouldn’t allow me to go with my friend, Stephanie, to a week-long college orientation at Eastern Carolina College. She said my friends were rowdy and there weren’t enough adult chaperones. I was furious with her and spent most of that week at the beach by myself.”

I sipped my tea and tried to imagine her as a wild teenager. My imagination wasn’t that good.

“I got up very early each morning and slipped out. I stayed out past my curfew. I dared my mother to say anything after she had treated me so unfairly. My mother, being a wise and sensitive woman, said nothing. So I found myself at the beach one evening as it was getting dark. I was staring at the horizon when I saw a man come out of the water.”

Treasure butted his head against me for attention, and I scratched behind his ears.

“It seemed as though he was floating in with the waves until he reached the shore and got up on his feet.” She giggled and put her hand over her mouth. “He was completely naked. Can you imagine?”

“Well—”

“Of course nowadays it’s nothing. But back then, people were appropriately clothed at all times.” She smiled and returned to her reminiscing. “It was the first time I had ever seen a naked body besides my own. Even then, I was careful not to look in the mirror as I got out of the tub. No good can ever come from that.”

It was my turn to hide my smile.

“But there he was—tall, handsome and very well-endowed—though I didn’t know it at the time. He walked right over to me. I couldn’t move. I was beyond amazement seeing him there. He started talking and asked me my name. He said he lived in the water, but sometimes he came to the land and could walk around on legs until sunrise the next day.”

So Mrs. Euly Stanley had seen a merman. That was something I hadn’t considered.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Oh we met there every evening after that until the end of summer vacation. We talked—he told the most amazing stories. His eyes moved, as though there was water inside them, ebbing and flowing like the tide. They changed color as he moved. I’ve never seen anything like it again. I told him about myself. We talked about my life. I was sure I was in love with him, and he professed his love for me.”

I sat on the edge of the seat, last sip of tea forgotten.

“But he told me humans weren’t allowed to be with his kind. I would have to drown and come back to be with him.” She sighed. “Even then I was too practical to believe such a thing was possible. I told him no thanks and asked if there was any way he could become a human and we could be married. He said that couldn’t happen and that he had already been human once a hundred years before.”

“So you had to let him go.”

“Yes. Sometimes I still dream about him. I wonder now if I could find him if he’d still like to be with me. I might consider his proposal.”

“But you shared a kiss?” I asked with a smile.

“Good heavens no! Stephanie had known a girl who got pregnant from kissing her boyfriend. I wouldn’t let that happen, although we did hug a bit.”

I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, marveling that she had chosen to share that story with me.

Finally she continued. “But that is why the seafolk must be left alone to live their lives around us. We can’t allow one of them to be captured, or the entire race could be destroyed. I don’t want to think about my merman being experimented on.”

“I understand. I feel the same way.”

She got slowly to her feet. “I’d wager that handsome Captain Lucky was messing around with something he shouldn’t have been, and that’s what killed him, not a merman. Good morning to you. Please say hello to your grandfather and tell him that we appreciate him taking Chief Michaels’s job during this time.”

“Thank you. I will.”

It was hard for me to believe that the stalwart, very proper, respectful Mrs. Euly Stanley had once hugged a merman! That was a story that should be in the archives, though I doubted it ever would be.

I hurried back down to the golf cart to retrieve the last of my items and came back to Missing Pieces. For a long time, I stood next to the rail on the boardwalk and looked out over the Currituck Sound.

It was fascinating to think about the seafolk out there living in the water. I was glad to hear that Mrs. Stanley was a believer too. I knew there couldn’t be many of us without causing problems for them, but I was glad I was one of those who knew the truth.

The next hour passed quickly as I shined up the clocks and carefully set everything I’d brought in my best sales locations. There was an old necklace that I’d brought with me—just made of string and blue glass beads. But every time I looked at it, I had the urge to hold it and see exactly who it had belonged to. It kept calling to me, my eyes straying to it as I moved around the shop.

I was about to indulge my curiosity when Gramps and Grandma Eleanore walked in.

“Could I see you outside here for a minute, Dae?” Gramps asked.

“Sure.” I smiled at Grandma Eleanore. “I’ll be right back. Take a look around. I’ll give you a good deal on anything you like.”

She laughed. Gramps and I went out on the boardwalk.

“What’s up?” I asked him.

“I don’t know if this occurred to you, but your grandmother is legally dead.” He stared out over the water. “I had to do something when she didn’t come back. Everyone thought she took the boat out and fell overboard. After ten years, she was declared dead.”

“I guess. I didn’t think about legal complications.”

“We can say she found her way home, I suppose, but she looks exactly as she did the day she disappeared. I’ve aged, and the people who knew her have aged too. Some of her friends may recognize her.”

“Well—there’s no accounting for the benefits of good skin and genes, right?”

He smiled at me. “I’m so blown away by this, honey. I can hardly think. But I have to go to work. Stay with her. Don’t let her wander off by herself. We don’t know yet how this will affect her.”

“I guess I’ll just introduce her as my grandmother and let the chips fall where they may.” I shrugged. “I’ll have her with me all day. Do you still want the coral horn that Captain Lucky left with me?”

“Yes. Sorry. I know you don’t think it could have anything to do with his death, but we can’t take that chance. I’ll make sure it’s returned to you.”

We went back inside, and I got the horn.

“This is it?” he asked as I handed it to him.

“I told you. Captain Lucky said it can call the seafolk. It makes a strange sound when you blow into it.”

“I’ll make sure no one does that. We don’t need any more mermaid stories.” He smiled at Grandma Eleanore. “I’m going to leave you with Dae, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.”

They kissed, and I smiled. This was the way it was supposed to be. Mary Catherine was wrong about the natural order of things.