“Probably, but maybe not,” Eamon said, and Bel quirked her eyebrows in a question. “These deaths take extraordinary patience and premeditation, but if Ariella wasn’t his target, he could’ve disposed of her the only way he knew how. Did you notice the girls’ hair color? Brunettes only. A redhead would ruin the aesthetic.”
“A college party,” Bel said, the wheels in her head picking up speed. “It’s the perfect hunting ground for mermaids until the wrong witness catches you.”
“It’s worth looking into,” Eamon said. “Ariella might have seen something she shouldn’t have, but because she wasn’t his target, he used chicken wire to dispose of her quickly.”
“Poor girl. She didn’t deserve that. None of those girls did.” Bel stared down at her hands, realizing they were shaking seconds before Eamon did, and he closed his broad fists around her fingers to steady them. She’d begged for this holiday to be spared, for death to pass them by. She’d been worried about one victim, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears, the universe sending them her worst nightmare tenfold.
“Ariella is the only young female missing person’s we have in Bajka, so whoever those mermaids are, they’re from out of town,” Bel finally continued. “If Ariella is down there, it makes sense that she was a hasty chicken wire job since she’s an anomaly in the M.O. We won’t be able to confirm anything until the autopsies, though, but I hope she isn’t down there. It’s bad enough we have to notify so many parents. I don’t want to face the Tritons after I failed to bring their daughter home.”
“The divers are here.”Griffin leaned into the tent where Bel and Olivia waited with the FBI agents escaping the heat. After delivering Laura and her reckless friends to the safety of the celebrating shore, Bel had derailed the department’s party with the news that mermaids swam these waters. Without trained divers, they were helpless to pull the women from the lake, so they’d established a perimeter while Bel called the only FBI agent she kept on speed dial. Agent Jameson Barry had promised her aid and his expertise, but the holiday delayed his presence until the following afternoon. Mermaids had swum in these depths for years, though, if Bel’s guess was accurate. One more night wouldn’t change their fate, so the Bajka Police made peace with their helplessness and resolved to wait for the proverbial cavalry.
“Detective Emerson.” Barry smiled as he forewent protocol and hugged her. He’d been the first familiar face she’d seen after surviving the trek down the frozen mountain with a crazed surgeon’s wife in tow, and while he wasn’t a friend, they’d crossed the boundary of mere colleagues. “It’s good to see you. I just wish it were under better circumstances.”
“Thanks for coming.” Bel lingered in his embrace, not caring how unprofessional they appeared.
“It must be bad if the great Isobel Emerson is calling for help,” Barry said as he released her.
“I don’t know how to describe it. It’s something you’ll have to see to truly understand.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You’ll like the look of it even less.”
“You said multiple women are down there?”
Bel nodded.
“You’re right. I won’t like the look of it.” Barry adjusted his suit, sweat already beading on his forehead. “We’ll handle the water and the extractions while your people work the shore. Have you searched the surrounding area?”
“No, not yet,” Griffin chimed in. “There’s one dirt road that leads to this section of the park, but we didn’t notice anything coming in. Our concern was securing the scene, though. The main beach was packed yesterday because of the holiday, so curious onlookers kept trying to breach our police tape.”
“I saw the news crews when we arrived,” Barry said. “The public’s attention will worsen now that we’re here.”
“Just what we need,” Griffin moaned. “More publicity.”
“Better than a killer left unchecked,” Barry said. “The lake will make it impossible to pinpoint time of death for the skeletal remains, but the preserved bodies? Were any of them fresh? Are we looking at an active killer or someone whose art outlasted his existence?”
“I wasn’t wearing goggles when I found them, but the glass sculptures appeared clear,” Bel said. “I doubt our killer dumped the bodies at the same time, so my guess is he cleans them when he sinks another girl.”
“Which means we’re most likely dealing with an active killer, and with all the news coverage, he knows we’ve found hismermaids.” Barry ran a hand through his hair before tugging at the neckline of his dress shirt. “He’ll take care to erase anything that links him to this lake.”
“But he loves his mermaids,” Bel said. “You’ll see when you get down there. It’s beautiful in its depravity. The level of detail? These girls are an obsession of his. He may destroy the evidence, but something here ties them to him—something he can’t undo. He loves them too much to sever his connection completely, so we just need to find the link. I don’t expect him to run. Jax Frost didn’t when we found his Matchstick Girls, and I doubt this killer will leave his mermaids behind.”
“Most criminals are relatively stupid, which makes catching them easy,” Barry said. “But the smart ones? The ones that could fool us all. They get too emotionally attached. They don’t know when to let go. Let’s pray our mermaid maker doesn’t have the willpower to walk away… All right, everyone, listen up!” He raised his voice as he took control of the scene, his authority easing some of the tension constricting Bel’s chest. She trusted Barry, and after the past year, she relished the idea of someone else taking charge, of making the tough decisions so she didn’t have to.
“It’s going to take my guys time to pull the bodies from the water,” Barry said after he’d delivered his orders. “Can your officers conduct a perimeter sweep in the meantime?” He directed his question to Griffin. “I was told that people rarely travel this way due to the rocks, so maybe our killer got cocky and left supplies in the vicinity.”
“He would’ve needed a boat to sink the mermaids,” the sheriff said. “Drivers might question why someone was driving toward a restricted area with a boat in tow.”
“You think he hid his here to avoid that?” Barry asked.
“It’s what I would do.”
“I hope you’re right. We’ll touch base in a bit.” Barry clapped Bel softly on the back.
“There’s a maintenance shed somewhere near here,” Griffin said when the FBI agent left their huddle. “As part of the state park, the lake has multiple sheds, but I doubt this one saw much use. It’s worth checking out, though.”
“Even if it weren’t used often, the killer wouldn’t have any guarantee it would remain empty,” Bel said. “Do you really think he’d risk using it?”
