“I don’t think so,” Bel said. “The mermaids, the lake, the scales. Bettering his career might have been a welcomed side effect, but these deaths had a purpose. They were his ritual.”
“And we’re assuming he’s a he?” Barry asked.
“I believe so,” Bel said. “The nudity. The vulnerability and humiliation of such young women. The forced mutilation. We’re looking for a man.”
“I agree with that assessment,” Griffin chimed in.
“Are we sure these tattoos were forced?” Olivia asked. “They are massive. Mr. Stone, they would require multiple sessions to complete, right?”
“You’re correct,” Eamon said, and while he seemed unfazed by her use of his last name, the sound bothered Bel. The partners had made progress since Christmas, but it was becoming increasingly, if not upsettingly, obvious that they’d never reclaim the title of friends.
“So, if these girls required multiple sessions, they’d need to return to the artist and sit for hours. Plus, there’s a decent amount of healing time needed,” Olivia said. “I agree these weren’t done in a legitimate shop, but there’s a chance these tattoos were consensual.”
“I’m not so sure,” Bel argued. “Ariella Triton is Bajka’s only missing female, but if these were consensual tattoos, it would’ve taken weeks, meaning the people in these girls’ lives would’veseen the ink. It would’ve drawn attention, and the police always ask about tattoos and distinguishing marks when missing persons reports are filed. Our killer wouldn’t have wanted his work publicized.”
“You think these women were tattooed against their will?” Barry asked.
“Yes,” Bel and Eamon answered together, earning him a glare from Olivia.
“I could be wrong,” Bel continued, “but everything about this scene is specific and expertly designed. Clients often start tattoos and never finish them, and not everyone books their sessions regularly. He controlled every aspect of these mermaids’ deaths; I mean, look at where we found the bodies.” She gestured behind them to the dark waters. “This area is restricted, yet he discovered a safe way through the rocks and located a bare section large enough for his floating graveyard. This isn’t a man who leaves things to chance, and hoping women will voluntarily return for such a massive undertaking is risky. He would’ve made sure these girls remained to finish their scales, and he would’ve made sure no one knew about them. These girls didn’t come to him. He took them.”
The group fell silent, offering the mermaids their horrified respect for what they must have endured in the days leading to their deaths.
“There are no signs of struggle present on the bodies,” Lina finally said. “So if he’d kidnapped them, he either drugged them or tattooed them under duress. How long would he have needed to complete the designs?” She directed her question to Eamon.
“Depends on skill and how heavy-handed he was,” he answered. “The early mermaids? Weeks maybe. I noticed scarring among the many mistakes, meaning he probably beat up the skin, and you can’t tattoo the same area again until it heals. He could’ve continued down the legs, even if the previoussections were raw, but it would’ve been excruciating. Any touch-ups or detailing couldn’t have been added until the skin healed. He also wouldn’t have killed them until the tattoos were fully healed as well.”
“Why’s that?” Barry asked.
“You can’t go swimming or take a bath after a tattoo,” Eamon explained. “Exterior skin heals in about two weeks, but full healing can take months. If you submerge the area immediately afterwards, you’ll get an infection. Depending on how quickly he killed them after completion, that might not be an issue, but an open wound could still gather bacteria and cause rotting. To preserve his mermaids, he probably took weeks to finish the tattoos and then let them heal for at least a month, if not more, before killing them. All this effort just to sink them and never see his work again…” Eamon met Bel’s gaze, and her stomach clenched at the darkness swirling in his black irises. She wasn’t going to like the next words to leave his mouth.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t kill them right away. I would keep them,” he continued. “You don’t spend this much time, effort, and money to perfect this art and display it on the most beautiful young women, and then forget they exist. I think he kept them. I think he enjoyed watching his mermaids until the imperfect tattoos drove him to dispose of his mistakes and try again over and over until he created his masterpiece.”
“Good god.” Griffin walked away from where the group had gathered around one such flawlessly designed mermaid and hovered in the darkness until he collected himself enough to return. “It’s no surprise that we’re dealing with a terrifying individual.” He gestured at the glass as he returned to the fold. “But keeping them like this. Sometimes, I hate this job.”
“Me too,” Lina whispered.
“Is this why we haven’t found Ariella Triton?” Olivia asked. “Is she still being tattooed?”
“God, I hope not,” Bel whispered, and it didn’t surprise her that both Griffin and Barry spoke those same four words with her.
“Good, we’re all here.”Lina smiled as Bel rushed through the morgue doors. She hadn’t meant to oversleep, but after hours of dragging glass-entombed women over the sand in the July heat, every inch of her body ached, and she’d slept like the dead, barely staying awake long enough to shower the film of sweat from her skin before she climbed into bed.
“Sorry I’m late.” Bel rushed through the hall to prep for the exam, doing a double-take at the unusual participant draped in protective gear waiting for her.
“We only beat you by a few minutes,” Agent Barry said.
“We’re all slow after last night,” Lina said. “Take your time getting ready. We’ll meet you inside.”
“Thanks, I’ll be quick.” Bel secured her valuables and donned the protective suit before slipping on a mask and gloves as she settled beside Olivia in the exam room.
“It looks so much worse under these lights,” Barry said from his position behind the detectives. “On the beach, these mermaids were morbidly beautiful, but here?”
“It reminds you just how heinous the human race is,” Lina said.
“Girls preserved perfectly in glass.” He shook his head. “I feel like I’ve seen this before.” His gaze found Bel’s.
“Blaubart,” she confirmed. “I thought the same thing yesterday. I was going to ask if we could compare this liquid to what Blaubart used in his tanks.”
