“Connection, yes,” Olivia finished for her. “Maren Fisher is one of the mermaid victims, and Erik went to college with her.”
“You think he’s been killing since college?” Griffin asked.
“It’s possible.” Bel shrugged. “Maybe the funeral home woke something in him.”
“Doesn’t explain the mermaid obsession, though.”
“It doesn’t explain a lot of things, but it’s the only theory we have.”
“It does explain why Ariella hid their relationship from her dad,” Griffin said. “I understand some fathers are controlling,but based on everyone’s opinion of the Tritons, I couldn’t figure out why a girl who loved her father so much would be so afraid to confess she had a boyfriend, even if he was strict. But now? Now it makes perfect sense. If I found out my nineteen-year-old was dating a man closing in on thirty, I’d be livid.”
“I think most fathers would.” Bel fought the urge to check over her shoulder for her dad. She was thirty-five, and she still shuddered at the idea of bringing home a man her father disapproved of. She’d seen his response to Eamon during the Christmas break when he’d overheard their argument. How would her chief-of-police father have reacted if any of his teenage daughters had brought home an adult boyfriend?
“We still don’t have proof these cases are connected, but the age gap could be Erik’s motive for killing Ariella,” Olivia said. “If they got into a fight, or she saw him with Ondine, maybe Ariella threatened to tell her father the truth. Or she threatened to twist things so that it looked like he groomed her or coerced her. Mr. Triton is a big guy. I can’t imagine he’d take that news well, so Erik panicked and strangled her.”
“That’s a good point,” Griffin said. “Erik’s age completely changes the narrative around their fake dating setup. Plus, in most cases, the perpetrator is the spouse or partner. Even if he isn’t connected to the murders, we need to bring him in for questioning.”
“Thank you for coming?”Bel shook Erik’s hand as she and Olivia settled across from him in the interview room.
“No problem.” Erik shrugged as if driving to the police station was an act of heroism. “Anything to help you guys with Ariella’s case.”
“This isn’t about Ariella.” Bel leaned forward. She wanted to catch even the slightest facial flinch when she went straight for the kill. “This is about Ondine. How long have you been dating your girlfriend’s best friend?”
“Dating Ondine?” Erik tripped over his words, and Bel could see the wheels in his head churning as he searched for a plausible lie.
“What? Did you fake date her for so long that you decided to kill Ariella to get her out of the way?” she asked. “One teenager wasn’t enough for you? You needed a second freshly legal girl?”
“What?” He leaned back as if he could escape the accusations. “That’s ridiculous.”
“So we didn’t see you making out with Ondine this afternoon?” Olivia asked.
“No… I…”
“You don’t remember?”
“Yes, okay. That was me, but it’s not what you think. I didn’t hurt Ariella. I loved her.”
“You would just very publicly date her best friend days after her murdered body was found,” Bel said.
“You don’t understand,” Erik said. “I missed her so much, and Ondine was the only other person who understood what I was going through. We didn’t mean for this to happen, but we knew Ariella best. Our grief brought us together.”
“What grief?” Bel asked. “We only just learned that Ariella had been killed, yet you’re already all lovey-dovey with her best friend, like you didn’t just receive the worst news. Why grieve her and move on if there was hope she was still alive… unless you knew she was dead?” She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. “Or you’re merely so callous that you heard your girlfriend had been choked to death and instantly called Ondine asking for a date.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“It’s not? So then your girlfriend went missing, and your first thought was to move in on her bestie?”
“No, that’s not what happened!” Erik slammed his palm on the desk, but instead of flinching at the suddenness, the detectives exchanged a knowing look. They were rattling him, and rattled men made mistakes.
“I agree. That isn’t what happened,” Bel said, her tone even. “I think you moved on to Ondine because you needed a young girlfriend to find your victims. You’re twenty-eight, but dating college girls gives you an excuse to infiltrate their parties. Drunk teens aren’t reliable witnesses, and between hangovers and drunken hookups, no one would notice girls going missing. College parties are the perfect hunting grounds for predators.”
“I am not a killer!” Erik stood so swiftly that his chair teetered dangerously on its rear legs. “I didn’t hurt Ariella, and Ondine is nineteen. She’s legal, so you have nothing on me. You can’t arrest me, and I came here voluntarily, so I’m leaving. This interview is over.” He stormed toward the door, ripping it open so fast that it threatened to fly off its hinges. “If you want to speak to me again, contact my lawyer.” He slammed the door behind him, the echo reverberating around the small room, and Bel met her partner’s gaze, her eyes asking the questions for her.
“That was a lot of aggression for an innocent man.” Olivia stretched her arms over her head.
“And now he’s lawyered up, so it’ll be difficult getting anything out of him without evidence.” Bel grabbed the door handle and held it open for Gold. “We need to find something concrete that either links him or someone else to Ariella and the mermaids.”
“Maybe Ondine has what we’re looking for.” Olivia gestured to Ariella’s best friend, and the detectives watched the young couple exchange a confused look as they sailed past each other.
