“He gave me something? Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know if he did; he just hinted at it, and honestly? Pain and fear. That night when you kicked us out of your home… You scared everyone, and your husband couldn’t take your suffering. I wouldn’t blame him. He didn’t want you hurting yourself.”
“Oh… I haven’t been doing well since…” Mrs. Triton sagged in on herself as she trailed off. “I’m not okay. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat.”
“I lost my mom when I was a kid. I understand that kind of grief.”
“I can’t get out of bed most days… I must’ve scared him, though, if he thought he needed to do something so drastic.”
“The people who love us always suffer when we’re in pain. Lord knows I almost made my boyfriend move out of the country because his fear for my life took over his rationality. And there have been plenty of times when I struggled to get out of bed.”
“You’re clearly a very strong woman, though. How did you overcome your paralysis? How did you find the will to keep going?”
“I got a dog. A very muscular bully breed who hogs the bed but chases away the nightmare,” Bel smiled at her unexpected double meaning because she had two bully breeds, and both of them were impatiently awaiting her return home.
“You again?”Ursa stopped short when she realized who’d requested her presence at the reception desk. “Who did I allegedly kill this time?”
“I just have some questions about tattoos.” Bel shrugged. Sheriff Griffin had held a press conference that morning, the Mars standing in the same depressing spot as the Tritons had two months earlier, and Bel had wanted to crawl out of her skin to escape the shame of her failures.
Is Ondine Mar’s disappearance related to the Mermaid investigation? Do you have any suspects? Are our daughters safe?
No answer. No answer. No answer. All they had were questions, and in an act of desperation, Bel drove first to Thing-A-Ma Bob’s and then to Neptune’s Ink.
“Fine.” Ursa spun on her heels and stormed down the hall to her office.
“Have you ever seen either of these men?” Bel shut the door behind them and laid photos of Erik Prince and his father on the desk.
“They don’t look familiar.”
“What about these girls?” Bel pulled out photos of Ondine and Ariella.
“No.”
“Okay, what about any of these women?” She spread out the photos of the mermaids.
“No, again. Sorry.”
“It was a long shot.” Bel tucked the photos away. “Thing-A-Ma Bob’s hadn’t seen them either.”
“Thing-A-Ma who?” Ursa asked.
“A small tattoo shop in Bajka.”
“Oh, I’ve never heard of them. Must not be any good.” Ursa froze. “That sounded stuck-up, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Bel smirked. “But you aren’t exactly wrong. Bob admitted it himself. He makes most of his money tattooing flash sale pieces on college students, which is why I hoped he’d recognize these girls.”
“I never do cheap flash sales.” Ursa looked physically repulsed. “The girls who come to me get pieces that take hours over multiple sessions, but… I guess crappy tattoos are a rite of passage. Even I have them from when I first started. I used to practice on myself.” She twisted her wrist to show Bel a wonky seashell.
“Learning to tattoo. Is it hard?” Bel asked. “Do you need to learn in a shop from a professional, or can you figure it out at home with online tutorials?”
“You can definitely learn at home,” Ursa shoved her wrist at Bel to reiterate her point. “I bought a hundred-dollar machineonline when I was a teenager and learned on practice skin until I was good enough to try human skin… or at least I thought I was good enough. This shell is a mess. Blowouts. Scarring. Unsteady line work. I almost covered it up a few years ago, but ultimately decided not to. This shell reminds me of where I began. And this.” She lifted her skirt to show Bel a female reincarnation of Neptune inked onto her thigh. “This was my most recent. I did it on myself.”
“Oh my god.” Bel bent down to get a closer look at the masterpiece.
“Uh oh, I can see it in your eyes,” Ursa teased. “You want one now.”
“No… I don’t know,” Bel laughed. “But that’s incredible. And on yourself?”
