“You’re telling me. I already know your dad is going to lose it at the office today. You know how much he hates those tabloids.”
“I’m going to take a shower. Don’t leave without me. I’m heading into the police station with you today.”
Cherri nodded. “Okay. Hey, I like your necklace!” she hollered after me. I touched the tooth around my neck.At least I still have this.
I wentwith Cherri to work, my skates tied and draped over my shoulder, dressed casually whereas she looked amazing in her business attire. We approached her desk, noticing a new stack of papers.
“For fuck’s sake. Where is Deputy Danielson?” she drawled, rushing to get started. “Your dad should be in his office.” She rushed to begin organizing the chaotic mess.
I knocked on the cracked door to my father’s office. “Come in.”
I stepped inside, watching as my dad looked up at me. He looked as though he’d just spent the night here, working. Boxes upon boxes of files, photographs, and police reports remained scattered around his desk office, much like the dining room at home.
“What do you want, Delilah?” he grumbled, returning his eyes to whatever he was examining.
“I just wanted to check in, see how you were doing.”
“You saw the article,” he stated, seeing straight through my bullshit. I nodded. “Look, I got officers scouring the town, hanging flyers, making calls, doing all the things to catch this Angel of Death.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. “And as for this killer shark, well, the fishermen are preparing to hunt it down as we speak. Dale was right. We had the wrong shark, and no one knows where the fuck Danielson is!”
“You’re letting them hunt it?” I asked, worried for Reef.
“How else do you propose we stop it?” he snapped. “Look, I appreciate you checking on me, but I’ve got to focus on work.” Nothing new.
I nodded, taking the hint and leaving his office.I need to warn Reef. I changed into my skates, waving goodbye to Cherri as I exited the police station.
I skated towards the beach, as I neared the sand dunes, someone yanked me back, dragging me towards the dock. “Let go of me!” I screamed, kicking my skates.
“Shut up!”
I stopped fighting, glancing up to see him pulling me along the wooded pier. “Dale?” He didn’t speak, only dragged me further onto the pier toward his boat while I tried to fight himoff, his hand tightly wrapped in my hair as he pulled me along. “Let go!”
As we stood feet away from the boat, Dale turned to look at me, forcing me to my feet as he squeezed my arms tight. He pushed me back as I fell, my body landing on the deck with a loud thud, groaning in agony as I glanced around, disoriented. A rank, rotting smell filled my nostrils, making me sick to my stomach as I lifted my head, peering through my hair to see a dead shark lying upside down across from me. Its stomach was sliced open, the creature’s guts, blood, partially digested fish spewing out from inside it, staining the wooden deck.
I shrieked, scrambling as I crawled back, running into Dale’s legs. As I looked up at him, he grabbed the back of my head, forcing me to my feet. “You see that?” He pointed to the mutilated carcass. “I told them they had the wrong shark. I told them! But no, it took a fucking newspaper article to make them believe me when I had the proof here, all this time!”
“You were right,” I stated, trying to calm him. “You were right, Dale.” I swallowed, fearful of him, his eyes crazed and bloodshot. “Tell you what, why don’t you let me go? Let me go, and I can tell my dad what I saw, explain how you were right this whole time. How does that sound?”
He stared at me, a sinister smile creeping from the corners of his mouth, wrinkling his sun damaged skin. “I’m not an idiot, Delilah.” He tossed me back, my body slamming into the contents of the dead shark’s stomach. I crawled away, fighting back the urge to vomit. Dale kicked from the dock, the ropes of the pier sliding into the water. “Besides, I could use an extra set of hands where we’re going.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, scared to hear his answer.
Dale rushed to the front of his boat, starting the engine as it idled and began to drift away from the beach. “We’re going to find ourselves a shark.”
NINE
DELILAH
Hours had passed,seagulls soaring in the sky above as the evening quickly approached, the sun setting just over the horizon, casting a spread of warm colors as far as the eye could see. Dale killed the engine, dropping an old anchor into the dark water.
My throat burned from dehydration, the thick saltiness in the air stinging the lining of my esophagus. The fresh bruise on my face ached, adding to my overwhelmingly sore and exhausted body. I looked around, desperately trying to find a way to escape, but we were miles away from the shore and it was starting to get dark. It was hopeless.
Dale strained, dragging two heavy buckets of something to the edge of the boat, popping the lids to unveil the raunchiest, grossest smelling shit. “What the hell is that?” I asked, covering my mouth. He shuffled towards me, grabbing me by my skates. I tried to resist him, but he pulled my leg, dragging me across the deck, untying my skates. He threw them aside, noticing my necklace and pointing to it.
“Take that off,” he demanded.
My fingers traced Reef’s tooth, and I shook my head. “No.”
He reached his hand out, yanking the necklace from my body, examining it closely. “That's a pretty good size shark tooth. Where’d you get it?” I kept my mouth shut, glaring at him. He stuffed the necklace in his pocket and snatched my arm. “This,” he forced a plastic container into my palm, “is how you’re going to help me hunt a shark.” He moved my hand, carrying it through the motions as he used me to scoop the contents and toss them into the water, chunks of fish and blood rocking with the boat against the waves. “Best way to catch a shark is by chumming the water. You’re going to bait the water, emptying every last drop of chum from these buckets, until that shark comes to us, and then I’m going to kill it myself.”
