Dark Currents (22 page)

I grabbed a couple of paper towels in the bathroom and rummaged in the departmental fridge for a can of 7UP.

“Are you getting anywhere?” Cody asked me impatiently. “Is Mollenkamp showing any signs of cracking?”

“Yep.”

He sighed. “God, I wish we had a one-way mirror!”

In the conference room, I passed Matthew Mollenkamp the paper towels and the can of soda. He wiped his mouth, then rolled the cold 7UP can over his temples before cracking it open and drinking thirstily.

“Feel better?” Chief Bryant asked solicitously.

“Yeah.” Mollenkamp set down the can. “Thanks.”

“Ready to tell us what you know, son?” the chief inquired.

Now that he was refreshed and restored, his expression turned defensive. “About what? Thad’s death? I keep telling you, I wasn’t there!”

The chief gave me a slight nod.

I leaned forward in my seat. “So tell me, Matt. How do you feel about rape charges?”

He blanched. “You can’t—”

“Why?” I asked steadily. “Because she wasn’t human? Because she was a mythological creature without a birth certificate? Because she has no legal rights? But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist, does it? How did it feel? How did it make
you
feel? Like a god? King of the world? Like a true son of Triton, a Master of the Universe?”

“Don’t—”

Righteous anger stirred in me. “Don’t what? Tell the truth? Tell me, Matt: How
did
it make you feel? We’re not talking about a naiad. We’re talking about a mermaid, aren’t we? Don’t lie to me; I know she’s out there. Thad drowned in
salt water
, Matt.” As my wrath rose, the air pressure in the conference room intensified, smelling of ozone. Seven Deadlies be damned; I could
use
this. Stefan had once told me that in and of itself, passion was no sin. It was deeds that mattered, and this was a deed worth doing. I felt the pressure building against my eardrums and the insistent pulse of my blood beating against them. Chief Bryant grimaced and Matthew Mollenkamp winced, drawing his shoulders in tight, his hands gripping his opposite elbows. I stared at him, keeping my anger intent, focused, and under control. “Go on—tell me! I’m curious. Did you know she was unwilling? A captive? Did she struggle? Did that make it good for you? Did that make it
better
for you?”

“No!”
he shouted. “Jesus, what’s
wrong
with you?”

Trusting my own instincts this time, I didn’t answer, letting my anger drain away. The chief remained silent.

That day, I learned that it’s never pretty to watch someone break down entirely. Matthew Mollenkamp began to shiver, breathing fast and shallow, sweat dampening his hair. He picked up the soda can, but his hand was shaking so badly he had to set it back down. He closed his eyes and began murmuring under his breath, rocking back and forth in his chair.

It took me a moment to recognize the words to the Lord’s Prayer.

The chief let him finish. “All right, son,” he said in a gentle voice. “How did you get drawn into this mess?”

Mollenkamp’s lips moved soundlessly. He paused, then tried again, the words emerging in a faint whisper. “There was a website.”

Chief Bryant shot me an inquiring look, and I shook my head. I had no idea what he was talking about. “What website?”

“Jesus!” Mollenkamp pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, then took a deep breath. “Oh, God!” He lowered his hands. “Okay. Okay. It’s called Schtupernatural-dot-com.”

“Are you serious?” The words escaped before I could censor them. “Is it what it sounds like?”

He looked at me, his mouth clenching in a rictus. “Yeah. It’s a forum where anyone can post about sexual encounters with . . . things that aren’t human. Photos, too. And, um, want ads, I guess you’d call them.”

My tail lashed in a violent reaction. “That’s sick!”

“I guess.” He shrugged wearily. “What do you want? It’s human nature to wonder about it.”

The chief pushed a notepad across the table toward me. “So what happened?”

I fished a pen from my purse and jotted down
Schtupernatural .com
with a note to confirm the spelling.

Avoiding our eyes, Matthew Mollenkamp stared at the ceiling. “We used to check it out, try to guess which shots were real and which were Photoshopped. It was kind of a running joke. One day, a couple of months ago, there was a post about a Schtupernatural opportunity in Pemkowet.”

Bit by bit, as the chief questioned him, the details unfolded.

The gist of it was that for three thousand dollars, the bartender at the Wheelhouse with the spiderweb tattoo would provide the buyer with a phone number and a money-back-guaranteed opportunity to fuck a real live mermaid.

La Sirena
, the mermaid. It really had been right in front of me all along.

“You spent three thousand dollars on a phone number?” I murmured.

Mollenkamp lowered his gaze to give me a sickly look. “Yeah. Me and Ron. You met him last night. Three grand apiece.”

“Was it worth it?” I asked.

He swallowed hard and shook his head. “No. No. It was . . . horrible. But we got what we paid for.”

“And you told Thad Vanderhei and the others it
was
worth it,” I said quietly. “Didn’t you?”

He nodded. “What else was I supposed to do?”

I couldn’t even begin to reply.

“Walk us through the sequence of events,” Chief Bryant suggested. “Step by step, starting with the phone call.”

Although I had high hopes, unfortunately Matthew Mollenkamp’s candor was circumscribed by the reality of his limited information. He’d made the call and spoken to a man who called back after confirming that Matt and Ron had made the required payment to the bartender. A midnight rendezvous in the parking lot of the East Pemkowet public beach was arranged. The Wheelhouse matchbook with the phone number served as proof of their identity and their admission ticket to the main attraction. From the parking lot, Matt and Ron were blindfolded, ushered into a truck, and driven to an unknown destination.

There, their business was concluded. And the less said about
that
, the better.

The two things Mollenkamp was able to confirm were Ray D’s identity and the fact that there was also a female ghoul present at the scene, presumably Mary Sudbury. Now that he was being honest, it was obvious that the ghouls had shaken him deeply.

“The sick thing is, we needed them there,” he said, licking lips gone dry. “To take away the . . . horror. I couldn’t have gone through with it otherwise.”

“Poor baby,” I said without sympathy. “Your precious horror was just a fucking appetizer. It’s
her
suffering that’s keeping them fed.”

Mollenkamp looked away.

The chief scratched one ear, tugged on a thick lobe. “So you told your fraternity brothers you had a fine old time becoming Masters of the Universe, and they decided to follow in your footsteps?”

Closing his eyes, he shook his head. “Only a few, only the ones who claimed they had access to that kind of money. But when Thad called the number, it was out of service.” He was silent a moment. “He accused me of bullshitting him, of making the whole thing up. I should have let him think it.”

“But you didn’t,” I said.

“No.” Mollenkamp opened his eyes. “I told him to go down to that fucking ghoul bar and ask for Ray D himself.”

“Did he?” the chief prompted him.

“Yeah.” He licked his lips again. “Him and Mike. That bartender, the guy with the spider tattoo, he told them to shut the fuck up, that that wasn’t how it worked. That he’d give them Ray D’s number, his new number, for the cash. I didn’t think. . . . I don’t know.” His voice cracked a little. “Is that what got him in trouble? Is that why they killed him? For asking about that ghoul?”

“Is that what you think happened?” Chief Bryant asked. “You think they killed him on purpose? That it wasn’t an accident?”

“I don’t
know
!” Matthew Mollenkamp took a deep, shaking breath. “I don’t; I really don’t. I swear to God, I don’t know anything about what happened that night. For Christ’s sake, I thought Thad drowned in the river! I thought maybe . . . I thought maybe it was an accident that happened afterward, or maybe . . . maybe he just couldn’t live with it.”

“So Thad and Mike paid the bartender for the new number?” I asked him. “And they set up a meeting with Ray D?”

“Yeah.” He turned his gaze back to me, eyes dull. “They did. Three grand apiece for the two of them and Kyle. It took them a couple of weeks to work up the nerve to make the call.”

“Bet you gave them a hard time about that,” I murmured.

Matt didn’t answer.

I was pretty sure it was true. And I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be easy to live with, either.

It damn well shouldn’t be.

Thirty-two

A
fter having exhausted Matthew Mollenkamp’s store of information, we cut him loose. He declined the offer of a ride home, preferring to call a friend.

In the conference room, Cody slid into a seat beside me. “So what do we know?”

“Well, he confirmed a lot of what we suspected,” I said. “Two ghouls, one Ray D and one unnamed female matching the description of Mary Sudbury. And they were working with Jerry Dunham.” I glanced at the chief. “Do you think there’s any chance Thad was killed for asking about Ray D?”

“No.” Chief Bryant’s rebuttal was immediate and certain. “It doesn’t add up. No reason to let the others live if it were. I’m sure we’re looking at an accidental death and a cover-up. And I’m afraid Daisy was right.”

“They’ve got a mermaid?” Cody asked in a tense tone.

“Yeah.” I felt sick all over again, a leaden weight in my belly. I shouldn’t have eaten that hot dog. “They’ve got a mermaid. That’s how you become a Master of the Universe and a true son of Triton.”

Green flared behind his eyes, and his voice dropped to a fierce growl.
“Where?”

“Take it easy, Cody,” the chief said to him. “Keep a cool head. Don’t let it get personal.”

He struggled to contain himself. “With all due respect, sir, I’m not sure that’s possible. I’m not sure you can understand.”

I wondered whether Chief Bryant knew Cody had lost a girl he might have loved, a girl whose killer would never be brought to justice because she was a wolf when he shot her.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, son.” By the compassion in the chief’s voice, maybe he did. “We don’t have a
where
. The boys were blindfolded and driven to the destination. Daisy?”

I consulted my notes. “Mollenkamp said it was maybe a ten-, fifteen-minute drive from the parking lot of the East Pemkowet beach. The vehicle made a lot of turns, so they could have been driving in circles. He remembers hearing the wind rustling in the trees when they got out of the truck, so we’re looking for a wooded area.”

“That doesn’t exactly narrow it down,” Cody muttered. “What about the site?”

“Ground floor of a residence,” I said. “He said it looked like a high-end rec room, the kind you’d design if money was no object. Pool table, built-in bar, home theater . . . and an industrial-size fish tank that wasn’t part of the original design.”

Cody looked as sick as I felt. “Jesus!”

“I’m thinking they must be squatting somewhere,” Chief Bryant said. “My best guess would be a house for sale that’s been off the market since the spring. Or maybe an unoccupied summer home.”

“Any way to get a list of those?” Cody asked.

The chief shrugged. “Start calling local Realtors. As far as summer homes go, other than the local grapevine, not much way to tell as long as they’re paying their property taxes. Maybe try the township clerk, see if anyone’s delinquent. That could be an indicator.”

“Okay. Okay.” Cody ran a hand over his bronze-stubbled chin. “What about the Vanderhei kid’s friends? At this point, we’ve got more than enough evidence to subpoena them.”

“We do.” The chief nodded. “But time’s not on our side. I’ll put a call in to Sheriff Barnard and let him know exactly what we’re dealing with here.” His expression was somber. “I don’t think any of the families involved will be interested in seeing this play out in the public eye once they know what their sons have been up to.”

Cody shuddered. “No, I wouldn’t think so. How the hell did this even
happen
? How did a bunch of frat boys from Van Buren end up here?”

“According to Matthew Mollenkamp, there was a website,” I said.

He gave me a blank look. “A website?”

“Uh-huh.” I went to fetch the department’s laptop, opened a browser, and typed in
Schtupernatural.com
.

Yep, there was a website.

All three of us stared at it in fascinated revulsion. The banner at the top featured a graphic with someone’s idea of a fairy, a pretty, sparkly fairy with gossamer wings that Amanda Brooks would approve of, kneeling in ecstasy as a faceless mundane man hammered her from behind, her head thrown back, her silvery lips rounding in orgasmic pleasure. The protruding green nipples and cobweb hair were a nice touch.

The site was cross-indexed by species and locale. I clicked through a handful of links. Some of the posts were obviously fake, like the entire vampire forum. I’m sorry, but vampires simply don’t show up in photographs.

Others looked . . . real.

“That’s not right.” Cody pointed a shaking finger at a photo of a werewolf in midshift braced between the spread thighs of a mortal woman, a ridge of sprouting hair running down his spine, his snarling, distorted face pressed against her shoulder, all wrinkled muzzle and pointy teeth. “It’s not!”

“It’s all right, son,” the chief murmured. “Daisy, I think we’ve seen enough.”

I found the want ads. “I just want to check something.” I did a quick search for Pemkowet and came up empty. “Okay, the site’s been scrubbed. Dunham must have deleted his posts.”

“As Lord Stefan Muckety-Muck observed, the unfeeling have a strong sense of self-preservation.” Cody’s tone was bitter.

“Yeah.” I closed the laptop. “Someone tech-savvy could probably retrieve them if it came to it. So what now, Chief? How do you want us to proceed?”

He leaned back in his chair, his deceptively sleepy eyes half-lidded. “At this point? As far as I’m concerned, we have two priorities.” He lifted one finger. “The first is finding the remaining victim in this tragedy. If she’s out there, we need to find her. Fast. Before they decide she’s too big a liability and get rid of her. Cody?”

Cody nodded. “I’m on it, sir.”

“The second is keeping a lid on the tension in town.” His gaze shifted to me. “How did your meeting with Amanda Brooks go?”

Unable to help myself, I made a face. “She wants me to keep vampires off the streets and put pretty, sparkly fairies on them. Preferably at prearranged times suitable for paranormal tourism.”

The implacable weight of his gaze pressed on me. “I’d say that’s a damn fine idea if it’s doable. Is it?”

I sighed. “I’m on it, sir.”

Although it felt like it ought to be nearly time for bed, in fact it was barely past two o’clock in the afternoon yet. Checking my phone as I exited the station, I found a voice mail from Mom, sounding a bit worried. Feeling guilty at having neglected her, I called her on my way to the Fabulous Casimir’s shop.

“Hey, Daisy, baby!” Her voice brightened. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Just busy. I’ve been working long hours.”

“I know.” She sounded sympathetic. “Lurine told me. She said you stayed at her place last night, and left at the crack of dawn.”

I yawned. “Don’t remind me.”

“But you’re all right?”

“Yeah.” I smiled fondly at the concern in her voice. “Remember Meg Mucklebones? From behind the Cassopolises’ place? She almost got Jen’s little brother, Brandon, this morning.”

She drew a sharp breath. “Oh, Daisy!”

“It’s okay.” Tucking the phone under my chin, I touched
dauda-dagr
’s
hilt. “Honest, I swear. I got her to back down.” I wanted to tell her about my father and the whole temptation scenario, bat wings and fiery whip and all, but with tourists already eyeing the girl with the phone pressed to her ear and the rather large dagger on her hip, I figured it had better wait. “Look, I can’t talk long. I just wanted you to know I was fine. And your reading’s been really, really helpful.”

“Oh?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Pieces are falling into place. Everything but the arrows.
Las Jaras
, right? Any thoughts?”

“No,” she said apologetically. “I wish I did. Has everything else been as literal as the bottle?”

I thought about
La Sirena
. “Very much so.”

“Keep it in mind,” she suggested.

“Thanks. I will.” I’d arrived at Casimir’s shop. “Okay, I’ve got to go. Love you!”

“Love you, too, Daisy, baby!” Mom blew a kiss into the phone. “Be careful. Be safe, honey!”

“I will,” I promised before ending the call.

Bells chimed as I opened the door to the Sisters of Selene. The Fabulous Casimir, leaning on one elbow behind the counter, glanced up as I entered. Today he was sporting powder-white makeup, a geisha-style wig, and an ornate kimono.

I found the sight heartening.

“Hey, there, Miss Daisy,” he greeted me. “I’ve been asking around in certain circles, and I have a piece of news for you.” He shook his finger at me. “I didn’t know whether or not I should call the station with this. And you didn’t give me your personal phone number.”

“I didn’t?”

“No.”

Well, that was an incredibly stupid oversight.
Way to go, Daisy.
I winced. “Oh, crap. I’m sorry. What do you have for me?”

Casimir fished a file from under the counter, passing it to me. “I got this from a coven in Seattle and printed it out for you. Dr. Midnight’s Traveling Sideshow’s one true thing.”

I flipped through the file.

The images were grainy and low-resolution, scans of screen captures. But all of them showed the same thing: a mermaid in a tank, her face contorted with an expression that was meant to convey pleasure, but was more likely distress. And on every image, there was a different phone number to call.

Casimir watched me beneath his artificial lashes. “They were pimping her, Daisy. Is that what’s happening here?”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “We think so. How did this happen, Cas?”

He shook his bewigged head. “All anyone knows is that she vanished after Dr. Midnight’s carnival was shut down in Seattle. What do
you
know?”

I stared at the images. “I think someone stole her. One of the carnies.” I glanced up at him. “Thanks—this helps. And I promise we’re doing everything we can to find her. But that’s not why I’m here.”

The Fabulous Casimir arched his painted eyebrows. “Oh?”

“I need cowslip dew,” I informed him.

He looked dubious. “It’s expensive. And it doesn’t work as well as it does if you harvest it yourself.”

“I know.” I fully planned on invoicing the PVB for the cost. “But I need it in a hurry. Do cowslips even grow around here?”

“No, but primroses work. Didn’t you ever try it when you were little?”

I sighed. “Yeah, and I’ll gather the acorn caps myself, but I don’t have time to harvest that much dew. How much is it, anyway?”

Casimir withdrew a little key on a long chain from beneath the folds of his kimono and emerged from behind the counter to unlock an apothecary case with glass doors. He plucked a stoppered flagon filled with clear liquid from an upper shelf. “It’s three hundred dollars an ounce, Daisy,” he said with sympathy. “And I can only get it in three-ounce containers.”

Gah!
“Can you sell me a third of a bottle?”

“No can do, sweetheart,” he said. “Once the seal’s broken, the magic starts to evaporate.”

“Okay.” Nine hundred bucks for a bottle of dew. I took out my credit card, calculating how much I had left on my limit. I really, really hoped the PVB didn’t quibble at the cost. Also that they paid their invoices promptly, or I was going to have a hell of a time making my rent next month. “There’s no invocation, is there? I never used one as a kid, but it didn’t always work, either.”

“No, but to do it properly, you need a spotless, round white tablecloth, preferably Irish linen.” The Fabulous Casimir nodded at the door with a sour look. “Try across the street. I used to stock them, but they undercut my prices.”

An Irish linen tablecloth from the Elegant Table set me back another eighty bucks. I was beginning to realize I’d gotten off cheap summoning naiads. Apparently fairies were a lot pricier when you went the commercial route. No wonder the naiads took offense.

After depositing my purchases and the file on Dr. Midnight’s star attraction in my apartment, I ducked into the park, where there were a couple of spectacular old oak trees. I hunted around beneath their shade, scrabbling my fingers through the thin grass that grew there, rooting in the hard-packed dirt. In mid-July, it was harder than you might think to find acorn caps.

“Whatcha doin’?” a small voice asked me.

I looked up to see a chubby boy some six or seven years old, wearing a striped shirt, khaki shorts, and kid-size Crocs on his feet, watching me gravely. “Looking for acorn caps.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to have a tea party for some fairies.” I sat back on my heels. “Where are your parents?”

He pointed toward a pair of exhausted-looking women seated on a park bench surrounded by shopping bags. “That’s Mom and Aunt Nancy. They’ve been shopping all day long. Can I come to your tea party?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Fairies are very shy.”

“Oh.” With perfect unselfconsciousness, he rooted around in one nostril with his finger, and okay, ew, but I kind of liked the kid’s aplomb. He pulled out his finger and inspected the tip. “Can I help you look?”

The nearby rhododendron bushes rustled, and Mogwai deigned to make an appearance, winding around the boy’s Croc-strapped ankles and purring.

Boogers notwithstanding, I felt an inexplicable surge of tenderness. “Sure, why not? What’s your name?”

He beamed at me. “Jake.”

“Hi, Jake.” I smiled back at him. “I’m Daisy.”

It turned out to be a smart move. When it came to finding acorn caps, Jake was like one of those truffle-hunting pigs in France. With his help, I soon had a good twenty-some nubby, hollow caps.

With the pockets of my jeans filled, I walked him over to the park bench. His mother looked up wearily. “I’m sorry. Was he bothering you?”

“No,” I said. “Not at all.”

She did a double take as
dauda-dagr
registered, nudging Aunt Nancy with one elbow. Both of them gaped at me.

I ignored them. “Thanks, Jake. You were a big help.”

He nodded, his eyes wide and earnest, his bangs flopping over his forehead. “Will you say hello to the fairies for me?”

“Absolutely,” I promised him.