could’ve killed you!”
“You don’t even know the kid.” Will thought about the gentleness in Kirk’s face, the fear. “He might be crazy, but I don’t think he’s on anything.”
“I can’t believe this,” Gretchen snapped. She stalked off across the sand, toward the parking lot. Will wanted to run after her, but he was too tired. He knew she was just worried about him and that she’d calm down. Eventually.
Will looked at his friends. Ansell seemed worried. And Angus was watching Kirk, who had curled up into a ball and fallen asleep beneath the towel.
“Why did he jump?” Ansell asked.
“I don’t know-some crazy shit. Something about sea critters.”
Angus looked at him sharply. “Seekriegers?”
“What? Yeah. Why-is that a thing?”
Angus shrugged. “I don’t know. My grandfather used to talk about them.”
“What are they?”
“Mermaids or something. He used to tell me all of these stories…”
“Like what?”
Angus shook his head. “Sorry, dude, it was a long time ago. But maybe my grandmother remembers.”
“Could we go talk to her tomorrow?”
Will knew that he must have sounded pretty desperate, because Angus was giving him a concerned look. “Sure, man. Whatever you want.”
“Maybe in the morning, before I have to work.”
“What am I going to do with this?” Ansell asked, watching Kirk sleep peacefully on the sand.
“Call his sister,” Angus suggested. “She’s used to cleaning up Kirk’s messes.”
“If I see a single word of this in the paper tomorrow…,” Ansell warned.
“You’ll what?” Angus smirked. “Buy a copy for your parents?”
“Please don’t do this to me.”
Angus looked offended. “Dude-what kind of a guy do you think I am?”
“Thanks, man.” Ansell walked back toward the pier.
“Seriously, you’re not running the story?” Will asked as he and Angus headed toward the parking lot. Will was not looking forward to riding home all wet on his motorcycle.
“Of
“What thing? You mean Asia?”
“Yeah-I dug around a little.”
“What did you find out?”
“I found out that she’s a total black hole.” Angus carefully unlocked the door of his rusted old Ford. This was the kind of thing that always used to crack Tim up-Angus locking his crappy old car when it was surrounded by Audis, Jaguars, Lexuses, Porsches. “The only thing I found out about Asia Marin is that she worked at Bella’s last summer and came back this year. No known address. No phone number. No school records, dude.”
“What about the Joyce family?” Will had e-mailed Angus the information he’d gotten from following Asia.
“They’re from the city. Fischer and Julia. They have two kids, both in their thirties. Neither one named Asia.”
“So-what does that mean?”
Angus shrugged. “It means that she’s house-sitting. It means she’s from somewhere else and comes here for the summer. No big mystery, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Will agreed. “No big mystery.” But he couldn’t keep the irony out of his voice.
Angus folded himself into his tiny car and waved before driving off. Will had just started toward his motorcycle when a movement caught his eye. It was a figure in white-Asia. She was at the far end of the driveway, walking away from the party at a rapid clip. Her dress was still damp and clung to her body, although it was dry enough so that the skirt fluttered at her ankles.
Will took off after her at a dead trot. His wet jeans made a
The ground rose slightly as they headed away from the Ansell house. He was breathing heavily as he followed her, but she moved along, seemingly untroubled. Will heard a rumble behind him. He stepped aside to let the car pass. Asia didn’t bother. She didn’t look back or slow her gait as the car swerved around her.
He heard another rumble, and a car zoomed past him. It was a blue BMW. It raced forward and pulled to a stop at the top of the bridge. Jason stepped out and walked toward the railing, blocking Asia’s path.
For a moment, Will was frozen in place. He saw Jason’s hulking form step forward. He heard him say something to Asia, but Will couldn’t hear what it was. Asia opened her mouth to reply. “Shut up!” he snarled as he backed her toward the railing. “If it wasn’t you, then tell me who it was!”
“Hey!” Will shouted. He started forward at a dead run.
Jason looked over toward the shout, his face registering surprise. Just then Asia twisted backward, snakelike, over the railing, kicked Jason in the chest, and went over the side.
Jason stood there, his arms full of empty air. He raced to the rail, but Asia had already disappeared into the water.
Jason turned to Will, horror written across his face.
“Jason!” Will shouted, “Stop!” But Jason was already getting back into his car. His tires smoked as he peeled away from the bridge.
Will reached the top of the bridge. He stared down at the water. It was a long, long fall. It was the kind of fall that killed people.
But Jason hadn’t seen what Will had seen. Asia had flipped over the railing. Then she’d straightened out, her arms stretched over her head. She’d entered the water like an arrow, with hardly a splash. The slight wave folded over her feet like an envelope.
Will looked out over the water. Far down the river, close to where it entered the bay, he thought he saw a head rise out of the water. Hair fanned around it for a moment as the face glanced back at the bridge.
Then it sank into the river and disappeared.
Chapter Nine
An eighteenth-century painting disappeared from the Miller Gallery last Tuesday. “I just walked in and noticed a blank spot on the wall,” said gallery director Don Beltran yesterday. The painting had been on loan as part of the “Gifts of the Sea” exhibit, on display until September 15…
Gretchen watched the creamer tumble to the bottom of the iced coffee, leaving a trail of ghostly white in its wake. She stirred the liquid with a straw and took a sip, hoping it would wake her up, if not lift her mood.
“Hon, you’re concentrating a little bit too hard on that coffee and not enough on table fourteen,” Lisette said as she swept past, a heavy tray in her hand.
Gretchen looked up, registering the father and two young sons who had descended into her section. She took a swig of her drink, then tucked it behind the counter and went out to greet her customers. They wanted Belgian waffles with strawberries on top, and she took the orders automatically and stuck them onto the board for Angel.
“Wake up, Gretchen,” he snapped at her. “You look like a zombie.”
