ALLISON
Maureen was a mermaid again, large and beautiful with green, blue and purple iridescent scales on her tail. Her hair flowed around her head like a jellyfish, undulating as she flapped. She came toward me, to hug me. She was wearing her friendship necklace. But just as she got close, she smacked into an invisible barrier. She seemed confused and started hitting her wrists against the glass. Shouting to me, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. She shook her head, wildly, bashing her wrists harder.
I jolted up. I’d fallen asleep on the couch, exhausted. The last few days had been a nightmare. The testimony. The phone calls. Dolores had been spending time at the beach house with me until Annie and my parents could come help me move out. But she’d gone to take her dad to a doctor’s appointment, and I’d laid down for a minute in the silence and fallen asleep.
My phone rang. Sheriff Clapper sounded weary. This was probably the most action he’d gotten in Opal Beach in years. The good news was all the skepticism in his voice was gone. Or at least, it was no longer directed my way, which I took as a win.
“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry I can’t give you back the necklace,” he said. “I know that you asked for it, but it’s got to be entered into evidence for the trial.”
“I figured that,” I said. “But I appreciate you trying.”
“I can see what I can do...after,” he said. “But no promises.”
“Tammy’s half, too?” I asked.
“Yes, though that technically belongs to her family.”
Tammy’s mom. What she must be going through... And Tammy had always been the one taking care of her, despite her crazy schedule at the coffee shop.
“Does this mean The Sweet Spot will close down?”
“Not sure about that. I guess it depends on what Mrs. Bishop decides.”
“Mrs. Bishop?”
“Yeah, funny thing there. Turns out she owns the business. She’s the one who put up the money all those years ago when Tammy first opened.” He chuckled. “I always wondered why she nudged me to go there for coffee.” He cleared his throat. “But anyway, there’s another reason I called you.”
“Okay?”
“We checked on Phillip’s and Zeke’s alibis for the night Tammy died. They check out.”
“How could that be?”
“They were at a holiday party in Millstone. From about 7 p.m. to after midnight. Phillip even did a toast at around 9 p.m. There’s no way they could’ve been in Opal Beach the night she drowned.”
I felt like I’d been run over. I sat down on the couch before my knees gave out.
“I mean, we still have plenty to charge them on, don’t you worry. But it looks like Tammy’s death was what we thought originally. An accident.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would she be out there? So late? In that weather?” I asked.
“We’ll never know,” Clapper said in as gentle a voice as he could muster. “It could be that she was wrapped up in this whole Maureen thing, went for a walk, and—” He let his voice trail off.
“In an ice storm? Right near the Bishops’ restaurant?”
“I’m sorry, Allison. There’s no evidence of foul play here.”
I closed my eyes. Tried to picture Tammy wandering along the pier at night.
Something wasn’t right.