| |
“Have fun. I’m looking forward to what you find out.”
Pap’s words sounded encouraging, though he wore a frown. He shut the door behind Mom and me. Was he worried about what we’d discover at the jewelry shops?
Mom drove us to the edge of the boardwalk, and then circled around it until we found parking in the nearby lot. I was familiar with the area being crowded during the summertime, but it seemed tourist season had slowed down. On our walk back to the boardwalk, we passed only a few other cars.
“You’re quiet this morning,” Mom said. “Are you nervous?”
“No, mostly curious. I’m wondering what the shop owners will say.”
“Me, too.”
“I don’t know what kind of proof Kai is going to need from us to let the matter be, but what if we don’t find anything?”
Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not sure what we’ll learn either, to be honest. All we can do is ask questions and hear what they have to say.”
I nodded, willing to let whatever would happen play itself out.
I studied the street and boardwalk as we passed over it. A couple other people were walking around, seemingly window shopping. None of the snack booths appeared to have opened yet, but the smells of coffee and sugared popcorn hung in the air. The carnival rides were still; even their lights weren’t blinking.
We passed two shops with OPEN signs in the windows, but neither of them were jewelry stores. We’d almost reached the bend in the boardwalk, where it followed along the water, when a wooden sign shaped like a mermaid caught my eye. Treasures of the Lake Maiden, it read. In the mermaid’s hand was a cluster of sparkling white pearls.
“This looks promising,” I said.
Mom held up her phone and compared the address she’d saved against the number on the door. “One Twenty Water Way,” she said. “It’s one of the stores from the receipts. The shop owner replied to my email, too.”
Bells attached to the door handle jingled as we let ourselves in.
A cashier sitting behind the counter looked up from a book.
“Good morning,” she said. “May I help you two early birds?”
Mom smiled. “I’m Cari Marsh, and this is my daughter, Hazel. I’ve been communicating with this shop over email.”
The cashier’s eyes widened. “Oh, yes. You had questions about the silver jewelry with the freshwater pearls.”
“Yes, that would be us.”
“Let’s see what you’ve got.”
I slipped the bracelet from my wrist and placed it on the counter, and then pulled up the photos of receipts on my phone. I flipped to the receipt showing pieces purchased from this exact store.
I caught Mom taking glances at the shop’s jewelry displays. Nothing they had currently looked like it came from the same collection as Grandma’s jewelry. There were lots of pearls, though, in addition to necklaces and bracelets with charms shaped like starfish, shells, and sharks’ teeth.
Mom picked up a glossy turtle figurine, turned it over, and looked at the price tag. “It’s nice to see shops from my childhood still in business here,” she said.
The cashier smiled. She appeared to be younger than Mom but older than me. While she studied the receipt on my phone, I read the name tag pinned to her shirt collar: Clarissa Michaelson.
“This was my father’s shop,” Clarissa said. “I’m sure he’d know more, but he passed away two years ago.”
Mom frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” She smiled. “He would have found this interesting,” she added, pointing to the receipt. “I searched our past inventories, and from what I found, pieces like the ones described in your email came to the shop fully assembled. But...”
Clarissa moved to a laptop and began tapping at its keys. “When I enter the order number for this purchase, the description says that the pearls and the braided silver are of different origins. The pearls are certified to have been from the lake on the property you said your father owns.”
“And the silver?”
“Origin unknown.”
She picked up the bracelet, and then pulled a magnifier from a drawer behind the counter. She squinted at the bracelet through the glass. “Hmm,” she said. “That’s odd. I haven’t seen one of these up close before. This is actually the first time I’ve seen and held one of the pieces you’ve described.”
Clarissa slid a metal tool from her shirt pocket. I held my breath as she poked and scratched at the pearls, hoping one wouldn’t pop out, roll across the counter, and then be lost forever. But none of them budged. Clarissa’s brows creased together.
“I don’t know what type of adhesive was used to attach the pearls to their settings on the silver, but I can’t find the faintest trace of cement or glue. They’re tightly set and resistant; I don’t think I could remove them if I tried.”
What she found made sense to me given that the Perlnauts lived underwater. “Perhaps they could be removed by soaking them in a solvent?” I said.
“We could try that, but I wouldn’t want to risk damaging either the silver or the pearls.” Still inspecting the bracelet, Clarissa frowned. “One would think the pearls were cultured on and became part of the silver.”
She handed the bracelet to me, and then pocketed her tools. “If I had to make a guess, I’d say this bracelet and any similar items received by this shop were obtained—fully intact—from your father’s lake.”
Mom’s brows creased. “So you’re saying that someone fished the jewelry items out of the lake, and then sold them directly to this store, Treasures of the Lake Maiden?”
“It would seem so.”
“But...why?”
Clarissa smiled. “I was wondering the same thing. It starts getting slow this time of year, so I dug a little deeper. The results weren’t in the digital records, so I poured through our paper files.”
She reached below the counter and brought out a folder stuffed with papers, which she set on the counter top. She flipped through the delicate, weathered pages.
“The records for the purchases and sales were kept in different places. One box included deals with the suppliers, and the other had copies of receipts for customer purchases like the ones you showed me.”
She pointed to a name found on both types of record.
“Does this person look familiar?” Clarissa said.
“Vivian Waverly,” Mom read. “That’s my mother’s name.”
I sucked in a breath. Grandma?
Mom’s face fell. “Why would my mother remove jewelry from her own lake and sell it to stores, only to buy it back again?”
I tugged at Mom’s elbow. I thought I might know why.
***
PAP’S HOME SMELLED like roasted chicken and garlic bread. My mouth watered. I was starving and we had so much to tell him.
“Come on in,” he called from the kitchen. “I’ve been keeping things warm.”
“Sorry we’re late,” said Mom. “We spent more time browsing than I would have thought.”
“No problem at all. Have a seat.”
We gathered around Pap’s table. He’d already set plates, napkins, and silverware. He placed an enormous platter of chicken and vegetables on the table, next to a basket of bread. Given how often he served seafood from the lake, I was looking forward to something different.
Pap filled our glasses with a sparkling water flavored with oranges and pomegranates. “Did you visit all the shops?” he said.
“We visited a few, but only one of the jewelry stores was open.” Mom placed her napkin across her lap. “Treasures of the Lake Maiden.”
His eyes widened slightly.
“Are you familiar with that one?”
“Not really, no.” He looked away. “The name just sounds familiar—probably came across it while shopping with your mother.”
“Likely,” said Mom. “Apparently it’s been in business since I was a little girl.”
“Is that so?”
“The shop owner I’d been in contact with handed the matter off to one of her employees, the daughter of the man who previously owned the shop. Her research turned out to be both interesting and helpful.”
Pap took a sip of his drink. “What did you find out?”
“Their records suggest that Mother found the various items of jewelry in the lake, sold them to the shops, and then bought them back again.”
He gave Mom a strange look that indicated he hadn’t been in on it. “What kind of records?”
“Paperwork with the store’s suppliers and customers, and Mother’s name on both. Did you know about this?”
“No, not at all. I was aware that she bought various items from the local shops. But it makes no sense that she would have fished any of it out of our lake, first. Are you sure about this? It seems awfully strange.”
“We saw the documents with our own eyes, didn’t we Hazel?”
I nodded. “The freshwater pearls were certified to be from your lake, Pap. But they weren’t sure about the source of the braided silver—only that the pieces had arrived at the shop fully made.”
“The pearls belonged to my lake?”
“Yes,” I said. “At this point, I’m convinced that the Perlnauts made the jewelry, which is why Kai is so insistent that it belongs to his kingdom. And that Grandma did all this to make it doubly appear that she owned the jewelry. The pearl and silver pieces were on your property to begin with, and by setting it up so she bought them from the shops, Grandma had written proof that she was the owner. My big question is: why did she want to be known as the owner of the jewelry so badly?”
Pap slowly exhaled.
“I believe she was collecting them for someone important.” He turned to Mom. “I don’t know how else to tell you this, Cari, but you are not my biological daughter.”
Mom frowned, though she didn’t appear to be shocked by the news. At least, not as much as I was. I’d hoped I’d been seeing things when comparing Mom and Kai’s similar features. But then there was the ability to make the pearls glow. And, now, Pap’s reveal.
“Are you saying that my mother had a child with someone else while married to you?” Mom said.
Pap shook his head. “You were already a toddler by the time we married. Your mother was secretive about your paternity, but I adopted you and have always treated you as my own.”
Mom’s eyes widened. “I was born before— Why didn’t anyone ever tell me this?”
He shrugged. “Your mother was sensitive about the subject, and so we let it be.”
“It never bothered you that I wasn’t biologically yours?”
“No. There were times I was in awe of how quickly you took to the water, and what a strong swimmer you were. But, then, so was your mother.” His brow furrowed. “Did you have a decent childhood here at the lake?”
“Yes, of course, I did. You have always been the best father to me. But now I have so many questions.”
Mom looked at me, completely exasperated. She and I had learned about her seemingly Perlnaut abilities together. I was sure we were thinking the same thing. Someway, somehow, Mom had Perlnaut blood running through her veins. And the only human we knew who could tell us more about this was no longer living. Grandma.