Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells (13 page)

“Hey, there. Are you okay?” Luke gave me a hug.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” I said, stepping back, “but I'm getting you all wet.”

“Don't worry,” Luke said, laughing. “Kind of an occupational hazard. Hey, I just saw your guy.”

“Where?” I asked as I slipped on my flip-flops, which Cori had brought as well. I squeezed my hair to wring out the water and tried to come up with an excuse for why I was the only one in our group who was soaking wet in case Mom and Dad got suspicious. “I looked everywhere for him.”

“Well, I couldn't find Cori and Trey, so I headed back to the original boat where you dove in,” Luke replied. “When I got there, I saw the guy climb out of the water and take off.”

“Take off how?” I asked, scanning the jetties to see if I could spot him. “Is he still in the marina?”

“No, he rode off in that green speedboat tied up to the yacht,” Luke replied.

I remembered the sound of the boat engine that had spooked the dolphins earlier.

“Dillon's speedboat,” I said to myself. “Could you tell anything else about him? Like, did he look okay?”

“Yeah, he looked fine,” Luke said. “He looked a little hard-core with that goatee and bald head, though.”

Bald head? That's when a rush of realization made my head spin and I had to hold on to Luke to keep from losing my balance.

“What's the matter?” Cori asked, catching my arm.

I steadied myself and headed back to Bobbie's sailboat.

“I'm not sure yet.”

“
You're sure he was bald?” I asked Luke as we hurried along the main trunk of the docks and searched for the berth with Bobbie's sailboat.

“Yeah, why?” Luke replied.

I undid my ponytail as we walked and tried to braid my hair into something semi-presentable so it didn't look like I'd just been on an underwater caper. I couldn't do anything about my wet clothes, though. I just hoped the warm evening air had started drying them or that the cover of darkness would hide my secret once we met up with our parents.

“I'm just trying to put this all together,” I said, remembering how I'd spotted a man in the porthole of the Wonderment cruise ship. It had been so far away that the only thing I could make out was the sun shining off the man's bald head. But he'd had binoculars focused on me, so I'd turned away before getting a good look at him.

“Put
what
together?” Cori asked.

“That goateed guy—the bald guy—I think he could be the same guy I saw throwing something overboard from that cruise ship,” I said.

“Throwing a
dead
body
overboard, you mean?” Trey asked in a deep, ominous voice.

“Not this again,” Cori said. “Don't you remember? Rayelle's mom says that Dillon guy is bad news. He just planted those ideas in your head. You do have a bit of an overactive imagination after the summer you just had.”

“Yeah, I know. But one way or another, something fishy is going on around here,” I said.

By then, we'd reached Bobbie's boat, and Mom, Dad, and the Martins were saying their good-byes. I stuck to the shadows to try and hide the fact I'd just spent the last half hour in the water talking to a couple of dolphins.

“Did you kids have fun?” Mom asked as we headed to the gate of the marina. “We were starting to worry.”

The lights of the marina cast dark shadows all around us. Could Mom tell my hair and clothes were wet? What would she say if she knew what I'd been up to?

“Yeah,” I said. “We got a little sidetracked with all the docks and everything.”

“It probably looks a lot different during the day,” Mom said.

She had a point. The marina was probably a lot less confusing in the daytime. Could the same be said about what I'd just seen and heard moments earlier with the dolphins and the man in the Wonderment baseball cap? Would the whole situation look different tomorrow once I'd had a chance to sleep on it?

Two cabs were waiting at the gatehouse, one going to the Eutopia, the other going to the Asylum. Trey and Cori exchanged an awkward hug before going to their respective cabs, and Luke pulled me aside to say goodnight under the very watchful eye of my overprotective dad.

“So,” he said with a whisper, “I'm not going to try anything with your dad watching me like I was some kind of stalker, but I still owe you that moonlit kiss.”

“I'm going to hold you to that,” I replied, shivers running down my arms.

Luke waved good-bye and got in his cab, along with Trey and his parents, and we got in the cab behind theirs.

“So, kiddo, have a good night?” Dad asked as he sat next to me and put his arm around me. He hesitated for a second. “Is your hair wet? How did you get your hair wet?”

Darn. I tugged my braid to the other side of my neck. “I either dove underwater back at the marina and had a conversation with a dolphin, or I didn't dry my hair after we went tubing at Teen Club.”

Dad let me rest my head on his shoulder. “For my own sanity and your ability to live another day, I'm going to go with the tubing explanation,” he said.

“Good plan,” I replied.

•••

Cori and I conked out as soon as we got back to the hotel and dragged ourselves out of bed at eleven on Friday morning, just in time to grab showers and hobble down to the dining room. Lunch at the Asylum was the omelet bar, so Cori and I sidled up to the omelet station where a chef with a big white hat was taking orders.

“Man, oh man,” I said with a big yawn. “I can't believe my parents' wedding is tomorrow and we have less than forty-eight hours left of this vacation.”

“Tell me about it. It's gone by so fast,” Cori agreed.

It was my turn to order. “Ham, peppers, onions, and cheese, please. Lots and lots of cheese.”

“Make that two,” Cori added.

The chef poured olive oil into two of the three skillets in front of him and tossed in the ingredients. Soon a delicious aroma filled the air, making my stomach grumble. He finished a third omelet for the customer in front of us and slid it onto a plate for him.

“That looks so good.” My mouth watered at the thought of a warm cheesy omelet, and I was relieved to finally get a decent meal from the Asylum kitchen. I gazed out the long bank of windows overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Seagulls hovered over the water and dipped into the ocean while the wind whipped the fronds of the palm trees. Mom had been right. Things did look a lot different in the bright light of day.

That bald guy from the night before was probably up to no good, but that didn't mean he had anything to do with anything else.

“So tomorrow's the big day,” Cori said. “You excited?”

I searched for Mom and Dad in the dining room and caught them holding hands at a table out on the balcony.

“Yeah,” I said. “If someone actually shows up to marry the happy couple, we'll be golden.”

“And if my mom and dad arrive on time,” Cori said, looking at her watch.

“What time is their flight again?” I asked, remembering that Mr. and Mrs. Blake should be flying in later that day.

“Not sure. I haven't been able to email them since my phone died,” Cori said.

“You should have told me!” I replied. “I could have loaned you mine.”

Just as I took my phone out of my bag, it buzzed with a new email. That's when it occurred to me—I never did email Rayelle back after I'd told her what Kiki's boyfriend said. I'd forgotten my phone at the hotel yesterday morning then had gotten home so late from the marina that I'd completely blanked on getting back to her.

“Oh, shoot,” I said, looking at her name on my phone's screen.

“Avoiding a Martin brother too, are you?” Cori said, nodding to my phone.

“No, it's not that,” I said, tapping on the email to read her message. “It's just Rayelle. Probably about Dillon.”

Cori rolled her eyes. “Hopefully she's heard back from that officer guy.”

Of course. Officer Ensel had probably sorted it all out and Rayelle wanted to let me know.

Hi Jade,

Dillon's mom just called my mom saying she still hasn't heard from him and is getting worried. Just wondering if your parents had any ideas after all because there is still no sign of him on this end.

—Rayelle

“Huh,” I said, staring at the screen. “She says Dillon's mom just called and he's still missing.”

“Pepper?” the chef asked.

“Um, pardon me?” I asked, trying to understand what he meant.

“For your omelet,” Cori whispered.

“Oh, no thanks,” I said as I took my plate. Cori's omelet was done seconds later, so we went outside to join Mom and Dad at their table where they were enjoying their post-lunch coffees.

“Hey, guys,” I said as I sat down.

“Finally decided to grace us with your presence?” Dad teased.

“Dalrymple, they're teenagers after all,” Mom said. “I'm impressed we've gotten them out of bed before ten at all this week.”

“Thanks, Mom. I think,” I said with a laugh then turned to Dad. “Hey, did that officer ever call back about Dillon?”

“There was a message from Officer Ensel when we got back to the hotel last night saying not to worry. Dillon is back home safe and sound with his family,” Dad said. “Apparently he was just staying with a friend for a couple days and didn't think to call his mother. So, mystery solved.”

Cori and I exchanged confused looks. If Dillon was back home, why was his mom still calling to find out where he was?

“I also just got a text from your mom, Cori,” Mom said, beaming. “They're heading out to the airport to catch their flight, which means everyone will finally be here soon.”

Mom's smile was so big that I hated to crush her happiness with more worries about this Dillon business. I needed to find out more information before I bothered her with it. But how, exactly, was I supposed to do that?

“That's exciting,” I said, continuing our conversation about the wedding. “I know how much you wanted Mrs. Blake here. But are you going to be okay even if this wedding doesn't turn out the way you expected it to?”

“Well, that's another piece of good news,” Dad said. “Town Hall called to say someone came into their office this week to renew their officiate papers. If they can get the paperwork through by the end of the day, we may have someone to perform the ceremony after all.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “That's amazing!”

“Now don't get too excited. They still need to process the paperwork, so nothing is for sure yet.” Dad reached for Mom's hand and kissed it.

“So what's the plan for the rest of the day?” I asked as the news about Officer Ensel's call preyed on my mind.

I tried to arrange all the pieces of the Dillon puzzle together: the body (or whatever it was!) Dillon and I saw being thrown out of the Wonderment cruise ship's porthole, Dillon's speedboat abandoned near the same ship, the “W” hat dude talking to Officer Ensel at the Straw Market, the same “W” hat on the goateed, bald man from the marina who took off in Dillon's boat. How did they all fit together?

Could the answer to the Dillon mystery be found on the Wonderment cruise ship?

“Cori's parents won't arrive in time for dinner, but we're planning to meet them at the comedy club near the pier after that,” Mom said.

“Oh, I should go call the restaurant to make sure they have our reservation all set,” Dad said, excusing himself from the table to go back up to their room for the restaurant's phone number.

“All of us are going to the comedy club, then?” I asked, taking another bite of my omelet.

“Yes, the Martins, the Blakes, Bobbie and Eddie—”

“Mom,” I interrupted, trying to come up with a way to get onto the Wonderment cruise ship so we could solve the Dillon mystery once and for all. “We were talking to some kids from Teen Club, and a few of them are going to that Taylor 'n Tyler concert.”

Cori looked at me from across the table and shrugged as if wondering what the heck I was saying. And she was right. The concert on the Wonderment cruise ship was supposed to be for the kids in the Sparkle Wish Club. How were we supposed to swing that?

“And you were thinking a pop concert might be more interesting than a washed-up comedian from a ten-year-old sitcom?” Mom asked, eyebrow raised.

“Kinda?” I said.

“Oh, all right,” Mom said with a smile. “Find out about tickets, and I'll talk to your dad. We're going to go back upstairs to rest before everyone arrives. You girls let us know when you get back to the room, okay?”

“Will do!” I said cheerily as Mom left the table.

“That was
weird
,” Cori said once Mom was gone. “Why would Officer Ensel say Dillon was back home if it wasn't true? Something is
not
right about this whole Dillon business.”

“Finally!” I exclaimed. “Someone believes me.”

“Kind of what Dillon's been hoping for all this time, huh?” Cori asked.

“Exactly,” I agreed, feeling guiltier than ever for not backing Dillon up at the Straw Market on Monday when he said he saw a body being tossed from the porthole. “I'm going to email Rayelle to give her a heads-up.” I pulled out my phone and emailed her to let her in on the plan and made sure to memorize her email address this time, just in case. “Meanwhile, we
have
to get on that ship and see what's up with that bald guy. I have a feeling he didn't just find Dillon's boat by accident.”

“You know that concert is closed to the general public, right?” Cori asked.

“Yes, but if we don't find out what's really going on, we'll never know what happened to Dillon. We need to get tickets for that concert,” I said.

Cori stared off over the ocean for a second then seemed to get an idea.

“Do you still have that Taylor 'n Tyler autograph?” she asked.

I wasn't sure what she was planning, but I hunted through my bag and found the autograph among Faye's and Officer Ensel's business cards.

“Right here,” I said, producing the slip of paper with the autograph. Cori took it from me, opened up the paper, and smiled.

“Don't worry about tickets. I'll hook you up,” she said.