Josh Lanyon - The Mermaid Murders

“You have nothing to hide?” Boxner said. “How about the fact that you never came forward to admit you were the one who carved those mermaids?”

“As far as I’m aware,” Kyser said, “no effort to find the creator of the mermaids was ever mounted. No such search was advertised in the press. And why would it be of interest or importance? I had nothing to do with those murders, was not aware that my work was used in such an obscene way by Pink until I interviewed him years later.”

“You could have come forward then,” Jason said. He was considering the use of the word creator . It struck him as off. Kennedy would probably have some theories on that.

“No. That would have solved nothing. I would have lost Pink’s trust, which I needed for my book. And it would have directed unwelcome publicity and attention my way. Only a fool or a madman would willingly put himself in that spotlight.”

Boxner said, “That wasn’t your call. You should have—”

“Incorrect and inaccurate,” Kyser said flatly. “Pink is already serving several life sentences with no possibility of parole. There was nothing you could have gained, but there was—and is—a great deal I could lose.”

Everything Kyser said made a certain amount of sense, and yet Jason had the feeling that they were missing something.

“That’s a pretty weird attitude to take, sir,” Boxner said. “If you don’t mind my saying so.”

Kyser glared at him. “As a matter of fact, I do mind you saying so. Who are you to judge me?”

Boxner bristled. “I’ll tell you who I—”

“Why mermaids?” Jason raised his voice, talking right over Boxner who just wasn’t going to let it go even if he antagonized Kyser into lawyering up.

Kyser’s strange dark gaze fastened once more on Jason’s. “What do you know about mermaids, Agent West?”

“Not a lot,” Jason admitted. “Mythological creatures, half-woman and half-fish, that appear in most of the folktales and legends of the world. They’re water spirits, right?”

“Mythological.” Kyser laughed. “No. The mermaid is as real as you or I. She is an Assyrian demon. There are numerous historical accounts of these creatures. Christopher Columbus reported seeing mermaids during his exploration of the Caribbean. Sightings continue to this day in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Israel, and Zimbabwe. To encounter one is to encounter disaster.”

“An Assyrian demon.” Boxner was looking at Jason.

Kyser glared at him. “Yes, Officer Box. And I know what you’re thinking. To believe in an angel is perfectly normal. To believe in the Christian devil is reasonable. Yet to believe in an Assyrian demon, the oldest by far of all of these, is to be crazy.”

Okaaaaaay.

“Dr. Kyser, did you know Martin Pink previous to interviewing him for your book?” Jason inquired.

For the first time Kyser hesitated. His licked his lips. “I wouldn’t say that I knew him. I ran into him on occasion. I’m something of an amateur naturalist, and I used to spend a good deal of time in the woods around Kingsfield. As did Pink, though our objectives were very different.”

“I see. Are you familiar with Rexford?”

Kyser stared. “Rexford. What is that?”

“It’s a ghost town. On the edge of the Quabbin Reservoir. One of the villages that were flooded during the thirties.”

If Kyser was an amateur naturalist spending a good deal of time flitting around the woods of Kingsfield, he had to be aware of Rexford. It was the first time during their interview Jason was sure he was being lied to. Lied to in spirit if not in letter.

Kyser frowned at Jason. He cracked his knuckles twice in quick succession.

“Dr. Kyser?” Jason prodded.

Kyser seemed to snap out of whatever preoccupied him. “Excuse me a moment,” he said. “I believe my lunch is burning.” He turned and left the room.

Boxner, staring up at the rows of grimacing, contorted jack-o’-lanterns, softly whistled the theme to the Twilight Zone .

“Shut up,” Jason muttered.

“Are you afraid the Assyrian demons will hear me?”

Kyser’s footsteps faded away. Jason took a closer look at the some of the books on the shelves. Art books…medical books… Russian Folk Belief; The Encyclopedia of Spirits: the Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods, and Goddesses; The Mermaid and the Minotaur … Principles of Deformity Correction … Disability, Deformity, and Disease in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales …

“Look at this.” Boxner lifted one of the elongated jack-o’-lanterns. “Look at the hole in the bottom. You could wear this. It’s like a-a—”

“Headdress,” Jason said.

From the rear of the house he heard a car’s engine roar into life.

“Oh, hell no.”

Boxner looked at him in surprise and then belatedly registered the engine sound too. “Shit!” He set the jack-o’-lantern on the floor, following Jason as he dived out of the room.

They ran through the house, feet pounding the wooden floorboards until they reached the kitchen.

White cupboards, quartz counters, and stainless-steel appliances. Nothing strange. Nothing sinister. Aside from the fact that no one was in there.

Nothing sat on the stove. There was no aroma of cooking food, let alone burning food.

The unlatched back screen banged gently in the summer breeze. The black Porsche parked behind the house was gone. Dust seemed to sparkle golden in the sunlight as it drifted down on the wide, empty dirt road.

“I don’t know what spooked him,” Jason said. He was standing in front of Kyser’s house, speaking to Kennedy on his cell phone. Overhead, silver-edged clouds rolled and tumbled playfully through the wide blue sky. “I will say, I think Kyser’s a very weird dude. Even so, nothing happened in the course of that interview that should have made him bolt.”

“You and Boxner were together the entire time?”

“Yes.”

“Nothing was said to Kyser out of your hearing?”

“No.”

“Hm.”

Jason had already recounted the entire interview with Kyser in detail, and it continued not to make any sense to him. “His answers were plausible. I can’t say that I had a sense that he was lying about anything except maybe knowing of Rexford’s existence. And why he would lie about that, or why the question would panic him into flight, I don’t know. Rexford’s existence isn’t a secret. Nor is it illegal to explore the village, despite all those No Trespassing signs. I feel like something’s not right here, but I can’t…”

Kennedy finished, “Put your finger on anything that gives us legal grounds to pursue Kyser any further.”

“Correct. It’s not against the law to carve art objects that were later misappropriated and used in homicides. It’s not against the law to refuse to speak to the police. It’s not against the law to drive off like a bat out of hell.”

“All right. Thanks for the update.”

“Should we…I don’t know. You’ll want to see these jack-o’-lanterns though. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be ornamental or ceremonial, but they’re pretty unsettling. As was the lecture on Assyrian demons. Anyway, I took a bunch of photos with my phone. Boxner and I had a look around, but we couldn’t find anything that would justify an official search of the property.”

“No,” Kennedy said quickly. “Don’t proceed without a warrant. For all we know Kyser is on his way to his lawyer right now. I think we’ve learned what we needed to.”

“We have?” News to Jason, but there was no point trying to get into this on the phone. “How’s it going there?”

“The doctors still won’t let us in to interview the girl. At least she’s stable. I’m sure we’ll get a statement before the day is out. You’re headed back to Kingsfield?”