Mermaid

Chapter 18

"What do you mean she's left the country!?" Nathan demanded over the phone.

Louise held the phone away from her ear when the detective yelled. "It's as I said, a friend of her's decided to send her out, my granddaughter has never been out of the country before and she thought it would be good for her to get away from everything for a little while after what's been happening to her recently, partly which is you and your partner's doing might I add. Besides it's not like she's running away, she'll be back in a few weeks. Why did you need to talk to her anyway? Is she in trouble?"

Nathan let out a breath, forcing himself to calm down. "No she's not; I just had some questions about her mother."

"Her mother? You mean Yara, her mother is gone, what more do you need to know?"

Nathan went quite. "No, never mind, it's not important unless I talk to her. when she comes back though tell her that I'll need to speak with her." hanging up Nathan leaned back in his office chair looking down at an old case file from nineteen years ago, and staring back up at him was a picture of Yara Lawrence.

A case file that had been labelled unsolved in slanted words across the document. Three days ago he had gone to his old partner's home to talk.

Richard Forrest seemed rather content with the life he had now, living in quite solitude and his small fishing boat that he used in the late spring to early fall. His body looking rather overweight as his hair that was clearly thinning on the top of his head with the creasing lines around his mouth that showed he smiled more than anything else. But when Nathan mentioned the name Yara Lawrence, Richard suddenly changed.

"Why do you want to know about her? She was just a woman who modeled from time to time in a small magazine company while providing for her family."

"You know about her?" Nathan then stood, having the urge to slam his palms across the glass coffee table. "I gave you this woman's description and everything nineteen years ago, but you clearly told me that she didn't exist! Why the hell would you lie about something like this in an investigation?"

"For the good of mankind."

Nathan frowned. "What?"

Richard stood up and stared out his window that looked right out to the ocean. "There's a legend here that the fisherman have that's been passed down from generation to generation. Immortal beings that thrive in water, and yet look human, but are nothing of the sort, they travel using water and control it, summoning storms and ending lives before eating those who drown in the vast depths of the ocean. Beings that can ether look completely human or become like that of monsters."

"Just what are you getting at?"

The man sighed before turning to head back to his seat. "The thing about Yara is, that she's something not from here, and the few people know of the existence of such beings tends to keep quiet about it for fear of what could happen and wanting to keep the family they have together. She's not from here, and even if I were to tell you where she was originally from you wouldn't find her."

Nathan was quite unsure of what his old partner was getting at.

"These beings of which I speak, they go by many names, Ningyo, Sirena, Rusalka, Deniz kızı, Měirényú, In-eo, Jengu, Aycayia, Iara and more, but the most common one that's spoken of is the English word. Mermaids."

"Mermaids?" Nathan repeated before laughing, though when he saw his partner's expression he realized that the old man was serious. "You actually mean that you think Yara, is or was, a mermaid?"

"I don't think it, I know it. Tell me Nathan do you remember during all of those murders that my wife Heather suddenly became incredibly sick? And that the medicine that was needed was far too costly for us to buy?"