Page 25 of Sirens
“Holy shit,” he said.
“What?” Maggie asked, pulse leaping high in her throat. “What is it?”
Gabe’s dark head reappeared, a smirk sharpening his features. “A really fucking tiny closet.”
Shaking her head, Maggie followed him, blinking against the glare in her lens as Gabe fired up the flashlight and pushed the false panel aside.
There, embossed on the brick wall at the top of a narrow set of stairs, was a mermaid.
Maggie broke out in a full-body shiver as a tsunami of déjà vu spilled over her.
She could swear she’d seen one just like it somewhere else.
A tremor sizzled through her fingers in time with her heart as she reached to touch it…just as the ear-piercing shrill of an alarm shattered the thick silence.
“Shit!” Maggie blurted, panic seizing her chest. She and Gabe exchanged wide-eyed glances, his face mirroring her own fear. Without another word, they raced back down the rickety stairs, the urgency of their escape underscored by the relentless wail of the alarm.
They’d barely made it to the ground floor when the unmistakable strobe of red and blue lights danced across the peeling wallpaper.
Myrtle stage-whispered the totally fucking obvious through cupped hands: “It’s the fuzz!”
“Fucking perfect,” Maggie muttered, cursing small towns and their infuriatingly quick response time. Her mind raced, scrambling for a plan.
“Look, both of you should get out of here,” Maggie insisted. “You both have businesses in town. You have so much more to lose than I do.”
Myrtle snorted, a hint of defiance flickering in her eyes. “Fuck that. I’m no coward.”
“Same here,” Gabe chimed in, his jaw set with determination. “We’re in this together.”
“All right then,” Maggie whispered, steeling herself for the inevitable confrontation.
Flanked by Myrtle and Gabe on either side, she pushed open the hotel door and stepped out into the cool night air.
To her astonishment, there stood Trent McGarvey.
Trent McGarvey…in auniform.
“Deputy McGarvey,” Myrtle drawled, offering him a saccharine smile. “What brings you to this fine establishment on such a lovely evening?”
DeputyMcGarvey?
“Evening, Myrtle. I could ask you the same thing,” McGarvey replied, his gaze flicking from Myrtle to Maggie and Gabe. “Seems like an odd time for a stroll on private property.”
“Odd time for a patrol, too, wouldn’t you say?” Myrtle shot back.
“Actually,” Trent retorted, his voice firm but not unkind, “I received a call about a possible break-in. And lo and behold, here you all are.”
As Trent’s gaze locked on to Maggie’s, she could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. She tried to sink into some well of inner calm but found only a nest of oily snakes. It ’t help that the memory of their kiss lingered on her lips, making her wish they were anywhere but here.
“All right, folks,” McGarvey finally announced, his expression somber, “I have no choice but to bring you in for trespassing.”
“Are w-we under arrest?” Maggie stammered, a sick ache mingling with the growing dread in her gut. An arrest would mean an active warrant search…maybe a criminal record search.
And if he found that, he’d find?—
“Right now, you’re being detained pending a little chat at the station.” His voice betrayed a touch of disappointment. “The quicker we get this over with, the faster Vee shows up with Lyra to bail Myrtle out and/or bully everyone out of pressing charges. Swear to Christ, those two have more lives than Kevin Costner.”
“He’s a cat,” Myrtle explained.
