Page 34 of Sirens
Peeking past its plump marble buttocks, she felt a jolt of shock as she saw Mayor Stewart talking to…Ethan Townsend?
Bracing a shoulder against the statue’s base, she brought her camera up to her face, killed the flash, and began snapping photos.
Through the electronic aperture, she watched Ethan’s broad shoulders stiffen as he turned to respond, his voice too low for her to make out except for a handful of words that kicked her heart into a gallop.
Not going to give up… no longer hide… founders… time they knew.
Whatever he’d said, it was enough to make the mayor’s artificially tanned face darken to a raw-liver burgundy.
“As long as you remember that the Stewart family’s reputation isn’t the only thing that stands to suffer if the Palace Hotel’s full history comes to light,” the mayor said withthe affected projection of a man used to cutting ribbons with ornamental oversized shears. “If some comes out, all comes out.”
Ethan crossed his arms over his flannel-clad chest, giving the mayor a look that would have frozen molten lava. His ice-blue eyes narrowed, and his lip curled in distaste. “So be it.”
With that, he turned on his heel, the gravel crunching under his boots echoing through the tense silence.
Maggie’s face tingled as her mind raced, questions swirling in her mind like the plastic snow in the tacky globes her mother collected from places that had never seemed worthy of remembering.
How was the Townsend family connected to the Palace Hotel? Did that mean they were also connected to Madame Katz?
What had Mayor Stewart meant when he said “if some comes out, all comes out”?
Why was the stone structure she had been leaning against slowly disappearing from beneath her shoulder?—
A gasp tore free from Maggie’s throat, the thick strap around her neck jerking as the camera dropped from her hands and her arms pinwheeled out to regain her balance.
Only in grabbing the branch of a denuded Japanese maple did she manage to keep herself from going face-first into the drink.
The perpetually pissing cupid, not so much.
Mayor Stewart’s eyes went first to the mess in the fountain, then rose to her, his face a mask of indignant fury. Maggie’s breath hitched, and she felt an unwelcome flare of irritation spread through her chest and rise to her cheeks.
“This was a lawsuit waiting to happen!” she said, stabbing a dagger-like nail at the ceramic soup. “I could have been killed.”
“Miss Michaels,” he said, his voice soaked with contempt. “What do you think you’re doing on my property? You’re lucky I didn’t press charges after your little stunt at the Palace Hotel.”
Maggie took a step closer, narrowing her eyes at him. “Lucky?” she challenged. “See, I kind of thought it was super sus that you took your balls and went home so quickly. What is it about the Palace Hotel that has your taint in a twist?”
The mayor’s face deepened to summer eggplant. “Apologies, but would you mind repeating that in plain English? With your quaint colloquialisms and your…accent, it’s difficult to apprehend your meaning.”
“I bet the readers of theTownsend Leaderwon’t have any difficulty,” Maggie said, using her nail to flick the flash back on before snapping a picture of the mayor’s rage-creased face. “Especially accompanied by the pictures of you attempting to strong-arm Ethan Townsend into keeping quiet. You apprehend that okay, jackfuck?”
Mayor Stewart paled slightly at her words, though he tried to maintain his composure. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Miss Michaels. This is pure, rank speculation on your part.”
Picking up on the subtle tension in his shoulders, she leaned in closer, her breath tickling his cheek as she whispered, “Is it, though? Because you have no idea what I was able to document before Deputy McGarvey came along the other night.” She tapped the camera hanging around her neck. “And whatever secrets you’re trying to protect, well… I’ve got all the evidence I need right here on this memory card.”
The mayor’s steely façade cracked for an instant, allowing Maggie a glimpse of the fear lurking beneath his arrogant exterior. He cleared his throat, obviously attempting to regain control of the conversation. “If you think this kind of sophomoric bluff will be effective on me, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“Am I?” Maggie replied, her heart pounding with adrenaline. “You tell me, Mr. Mayor. Are you willing to take that risk?”
The mayor lunged without warning, his lotioned grip surprisingly strong as it closed over her wrist.
Maggie clamped her fingers down on the camera strap just as Mayor Stewart made a grab for it, their hands brushing against each other in a tug-of-war for control.
“Let go of my Nikon, you pompous asshat,” Maggie snapped, her knuckles whitening as she tightened her grip.
“Not as long as it contains unauthorized images ofmyproperty,” Mayor Stewart retorted, his face reddening with exertion.
“You take your hands off her camera, or I’m going to take them off for you.”
