Page 84 of Sirens
Vee put her hand on her beloved’s arm. “We’ve devised a stratagem for the consumer who would prefer a more…bespoke experience. A pleasure device fashioned after their own preferences. A lover, perhaps? Or a collection of pre-made stock cast from willing…well”—she checked over the assembled men with an assessing eye—“stock.”
“Whose dick is that?” Maggie asked, grabbing it from Myrtle and giving it a little wobble that made Trent nauseated.
“This one?” Vee eyed it as if it could answer the question. “Apologies, but I promised not to tell. So, if confidentiality is your thing, know it’s strictly enforced.”
A customer pulled Vee’s attention aside for a moment, and Myrtle plucked the product back from Maggie and turned to do her wifely duty and move some inventory.
“Come get your cock cast!” she called to the milling crowd. “Help a hetero woman get the dick she deserves without having to deal with the rest of your dumb ass!”
Vee turned to her wife with a gentle smile. “Darling, I’m not criticizing, but that’s not a great marketing strategy.”
“It’s the truth!” Myrtle insisted.
“Exactly,” Maggie muttered from Trent’s side, surprising him with the vitriol in her voice. “People rarely want to buy the truth.”
Vee turned to her, having heard the same note. “Mags, darling, did you update our detective on what we…discovered the other day?”
Trent’s lips thinned. “Once again, not a detective yet, and the two of you should not have gone…where you did.”
He was summarily ignored as the women began to collaborate and speculate.
“I want to know what you learned, you guys!” Gemma chimed in, her enthusiasm sparking the others’ interest. “I love Townsend Harbor history, as it’s usually better and stranger than fiction, and I would rather tear off my own face than wait for your podcast to finally finish production.”
Maggie’s laugh was rich and warm. “Well, in the interest of saving your awesome face, I’ll tell you…”
The story she told would have been a confession had she been sitting in an interrogation room, and Trent was increasingly chagrined at the amount of leeway he’d shown her that wasn’t strictly legal and was definitely against the code ofconduct. He didn’t learn anything new until she was winding down.
“And then Vee found the symbols of an anchor and the siren branded together down in the tunnels on a grate that had been bricked over,” Maggie revealed with the ardor of a campfire storyteller, in the very voice that was making her a star in a sea of online content. “When we followed up with the city, we realized there had been a drainage pipe behind the wall that they used to use as overflow until the breakwater was built in the marina.”
Gabe made an impressed sound. “Great place to smuggle goods and/or people to the water. I think you found your shanghai spot.”
At that, Maggie frowned. “I’m…not so sure after what else Vee found in the library.”
“Ah, yes,” Vee replied with a nod, her voice infused with enthusiasm. “A ledger, if you believe it. We found it tucked away in an old desk drawer. It listed payments from somewhere, but instead of noting the source, there were just pictures of anchors next to each sum.”
“Anchors?” Ethan furrowed his brow, his old investigative instincts aroused.
“Yup,” Myrtle chimed in, “and the amounts were quite large for the time. Large enough to make a big-dicked whale blush!”
“Are you suggesting a collaboration between your ancestor and Madame Katz?” Darby asked her man, leaning forward with a glint in her eye.
“Can’t rule it out.” He shrugged. “I had a conversation just the other day with Mayor Spew—er—Stewart, because I found several personal accounts of the old-timey Stewart spending much time and money at Madame Katz’s, despite hating the woman. And… I don’t know… The way he wrote about her…” His pale cheeks pinkened, as the starch-shirted town hero hadn’t yet learned to let all his hair down. Darby was still working on him.
“Could be more than just a business deal,” Myrtle added, wading into the conversation with her usual sharp insight. “Those two could’ve been thick as thieves, or maybe even lovers! I’ll bet they were lovers. I’ll bet they weresecret fuckinglovers!”
Gabe faked a gag. “Please don’t sayloversunless there’s ameatbefore and apizzaafter.”
The group shared a chuckle, and then a knowing look, contemplating the scandalous implications.
Ethan’s eyes widened as he made an internal connection. “You know, my family crest has an anchor in it.”
Darby smacked him hard on the shoulder. “That’s right! You were telling me the Townsends were famous seafarers since before the first Elizabeth was getting her dick sucked by Shakespeare.”
“I didn’t say it like that,” he muttered with a boyish sense of defensiveness. “But after they settled in the Americas, they became carpenters. Built most of this fucking town—you’re welcome. If you see a charming building, Ethan’s brother Ryan planned the thing, and Ethan built it. That’s why there are anchors chiseled all over the damn place… Ethan and Ryan wanted all their buildings to carry the mark.”
“Gangster move,” Gabe said approvingly.
“Really?” Maggie’s eyes twinkled as the pieces started to fall into place. “Madame Katz used the siren symbol as her own. Doyouthink it’s possible that your ancestor and Madame Katz might have been working together instead of being enemies? Perhaps…even more?”
