Page 14 of The Tides of March (Moon Murder Mysteries)

Thirteen

T he week after the wedding had been touch and go for Tony. He bounced back the day after the wedding but the terrible premonitions persisted and while Tony was loath to admit it, Ronan was never far from his thoughts. Ronan hadn’t been sighted at the marina since he dropped off Tony and Howard’s deliveries hadn’t been picked up. To make matters worse, he wasn’t answering Howard’s or Nox’s calls.

“He might be hiding because of me,” Tony warned a very concerned Nox, Nelson, and Merlin a few days later. “I don’t know what I said or did but Ronan made it very clear he didn’t want anything to do with me. Not that he was a big fan of either of you before, especially Nox.

“That guy!” Nox laughed and shook his head. “He doesn’t mean it.”

“I think he might, in your case,” Tony said.

Merlin hummed thoughtfully as he circled Tony. “You say you’ve been having strange dreams about Ronan and you have unexplainable aches and pains?”

“Severe aches and pains,” Tony confirmed.

“And this began after you and the merrow mated?”

Tony thought back, then shook his head. “I started having really intense dreams after the attack but they were hard to make out before I got to Poole’s Island. Like, shadows and vibes, you know?”

A mystified look furrowed Nelson’s brow as he looked up from his notepad. He had been scribbling furiously and flipping between pages. “Shadows and vibes?”

“Just…” Tony’s hand rolled as he tried to describe it. “Sort of like an acid trip, but not a good one. Like I was someplace dark and a really bad dream was happening. But not to me . I could just hear and sense that something serious was going on.”

“Okay…”

“Sounds aural and makes sense to me,” Nox said. “I can feel when someone’s energy is bad or their will is set against me. It’s ugly and feels gross, but it’s not a thing you can really put into words. I have similar sensations when I have a vision and it’s of something scary.”

Merlin nodded, tapping his chin. “Those with the second sight often experience dread and even have physical symptoms before a catastrophe or making a dire prophecy,” he said and Tony waved him off.

“I don’t have the second sight. It’s probably just my overactive imagination and this fixation with solving the case.” He winced at the board and the pictures of the victims. “I might have stared too long at that and I’ve been reading everything I can on krakens.”

“But your dreams started before you returned and found out about the other victims,” Nox argued.

“Right… It was a little traumatic, getting attacked by a dead orphan and left on a stormy beach. Even if I knew the last part was for my own good.”

“That would give me nightmares,” Nelson murmured as he wrote but Nox held up a finger.

“When did they get more specific?” he asked and Tony gave him a sheepish look.

“Possibly after we… you know .”

“How marvelous!” Merlin said, clapping and hopping excitedly. “I think we have an oracle in our midst and I think he’s bonded with that merrow. Their souls are connected—tethered—and the merrow is suffering without his mate.”

“It could be worse than that,” Nox said with a wide-eyed look at Merlin. “Ronan could be injured, judging from how sick Tony’s been. That might be why he’s not responding or making his regular trips to the marina.

There was a knock at the door and Nelson went to get it. He returned a moment later with a breathless Fletcher Bixby.

“We might have a problem. A big problem,” he said as he joined them in the study. “I had a friend look into the victims from my neck of the woods and our boys weren’t what you’d call socially…adept.”

Nox cringed hard. “Probably virgins?” he asked and Fletcher nodded.

“Not a single one of them had anything resembling a romantic relationship in their histories. One of the victims, Devin Shelly, was described as the ‘ultra virgin’ and someone wrote ‘ Least likely to get laid ’ in his high school yearbook.”

“Ouch! Poor kid. That is a problem,” Nox agreed as he went to the board and tapped the picture of the young man that had washed up on Pooles Island. “Bryan Hannigan—our first victim—was a devout Catholic like the young man from Rome. He was taken from the seminary and was going to be a priest as well.”

Tony swallowed the knot that had formed in his throat. “So it’s safe to guess he was a virgin,” he said weakly, then glanced at the map and the pin on Pooles Island. “But the others weren’t becoming priests. Aside from a monastery, how do you find three virgin men in this day and age?” he asked and Nelson held up a hand, sighing heavily.

“I can tell you how,” he said as he turned and opened his laptop so everyone could see the screen. “The techs from the forensics department sent this over earlier. I had them search the victims’ phones and computers and everyone but Bryan Hannigan were members of the same Reddit forum: incelsARENTus. I didn’t know what an ‘incel’ was so I looked it up and it means ‘involuntary celibate’ and is a derogatory term for a young man who blames women and society for their lack of romantic ‘experience.’ They often espouse extremely misogynistic sentiments. Some express dangerous, extremist talking points and advocate for violence against women.”

Tony’s face twisted. “Ew. I’ve heard the word used around campus and online but I didn’t realize it was that toxic.”

There was a hum of agreement from Nox. “Me too. I assumed it was something gross but yikes . Our victims weren’t incels, though?” he verified and Nelson nodded.

“The subreddit is for virgins, mostly men, who don’t hate women and say they are virgins because they respect women too much to manipulate and gaslight them just to have sex,” he said and Tony winced.

“They sure made that easy. That’s like shooting virgin fish in a barrel.”

Fletcher groaned, scrubbing his closely cropped salt-and-pepper hair. “Too easy. Any chance they found anything else in common?” he asked Nelson.

“They did,” he said, giving the keyboard a few taps and there were several gasps as a photo of a stunning woman with brunette hair, light green eyes, and olive skin appeared on the screen. “Meet Meriel.” He gestured grandly at the screen and Tony widened his eyes appreciatively as he leaned in for a closer look.

Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she was wearing a light pink dress with poofy, off the shoulder straps and a corset that showcased her incredible breasts. She had hiked the flowing skirt up one of her thick, luscious thighs to reveal a sexy pink heel.

“I’d like to,” Tony said with a flirty wink, making Nox laugh.

“I sense a trap.” He gave Tony’s collar a yank.

“It is,” Nelson confirmed as he pointed at her foot. “Meriel is AI. This floating strap that doesn’t correspond with anything on the rest of the shoe is one clue,” he said, then enlarged her hand. “And she appears to have two thumbs.”

Tony hissed sheepishly. “I wasn’t looking at her hands.”

“Same,” Fletcher said in a guilty groan and Nelson nodded as he tapped, bringing up another Reddit thread. “Meriel posted this, describing her secret nerd fetish. She said she had fantasies about finding the sweetest, shyest, most unwanted nerds and making sure their first times were life-changing experiences.”

“Uh oh!” Tony said, shaking his head at the screen. “That is definitely a trap.”

“And they all fell into it,” Nelson replied. “They were all suspicious and needed convincing. But eventually, they were all hooked and she reeled them in within a matter of days.”

“You poor dummies,” Fletcher said sadly and they all muttered and sighed in agreement.

“Then what?” Nox asked, earning a hard look from Nelson.

“This is where Meriel got really clever. She never set up any meetings. She just strung them along.”

Nox’s head canted. “How do we know it was her if she strung them along?”

“The locations of the crime scenes,” Nelson said as he advanced to a screenshot of a direct message conversation between Meriel and Devin Shelley. “Here, he describes a busy day at work and says that every Friday night is like that. And this is where he told her that he’s the last one to leave because he has to wait for the next day’s pastry delivery, then lock up the shop.”

There was a pained sound from Fletcher and Nox threw his hands up. “That was practically an invitation!”

“Yup.” Nelson went to the next screenshot. “This is from our last victim, Gabriele Barone. He was also Catholic and went to church with his mother regularly. He was a software engineer and worked in cybersecurity on one of the bases. I called and talked to his supervisor and she described Gabriele as ‘the sweetest nerd.’”

“Damn it,” Fletcher said, chewing on a thumbnail. “I think we’ve found the link.”

“Yup,” Nelson repeated. “Gabriele told Meriel that he walked the same trail every Saturday as long as the weather cooperated. It’s where he used to take his dog, Yoda, and the pug’s ashes were scattered at this scenic marker by the river,” he said as he went to the map on the rolling board and pointed at the pin. “They found Gabriele’s car in the parking lot and he was last seen by an early morning jogger. He said they crossed paths as Gabriele was just setting off and had a brief exchange about the conditions,” Nelson informed them.

“That is sneaky!” Nox said, strolling to the board. “Do they have any idea who is behind Meriel?”

“Not yet but they’re working on it,” Nelson replied as he shut the laptop.

Merlin clicked his teeth. “A digital siren! How devious,” he declared and gave Nox’s chest a jab. “You should tell them what Meriel means. I’d think that was pertinent,” he said scoldingly.

Nox gasped, smacking his forehead before flashing a wide grin. “It’s an old name and it means ‘sea nymph!’ From the Gaelic word muir, which means ‘sea’ and ‘gheal,’ which translates to ‘bright.’ Muirgheal: ‘bright sea.’”

“Very devious!” Merlin said as he narrowed his eyes at the board. “A digital siren named Meriel, trapping young virgin men, and a sacrifice to Balor, requesting permission to raise a Fomorian kraken… Do we believe that it is merely a coincidence that all of these events occurred after we delivered Tony to Pooles Island?” he asked, swinging around and advancing on Tony. “Have you had any other visions or do you remember anything else that occurred after you arrived that was unusual?”

Tony shook his head. “How would I know? It was all a blur and I was barely conscious the first few days.”

“You must think!” Merlin urged and took both of Tony’s hands in his. “I believe the gutted seal and the head found at Tor Mór were left a few days after you arrived on that island,” he said in a low, growling whisper.

“The seal…” Tony murmured as a memory tickled and whispered in his ear. He shut his eyes tight, waiting for it to grow louder, then heard Ronan grumbling about something found on his beach and burying it. “A seal. He found a seal,” Tony recalled and gasped loudly. “Ronan found a seal! It was right after I arrived, while I was still in and out of consciousness. But I remember Ronan being extra surly and soaking wet after one of his walks. After he found the body, Ronan told me he’d found a dead seal.”

“That’s bad .” Nox scrubbed a hand across his lips as he exchanged a loaded look with Merlin. “We need to get a hold of Ronan immediately.”

“He hasn’t returned any of our calls,” he said and Nox swore as he checked his watch and looked around the room. “I’d say we make a trip out tonight, but the tide’s too high and there’s supposed to be a storm.”

“We’ll go out tomorrow afternoon or evening, once the weather clears,” Nelson said, then grimaced. “You’ll go out. I’ll drive you to the marina so you can take Clancy’s boat out to the island,” he amended, earning snorts and chuckles from everyone else.

Nox put an arm around Nelson. “Poor baby gets a yucky tummy if he leaves land so he’ll hang back,” he said and raised his brows at Tony. “You’ve been pretty quiet. Are you in?”

“In?” Tony shook his head. “Not if you’re headed to Pooles Island. I wouldn’t help that miserable son of a bitch if the fate of humanity was in the balance,” he stated with a firm nod, crossing his arms over his chest for good measure.

“Well.” Nox tapped his fingertips together thoughtfully as he considered. “Seeing as we’re talking about a kraken… It could be,” he argued but Tony shrugged.

“Good thing you’re a demigod and you’ve got a team of magickal super helpers for backup. What do you need me for?”

Nox’s brows pinched together as he blinked at Tony. “You said you didn’t want to be left out. There might be a kraken and you’re hanging back?”

Tony nodded. “Normally, I would be stoked and totally down for some kraken hunting but Ronan told me to keep away from him and to never go back to Pooles Island and that’s just fine by me,” he said and Nelson raised a hand.

“You said that Ronan never hurt you but I’m starting to think that wasn’t the case.”

A hard snort burst from Tony and he shook his head. “No. Whatever happened between me and Ronan has nothing to do with this case ,” he said as he gestured at the pictures of the victims on the board. “Focus on them,” he added, then turned and stormed out of the study before he was asked any more questions.

Tony was perilously close to spilling every humiliating detail and turning their search party into a pity party.