Dying Dreams (Book 1 of Dying Dreams Trilogy) Read Online Free Page A

and brought it with you?”
    She shook her head. “No. It was in an advanced state of decomp, Gupp, pretty nasty. Why, what did you learn from the samples?” For the first time, she wondered if she’d made a mistake giving the scale and hair to Gupp, but it had made sense the day before. She’d studied the samples long enough to be sure that the scale wasn’t plastic and the hair wasn’t human, and had hoped Gupp, with his years of field work and study might have seen something like them before. She believed in science and logical explanations, and if there were truly mermaids in the sea, Gupp would know about them or he’d find what she hadn’t been able to and prove the woman was a human in a costume.
    He studied her for a long moment. “The scale is cycloid, very similar to an eel’s scale, but different enough to be unlike anything I’ve seen before. And that strand of hair you gave me… did the fish have hair?”
    Why hadn’t she thought this through before she gave Gupp the samples? Oh, yeah, because she never thought things through, she just figured everything would work out in the end and this was Gupp, she didn’t keep secrets from him. But telling him she plucked the hair from a dead woman because she thought she might be a mermaid? That was just too weird. “There was a lot of debris washed up on the shore. It seemed like the hair was attached, but like I said decomp was advanced, so…”
    “That hair is insane. It’s got the composition of beaver fur, but it’s so long. Would you mind going back to the beach this morning, after you get the classroom lab set up, to see if the fish is still there? I’d go with you but–”
    “You have to teach. Sure, I was planning to head out that way later anyway and I don’t have to be at the restaurant until six.”
    He smiled. “Thanks, Liza. I appreciate it.”
     
    She didn’t expect the mermaid to still be on the beach, but she’d hoped to find Agent Rice. The chances of that were about as likely as being struck by lightning, but she didn’t have any better ideas and she needed to see him. She’d seen the face of the man who’d killed that mermaid and she needed to tell him. Then, she needed to ask him how no one had ever noticed there were fucking mermaids in the ocean.
    She walked up and down the beach, enjoying another sunny, warm June day, glad it hadn’t gotten too hot, yet. She combed the sand for seashells or seaweed samples, but there wasn’t as much since the sea had been calm for the past two days. She walked and saw nothing. No Agent Rice and no mermaids. After an hour, she headed back to the lab to help Dr. Gupp clean up, and to do some work on her own project.

 
     
     
CHAPTER FOUR
     
    *SLOANE*
     
     
    “You look like shit,” Fulsom said. He was sitting in the cubicle they shared, his feet propped on the desk and his knowing smirk annoying Sloane. “Have another fight with Frankie?”
    “I need a new couch,” Sloane said, twisting and rubbing his back. He didn’t like to talk about his personal life at work, but he knew from experience that Fulsom wouldn’t back down until he got the story out of him. He was like a pit bull with gossip. It was easier to just throw him a bone.
    “No, what you need to do is start paying more attention to your girl. You’re never gonna get the transfer, so stop wrecking your personal life and start putting Frankie first.”
    “One of us has to think about the job,” Sloane said. “You got anything back on the mermaid?”
    Fulsom nodded, his expression grim. “Same as the others. She was suffering from the increased temperature and acidity of the waters and she swam too close to shore. Looks like she was disoriented and was electrocuted. Adamson says it’s the right voltage for an eel.”
    “How many eels are in that water?” Sloane asked. “Enough to kill eight mermaids in five weeks?”
    “Not our problem. Boss wants us to go have a talk with the wolves today.”
    “Fuck the