Peter was in the middle of giving a flying lesson to the boys from Mrs. Nancy's when Slightly rushed into the flying chamber.
"Come with me right now!" He exclaimed, then ran out before Peter could ask for an explanation. He looked around at the roomful of floating boys.
"Hey Trevor, how about you take over?"
The red-haired boy next to him nearly fell to the floor. "Really?"
"Sure. You've been flying for a week now. You're practically a professional."
"Okay!" Trevor said excitedly, giving Peter a toothy grin and flying to the center of the chamber.
Peter exited the chamber and tried to track down where Slightly was. He spotted him running through the jungle towards the beach. He followed after Slightly until he reached the lagoon, where a chaotic crowd was gathered. Peter looked around in confusion. People were yelling at Slightly and Smee, and a few children were even crying.
"We came here specifically to see the show!" A large woman shouted at Slightly. "I demand a refund!"
"You will certainly get one," Slightly replied as calmly as he could. "Just give us a minute to work everything out."
Peter walked over to Slightly. "What's going on?"
"We're still not sure," Slightly said, his voice ragged. "But none of the mermaids showed up for their performance."
Peter raised his eyebrows. "That's strange. I thought they loved doing this show."
"So did I. Maybe they've changed their minds." Slightly rubbed his forehead as another irate visitor approached him. "Could you call Tink and have her check the underwater cameras?"
"Sure." Peter pulled out his two-way radio and paged Tink.
"Hey Peter, what's up?"
"We we wondering if you had eyes on the mermaids."
"I will in a minute," Tink responded. "All of the lagoon cameras went out last night and they're almost done rebooting."
"They went out?"
"Yeah. It happens pretty often, actually. Something about the pressure makes them temperamental."
Peter took a deep breath. He hoped it was just a coincidence, but he had a feeling this was more than just reluctant mermaids and faulty equipment. He waited for a few seconds until Tink's voice crackled through his radio again.
"Okay, the cameras are back up," she said. "And it looks like..."
She was silent for a long time.
"Tink?"
"Peter, the mermaids are gone."
*****
Peter had never seen so many people in central control at once. Curly was there with Tink, Slightly was pacing the small room, and a groggy looking Jack Baker sat in the corner with his head in his hands. Slightly had called him in since he was on duty last night. It almost could have been a party if the mood wasn't so serious.
"So, Jack, where are the mermaids?" Slightly asked.
Jack's head shot up. "How am I supposed to know?"
"Because you were down in the lagoon last night," Tink remarked, pulling up footage of Jack and Cora on one of the screens.
"What were you doing down there?" Peter asked.
"I was saying goodbye," Jack mumbled.
Peter was utterly puzzled. "Why?"
Jack blew out a breath. "Because I like Cora," he admitted in an exasperated tone. "I might even love her. There, I said it. I'm in love with a mermaid. But that doesn't matter, because she's in love with someone else."
They all stared at Jack until Tink spoke up. "So, in a jealous rage you kidnapped her and all of her friends."
Jack threw his hands in the air. "Are you serious? Do you honestly think I would do that?"
"Well, the lagoon cameras went out right after your conversation with Cora," Slightly said. "It does seem a bit suspicious."
"Oh, yes, I carted them all back to my apartment," Jack said sarcastically. "They were a bit disappointed about the size of the bathtub, but I think they'll manage."
Curly snickered. "He does have a point."
"Thank you!" Jack exclaimed. "What would I do with a bunch of mermaids? The idea is absolutely ludicrous!"
"Well, you were in a mental institution for a week," Tink countered.
Jack looked like he was about to explode. He ran his hand through his thick hair and took a deep breath. "Do you have footage from the desert last night?"
"Yes," Tink answered, typing in a few commands and scrolling through the footage until Jack came into view.
"I couldn't have kidnapped the mermaids because I was there for the rest of the night," Jack grumbled.
They all leaned forward to look at the screen.
"Jack, were you... building sandcastles?" Slightly asked.
"I was frustrated!" Jack exclaimed. "I needed a distraction! I may be pathetic, but I'm not crazy."
"Maybe if you had been doing your job, the mermaids wouldn't be gone," Slightly snapped.
"Maybe you should fire me," Jack retorted. "It would save me the trouble of having to quit."
"You were going to quit?"
"Yeah. I was going to tell you tonight."
Slightly looked hurt. "Do you not like working here? Is it the pay?"
Peter held up his hand. "Can we get back to the mermaids?"
"Good idea," Tink concurred. "Even if Jack had been doing his job, I don't think he could have prevented this. I've been going through all the feeds, and there's no evidence of anyone going in or out last night."
"How can that be?" Slightly asked. "They couldn't have gone through the lagoon."
Peter groaned. "Yes, they could have." Everyone looked over at him, so he continued. "We drilled a tunnel out of the chambers on the west side of the lagoon to remove the rest of the Liverwood Bank treasure. We were going to fill the tunnel back in, but we've been so busy. We left a temporary seal on the tunnel that's pretty easy to break through."
Slightly nodded somberly. "Okay, so it was someone who knew about the treasure chamber." He paced for a few moments and then turned to Tink. "Didn't you say you found a file about the mermaids the other day?"
"That's right," Tink replied, rolling her chair over to a different screen and pulling up the file. "It looks like the Crocodile was planning on selling information about the mermaids to this guy."
A picture of an older man with a thin face and sparse grey hair filled the screen.
"It says his name is Robert Barlow and he used to work for the military," Tink reported.
"Is there an address?" Peter asked. "Anything that could help us locate him?"
"Not really," Tink said, chewing her lip and clicking through the other documents in the file. "Oh, but it looks like he has a nephew."
She pulled up a photo and everyone except Peter gasped.
"What?" Asked Peter, looking at the young man on the screen. "Who is that?"
"That's Mason Harper," Jacked growled.