Kanesha returned empty-handed, to my disappointment, before I’d finished explaining my plan to the selkie.

“It all assumes whoever took it has no idea what they have.”

“If they knew, they’d already have called me to them.” The selkie considered. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t be seen with somebody who knew.”

“And the fact that they haven’t turned it in means they probably don’t intend to. I think they just stole it.”

She laughed.

“What happens?” Kanesha asked, “If a mortal puts on a selkie’s cloak.”

“Oh, nothing. Same with a swanmay’s. They just look kind of silly.”

I grinned. “So, we look for somebody looking kind of silly.”

Maybe, too, it was somebody who did know and was just holding it for safekeeping. No. If they knew, they’d use it to call her, even if their intent was to give it back.

“And then tease them until they hand it over.”

“We could try just asking,” Kanesha noted. “Or even threatening to call the cops.”

“The cops won’t bother with somebody stealing a beach wrap or whatever they think it is.” I shook my head. “They’re busy arresting drunks.”

The selkie laughed, albeit a little nervously, “I saw a couple of things worse than drunkenness for them to deal with.”

Then she tilted her head. “I think I spotted them.”

They were a red-haired woman wrapped in…I’d always figured the sealskin cloak would be like, sealskin. It wasn’t, it was almost translucent, marked with the patterns of a harbor seal. But it still looked silly.

I wandered over to her. “Nice wrap,” I said, sarcastically. “Where did you find it?”

She looked startled, and then a little bit guilty. Maybe I wouldn’t need to tease her into dropping it after all.

“Where did you find it?” I repeated, with a smile.

“Uh, in…uh…” She clutched it. “It’s pretty.”

“No, it isn’t. It makes you look silly and it isn’t yours.”

“I…”

“There are plenty of places to buy something cheap. Hand it over.”

Now I was close to it I could feel a sort of buzz from it. Enough to tell me it really was what it claimed.

“No!” she said, abruptly, and ran. As if…as if in desperation. Or as if she thought it would protect her.

Maybe she wasn’t as oblivious as we thought.