He’d made a small fortune on his drug patents, and he’d told her once that all drug companies changed things up just a little now and then to keep their patents in force. “After the money and effort we put into developing them? We don’t like to see the generic showing up two seconds later.”
As nice as he’d always been to her, though, she felt uneasy now, certain that she and Sonia—who was smiling and chatting, she noticed, completely oblivious to the undertone Lara had picked up on—had interrupted something they shouldn’t have.
“Who is that pretty young woman waiting for you?” Grant asked, slurring slightly. A glance at the table showed that it had probably been a three-martini lunch for him.
“My friend Meg,” Lara said. “She’s with the FBI, but she’s down here for a while.”
“Well, isn’t that too bad?” Blackwood said with a laugh. “Anyway, I think she’s getting impatient. You fillies oughta mosey along.”
“We’re not fillies, Grant,” Sonia said. “You show some respect.”
“Yes, ma’am!” he agreed, grinning.
Sonia rolled her eyes. “We’ll see you on Sunday—enjoy your lunch,” she said.
“See you Sunday,” Lara echoed. They rejoined Meg at the table, where she had waited.
“Meg, you didn’t join us,” Sonia said.
“I was afraid to make us any later. Lara has to be back at work,” Meg said, standing and tucking a receipt into her wallet, having apparently paid the check while they were talking to the men.
But Lara also knew exactly what her friend had really been doing.
Watching. She had realized that Lara felt disturbed.
“Just as well. Blackwood is a douche,” Sonia said, looking at Lara as if for confirmation.
“I’m not saying a word,” Lara said.
Sonia laughed. “Let’s go, then. I’ll call Henri and we’ll head back. This was delightful. I hope we can do it again.”
“That would be nice,” Lara assured her.
“Absolutely,” Meg agreed.
*
Twenty minutes later, back in Lara’s office, Meg closed the door and turned to her. “Okay, tell me about them—all of them.”
“You met Dr. Amory, and all the men he was with are big supporters of Sea Life. Grant Blackwood is a Texan pain in the ass who tries to pick up just about every woman he meets, even though he’s married. A lot of women are flattered and fall for his line, and they don’t care about his wife because he’s not just rich, he’s filthy rich. Ely Taggerly is the founder and CEO of Taggerly Pharmaceuticals. And the last guy was Mason Martinez, the health guru. You must have seen him on at least one of a dozen of his infomercials for vitamins or exercise equipment.”
“Yeah, I thought I recognized him. So they were with Amory because he was trying to hit them up for money?”
Lara shrugged. “So he claimed.”
“But you didn’t believe him?” Meg asked.
Lara shook her head. “He looked guilty. I think maybe one of them was trying to hire him away from Sea Life. He’s a brilliant man. He has doctorates in marine biology and veterinary medicine. He’s done all kinds of research. Before he came here he was with the military. They still use dolphins in some missions. The animal-rights activists aren’t happy about it, and I think maybe he came here precisely because we’re all about learning what the dolphins themselves need.” She frowned. “Why? Are you suspicious of him for some reason?”
“I’m always suspicious of everyone,” Meg said. “And pieces of Miguel Gomez’s body were found in this lagoon.”
“Dr. Amory would never be guilty of that. I can’t believe he could kill, and even if he was capable of murder, he wouldn’t want his dolphins in a lagoon that was contaminated in any way.”
“Still, it’s an interesting situation,” Meg said. “I think I should find out a little more about Dr. Amory and your sponsors.”
“I know Dr. Amory well, and the others I’m getting to know, and I don’t think any of them would—”
Meg cut her off. “I believe you. But remember what Brett said about an unwitting conspiracy.”
“But there’s no reason whatsoever to suspect anyone at Sea Life,” Lara protested. “Those body parts don’t mean anything. The ocean is huge!”
“Precisely,” Meg said.
10
Arnold Wilhelm’s cause of death was no mystery. Three teens had seen him thrown in front of an oncoming train, which had knocked him to the ground below like a rag doll. As to Miguel Gomez, Dr. Phil Kinny was still inspecting slides and studying lab reports. He wasn’t quite sure what some of the chemical combinations he’d discovered were, but the end result was that while the cognitive section of the brain had been destroyed, the part that controlled rudimentary memory movement had apparently been fully functioning for some time between his first “death” in the warehouse and his actual death.