The Latrobes were talking excitedly as they left, and Meg looked to be in total awe.
As the others walked away, Lara heard Adrianna using her whistle and calling for Cocoa. She turned to see what was happening and realized that Cocoa had done one of her fabulous flips—right over the underwater fence and out into the bay.
She didn’t seem to be trying to go anywhere. She simply kept doing her tail dance for them.
“What is she doing?” Lara asked, walking over to join Adrianna.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her or any of the other dolphins act like this.”
Seeing Lara, Cocoa began to squeal loudly.
“Cocoa!” Lara called. “Cocoa, come on.”
Adrianna dived into the water, swam over to the fence and called to Cocoa from there. She turned back to Lara when the dolphin continued to ignore her. “Come in, will you? Maybe you can work your magic.”
Lara dived in and swam to Adrianna’s side. The trainer seemed puzzled and said, “Talk to her. Try to get her back in.”
Lara did her best. She spoke softly, she urged, she pleaded.
Cocoa squealed back at her, but she didn’t come back in.
“Try moving away,” Adrianna said at last.
“All right, Cocoa. I’ve got to go,” Lara said, swimming away.
At last the dolphin responded, making a huge leap and sending crystal droplets of water flying everywhere.
She raced past under the surface and emerged in front of Lara, who gave her a fin rub and thanked her. When they returned to the dock, Adrianna followed and gave Lara several fish to feed her, and then a few to feed Destiny, who came over to see what was going on.
“Okay, I have to leave now,” Lara said as she gave Cocoa a last stroke and a last fish. Cocoa still seemed on edge, and she squealed and did another fluke walk. “I’ll come back soon,” Lara promised.
“I hope she’ll be all right,” Adrianna said. “I have to tell Rick about this.”
“If I can help, let me know,” Lara said.
“You know we will,” Adrianna said.
Lara went to join Meg by the lockers at that point. As they headed back to the office and the showers, Meg said, “I was watching, and I’m sure as hell no expert, but it looked to me as though that dolphin wanted you to follow her.”
“Maybe she wants another outing. I think she had fun the day we went out to look for— The day we went out with the Coast Guard. And found Miguel’s head,” she added. Not saying it didn’t change what happened.
“Can’t she jump that fence any time she wants to? Can’t any of them?” Meg asked. “If they want to go exploring, I mean.”
Lara stopped and looked at Meg. She knew what her friend was thinking. “You think that whoever made a zombie out of Randy Nicholson has really killed him now, and cut him up and dumped him in the bay.”
“I think it’s quite possible,” Meg said. “I’ll mention it to Matt. Or to Brett and Diego, since they’re the leads on this. I’m just used to going to Matt first, since I’m working with him.”
Lara smiled. “And living with him.”
Meg smiled back. “Trust me, it’s pretty great living and working together. Not everyone could, but for us, it works.” She was quiet for a moment. “He’s still a little in awe of us, though.”
“Matt? Why?”
“The way our minds work in sync,” Meg said. “Even at a distance. When you were kidnapped and needed my help, I knew it. Not many people have that kind of ability.”
Lara laughed. “I think more people believe in ESP than in ghosts, but maybe all that kind of stuff is related somehow. Who knows?”
Meg grew serious. “Not me, but I do know that when it comes to this case, someone knows what he’s doing, playing with the greatest computer ever, the human brain.” She paused for a moment. “That’s what the Krewe does, in a way. We push the boundaries, too, looking past this world and into the next, so to speak, even seeking help from the dead. It’s a little less extreme to think that a dolphin might help, right?”
Lara looked at her friend and nodded. “Can you imagine the headline? ‘Dolphin Saves Miami from Zombie Attacks.’”
“Maybe it’s not so far-fetched,” Meg told her. “Speaking of which, I wonder how the guys are doing on finding Antoine Deveau’s body.”
*
Brett loved computers. You could find almost anything somewhere on the internet, and the Bureau had hundreds of employees nationwide who were the most talented geeks in the world. If the information had been recorded, the Bureau’s geeks could find it.