As they walked, Meg asked her, “What happened? What made you suspect Myles?”
“I didn’t, not at first. I found a tube of red paint in a locker this morning when I was changing. I took it and wrapped it up in my clothes, and I was going to tell you about it, but I never got a chance. Later, I heard someone when I was in the shower, and when I came out, the paint was gone.”
“But how did you know that Myles took it?”
“Miguel,” Lara said, and she smiled. “Miguel was watching.”
*
“Parkinson’s, ALS, I don’t know,” Brett said under his breath as he drove. “But it’s got to be something neurological.”
“What are you talking about?” Diego asked.
“Did you get a good look at Anthony Barillo? Did you see the way he shakes?”
“He shakes. So what? He’s weak, he’s old.”
“Not that old,” Brett said. “He’s somewhere in his early sixties. To be as frail as he is, to shake the way he does... Something’s going on.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“I think someone’s trying to save Anthony Barillo, and that’s what these experiments are all about.”
“So you think he—whoever he is—is killing people to save a life?”
“I do,” Brett said. “And I don’t think Barillo himself knows anything about it, so I’d say someone right under him—his brother, Tomas, most likely—is pulling the strings.”
“Why Tomas?” Diego asked. “I mean, Tomas stands to take over a giant crime empire. He might want his brother dead.”
“Barillo’s still his brother,” Brett said.
“Your mind is far too twenty-first century,” Diego said. “Throughout history, brothers have killed brothers for power and control. Cain and Abel, for a start.”
“One of Barillo’s children, then?” Brett said. “One of his sons is in med school. Whoever it is, he’s close enough to the seat of power to have access to money, so if he doesn’t have medical knowledge himself, he can just buy someone who does.”
“They could all be in on it,” Diego acknowledged.
Brett was thoughtful for a moment. “With Little Haiti right here, it’s easy enough to get the recipe for the traditional zombie toxin. He probably started out experimenting on animals, but that couldn’t tell him enough. He needed to test his theories on human beings. Where to look first? In the ranks of those who could disappear without consequences, unnoticed or noticed only by those who didn’t dare take action. Perhaps those who were desperate enough to seek haven in the United States by crossing the Florida Straits on rafts and inner tubes if they had to. But they weren’t always available. So he turned to the streets and people like Pierre Deveau. I don’t think he was interested in creating zombies for their own sake but in exploring how to affect the brain, with the goal of outsmarting the disease, or even bringing Barillo back from the dead with his facilities intact. He might even have been disappointed that his zombies were willing to kill their own family and friends, because that meant he’d failed in his goal.
“At some point he got braver and expanded his experiments into a hospital. I think at that point he was simply curious to see how well his potion could feign death, and he must have been very pleased with the results.”
Brett’s phone rang just then. He saw that it was Matt and used the car’s built-in Bluetooth to answer. “Hey, Matt. I’m in the car with Diego and we’ve got you on speaker.”
“I’m at HQ, and I’ve got the Sea Life intern, that kid Myles from the education department, in an interrogation room. He’s the one who put the doll on Lara’s desk. He claims he did it to scare her and get her to quit. Apparently he resents the fact that she’s the golden girl while he’s been trudging along unappreciated. I thought I’d let him cool his heels, then send you in.”
“How did you find out it was him?” Brett asked tersely.
“Lara found him out,” Matt said. “With a little help from Miguel, as it turns out.”
“A ghost fingered him?” Diego said. He looked over at Brett, but he didn’t seem as surprised as Brett would have expected, given that he’d never actually talked to his partner about seeing Maria and Miguel.
“Long story, but Lara found the paint and ended up confronting him. She lied and told him there was a witness, and at that point he folded pretty quickly.”
“Is Lara there with you?” Brett asked, trying to tamp down his anger that she’d been in danger and he hadn’t been there to protect her.
“No, she and Meg are still at Sea Life, finishing up after the event today. I’ll see you at headquarters.”
Diego didn’t say anything after Brett hung up. Finally Brett looked at him and asked, “You don’t think all of this is crazy?”
Diego looked at him and smiled slowly, shaking his head. “I’m half Cuban and half Irish. Hell, if a leprechaun walked onto the scene, I’m not sure I’d be surprised. So what the hell. If a ghost can solve our case, I’m all for it.”