Moni couldn’t make eye contact with a single one of them. As she strode through the sheriff’s office with Mariella’s hand in hers, she felt the hateful stares of the officers she had betrayed roast her skin like dozens of heating lamps. Many of them had spent the day cleaning up the bloody mess at her house. Soon, they would lower one of their own into the ground-minus his head-and hand a folded flag to his widow.
Harrison had been the toughest man on the force. More than a few of the officers owed their lives to him. He had felled two suspects in police shootouts without losing a fellow officer either time. When they cornered suspects after car chases, Harrison was always the first one who charged the vehicle. Moni felt bad enough that she had let him die, but burying his headless body denied everyone closure. Harrison’s sturdy head had been severed as cleanly as all the others. No one saw how it happened, but they doubted that a gator could have done it so smoothly.
Tanya Roberts’ body also popped up a few blocks down the canal-without her head and with one arm dangling by a single tendon.
Aaron had met Sneed at the scene, and then filled Moni in on everything. He thought Sneed couldn’t get any more furious, but he had no idea. Moni wouldn’t dare set foot in the station without Aaron, and his plan to deflect Sneed’s rage.
Moni reached for a half-open door as another officer walked through before her. Instead of holding it open for her, the man pulled it shut in her face. She swallowed the shout of protest before it left her lips.
He should have punched me in the nose. I don’t deserve any better.
As Moni gazed at the door that had been closed before her, Mariella stroked her hand, like how Moni had pet Tropic when the thunder scared him. With a deep breath and a nod at the girl, Moni opened the door herself.
She somehow avoided any eye contact and confrontations on the way to her office. When she opened the door and pointed the girl inside, Mariella’s gentle caress melded into a steely grip. She refused walking as adamantly as she refused speaking.
“I’m sorry, baby, but you can’t come with me to this meeting.” Moni knelt on one knee so she met the girl’s face. “Mr. Sneed is gonna be there, and he’ll be plenty angry. You’ll be a lot safer over here. Don’t worry, I’ll come back soon. Why don’t you draw me something pretty while you wait?”
Mariella slowly nodded, and eased off her death grip. She trudged into the office, and pulled a fresh sheet of paper from the printer. Moni gently shut the door. Then she scanned the faces of the officers nearby for any signs of cruel intentions. They greeted her with more than a few disgusted sneers, but none of them seemed inclined towards harming Mariella. With the camera in her office, she doubted any officer would risk it.
Moni still couldn’t get back there fast enough. If Sneed didn’t accept Aaron’s plan, she might find the room empty save a note from the DCF.
She arrived at the task force meeting with no doubt in her mind that Sneed had that sort of punitive punishment cooking on his skillet. His eyes scrutinized her every movement from the moment she entered the room. He had gray stubble on his cheeks and chin, and the swollen bags under his eyes were of a man who had spent every moment of his day dwelling on vengeance. Instead of instantly berating her as she had feared, Sneed kept his jaw locked tight. It took all of his might to restrain his teeth from ripping into her flesh.
This time, Sneed didn’t sit at the head of the table. He gave that seat up for Sheriff Rick Brandt, a man whose commanding blue eyes and gray, western-style mustache made his diminutive height almost unnoticeable. Moni hadn’t seen him much besides for ceremonies, such as the one they would have when they bury Harrison. He also spoke at press conferences for major cases. She hadn’t been involved with many of those until now, and her performance in this case wasn’t exactly something she could boast about.
Sheriff Brandt’s presence lent her a glimmer of hope. While Sneed eyed her as if he would rejoice in stringing her up a tree by her neck, Brandt watched Moni apprehensively, but not with outright hatred. He wasn’t the only one.
Looking over Moni with dark-ringed eyes that must have been pouring over reports all night, Brigadier General Alonso Colon appeared more disappointed than enraged. Maybe, the soldier understood that battle requires tough choices about sacrifice, Moni thought. If only she could have accepted that concept.
“Well, look who strolled in outta the gator’s jaws,” Sneed said. “You could have at least answered my calls. Or were you too busy high tailing it out of town while Harrison and Roberts were getting their heads cut off?”
It didn’t surprise Moni that Sneed had chosen not answering his twenty phone calls as the first thing she deserved a reprimand for.
“I’m sorry if I was a little preoccupied saving the person who you call the most valuable witness in this investigation,” Moni said as she grabbed the seat between Aaron and Professor Swartzman. The young man focused a concerned gaze on her. She craved the sight of his comforting eyes, and the warmth of his caring hands around her, but she resisted even looking at him. She couldn’t let Sneed and the sheriff think of her as so weak that she needed a civilian’s help.
“You had an order to turn that witness over to the protective custody of the DCF, and my police force,” Sheriff Brandt said. “Why did you stand in the way?”
“Sir, it wasn’t like that. I was about to hand Mariella over, but when we got to her room, she was gone.”
Moni figured they wouldn’t uncover her lie with both witnesses dead. As horrible as Harrison’s beheading had been, at least it had removed the most telling piece of physical evidence: the imprint of the handle of her gun on his head. She caught Aaron flinch at her story. She nudged his foot underneath the table and he settled down.
“The monster in the canal had the girl, but Harrison and I got her out of there,” continued Moni, who made sure they acquired more fond memories of their departed friend. “The next thing we knew, the gator thing killed Agent Roberts. Thank the Lord that Harrison agreed to cover for us while I took Mariella away from danger.”
She stapled her lips shut during the stretch of silence that followed. Moni prayed that her story would serve as the final word on the morning’s tragedy. As usual, Sneed disturbed the peace.
“The noble Harrison volunteered to cover you, and face the gator by himself, is that right?” Sneed asked as he grinded his thumb and forefingers together. “If that’s the case, why did your neighbor say she saw you snatch the keychain off his hip? You couldn’t help being a pickpocket, could you? I always knew your colors would show.”
Moni balled her fists underneath the table. The blackness of her skin had always made her the first person accused of stealing, but rarely had those accusations surfaced so bluntly.
“Mrs. McCray must have seen me remove the keys from his belt. That’s because he gave me permission to take them. The monster came at him before he could hand them over.”
“Bullshit,” Sneed said with a shake of his clenched fist.
The sheriff placed a steady hand on Sneed’s arm like a trainer making an attack dog stand down. “Unless that 72-year-old woman has the hearing of a 20-year-old that can penetrate through a window on a rainy day, I don’t see how we can disprove the officer’s explanation,” Brandt said. Just as Moni’s lips had begun their arch into a grin, the sheriff caught her in a stern gaze from his icy blue eyes. “Those circumstances don’t excuse your conduct, Mrs. Williams. You ignored Detective Sneed’s calls, and drove halfway to Orlando before you made a U-turn in the middle of the highway.” Moni should have anticipated that he’d have known that. All the department’s vehicles are tracked on GPS. Even if she had kept running, she wouldn’t have gotten far without ditching it. “And you still haven’t handed the girl over. We need to protect her. This community has lost too many people trying to ensure her safety in your care.”
“What’s the other option besides me-leaving Mariella under armed guard all day like she’s in solitary confinement?” Moni asked. At the sight of the sheriff’s raised eyebrow, she realized that this man had more concern for the child’s welfare than Sneed. Maybe it came from having kids of his own. “If you’ll excuse me, sir. This is quite an emotional matter for me. I know Mariella is a witness, but she’s also like… like my daughter. I feel like we’ve been together all my life, and all her life. No one is more dedicated to making sure the Lagoon Watcher and his creatures don’t hurt her than me.”
Professor Swartzman mounted a protest to the charges against his research buddy, but Sneed drowned him out with his latest rant.
“I only wish you’d show half as much dedication to solving this case. This task force doesn’t need a mother nurturing our witness and baking her brownies. It needs a ruthless interrogating bitch. That’s not you, Moni. People like you, are only out for yourselves. You feel all fine and dandy about protecting your loved ones, even if they’re dirtier than sin. You could give a shit if this county burned.”
Moni had no doubt what he had meant by, “people like you.” Her father had told her the same thing. He accused her of being selfish every time she asked him for the smallest thing-from a chocolate bar to her first car. He had berated her until she grew so terrified that she didn’t ask for anything.
Sneed’s words had shoved Moni into a corner and drained her of the will to strike back. She faced Aaron and nodded. His cue had arrived.
“You’re totally wrong about Moni, Mr. Sneed,” Aaron said. Flexing his stubby fingers, the lead detective would have strangled the surfing scientist in the middle of the table if the sheriff hadn’t been there. “She’s been thinking about all of us. That’s why she sketched out this awesome plan that’ll keep Mariella safe and bag the Lagoon Watcher. I only helped her a little, so it should still work.”
Aaron’s description of the plan held Sheriff Brandt’s attention so well, that Sneed didn’t unfurl any of his objections, which he obviously had, because he looked like a man kissing an onion the whole time. Sneed nearly fell out of his chair when the sheriff agreed that using Mariella to lure the Lagoon Watcher into a sting operation would effectively protect the girl and catch the suspect.
“We’ll set you up in a hotel that has every inch on camera and then we’ll give a little boost to the surveillance equipment and security personnel at the girl’s school,” Sheriff Brandt said. “Now don’t you go running off with her to any place that we haven’t put under watch.” He pointed at Moni in the most non-threatening way possible. It felt more like a reminder from a gingerly grandparent.
“Don’t worry, sir.” Moni’s braids bounced off her cheeks as she shook her head. “I would never put Mariella in harm’s way.”
“What about the other kids at her school?” Sneed asked. “Isn’t it putting them in harm’s way if you invite the Lagoon Watcher to their campus?”
Sneed doesn’t give a damn about those kids, Moni thought as she curled her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. He wanted to scuttle the whole plan so he could take Mariella away from her.
“If you trusted that the people in this room can do their jobs, then you wouldn’t doubt that we’ll prevent the Lagoon Watcher from harming those children,” Moni told Sneed. The sheriff nodded. Then another spoil sport spoke up.
“You’re wasting your time here,” Professor Swartzman said as he crossed his string cheese arms. “The Lagoon Watcher isn’t after the girl. He’s not behind the bacteria, and the animal attacks. The notion is just plain nonsensical. Harry Trainer doesn’t have the capabilities to genetically engineer an organism like that. It would take millions of dollars in funding, and a lab that’s much more elaborate than what we saw in his home.”
“Your point’s well taken. I suspect Mr. Trainer has a covert source of funding and a larger facility in an undisclosed location nearby,” Brigadier General Alonso Colon said. “It’s clear that his operation has spread beyond one man’s capabilities. Just look at the scale of the damage. How much of the lagoon is infected with bacteria now, professor?”
“Again, I must respectfully disagree with your assumption that Mr. Trainer has something to do with this. He’s only studying it, just like we are,” Swartzman said. Moni grimaced. The Lagoon Watcher had been doing much more than studying her and Mariella when he spied them from across the street before the car chase. “Anyway, the mutated strain of thiobacillus has been detected all the way to the north end of the lagoon near Scottsmoor down as far as the Sebastian Inlet. It hasn’t gotten through the inlet into the ocean. The chemical levels in a body of water that large are much harder to change than in the relatively narrow Indian River Lagoon.”
“No infected animals are escaping into the ocean either,” Aaron added. “Weird, huh?”
“It’s not weird,” Swartzman countered. “If their body chemistry has been altered to adapt to the bacteria’s preferred environment, then they’d thrive in the lagoon where the conditions suit them. And they’d foster its growth any way they could, even if it harmed people.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Sheriff Brandt said. “Whoever’s behind this has planned for a lot of casualties. I’m afraid General Colon has more on that.”
The members of the task force focused on the military man. Many eyebrows were raised as he puckered his normally proud face in embarrassment.
“A number of days ago, what we suspect were mutated creatures from the lagoon broke into Patrick Air Force Base and stole sixteen powerful explosives. Each one can release enough force to destroy a major structure. While we’re still investigating how the theft occurred, despite the best efforts of our security, it’s imperative that we recover those explosives promptly.”
Moni’s heart swelled bigger with every beat as she imagined a cascade of fire tearing through the wall of the conference room-or worse. The African artwork would fly off the shelves in her living room before the burst of fire dumps the shattered wooden boards and nails of her roof down atop her and Mariella. If the Lagoon Watcher couldn’t capture Mariella or behead her, he might settle on simply blowing her up, along with any unfortunate soul in the same building. Still, sixteen bombs seemed excessive for one target. If her plan didn’t stop him soon, the current victim count could turn out as only a warm up before the true massacre.
“Now that everyone knows how much is at stake, I say we’re putting way too much trust in Moni’s cutesy little plan,” said Sneed, who ignored the fact that everyone else besides him and Swartzman had already committed to it. “This woman has messed up every task we’ve given her except for keeping the girl alive, which hasn’t helped us one bit because she hasn’t said a damn thing. What makes everybody think she’ll get it right this time?”
Moni had no answer for him.