Page 21 of Sucker For You

In came the guard, walking around the perimeter of the lab. His flashlight passed over the crab tank. Lid in place. All quiet within the sand and rocks. He moved back out of the room.

Stillness.

Then one of the rocks. . .winked.

It grew eight arms. Clutching a wriggling crustacean, it pushed back the Dungeness lid, slithered out of the tank, used three tentacles to carefully reset the mesh cover, and returned to its own aquarium. All the while, two other hungry arms cracked the crab into pieces to fit through its tubing hole.

“We’d been losing crustaceans every few days. We couldn’t explain why. But when we checked the security footage—”

“—you discovered that C-189 had the munchies?” Wes couldn’t help laughing. “He knew he wasn’t supposed to be snacking late at night, and he didn’t want to get caught. He remembered the guard’s routine. When the patrol came by, he knew what to do. He was probably repeating his own routine from the last several raids—”

“Exactly, and—”

Brrrriiinng!

The chime of an incoming call overrode the video and her excitement; Isabel’s response cut off with a sharp inhale. The numbers ringing on her screen weren’t from the same caller as her missed messages. She scrambled to silence the noise anyhow, her ears reddening.

“No, wait.” Wes recognized the digits. “That’s Ethan’s number.”

“I don’t—”

“Yeah, it’s rude to take calls in a restaurant. But we’re outside and no one else is seated close by, right? I can let Erin know I’ve arrived early in Monterey. You can notify Ethan about your plans to drive his hatchback to Palo Alto today.” He paused for another bite of bananas and chocolate as her phone continued to chime, and studied her across the table while she avoided the call and his gaze. “Assuming that’s still your plan.”

“I. . . yes.”

“Then why not answer him?”

If she lowered her eyes to conceal a spark of anxiety, the compression of her lips was only too visible. After another shallow inhale, however, she nodded. Visibly steeling herself, she clicked into the call.

Ethan Meyer appeared on her screen. His own device was propped up on the kitchen table in Palo Alto, a golden retriever’s tail wagging in the background. He blinked at the camera. “. . . Isabel?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t think. . . but you answered.” He hadn’t expected her to, had he? “Uh, good.”

“Yes,” again.

“Right,” and now a grimace cut lines into his cheeks. “But after last night, are you. . . Is there anything I can—I mean, is everything. . .?”

“Yes,” a third time. Isabel reached for her mug. Out of frame, her fingers trembled. “Thank you. But I—I’m still in Monterey. With your car. I’ll return it this afternoon. I’ll wash the sheetsand towels, too. I’ll be gone, and then you can. . . I’m sorry, I never meant to inconvenience you, not after. . . and—”

“None of this is your fault.” Ethan folded his arms on the table. “It isn’t. We’d planned to head down to the bungalow last night, but if you need more time, stay for another few days.”

She set aside her mug again, tea untouched. “I wouldn’t want—”

“You can even stay longer. Erin and I could fly to Cape Canaveral for a satellite launch on September nineteenth and see Neil deGrasse Tyson without wasting our booking—except that her brother’s arriving back in California soon. Depending on his hostel situation, he might need to crash on the couch for a couple nights.”

“No, notmight.” Wes leaned into the video, waving. “Hey, Ethan. I flew in yesterday. I’ve got comments about the couch cushions, but no complaints about the chocolate-covered strawberries. Sorry about those, by the way—”

“Wait.” Erin’s surprised face appeared over Ethan’s shoulder. Coffee sloshed in her own mug. “Wes? You’re back from Costa Rica already? And you’re in Monterey?”

“Frizzy!” He waved a second time, buying Isabel a moment to collect herself—if she needed it.Seriously, what happened yesterday?“Guilty as charged. Like usual. Sorry I didn’t call. I forgot to switch my phone plan back to stateside service. But I should make it to the Monday chat.”

“Thank God, because I was about to file a police report for your missing Jeep. You picked it up last night?”

“Yeah.”

“Then drove over Route Seventeen to the coast? With that engine? Plus a non-functional phone?”