“Where are your techs?” she asked.

“I gave them the day off,” Kevin said. “There was no way I was going to get any work done today so I told them to enjoy the sun. It’s been a long rainy season, and it will be back before we know it.”

“Where’s Candace?” Melanie asked. She put down her parcel on the lab bench.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “I haven’t seen or talked with her since we dropped her off at the hospital this morning.”

It had been a long night. After having hid in the pathology cooler for over an hour, Melanie had talked both Kevin and Candace into sneaking up to the on-call room Melanie had at the animal center. The three had stayed there getting very little sleep, until the early-morning shift change. Blending in with all the employees coming and going, the group had made it back to Cogo without incident.

“Do you know how to get in touch with her?” Melanie asked.

“I guess just call the hospital and have her paged,” Kevin suggested. “Unless she’s in her room in the Inn, which is what I’d guess since Horace Winchester is doing so well.” The Inn was the name given to the temporary quarters for transient hospital personnel. It was physically part of the hospital/laboratory complex.

“Good point!” Melanie said. She picked up the phone and had the operator put her through to Candace’s room. Candace answered on the third ring. It was apparent she’d been asleep.

“Kevin and I are going to the island,” Melanie said without preamble. “You want to come or hang in here?”

“What are you talking about?” Kevin asked nervously.

Melanie motioned for him to be quiet.

“When?” Candace asked.

“As soon as you get over here,” Melanie said. “We’re in Kevin’s lab.”

“It will take me a good half hour,” Candace said. “I’ve got to shower.”

“We’ll be waiting,” Melanie said. She hung up the phone.

“Melanie, are you crazy?” Kevin said. “We’ve got to let some time go by before we hazard another try at the island.”

“This girl doesn’t think so,” Melanie said, giving herself a poke in the chest. “The sooner we go, the better. If Bertram finds out a key is missing, he could change the lock, and we’ll be back to square one. Besides, like I said last night, they expect us to be terrified. Going out there right away will catch them off-guard.”

“I don’t think I’m up for this,” Kevin said.

“Oh really?” Melanie questioned superciliously. “Hey, you’re the one who’s brought up this worry about what we’ve created. And now I’m really worried. I saw some more circumstantial evidence this morning.”

“Like what?” Kevin asked.

“I went into the bonobo enclosure out at the animal center,” Melanie said. “I made sure no one saw me go in, so don’t get yourself all worked up. It took me over an hour, but I managed to find a mother with one of our infants.”