“Guess it’ll take a while. Three months ago, your whole life got turned upside down. The non-Blackwood parts, at least.”
“Tell me about it. I used to have a routine—get home, change, go out for dinner, hit a club. Now I have to make dinner.”
“How’s that working out?”
“I understand why Mack’s on first-name terms with most of the fire department.”
“Is Race settling in okay?”
“I think so. We’re all still getting to know each other. I wish I’d been around for his early years, but I can’t turn back the clock.”
“At least you missed the terrible twos.”
“I suppose that’s a blessing.”
“Ethan seems smitten. With both of you.”
Dan actually blushed, which was a first. But she’d changed a lot since she started dating Ethan White. “He’s everything I always thought I’d never have.”
I squeezed her hand. “I’m glad you’re happy.”
“I—”
“¡Caramba!” Carmen burst out laughing. “The wheel has stopped.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Dan asked. “Ana can get off now.”
“No, I mean it’s stopped, stopped. Kaput. It jolted then shuddered to a halt, and now the rangers are looking confused.”
“Where’s Ana?”
We all turned to look. Ah, shit. They were on the right at roughly three o’clock. Ana and Tabby, a baby T-Rex, and a human peacock. Bradley’s jumpsuit was a beacon of bad taste on an otherwise grey day.
Mack held an imaginary phone up to her ear. “911? I’d like to report a murder.”
“It’s not funny,” I chided. But it was. Mack got the giggles, and as soon as I looked at Dan, we both started laughing too, and none of us could stop.
“Uh, is everything okay?” the waitress asked.
“Do me a favour and bring another Death?”
“But your friend hasn’t drunk the first two?”
“No, but she’s trapped on the wheel. Trust me, she’ll drink them when she gets off.”
The waitress peered past us. “It’s stuck?”
“Seems that way.”
“It must be those darn monkeys.”
“Monkeys?” Like, plural?
“I heard a monkey escaped in the living rainforest, and then he let his friends out. One of them got into the mechanical room and started pulling out wires.”
Oops. Good thing Ana wasn’t aware of that little tidbit of information.
“Have they caught the monkeys yet?”
“Not yet, but all the spare rangers have been called over to help.” The waitress pasted on a bright smile. “I’m sure it’ll be sorted out in a jiffy. SciPark never normally has problems like this.”
“Perhaps I should have shot Jimbo when I had the chance,” Carmen muttered as the waitress hurried off.
Sometimes, I worried that Carmen was a little too trigger-happy.
“You mean with a dart gun, right?”
“Of course.”
Because I couldn’t resist, I picked up the phone and dialled Ana. “Having fun?”
“Idi nahui, suka.”
“I’ve ordered you a drink.”
“I don’t need a drink, I need a roll of duct tape.”
“Why don’t we all try meditating?” Bradley asked in the background. “I have an app on my phone.”
“Is the duct tape for you or for Bradley?”
“Find out what’s going on. Please.”
It wasn’t like Ana to beg, but since she was stranded in a closet-sized space with three children, I could kind of understand why she’d slipped out of character. Although she was an excellent assassin, the best, her upbringing had been unconventional to say the least, and as a result, she didn’t do so well in social situations. Chatter drove her crazy.
“Guys, I’m gonna try and find out how long the power outage is likely to last.”
“Want some company?” Dan offered.
“Why not?”
Now that Mack had her laptop open, she showed no signs of wanting to leave it, but she did give us the briefest of smirks.
“I’ll have a snoop around electronically. SciPark has three private Wi-Fi networks as well as the guest one. I’ll bet there are emails flying around.”
I raised an eyebrow in Carmen’s direction, and she raised her glass.
“We shouldn’t let the drinks go to waste. How about I call you if the wheel starts working again?” She focused over my shoulder. “Looks as if the sphere has a glitch too.”
Dan and I turned in time to see a man placing a temporary barrier in front of the doors. The waiting crowd didn’t seem happy, but they began to move backwards.
“Did the boys already go in?” I asked.
“Just a minute ago,” Dan said.
“Let’s hope they’re not hanging upside down on a roller coaster, eh?”
“Ah, shit. I’d better call Caleb.” A pause. “No answer.”
“Does the roller coaster have lap bars or one of those restraint systems that goes over your shoulders? If he’s on board and strapped down, he might not be able to reach his phone.”
Of course, with Dan being Dan and second in command at Blackwood’s investigations division, she checked. A quick Google search showed that Inside Out did indeed have bulky over-the-shoulder restraints. Safety first. Then again, it also had a height restriction and I was pretty sure Race must have stood on tiptoes to get around that.
“I guess that’s possible,” she admitted.
“Or perhaps the ride’s still going and he’s having fun? Phoning Mom probably isn’t top of his list of things to do. Why don’t you send him a text?”
“Just did.”
I spotted a ranger scurrying in the direction of the rainforest and jogged after him. He clearly didn’t appreciate being stopped, but he also wasn’t openly rude, so I forced a smile.
“Any idea what’s going on with the wheel?”
“It’s stuck.”
No kidding. “Is there an ETA on it getting unstuck? I’ve got friends on board.”
“Probably a while. We’ve been told to catch the monkeys and the parakeets first.”
“What about the Inside Out ride?” Dan asked.
“The supervisor radioed to say there’s been a power failure. He said they’ve closed it down.”
The aforementioned radio on the ranger’s belt bleeped, and a panicked voice crackled through.
“One of the monkeys let the capybaras out. Lorinda saw them running towards the lake.”
Capybaras? I didn’t know much about those, but the ranger broke into a jog. We were on our own again. Would they close the park? As far as I knew, there weren’t any really dangerous animals here—only Bradley’s nemesis the caiman, plus a
