Page 123 of Spiced!

There was a certain satisfaction when a theory held up under four weeks of real-world pressure—but none of that compared to the joy of knowing a living creature’s life was better because of something I did.

“She was right the whole time,” I said. “She knew exactly what she was avoiding. We just had to catch up.”

“One hundred percent. She’s a smart girl. You want to come see her?” Dr. Reyes said. “I think she’d like the visit.”

I looked down at my desk, at the folder I’d kept the imaging in for weeks. With finality—and no small amount of pride—I reached down and closed it. How such a simple act could feel so monumental was a wonder I would ponder for days to come, but in that moment, all I could think about was sharing Marisol’s news with one special guy.

“I’d like to bring someone,” I said. “If that’s all right.”

Adrian had been asking about Marisol since the night I first told him about the case, the same way he asked about everything that mattered to me. It wasn’t performed interest. No, he was genuinely seeking information, the way he wanted to know about Mofongo’s bloodwork or Gerald’s soil moisture or whatever might be happening at the panadería when he wasn’t there.

So when I told him that Dr. Reyes had cleared a visit, he was already reaching for his shoes.

“Now?”

“She has office hours until five.”

“Brendan. Now?”

“Now is fine,” I chuckled through a toothy grin. Adrian’s excitement was infectious.

His keys were in his hand before I even finished the sentence.

The Lowry Park Zoo was loud with families and strollers and small children meeting large animals for the first time. We walked past the otters, past a group of teenagers arguing about whether the flamingos were real, and arrived at the tapir enclosure where Dr. Reyes was waiting near the keeper gate.

“Dr. Davis,” she said, extending a hand to shake. Then she turned toward Adrian. “And you must be Adrian.”

“He’s heard a lot about you,” I said. “I feel like he knows the case better than either of us.”

“Dr. Davis told me that you asked the right questions early, Adrian,” Dr. Reyes said with a smile. “Is she eating? Is she scared? Those matter more than people give them credit for.”

Adrian looked pleased and more than a bit embarrassed at her praise.

“Come on. Let’s meet our baby girl,” she said, reaching up and squeezing Adrian’s arm.

Marisol was at the far end of the enclosure, moving with a deliberateness I recognized from months of footage. Except everything looked different now. Marisol seemed looser and more at ease. She investigated something near a water feature, lingered there, then moved on without any of the careful avoidance of the left side that had defined every clip I’d watched for months.

“She’s been doing that,” Dr. Reyes said. “Going everywhere, like she’s relearning the space now that it doesn’t have a bad corner.”

Adrian was quiet, watching her, his hands folded over the top rail of the fence.

“Is she going to come over?” he asked.

“She might,” Dr. Reyes said. “She’s been more social since the recovery. Give her a minute.”

So we waited. I was fairly certain I couldn’t have pried Adrian off the railing with a crowbar. He looked like so many kids I watched with their pets at the clinic, fixated and utterly in love—or awe—though there was rarely a difference with kids.

Marisol finished her circuit near the water and turned, unhurried, toward the fence. She came slowly, the way she did everything, and stopped a few feet from where we stood. I’d seen her assess keepers countless times in the videos, but this time, I was close enough to watch her eyes actually find us instead of documenting it secondhand.

“Hi,” Adrian said quietly, leaning slightly over the rail. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Miss Marisol.”

Marisol looked at him for a long moment, then she huffed, a low sound through her nose, and turned her attention to the fence post near where Adrian’s hand rested.

“She’s checking you out,” Dr. Reyes whispered, smiling. “That’s a good sign. She doesn’t do that for strangers.”

“I’m not a stranger,” Adrian said. “I asked about her for two months.”

“She doesn’t know that.”