Echo

undoubtedly tied to the death of her mother. It made him sad, knowing he couldn’t help her discover the comfort she needed. But he loved her dearly and hesitated to deny her anything.
    As he watched Kane scrub the yacht, he hoped Kane and Scotty could get along better. Territorial resentment blossomed instantly between the two as they moved in. Jose supposed it was natural. They were so close in age; their relationship was bound to go one way or the other. Apparently, Kane saw Scotty as an interloper and Scotty saw Kane as a macho Italian know-it-all. If Kane’s sullen attitude did not improve in time, he would have to talk to his father. They lived in the carriage house behind the art deco home that remained empty. Jose felt having them nearby a great benefit, especially since Captain Cobby also served as security on the property.
    Picking up his cell phone, he called Peter for an update on Mama Diaz. Happily, Peter reported the investigator finally made some progress. They located the family near a suburb of Short Hills, not far from the area Abby used to live in as a child, probably a mere coincidence. They both agreed that Jose should be the one to fly to New Jersey to break the news of Tomas’s death and convince them to move to Florida. Jose decided to talk to Abby about it later that night. He wanted to keep close, hoping to keep her upbeat. Her moods vacillated so widely these days, he wanted to get a good day under their belt before she learned he would be leaving.
    ###
    Scotty knew he must always wear a long sleeved shirt over his swim trunks when he was on the water and around the backyard. Echo presented a larger problem. She insisted on going with Scotty when he took the skiff out. Abby helpfully took some fabric and stitched together a jumpsuit that disguised most of Echo’s uniqueness. Gloves worked fairly well for her hands. A pair of diver’s goggles strapped around Echo’s face helped greatly, but could not hide her crown of crystal antlers. Maneuvering quickly away from other boats sure helped to evade troubling inquiries. So far, the only mishap occurred when Scotty forgot to fill the gas tank before he departed. Forced to use the yacht to rescue Scotty and his posse, Kane enjoyed his opportunity to gloat as they towed a red faced Scotty back to the dock.
    Trying to explain Echo’s unusual appearance took some imagination. Claiming that Abby and Scotty’s father, a world-renowned geneticist gifted them with Echo, who they no longer needed as a test subject, appeared to work. They claimed Echo resulted from a genetic engineering project regarding gene splicing. Rather than terminate her at the end of the failed project, they made her a family pet. It sounded plausible enough and worked for now. But they still tried to keep Echo’s exposure to an extreme minimum, even from the Cobbys. It was one thing to fool a couple of yacht jocks, but anyone with an Internet connection and an inquiring mind would poke holes in their story. Anyone like Peter.

Chapter 26
    Abby lay back on her green wicker lounge chair, enjoying the kiss of the sun seeping into her thirsty skin underneath the tiny gold fibers that encapsulated her arms and chest. She found it easier to accept her changes as she watched Scotty and Jose taking them in stride. If she felt uneasy, she hid it well. It took her several months to dismiss the meaning of the pronouncement Echo had made to Jose in the limo on the journey to Florida. Her practical side thought Jose may have misunderstood.
    Her initial reaction had been to laugh. Jose tried to convince her that Echo may not have the best interest of humans in her heart. They had lived with Echo for six months now, and she had seen no behavior to suggest such a thing. The only disturbing facts were the little matter of Echo and the skeletons. The events that day back in Sussex were so traumatic and fuzzy in her memory that she no longer cared where the skeletons were. Since Echo’s reaction was to save her from serious harm, she considered herself lucky. As a matter of fact, Echo seemed unusually attached to them. Not a problem. Since the three of them were all a bit love starved for family, Echo fit right in.
    The changes to their bodies were another matter, not sure how any of them would react if the swellings on their backs developed into wings as they suspected. Lying in the sun in the lap of luxury, healthy as the proverbial horse, Abby reveled in her new lease on life; not at