Page 68 of Mail Order Splash

“I don’t see teeth marks and netting wouldn’t do that. What is it?”

“Humans, but why? Was it accidental or on purpose?” I pulled up out of the pool. “I’m gonna rinse off then look it over. Netty saved me out there.”

“She certainly did. I was watching the whole thing. It got a little close.”

“That one scared me.” I grabbed a fish and tossed it to Netty. “Be right back.”

“What do you think, is yellow my color?” Dalton crossed paths with me in semi-tight sweats. “It was these or pink.”

“The pink may have gone better with the tan.” I kept walking.

Good Lord, I forgot how good he looked without a shirt on.

Doc was standing by the edge of the water by the time I returned. Dalton must have called him because I’d already told Josh not to.

“What are you doing here?” I side-hugged him.

“Victoria called me. She was worried about you going out at night.”

“And you told her it wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last, right.” I slipped into my wetsuit.

“Not in those exact words, but yes. I texted Josh, he said you got back a few minutes ago.” He kicked his shoes off. “What do we have?”

“I don’t think it’s a bite. I did at first because sharks were lurking, but not sure.”

“Give me a minute to change. Go ahead and feed her.”

“That’s the other thing. I wasn’t certain if we had a male or female.”

“I’ve seen that deformity before, but it’s a female, and an older one.”

“Could it be Netty’s mother?” Dalton stood next to us.

“Might be, or the matriarch.” Doc turned away to change. “Nice pants you have on there.”

“I think I look pretty good.” He spun around, showing them off. “I saved the pink ones for you and Josh.”

“Dalton, you wanna name this one?”

“Me again?” he knelt by the new rescue. “This is stressful.”

“Generally, we give them numbers so we don’t get attached, especially if they seem good enough to return quickly.”

“Makes sense, though this one seems special to my girl, Netty. But we don’t know what her significance is yet.”

“You think about it. In the meantime, we call her one.”

“One, you say. Then how about Solitaire?”

“See, that wasn’t so hard. I like it and it fits with her being the mother or the matriarch.”

“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but there is a guy with a camera trying to sneak in the outer holding tank.”

“Close the doors,” Doc shrugged. “He’ll get out when he can’t swim under.”

“Once I saw him, I looked out front. Apparently, they think something interesting is happening in here.” He showed us a picture of people out front with cameras. “I don’t get it.”

“Now you see how I feel. We’re not royals or movie stars but, somehow, they can’t get enough.” Dalton typed something into his phone. “The team will be here shortly. I called them off this place once you weren’t going to be here, but that was a mistake.”

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