Chameleons and a Corpse

by Ruby Loren

  “Thank you,” I replied. It would be great to have a good word put in with law enforcement. Perhaps it would persuade Detective Gregory to overlook my past oversights.

  I waited until Officer Kelly had left before I turned to Auryn with a quizzical look on my face.

  “Don’t look at me like that. It is a police matter!”

  “But aren’t you curious?” I pressed.

  Auryn shot me a serious look. “Of course I am, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that a man was murdered, right here.” He pointed to the spot on the floor where the body had been. “And the information that we’ve just found out might have been what got him killed. We don’t want to get in over our heads.”

  I looked down at the empty floor and then back up at Auryn. “I think we already are.”

  10

  The Chameleon

  When I texted Tiff to let her know I was returning to Avery Zoo with dog food, she messaged back to tell me she’d gone over to The Lucky Zoo and had taken Rameses with her. I asked Auryn to drop me off at my zoo and then I hefted a 15kg sack of dog chow up the side of the large hill, before practically rolling down the other side. By the time I found Tiff, I was sweaty and probably smelled of dog food. That made me less than impressed to see my best friend and the man I was paying good money to be working right this second hanging around, shooting the breeze.

  At least Rameses was happy to see me. He bounded right up and sniffed at me eagerly. I guess I really did smell of dog food…

  “Hey Madi, how’s it going?” Pierce said, looking incredibly relaxed for a man I’d just caught slacking off big time.

  “I’m fine thank you, Pierce. What are you up to?” I meant it as a hint but it either sailed straight over his head, or he chose to ignore it. I’d have bet on the latter.

  “I’m talking to this wonderful lady about our forthcoming marketing and PR plans. It won’t be long before we’re the most popular zoo in the country. Then there’s just the rest of the world to beat.” He winked at Tiff when he said it. I ground my teeth in frustration. Trust Mr Smoothy Pierce to be able to claim work when I was certain his motives were anything but.

  “What plans would those be?” I asked, determined to show him that I cared about what he was doing. Especially when he wasn’t actually doing it.

  “I’ll feed Rameses. I think he needs it, the poor boy,” Tiff said, sensing a showdown and behaving tactfully, as she always did. As it turned out, Rameses would have to wait a little longer to be fed.

  Detective Alex Gregory must have left the station as soon as Officer Kelly had handed over our findings.

  “Ms Amos, I need to ask you some questions…” he began. He stopped walking when he saw Pierce, who was in the midst of smiling at Tiff and had just reached out to brush a hair back from her face.

  I felt time standstill as Alex Gregory’s calm demeanour struggled with the rage I saw boiling behind his eyes. Rage directed at my marketing and PR genius.

  “Tiff, might I have a word with you in private?” Detective Gregory said, apparently forgetting about the important questions he’d been about to ask me.

  “Sure!” Tiff said and started to walk over to the detective.

  “Hey now, hold up! Is she in some kind of trouble?” Pierce asked, stepping forwards and practically squaring up to the detective. I believed I’d got the measure of Pierce over the past week. I knew he wasn’t seriously asking if Tiff was in trouble with the police, he’d just figured out that Detective Gregory had eyes on the same woman he did.

  “It’s a private matter,” the detective said, his nostrils flaring a little.

  “It’s fine, Pierce,” Tiff said, smiling at my employee and then at the detective. I knew she was trying to be fair to them both, but I could sense that trouble was now unavoidable.

  “Well, if I’m not going to get a moment alone… Tiff, I’d really like us to become exclusive,” Detective Gregory said, turning to fully face my beautiful friend. “I’ve never met anyone like you and I’ll never forgive myself if I let you pass me by.”

  “I…” Tiff looked from Detective Gregory to Pierce and back again before she looked helplessly at me. I knew my best friend very well indeed. I’d known a day ago, when we’d spoken about her suitors, which one she was leaning towards, and I suspected where her heart lay - even though she might not be sure herself. However, Tiff was not one for confrontation, unless forced. And that was going to make this whole thing go south.

  “Ha! Don’t compete where you can’t, Detective,” Pierce said with a patronising smile. “I can offer her more than you dream of.”

  “I’m the detective for the Gigglesfield police force. And I know exactly what kind of man you are!” The detective answered the smile with a disparaging look.

  “You have no idea,” Pierce told him and there was danger in his voice. I woke up from my fascination at the battle beginning in front of me to wonder about Pierce all over again. Other than a couple of references, who could have been anyone really, I had no idea who my head of marketing and PR was. Was he about to show his true colours?

  Detective Gregory turned to look at Pierce and there was something in his gaze that seemed to say just try me, you don’t know me either. Pierce raised one dark eyebrow but to my intense surprise, he didn’t open his mouth again.

  “Madi, I need some time to ask those questions now,” the detective said. His lapse into informality was the only sign I had that he was unfocused, perhaps even rattled. I merely nodded and then gestured that we should walk towards the barn conversion.

  “You’ve got to be joking about him,” I heard Pierce say right before we walked out of earshot.

  Detective Alex Gregory froze in his tracks. Then he turned around.

  “Detective…” I tried to say, but he was already striding back towards Tiff and Pierce.

  “Oh-ho! Back for another round?” Pierce said with a grin and then ducked the roundhouse punch aimed at his ear.

  “Have you gone mad?” I shouted after the detective.

  Pierce landed first hit with a short straight jab to the nose that made Detective Gregory shake his head to refocus. “And don’t try to do me for assault, either. You hit first,” Pierce said, still shooting his mouth off.

  “Stop this at once!” Tiff said moving forwards and then backing right up again when fists started flying.

  As with the majority of fights, this one ended with both men on the floor, rolling around in the dirt. Fortunately for Tiff and me, fights aren’t exactly silent. It wasn’t long before some of my zoo staff had gathered, and I felt able to safely act. With a few swift instructions from me, some of my burlier keepers managed to pull the two men apart. Detective Gregory had a bloody nose and Pierce had a cut across the top of his right eyebrow. Both of them were covered in dust and were, in my mind, utterly ridiculous.

  “You will not fight in my zoo. This is a family friendly place,” I informed them. “I want both of you to leave the premises right now. Pierce, come back in tomorrow. Detective Gregory, I will answer your questions down at the station.” Both men looked back at me with challenges in their eyes. I eyeballed them right back. This was my turf and I made the rules.

  In the end, Detective Gregory’s common sense prevailed. He threw one last pained look at Tiff and then walked away through the zoo towards the hill. Pierce watched him go with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, before I cleared my throat and pointed him in that direction too, as he’d apparently forgotten the way out.

  For a moment, I missed the security team who’d been present at the zoo when I’d worked here as a consultant. But then I remembered what their main purpose had been, and the way I’d been lied to. The only thing I was grateful to them for was scaring off any future animal activists from trying to free the elephants, or other animals for that matter. Donald Trunk’s unfortunate killing of an activist, alongside the arrest and interrogation of all but one of the others present, was a pretty stark warning that the zoo took the protection of
its animals seriously. Although the security was now long gone, no one had ever come back.

  I watched as Pierce trudged off and was about to turn away when he muttered something.

  “Never wanted this anyway…” he grumbled, just within my hearing. Whilst Pierce really needed to work harder at not being overheard saying things that got him in trouble, it alarmed me all over again, feeding my paranoia that Pierce was really a spy, told to get the job and then helped by a hidden team to make it appear that he was good at his task. Similar things had happened before, and I didn’t feel completely crazy for wondering again…

  “Madi, I’m not sure if this is a good time…”

  I looked around to find Gabby standing by my side with a hopeful look on her face. I thought about the questions I needed to answer down at the station and I thought about Detective Gregory’s unprofessional behaviour at my zoo. He could wait ten more minutes.

  “What’s up?” I asked, smiling at my newest keeper whilst secretly hoping it wasn’t bad news. There’d been enough of that today already.

  “At the arts and crafts day, I spoke to some of the people from Avery Zoo when they came across for the judging. They said at Avery, everyone can submit ideas for events and then the events get put on. Is that right?” she asked.

  I tilted my head from side to side. “More or less. Auryn lets staff submit event ideas but, if approved, that member of staff, or group, must then put together the event themselves. Staff are encouraged to help one another out, but it’s about being responsible for your own ideas and finding a way to make them successful.”

  Gabby nodded. “Okay. In that case… could I put on a creepy crawly day? I’d love to get visitors handling some of the animals I look after, and I also think there could be talks on caring for reptiles, amphibians, and insects. It would be great!”

  I considered it. “Who do you think might be interested in attending the event?”

  “Everyone! The animals I look after are great.”

  I smiled but shook my head. “You have to remember that while you are incredibly passionate about the animals you care for, not everyone feels the same way. If I might, an angle to pursue might be ‘conquering your fears’. Another idea might be promoting the event to children, who are fascinated by things they believe are ‘gross’.”

  “But they’re not gross!” Gabby protested.

  “That’s exactly what you’ll show them… once they’ve turned up to see some gross animals.” I thought about it again. “Babies are also great for getting interest. I bet lots of people would like to see the baby chameleons and hold them when they're a little bigger. Just so long as it doesn’t stress the animals out…” I never advocated prolonged periods of animals being forced on display or handed around. It was unfair on the animal - great or small.

  “Those ideas do sound like smart ones. Maybe I could talk to Vanessa about it. Do you know if she’s already put on an event like that at Avery Zoo?”

  “I don’t think so. She’s happier with insects than people.” It wasn’t meant as an insult. That was just the way Avery’s creepy crawly keeper was.

  “Do you want to help me sort the chameleons? Some of them have been growing really fast. I could do with a pair of extra hands.”

  I could tell that Gabby was doing everything she could to rebuild our relationship after chameleon-gate - as I now liked to think of it. I decided that Detective Gregory could wait another ten minutes or so before he questioned me.

  “How much do you know about the collection you’ve got here?” Gabby asked smiling kindly when we walked into the creepy crawly house.

  “When this zoo was set up, the plans for the animals had mostly already been done. However, thanks to the work I did at Snidely Safari, I was able to make a few changes that I thought made sense. The original plans for this zoo were made six years ago. You won’t believe how much changes in that time. Anyway, I also benefited from a better knowledge of appropriate enclosures, again, thanks to Snidely.” I had gotten uncomfortably close to some of the snakes during my consultation work there. It had definitely influenced my decision to not include any highly venomous snakes in The Lucky Zoo’s collection. I knew that the scarier the snake, the more it drew people in, but I also knew that accidents and escapes happened. That was why I’d vetoed a few of the flashier ideas that the Abraham family had listed on their original plans. Now I feared that Gabby was about to tell me just how boring those choices were.

  “You’ve got a really good range of animals. You know I’m a chameleon and reptile expert, and I’d love to bring more of those in, but I’m really happy with what you have, and the enclosures you’ve made. I would love to add a breeding wing in the future, which you’ll need extra enclosures for, but yeah - it’s great. I was interested as to who had set it up in the first place and now I know.”

  “You don’t think it’s boring?” I said, deciding to voice my worry aloud.

  Gabby shook her head. “No! I know you get the fear factor with something like a black mamba, but these animals are all pretty deadly little hunters themselves - just, on a small scale,” she said, when I must have looked alarmed.

  We walked to the behind the scenes area and she hefted out the tank containing the tiny chameleons. “We’d better get sorting these! Only a couple of months until they’ll all need their own separate enclosures.” She looked up at me and grinned. “Better start talking to some other zoos!”

  I nodded and then gently stuck my hand into the enclosure, letting a tiny green chameleon onto my finger.

  “Did you know it’s mostly a myth that chameleons change their colours to blend in with their environment?”

  “I did know that,” I said with a little smile. Before working at Snidely, I’d done a lot of reptile research, but it had all been fairly generic. “Is it something to do with emotional states instead?”

  “That’s one of the things that can affect it! Their markings and colouration are also influenced by the chameleons health, temperature, and their surroundings, too,” she added with an answering smile. “They like living in trees, so although the size of the enclosure is good at the moment for these babies that my own pair had, if you decide we should keep a couple, it would be great to have an enclosure which mostly consists of trees. We could be creative about how we build it…” Gabby stopped talking and smiled at me. “Sorry, getting a bit carried away again, wasn’t I?”

  I looked kindly at the keeper who loved the animals she cared for with a passion. “You can get as carried away as you like. As long as you talk to me before putting any major plans in action, I’ll most likely say yes. I trust your judgement. This area of the zoo is yours. I only want to remain informed.” I really did like to give keepers a free rein as much as they wanted. I was a firm believer that the people closest to the animals they looked after knew what was best for them the majority of the time. Sometimes it helped to have an outsider to bounce ideas about with - which was mostly what my consulting work consisted of - but for the most part, the keepers knew best. I only wanted to be there to play devil’s advocate to make sure that they really had thought everything through.

  “Thanks! This is the best job I’ve ever had,” Gabby told me.

  “That makes my day,” I told her in return. Admittedly, something as little as a chocolate bar would have made my day given the day I was having, but I meant it all the same.

  I excused myself, knowing that I was probably pushing my luck with Detective Gregory. I very much doubted he’d be in a good mood either.

  My phone rang as I was walking up the hill. “All right, I’m coming…” I muttered, assuming it was the police station. I glanced at the screen and discovered it was Gloria from my publishers.

  “Hi Madi, are you free this evening for dinner? I’ve got something important to discuss with you.”

  My mind immediately raced. Was it bad news? Was it bad that my mind had immediately jumped to bad news?

  “We can go for dinner, my treat,” Glo
ria continued. I tried to decipher her words as to whether there was sympathy in them, but if there was, I couldn’t hear it.

  “I can do that,” I said, remembering Auryn and I were supposed to be taking a few days off - first for the house cleaning and now, theoretically, to sort out the garden. He wouldn’t be thrilled that I’d be skiving off dinner, but I never said no to food, especially not free food. “May I ask what it’s about?”

  “It’s a surprise!” Gloria told me, completely infuriatingly.

  I raised my eyebrows. That meant it probably wasn’t bad news, unless my publisher was a complete sadist. ‘Surprise! Everyone thinks your comics suck!’ wasn’t the kind of news you took someone out to dinner to give.

  “I’ll see you later,” Gloria said, leaving me with questions and no answers. As if I need any new mysteries in my life, I thought with bemusement.

  The next morning, Auryn woke me up by letting me know that Scarlett was coming over to collect Rameses. She’d apparently apologised for giving us the runaround, but she’d spoken to Ethan, and he’d agreed to keep Rameses with his dogs. Scarlett had decided that other canine company might cheer up the Pharaoh Hound. I privately thought that Rameses was doing just fine now that he and Lucky had reached a tenuous accord, and he’d enjoyed being at the zoo around people, but Scarlett was the dog’s owner now, so Auryn had of course said we’d respect her wishes.

  All the same, I couldn’t keep from grumbling when we sat down to breakfast. My questioning session with Detective Gregory had been pretty dreadful. He’d been in such a foul mood I’d thought he might even try to reignite the tiny oversight I’d made by not telling the police about the dog lead I’d found on the drive. I’d been very glad to get out of the police station a free woman. As for the murder case, the detective had agreed that the will was sufficient evidence to bring in Will and Lizzie Marsden for questioning. I was willing to bet the detective’s sour mood would spread to them when they were brought back down south for questioning.