The Peacock's Poison

by Ruby Loren

  “The guy running it is actually over by the drinks table. I met him earlier. Come on, I’ll introduce you. You should probably meet him anyway, right? His company is also bringing in some Christmas animals,” Tiff said, already leading me in the direction of the drinks table.

  “Auryn’s kept this pretty quiet,” I said, suddenly bemused.

  When I’d finished in Cornwall, he’d called and practically begged me to come back to help him. I’d done my part, assisting with the funeral arrangements, but I was starting to realise that he’d also done a lot of planning and decision making without my help. I knew it should make me happy, knowing that he was coping just fine on his own. After all, when I’d last been at Avery Zoo, I had worked as a zookeeper. There was no big title of ‘consultant’ for me here! Now I was back, Auryn had put me on the payroll as just another keeper. It was a pay cut, but coming back home to support my friend had made it worthwhile.

  At least, that’s what I’d thought I’d been back at the zoo to do. So, why hadn’t Auryn talked to me in any detail about this Winter Wonderland stuff? It sounded like a much bigger deal than I’d thought.

  I bit my lip when I considered the past few weeks and realised that I hadn’t exactly been in close communication with the zoo owner. I’d been skulking around, worrying about this ridiculous comic business. It served me right that he’d finalised a big decision without my input.

  “Barnaby, this is Madi, she’s our resident animal welfare consultant,” Tiff said, exaggerating my job at the zoo.

  I stuck out a hand to the man with some admirable salt and pepper hair. He had kind, dark eyes, and a few lines on his face that hinted he liked to smile a lot.

  “Lovely to meet you,” he said.

  I inclined my head. “I hear you’re doing the Winter Wonderland this year.”

  “Yes! My company specialises in organising winter events. That’s our forte. We go into hibernation in the summer.” He gave me a wink.

  “I’ll get you a drink,” Tiff said and slipped away with a knowing smile on her face.

  I tried not to glare after her. If I’d known she was trying to set me up…

  I was about to begin my interrogation, but someone else got there first.

  “Hi, I’m Jenna, head of reception. I know we’ve already met, but I’m told my second impression is even better than my first.” Jenna swung her short sheet of brown hair and parted her heavily-glossed lips, just so.

  Barnaby jokingly stuck out a hand, but Jenna ignored it.

  “Nonsense, we’re already friends. Just remember, I know all there is to know about the zoo, so you just come to me if you have any questions,” she said, swooping in and planting a kiss on each of Barnaby’s cheeks.

  He shot me a confused look over her shoulder. I tried not to smirk. Jenna was already sinking her claws into the zoo’s winter recruits.

  Tiff returned, carrying two cocktails. Her face fell when she saw that Jenna had swooped in.

  “Isn’t it great that the Winter Wonderland is going to be professionally run this year?” I said to Jenna, hoping to be included in the conversation again. I had actually wanted to ask Barnaby a few probing questions. I’d seen another events company at work in my previous job, and I wanted to make sure that his company had some relevant experience, working for zoos. I also wanted to check that he wasn’t a narcissistic psychopath.

  “I bet it’s going to be beautiful. I’ve always thought the zoo should have something a bit more proper at Christmas, you know? It’s the most romantic season of the year.” Jenna batted her eyelashes.

  I avoided making eye contact with Tiff, knowing that we’d both lose our straight faces.

  “I’d love to chat with you about your plans, especially regarding the animals. Perhaps we could meet tomorrow?” I asked, accepting that I was fighting a losing battle for attention whilst Jenna was still there.

  Barnaby nodded, looking a little resigned. As soon as Jenna had her back to me, I threw him a slightly apologetic look. His expression didn’t change, but something about the way his eyes warmed even more let me know that it was an apology accepted.

  “Well?” Tiff said when we were out of his earshot.

  “Hmm?” I replied, pretending to misunderstand.

  “He’s a total silver fox! He’s only in his thirties by the look of him, but he’s gorgeous - and such a nice guy, too.” She sighed. “I’ve only had one meeting with him when Auryn wanted to make sure the commercial plans all meshed, but he was so nice to me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Tiff, pretty much every man on the planet is nice to you when they meet you for the first time.”

  She shrugged and shot me a sideways look. “I think he liked you.”

  I took a deep breath and hoped my cheeks weren’t too obviously pink. “Come on, Tiff. I’m not looking for anyone right now.” I felt the heavy weight I’d been doing my best to forget these past few weeks settle on my heart. I missed Lowell, and he hadn’t even bothered to contact me.

  “Still, at least Jenna’s distracted from ruining anything for Harry,” Tiff said, trying to see the bright side.

  “Madi, thanks for coming.” Auryn joined me and Tiff. I sensed Tiff look away and noted that Auryn wasn’t overly keen to acknowledge her, either. Jeez, it looked like I had more than just animal behaviour to attempt to correct!

  “People are having a great time,” I told him, and then politely noticed the person standing by his side. She was a woman in her late twenties, the same as I was. Her hair was shoulder length and dark, with a well-styled curl at the ends. Her face was pale and her complexion was enviably smooth, setting off her chocolate-coloured eyes, perfectly. She was also dressed in an immaculate suit.

  “This is Claudia. Around a month ago, Lawrence suggested I hire her as the zoo’s in-house financial expert.” Auryn smiled at her. “I think it’s safe to say that the trial period is going very well. Claudia’s actually the one who worked out the potential return on investment from hiring the events company. Oh, I must introduce you to Barnaby, too!” Auryn looked flustered.

  “It’s okay, I already did it,” Tiff interjected with a tight smile.

  I noticed that her hands were pressed so tightly to her sides, her knuckles were white.

  “Thanks, Tiff,” Auryn said, equally awkwardly.

  “I’m going to have a chat with him tomorrow,” I said, keeping my voice light enough that Claudia wouldn’t be any the wiser. Auryn, however, gave me an unsure look.

  “He’s a really great guy, and the company is brilliant, too. When I first contacted them to enquire, he came back to me with far more than just a quote. I swear he knows more about the zoo than I do! I’ve no idea how he did it, but it meant that he had plans for where everything was going to go and so many ideas about how to market the event, based on the area we’re in. I think you’re going to be impressed.”

  I smiled to show that I was willing to believe it, but I still wanted to do my own investigating.

  “Anyway… as I was saying, Claudia’s already proved her worth with her suggestions. It may not be directly finance related, but when I told her about our ‘all ideas welcome’ policy at Avery Zoo, she suggested the roaming peacocks and even sourced them for me. Aren’t they great?” Auryn beamed.

  I tried not to strangle Claudia in front of him.

  “They’re certainly characters!” I said, diplomatically. I glanced down at my drink and noticed, for the first time, it was the same green and blue concoction I’d first seen Tiff holding. I looked sideways at her and she winked. Hilarious.

  I was about to ask Claudia what she’d been doing before she came to be working at Avery, when something else happened to make the room go quiet.

  Someone was shouting.

  The four of us turned to look at the new star of the barn’s centre stage area.

  A woman with short, spiky blonde hair, and a bright pink fringe, was the person responsible for the noise.

  “Do you know her?” I hissed at Aur
yn.

  He frowned and shook his head.

  “Killer boots,” Tiff said in my other ear, always one to notice interesting fashion when she saw it.

  I tried to focus on what this stranger was yelling about.

  “…the child of Charles Avery. I was never contacted and I’ve been done a huge discourtesy. I’ve been ignored my whole life, and now I want my share of the inheritance!” she finished.

  I managed to fill in the gaps. This strange woman was clearly claiming to be some illegitimate love child of the late Mr Avery. Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t going to suggest to Auryn that he hand over half the zoo just yet.

  “I suppose I should handle this,” he said, grudgingly. “Would you be okay making sure the place doesn’t burn down, or anything, if this takes me a while?”

  I assured him I would do my duty as chief firefighter.

  “Would you like me to come and help? I’ve got some law experience and could probably put her straight for you,” Claudia said, laying a hand on Auryn’s shoulder. Something inside of me bristled at the way she casually touched him. Next to me, I sensed Tiff turn away. No wonder tension was growing between them! There was another woman in play, who I hadn’t even known existed. I wondered if Auryn had kept her presence quiet for a reason. Could there already be something between them?

  “Thank you, but I’ll be fine on my own. We haven’t even established if she knows what she’s saying or not,” he said, looking doubtfully at the woman. “I’d better go and find out.” He turned back to me, one last time. “Don't worry about getting everyone out when you go. I know what some of them are like… they’ll probably still be here in the morning when it’s time for work.” He grinned. “Maybe I should have asked for some of those crash mats to be left out after all.”

  The three of us watched him go, each presumably wondering what the other women felt for the new zoo owner. I hoped that if Auryn was going to pick a partner, he made the right choice - a choice that would bring him happiness, rather than heartache. But what the right choice might be, I couldn’t say.

  2

  The Body in the Barn

  Auryn didn’t return to the party. Tiff and I had left while there were still a few stragglers, doing their best to save the bar staff from clearing up, by drinking the bottles dry. I couldn’t say I’d particularly noticed Jenna amongst them, but it wouldn't have surprised me.

  It was obvious she must have stayed late, because she was still there the next morning.

  I’d received a text from Auryn early that morning. He’d prefixed it with massive apologies about having to leave the gathering early and even bigger apologies about what he was going to ask me to do today - which was to organise the clear up. I’d sighed when I’d read the text, knowing that it was a job that would normally fall to Tiff’s team. However, I was well aware that Avery Zoo didn’t actually need the number of zookeepers they had on the staff, when I was included. I was supposed to be back in an assisting capacity, so clearing up wasn’t really the biggest ask in the world.

  An hour before the zoo was due to open, I’d set off towards the play barn, armed with black plastic sacks and a dustpan and brush. At the time, I’d been half-expecting that there would be some heavy duty cleaning needed, if anyone hadn’t been able to hang onto their drink after I’d left. If that were the case, I was underprepared.

  But what I really hadn’t prepared for was the body in the barn.

  At first, I’d thought she was sleeping. When I walked into the barn, still filled with the scent of the woodsmoke from last night, I’d noticed there was someone lying up on one of the rope swing platforms. In the dim morning light, I was just able to make out the striking diamond-patterned dress Jenna had worn last night.

  “Jenna?” I called, and when I got no response, I climbed the log steps up to the raised platform and went to wake her up.

  It didn’t take me long to realise it would be effort in vain.

  As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I was able to see her face. It had a strange, blueish tinge to it, and I could see traces of foam on her lips. As if I needed any more help to realise she was no longer alive, her eyes were glassily open, seeming to stare at me in horror.

  My gaze moved to look anywhere other than at her body, which is why I spotted the necklace. It was hung, carelessly, over the end of the wooden safety railing. It was the filigree locket Jenna had worn ever since I’d known her. It wasn’t the only item decorating the railings. Her tights were draped further along, and her underwear lay on the wooden floor of the barn.

  I tried not to think about what it all meant. Had Jenna’s restless spirit been the death of her? I bit my lip, hard. That was unfair of me to think. Jenna wasn’t to blame for her death. Somebody had done this to her, or at the very least, they’d left her here to die alone.

  It was with dread in my heart that I pulled out my mobile phone and called the police to report an unexplained death.

  Detective Rob Treesden was not happy to see me.

  “You’re the one who found her?” He said by way of greeting, when he arrived with crime scene specialists and other officers in tow.

  I gritted my teeth, but nodded. “I came in to tidy up from the party and found her here. I didn’t touch anything,” I said, automatically.

  Treesden’s gaze sharpened. “You don’t think she died of natural causes?”

  I gave him a disbelieving look. “She’s blue in the face and has foam around her mouth.” I pushed my festive, gold-sparkle rimmed glasses higher up my nose. “Perhaps she had an allergic reaction, but I didn’t know that she was allergic to anything. And, there’s the other evidence…” I gestured to the discarded necklace and clothing. “A lover’s game gone wrong, perhaps?”

  Detective Treesden frowned. “We’ll be conducting the investigation. You’re going to have to give a statement. We’ll also need statements from whoever saw her last.”

  I thought back to when I’d left the party, but I couldn’t remember who had still been there. “You’ll have to ask around,” I said. I made myself look one last time at poor, dead Jenna. There was surely no way it was natural causes. “Look at her necklace and the way her tights have been thrown around. One person knows she never left the party last night,” I told him, before walking off to write out yet another witness statement.

  Tiff, Auryn, and a few of the reception staff and zookeepers had gathered just outside of the barn, having noticed the sudden police presence. I’d called Auryn to let him know what had happened, right after I’d phoned the police. He’d immediately closed the zoo and I suspected that gossip as to the reason why had already spread like wildfire.

  “No! It can’t be her!” I heard someone shout and turned to see a young police officer rush past me through the door of the play barn and promptly sink to his knees. He stared at Jenna’s inert form and let out a moan of dismay. The female police officer I’d been about to speak to grunted in annoyance and strode over to the male police officer, pulling him to his feet, before practically dragging him back out of the barn.

  “Oh no, that’s Ernesto. He was Jenna’s latest shot at a longer-term thing,” Tiff said to me, as we watched the young officer being led away.

  “He can’t have been with her for long,” I observed.

  Jenna wasn’t a terrible person to be with, but she’d never taken long to get bored with her partners. Perhaps she’d never felt comfortable enough with anyone to truly open up. Maybe that’s why she’d always loved them and left them. I huffed air out of my mouth, saddened by that thought.

  “Statements. Now!” Detective Treesden raised his voice several decibels.

  Ernesto covered his face with an arm and rushed off in the direction of the two-person swings. The female police officer shrugged and came back towards me. I resigned myself to the interrogation ahead.

  She led me away to where the giant spiderweb rope climbing frame was. There was a bench on the far side of it and we sat down, with our backs to the Pata
gonian mara enclosure. Now out of sight and earshot of Detective Treesden, the police officer’s shoulders relaxed downwards.

  “I’m Police Officer Kelly Lane,” she said and I introduced myself in turn.

  “I think Detective Treesden got out of bed on the wrong side this morning. Or perhaps he didn’t want to have another murder case on his hands before Christmas,” she said, brightly, and then covered her mouth. “Oops! We’re not supposed to make assumptions like that.”

  I found I rather liked Officer Kelly. I also wasn’t going to enlighten her as to the real reason why Treesden was in such a bad mood.

  “I have to ask you a few questions,” she said, once we’d finished filling out the standard ‘what did you see?’ statement.

  “Did you know the deceased well?”she asked.

  I tilted my head from side to side. “As well as anyone here at the zoo, I suppose. Jenna was always friendly to me. I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead, but she did like to gossip and she quite liked male company, too.” I was trying to be tactful.

  Kelly’s expression soured a little, and I knew she was thinking about Ernesto’s unprofessional reaction to learning that Jenna was dead.

  “I think we’re probably going to need a list of all of her known partners, but I’m sure that will come later. After all, we don’t know the cause of death yet. For now, just in case - could you think of any reason why someone might have wanted Jenna Leary dead?”

  I thought about it and then slowly shook my head. “Jenna had her flaws, but she was seldom deliberately nasty to anyone. A couple of times, she’s tried to cause trouble, but it was always for attention rather than to be truly malicious,” I said, thinking back to her interaction with a rather well-known crime writer, who’d made the mistake of having a dalliance with Jenna and not making sure that the evidence had remained in his control. Looking back, he might have been the only man Jenna had ever been hung up on. Even then, I suspected she’d never really felt much for him. He’d just had fame and a reputation in a line of work that Jenna had envied.