I was just about to speak when my phone rang with the ringtone I had assigned to my boss. He didn’t call very often and I knew when he did it was important.
“Sunny here.”
“Come to my office, Sunny. We have a problem with one of the animals.” His voice sounded strained and tight and I immediately knew something was very wrong.
“I’m on my way.”
Turning to Daphne and the crew still standing around outside Rani’s run I sent them off to carry on with the rest of the day and hopped into my very dusty bakkie and drove up to the main offices of the Sanctuary.
The offices and visitors centre was nowhere near the animals and it had purposely been designed that way. David and his partners hadn’t wanted the animals subjected to the unnecessary stress of humans intruding in their space. Even humans who came with the best intentions sometimes failed because of their over enthusiastic approach to the animals.
We were a closed sanctuary, no visitors allowed except conservationists and those who volunteered to work on the property and help us to take care of the animals and in return learn about the big cats. We’ve never had serious problems with the volunteers who came to us. The odd little speed wobble but nothing serious.
Walking into the office building the tension hanging in the air was palpable. What the hell had happened? One look at Norma’s eyes and I knew something was very, very wrong. Norma was our receptionist and usually a veritable battle axe.
Not saying a word she waved me past her desk towards David’s office. I strode down the passage to his office and peeked through the open door into my best friend Cherise LeGrange’s office as I passed. She sat behind her desk with a wad of tissues pressed underneath her eyes. I was about to walk in when she shook her head and waved the clump of tissues towards David’s office. A very, very bad feeling churned in my gut as I knocked on his door then pushed it open. David looked at me from behind his desk and invited me in with a wave of his hand. The air felt heavy and oppressive and I immediately knew it had something to do with the men in the office with him.
Lukas “Loek” Marais, our head of security, was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk and so was Ezekiel “Ez” Malobolo, the station commander of the local SAPS and a long-time friend of David’s.
What the hell was going on?
“Sunny, you know everyone, have a seat, please.” David didn’t give me a chance to ask what was going on so I sat down as ordered. And it was an order even if it didn’t sound like it.
“What’s going on?” I asked while frowning at the men.
“There’s no other way to do this but to just tell you straight up. We had an incursion into the lion enclosures last night. The bastards mutilated one of the males by taking his paws, head and tail.” David explained quietly, his voice might have been quiet but rage ran through it as he continued. “It was Rex. The poachers killed him.”
My heart jerked in my chest as the tears that had been filling my eyes streamed down my cheeks. Rex was one of our longest residents and was loved by everyone because he was so gentle. He had survived a life of abuse in a foreign circus, was rescued and came to us to live out the rest of his life in peace. And some heartless bastards had taken his life because there was a market for lion parts to be used as medicine. It was a bunch of crap. Not one part of a lion was ever going to cure whatever the hell ailed those sons of bitches who were buying the so called medicine. And don’t get me started on those who had them killed and mutilated to take so-called trophies. They made me sick to my stomach.
I was crying and shaking my head when Loek pulled me into his arms, holding me as I watered his chest. A few minutes later a bunch of tissues was stuffed into my hands and I knew it meant it was time to pull on my big girl panties. After drying my eyes, blowing my nose and clearing my throat I straightened my back.
“What do you need from me?”
David drew a hand over his tired eyes and blew out a heavy breath. “I need you to do the autopsy and work with the detectives to see if they left any clues behind. You know the enclosures better than anyone else and would notice if something was out of place.”
I gave a short nod before I asked the question that was worrying me.
“How did they get in, David? Our security is the best money can buy and we’ve never had a breach before. How did it happen and why now? What has changed?”
Loek gave an angry grunt but Ez got in first.
“We’re still investigating how they entered the property and got into the lion enclosure without setting off the alarms. My feeling is they had inside help but David and Loek assured me they trust the staff implicitly. I want the three of you to look at your staff with new eyes. If I’m right it means you’ve missed something. We have to find that something so we’re prepared for when they come back.”
“No!” I shook my head violently, shocked that he was expecting them to come back.
He gave me a sympathetic look that didn’t help at all.
“They’ve found it remarkably easy to get in and out, Sunny. They’re going to strike again, maybe not soon but they are going to come back. They’ll wait for you to relax your vigilance and then they’ll strike. I can almost guarantee it. You have cats whose body parts and pelts are highly sought after on the black market. And unfortunately there has been an increase in the trafficking of live animals, mostly big cats. And you have several of the most sought after cats right here.” He explained in a soft voice.
“What can we do to keep our animals safe?” Loek was virtually grinding his teeth in anger and frustration. He loved the animals as much as the rest of us did.
“Step up security and patrols. Send all volunteers home as soon as you can. Re-evaluate your employees and as a precaution, all the volunteers. From our side I’ll fast track the investigation and allocate two patrol vehicles to include your property on their nightly rounds.” He looked at David and then glanced at me and then at Loek. “Hopefully we get a break in the case soon and we can move in on the poachers. Our feeling is that they are part of a well organised ring that has been operating in Southern Africa for years. The killing and mutilation of Rex was done quickly and quietly, it was just too smooth to be an opportunistic strike. They knew exactly what they were doing.”
“That’s what’s so confusing. Why wasn’t there a commotion from the other animals? Why were they silent?” I asked and looked at Loek.
He slowly shook his head from side to side while rage sparked from his eyes.
“I can’t answer that. I’ve got Lebo reviewing last night’s footage with one of the detectives. We have cameras in and around the lion runs and we should know pretty soon who got in and killed Rex.” Lukas sounded confident but going by Ez’s expression he didn’t think they would be finding anything.
He really did think it was an inside job!
I couldn’t think of a single one of our employees who would do such a horrible thing. David has been very careful with his selections and every single one of us went through a stringent security and background check. Wild Fig Sanctuary had a very low staff turnover as we were more like a family than a place of employment. Our employees loved the work we were doing and gave large parts of their lives over to the care and protection of our residents.
“I’ve asked David for the employment records of all the employees, old and new. What we usually find is that it’s either a disgruntled ex-employee or a new employee that’s the inside man in this kind of situation.” Ez said quietly. “Detective Tau will be reviewing the security footage of the entire complex. Detective Roos will be taking statements from the employees, whether they were on duty last night or not. We need to know everyone’s exact whereabouts from the end of the work day yesterday until Rex was discovered this morning. Detectives Tau and Roos will stay here and continue the investigation. I, unfortunately, have to get back to the station.”
With that he stood and David did as well. They shook hands and he did the same with Loek and I before
he left.
I sank back into my chair and just sat there, still shocked that one of our beautiful animals had been murdered while we were sleeping peacefully in our beds.
Quite a few of us stayed in the residential complex on the property. The cottages were enclosed by high electric fences and code protected gates. Codes that would show up on the security computers as we went in and out of the complex.
Our little complex was closer to the animal enclosures than the offices and the visitors centre.
Every evening as the sun was setting and night started closing the usual round of sounds from the animals filled the air. If there had been a disturbance we would have heard it and if the animals had been unsettled the same would apply. We would have heard them.
I hadn’t heard a thing, just the usual night time noises before I went to bed.
I was about to ask Loek if he had heard anything during the night when there was a knock on the still open door and a tall well-built guy game strolling in. Everything about him screamed cop, from the short spikey dark brown hair to the dark jeans, the crisp white button up shirt and the black tactical boots on his feet. But it was his eyes that was the greatest giveaway. They were piercing blue and missed nothing.
I swear if I had asked he could have closed his eyes and told us where everything was in the office after that one thorough glance.
“Mr Mabuza, good morning. I’m Detective Roos and I’ll be interviewing your employees this morning. If you could set aside an office or a space where I could talk to them I would appreciate it. I would also like to have a look around the grounds and get a feel for how your day usually runs.”
David stood and held a hand out to the man who didn’t hesitate to greet him. They shared what looked to be a firm handshake and then David smiled and I knew without asking that the detective had somehow impressed him.
“Welcome, Detective, please have a seat.”
David waited for him to take his seat before he sat and continued. “You can set up in our conference room as we have nothing scheduled for the moment, and Sunny can show you around. She’s been with us almost from the start so she knows the property like the back of her hand.”
I interrupted before they could get any further. “Ez asked me to do a walk around in Rex’s enclosure with you guys. Can we get that done first? I want to get to Rex’s autopsy as soon as I can.”
Detective Roos looked down at his notebook, then back up and right at me. His eyes were icy and focused. “You’re the head veterinary surgeon at the sanctuary, am I right?”
Okay, it seems he was going to interview me right now.
I nodded. “Yes, I am. I’ve been here since before I graduated. I’m not sure but I think all in all it’s about six years or so. I was promoted to head veterinary surgeon when Dr Klaassens retired last year.”
His face didn’t reveal a single thing, neither did his eyes.
“I see. Am I right to assume you oversee all the animals at the sanctuary?”
Again I nodded. “That’s correct. I also have two assistants who are qualified vets, four veterinary nursing assistants and two new interns. The interns are doing an internship here as part of their graduation work. My team is large compared to other rehab facilities but it’s because we accept injured and abused animals on a regular basis. It is one of the most important reasons for the existence of our sanctuary.”
His eyes never left me as I explained and I suddenly realised that he was a very attractive man indeed. My eyes fell to his hands and the wide gold band on his ring finger.
His woman had made sure the ring would be impossible to miss. Her man was delicious and she had put a large no-go sign on him by giving him that ring. Clever woman.
I silently wondered why the ones who drew my interest were always taken. I realised I needed to give it some thought, but not now, not today and most probably not tomorrow either. Sometime in the future I would think about it.
Shaking off my highly inappropriate thoughts I focused on the conversation going on around me. While I had been wool-gathering it had been decided that Detective Roos would continue my interview in the conference room.
It was two doors down from David’s office and I took the time to show the detective the small kitchen where he could help himself to coffee or tea. The fridge was filled with water and several cooldrinks so he was set. There was even beer but I was sure he wouldn’t touch those. The man was all cop all the time.
“Okay, Ms Wolmarans, if we could…”
I held up a hand and stopped him in his tracks. “Doctor Wolmarans if you must. I prefer Sunny though because that’s my name after all.”
He gave a short irritated nod and restarted the recording and the interview. “Could you take me through your day yesterday, Dr Wolmarans? Start from when you woke to when you went to bed, don’t leave anything out however trivial it might seem.”
Fine if he wanted to be so bloody formal, I could do formal.
“I got up at 4.30am, got ready and went to the gym. We have our own small one here. As usual David was already there and so was Daphne Klaassens, one of our new interns. We worked out, I went back to my cottage, showered, got dressed for the day, had a quick breakfast and started my rounds at the clinic runs. I was joined by both interns during the rounds as it’s part of their daily duties. After rounds we returned to the clinic for our daily meeting. The meeting consisted of all my staff plus the interns and we went over our duties for the day. After the meeting I had a meeting with David and Marilise Louw, our accountant, about budgets and it took up most of the morning. At about 12 I visited Dayana’s run and spent some time playing with her before returning to the clinic. After a short break for lunch I loaded up my vehicle and did my rounds and visited with our permanent residents. I always start at the Cheetah runs and work my way around. Once I was done I went on to check on the animals that are close to being relocated. We leave them alone as much as possible as it helps with their integration back into the wild. At about 5.30 I returned to my office, updated my records and sent out the surgery schedule for today. I left the office around 6.30, stopped at Dayana’s run to spend a bit of time with her and then went home. I didn’t leave my cottage until I started my day at 4.30am today.”
Throughout the retelling of my day he took notes, what those notes were I couldn’t say. I suppose he wanted to have a quick reference close at hand so he wouldn’t have to listen to the recording every time he wanted to refresh his memory.
“You mentioned Dayana twice. Who is she?” He asked with a small frown pulling his eyebrows together.
So damned attractive but so off limits. What a shame.
“Dayana is one of our permanent residents. She’s a black leopard who was rescued from a very bad situation. People call them black panthers but she’s a leopard who was born with melanism, that’s why she’s black and not golden with dark spots. She had been abused and neglected while she was a cub and still unable to defend herself. When she came to us she had been starved and badly beaten and her paws had been injured and not treated by her owners. It was a hard battle to save her but I did and today she lives in safety and peace in her own run. She allows me into her little kingdom and we play the way I suppose you would play with a house cat. Only she’s bigger and her scratches and bites are more serious should she get pissed off with you. She’s my baby girl and I visit her every day. Her run is also the closest to our residential complex.”
“Is there anyone here that you don’t trust or who has been acting strangely?” His question had me frowning as I thought about it.
There wasn’t anything really, just Angela, one of the vet nurses, acting like more of a bitch than usual. But then she had been a bitchy girl right from the start. I had no idea why David overruled me when I said no to her being on my team. In the end I had to give in and accept her.
I didn’t like bitchy girls, at all. I had enough of those growing up in the small farming community where my parents lived.
“You
thought of something.” He interrupted my thoughts.
“I don’t know if it’s anything but Angela, one of the veterinary nurses, has been more bitchy than usual the last two weeks. I ignored it because she’s been bitchy since she started here five months ago.” I shrugged. “That’s about all that changed along with the new directives for volunteers.”
“How did those change?”
“Usually Cherise LeGrange handles the public side of the business plus she manages the volunteer centre here at the sanctuary. But three weeks ago David changed the directives. He now has final say over the selection of volunteers. I can’t tell you why it’s been changed, you’ll have to ask David why it has. And I don’t know if Cherise is pissed about it. She’s refused to discuss it with me and I didn’t push.”
And suddenly it occurred to me that it was the kind of change he was looking for and immediately shook my head.
“You can stop looking at her as a suspect because she would never harm our cats. She’s more likely to help you hunt down those who murdered Rex.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Cherise and I both went to Tuks, the University of Pretoria. We met when we were looking for digs and ended up at the same flat. We both liked it, neither of us wanted to lose it. We decided to join forces and snagged the flat because the owner liked us. We shared until after we had both graduated. When I was offered the position of junior veterinary surgeon at the sanctuary she resigned from her highly paid corporate position and applied for the business manager’s position. It was a dream come true for both of us, we were making a difference in our own small way. We moved here and we’ve been here ever since. Her cottage is between mine and Loek’s. She’s my best friend and I can say with certainty that she would never collude with poachers. Not in a million years.”
A Touch Of Grey Page 4
