by Ruby Loren
To my surprise, the rest of the evening went well. Although I certainly wasn’t looking, Lowell stayed out of my way all evening. I thought Auryn had started to enjoy the night, too, as the publishing executives had indeed been very interested in Avery Zoo and the marketing opportunities it presented. Auryn loved the zoo and I could tell he was revelling in the opportunity to coordinate marketing efforts that would include Avery. It had been one of my greatest concerns about accepting a publishing contract - that it might affect the zoo in a negative way. Auryn had assured me the opposite would be true when I’d mentioned it to him. It would seem that he’d been right all along.
“So, what are you working on right now, aside from your comic? Are you working as a zookeeper?” a friendly woman with curling brown hair and chubby cheeks asked me. I’d met so many people that evening, I didn’t have any idea of who she was.
“No, I’m still working as an animal welfare and habitat consultant,” I told her. “I love being able to do something that contributes to animals having better lives.”
“How admirable. I have no idea how you fit all of that in around your wonderful comic! I’ve had a look at your site, of course, and you really are very prolific.”
I blushed at the praise. “It was just a hobby, you know. I drew a strip every night and it went on from there.”
“Whereabouts are you working now? Will we be seeing some new animals?” the woman asked, clearly familiar with the way the storylines of my comic, Monday’s Menagerie, deviated.
“Perhaps,” I said, thinking about the elephants and hoping they’d be all right out in the storm. I hoped that the security team would do their job and protect them, in spite of one of their number inexplicably being present here. “It’s a zoo that’s actually just down the road from here. Only, it hasn’t opened up yet.”
I’d thought that would be an end to the discussion but something changed in the woman’s expression. “A zoo near here? But not Avery Zoo?”
I tilted my head at her. “Are you a local?”
“No, not me, but my mother was. She was still living here when…” She looked around the room and leant in closer. “It’s not… the Abraham place, is it?”
“It is,” I confirmed.
“Well, isn’t that something! I thought that project was as long gone as the poor owners. I heard from my mother that when old Mrs Kendal went looking for them, their dinner was all laid out on the table - except no one had taken a single bite! It used to scare her silly that the same thing might happen to her.”
“Mrs Kendal?”
“Molly Abraham’s mother. She lived in the farm cottage and helped look after the family. It was Mrs Kendal who discovered they were all missing. My mother was once good friends with her. I still send her a Christmas card every year, you know. Unless she’s changed her address, she’s still living locally.” She shook her head. “Heaven knows why. If something like that happened to anyone I cared about, I don’t think I could carry on - let alone live anywhere within a hundred mile radius of where it happened.”
“I suppose we all deal with our grief in different ways,” I acknowledged.
The brown-haired woman nodded. “You’re right, of course. Isn’t that interesting though?” Her mind had clearly drifted back to the reopening of the zoo. “I’ll be keeping a very close eye on your comics over the next few weeks,” she told me with a friendly smile before moving away through the crowd and allowing her position to be taken by another member of the publishing team.
I kept up the polite conversation, but all the while, I was thinking about what I’d just learned about the mother of one of the Abrahams still being alive and living close by. I wondered what she thought about the zoo being reopened, or if she even knew about the project. I was willing to bet that the property sale had gone through her. Who else was left to oversee it? But that didn’t mean she knew what was being done with the old farm.
Someone should tell her, I thought.
5
The Perils of the Internet
Auryn stayed over at my house the night after the publishing party. The event didn’t finish until late and then we stayed up into the early hours while I talked him through everything - absolutely everything - that I knew about Lowell Adagio.
When I’d finished talking I waited, hoping he wasn’t going to run for the hills screaming about me being crazy.
Auryn looked down at his hot chocolate for a long time before he spoke. “You believe that Lowell is working with MI5?”
“I know he is. He even admitted to that much. I just have no idea what he’s working on, or why he’s back here. That worries me a lot,” I told him.
Auryn shook his head but then stopped. “Perhaps to anyone else, this would all sound crazy, but Madi… I love you, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Every place you've been with him something bad has happened. What if there is more to it than you think?” He ran a hand through his blonde hair. “Great, now you’ve got me sounding crazy, too.” He looked up and I was relieved to see that there was the beginning of a smile on his face. “I know you’ve told me that, because I know what you know, I could be in danger, but I’m glad you shared it all with me. It means we can figure this out together.”
I’d been nodding along happily until he said the last bit.
“Figure out what? We’re not doing any figuring out,” I said, hearing panic in my own voice.
Auryn gave me a funny look. “From what you’ve just told me, it’s clear something strange is going on, and for whatever reason, you seem to be in the eye of the storm. If things really are as dangerous as you believe, surely it’s worse not to know?”
I thought about that for a bit. The memory of Ms Borel and Mr Flannigan resurfaced - the man and woman dressed in suits, who I’d met when working at a French zoo. I now believed they were in the same line of work as Lowell. They’d never struck me as particularly nice people back then and that was before I’d known their secret.
“I don’t know, Auryn. It would be great to know what’s going on, but these people are pretty scary. We’re no one to them. What if they decide it’s easier to arrange an accident?”
“You’ve been watching too many spy films,” Auryn told me with a smile, but I wasn’t reassured.
“I should stop working for Mellon Zoo. You were right all along. I shouldn’t have got involved.” Even as I said it, I knew I was pulling a pained face. The thought of the elephants and other animals… treated as commodities rather than living beings. Mellon Zoo needed a lot of sorting out, and I didn’t know who else would do it if I didn’t.
“I think you should keep working there,” Auryn said, surprising me. “Whatever you do, you seem to end up in the middle of… whatever this is. I think you should play along, but at the same time, try to figure out what is going on. You may be able to finally put an end to all of this. Things can go back to normal.”
I smiled a little. “Normal…”
“As normal as zoo life ever is,” Auryn said with a grin. “Anyway, you told me there are elephants in trouble. Shouldn’t we be getting some rest so that you can go and save them tomorrow?”
“If they’re still there to save,” I said, looking out of the dark window at the stormy night beyond. Rain frequently splattered the glass and the wind howled through gaps I hadn’t even known the house had.
From his place on Auryn’s lap, Lucky sighed, clearly lamenting the weather as much as I did.
“But Lowell…” I started to say.
“I don’t like Lowell being around either. But, he’s the one person you know for sure is involved in whatever is happening. Maybe he’ll even tell you what’s going on, now that he has nothing to lose.” Auryn hesitated and I knew what he was thinking.
“He does have nothing to lose,” I told Auryn without hesitation. My time with Lowell was long over.
“Save the zoo and figure out what the spies are up to, Madi… and while you’re there, how about solving the mystery of
the Abrahams, too?” Auryn gave me a sideways smile. “If that old chestnut was cracked, I bet it would really dent their business.”
I flicked my gaze heavenwards. “What a selfless motivation for solving a seven year old missing persons case.”
When I looked back at Auryn he was watching me carefully with a curious sort of smile of his face. “You are investigating it, aren’t you?”
“What? No! I’m not even sure what really happened that night.” I cleared my throat. “That is… I haven’t looked into it at all.”
Auryn waited while I tried to outlast him.
I failed.
“Did you know, the mother of Molly Abraham, who found the family missing, is still alive and living locally? Isn’t that interesting?”
Auryn nodded thoughtfully. “I knew it,” he said with a grin.
The hill that concealed Mellon Zoo didn’t seem as intriguing as it had the day before. Now I felt that it was just a long hike up before the events of the night were revealed.
I held my breath when I reached the crest of the hill and looked down at the elephant enclosure.
They were still inside.
“That’s something,” I muttered.
The door of the little cottage opened and Lowell walked along the path towards me. Mindful of Auryn’s words, I waited for him to join me.
“What happened last night?” I asked, referring to the supposed attack on the elephant enclosure.
“You tell me,” Lowell said, clearly talking about the publishing party. He sighed and followed my line of sight. “Rain stopped play. Our vigilantes clearly didn’t fancy a night out in the storm. But they’ll be back. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Elephant-saving vigilantes, eh?” I said skeptically. “I suppose the truth is highly classified?”
Lowell frowned. “There really are people… dangerous people… who don’t like elephants being kept in captivity. Surely you knew that?”
I tried to ignore the jibe against my knowledge. “Of course, but the reason they protest is because the intelligence of the elephants goes to waste because there are never any changes made in their environment to stimulate problem solving and team work - things that the elephants would do in the wild. The other reason is that they don’t have enough space, but Mellon Zoo’s enclosure is far larger than the recommended size for elephants. The only comparable places are safari parks that you drive through. No one likes to make the enclosures this large in a walk around zoo because the visitors get pretty fed up if they can’t see the animals they’ve paid to come and see.”
“Won’t they get pretty fed up when they come here?” Lowell asked, not unreasonably.
“I don’t think so,” I said, thinking about the intelligent design of the enclosures. “On paper, you should always be able to see the elephants, and due to the bowl shape of their enclosure, they won’t feel as far away as they really are.”
“Looks like they didn’t break out of their enclosure,” my ex-boyfriend needlessly observed. I felt as though Lowell was trying to poke at me for a reaction. He wasn’t going to get one.
“Then we’re all very lucky,” I said shortly. Amanda had sworn that the contractors would be back today and that advice on making the enclosure elephant-proof would be sought and taken. I’d also flagged up a few concerns about some of the other enclosures. I hoped those concerns would be taken on board before the residents arrived.
“Why are you here, Lowell?” I said, realising that asking him was the best way to start figuring things out, as Auryn was suggesting.
“I’m working. You know that.”
“Sure, but what are you working on? Are you here to solve the Abraham mystery?” I knew it was the wrong guess, but when Lowell laughed a little, it let me know a bit more about what he really was working on. It was something far more dangerous.
“You know I can’t tell you, Madi.”
“You’re working with them again, aren’t you?”
Lowell glanced back at the cottage and then returned his gaze to me. “The less you know, the better. Just go about pretending everything’s normal. Hopefully, in time, it will be.” For a second he looked sad. I thought there was regret somewhere in his eyes, but the time for all that was gone. I’d made my choice and my heart told me it was the right one.
“That’s not good enough for me,” I told him firmly and walked off down the hill without another word.
With all of the panic over the emergency measures needed for the elephant enclosure, I hadn’t actually managed to check in on the animals themselves. Feeling guilty, I made my way down to their expansive enclosure to do exactly that.
It turned out that what I’d explained to Lowell about enclosure design was correct. From my viewpoint, the elephants were more than half of the enclosure away, but my overlooking perspective on the edge of the bowl meant I could see the group clearly. They were having a jolly time in a large puddle, no doubt left behind by the previous night’s storm. “Hmm,” I said, considering the ramifications of the elephant enclosure being situated at the lowest point of the valley. Had drainage been considered in the original zoo design?
My question was answered when I walked a little further around the enclosure and discovered a fast-flowing stream leading further down, between the hills, and presumably towards run-off fields, or a larger body of water. It was clear that the eco-zoo designers had done their job well. The puddle the elephants were enjoying so much wouldn’t be there for much longer.
To my surprise, I happened upon a member of the security team, standing watch by the side of the enclosure that faced away from the zoo. When the man saw me, his hand immediately went to his gun.
“Wait! I’m supposed to be here. I’m an animal consultant,” I said, feeling breathless all of a sudden. I’d had a gun drawn on me before. The experience wasn’t one I wanted to repeat.
The man considered me for several moments more, probably taking in the fact that I was only five-feet tall and hardly a threat. He let go of his gun and said a few words into a mouth piece. A second later, he nodded that I could go on.
I widened my eyes as soon as I was past him. What kind of security had Amanda hired to look after the elephants? It looked to me as though they were expecting an invading army to march through.
It didn’t surprise me to see Amanda walking around the opposite side of the enclosure towards me five minutes later. Security must have told her exactly where I was.
We greeted each other and I remarked that I was pleased the elephants hadn’t been startled by the storm.
“According to the security team, they spent the night in their barn. Smart animals,” Amanda said, nodding her head in the direction of the large wooden structure on one perimeter of the fence. The elephants were allowed free roam to make their own choices about whether they stayed in or out for the night. The allure of warm, dry straw and a heat lamp had evidently been appealing.
“You must come and meet their zookeepers. We’re actually still interviewing for staff at the moment and are running the zoo on a skeleton crew, as only a few animals have arrived. The staggered arrivals also means we can isolate any problems and solve them as we go - as opposed to suddenly being hit with twenty different imminent disasters.”
“Sensible,” I said. “I would love to meet the keepers, if that can be arranged.”
Amanda waved a hand. “Of course! I’ll just message them and see when they’re not so busy.” She pulled a shiny, slim black phone out of her pocket. I wasn’t sure what brand it was, but it certainly fitted with her expensive image.
“By the way, have you seen the placard we’ve put out? It’s just a design sample, but the team have approved it and it won’t be long before we’ve got information points all around the enclosure, letting people know about the brainteasers you’ve put in for the elephants.” She beckoned me and we walked forwards a couple of metres, arriving next to a sign ringed with small, living plants.
“Great, isn’t it? Even our signs
are environmentally friendly,” Amanda said, enthusiastically.
I nodded vaguely, privately thinking that environmentally friendly and childproof were two very different things. My eyes skimmed the embossed words, which listed the genders and ages of the elephant herd and their names.
The two young female elephants were called Helga and Xena. The more mature matriarch was Adrianna.
“Donald Trunk?!” I said, disbelievingly. That was the name which had been given to the bull elephant.
“One of the flaws of the internet. Our backers may have come up with a fairly charming name for the zoo itself, but unfortunately, one of the stretch goals of the funding was that backers who paid enough would be allowed to name particular animals. Poor old Donald’s namer thought he was being funny. It’s only for the signs. His real name is George.”
“Are there any other names like this one?” I asked, unsure if I actually wanted to know.
Amanda shrugged. “None quite as bad as Donald Trunk. And surprisingly, no one opted for ‘Liony McLiony Face’. Perhaps that joke’s finally got tired. Hang on… there is one, actually.” She sighed. “We will have a giant tortoise called Volde-tort.”
I snorted. “At least bad names aren’t animal abuse,” I told her with a smile.
“Mmm, but they hardly help the image of what we’re trying to do here. This project is supposed to be about sustainability and low impact conservation. Instead, people are going to be giggling about the animal names - I just know it!”
“I think it will be an asset in the long run. People remember things that make them laugh,” I said, thinking about Boris the emu and Bernard the turkey, who both lived at Avery Zoo.
“What about twenty years later when we have an elephant and a tortoise named after evil overlords and power-hungry politicians long past?”
I was saved from thinking of a good reply to that when her phone beeped.
“Oh, Harry’s just texted back. He’s one of the keepers. Apparently this morning he’s hoping to oversee the structural reinforcements of the big cat enclosures - something which he says he fully approves of, by the way.” Amanda looked a little sheepish.
