by Ruby Loren
Alcide had met his match after all. He may not have been willing to listen to me but there would always be the villagers to contend with.
“All packed?” I asked Lowell, when he came back into the cottage after placing the last of our suitcases in the back of the hire car.
“I think so. Looks like the holiday’s over,” Lowell said with a smile, but I noticed it wasn’t a particularly wistful one. He’d enjoyed the trip - that much I knew - but I also understood the hunger of returning to do a job that you loved. The only thing that bothered me was that I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of job Lowell would be returning to do.
We’d spoken when he’d arrived back at the cottage the previous evening. I’d told him about everything that had happened in the graveyard. He’d been duly concerned and had lamented the fact that he hadn’t been there, but all the same, I'd felt like he was half-distracted.
In turn, I’d asked him what his meeting with Ms Borel had been about. The only information he’d yielded was that she'd wanted to seek his professional opinion on something. Perhaps some people would worry that Lowell was being a cheat, but I didn’t sense any of that and I’d learnt to trust my senses. That said, I wasn’t convinced that ‘seeking his professional opinion’ was the whole truth.
Even as the morning sunshine illuminated the bright red paint of the hire car and I prepared to leave the cottage, I also waited for the right moment to question Lowell. Back when we’d decided we were going to be together, I’d warned him that any more secrets would not be tolerated. Unless I was much mistaken, he was well on his way to breaking that rule.
“There’s something I want to ask you,” Lowell said, when we were five minutes down the road from L’airelle. I already felt the end of the long summer slipping away and had said farewell in my heart to the quaint village with its neighbouring zoo.
“Okay,” I said, knowing I sounded nervous. Was this going to be about whatever he and Ms Borel had spoken about? What if it was something terrible? I braced myself.
“What do you think about us living together? We both rent, right? It would surely be more efficient if we made a decision on a house and moved in together.”
“More efficient, eh?” I said, not incredibly impressed by the proposal.
Lowell’s cheeks flushed a little and I suddenly regretted giving him a hard time.
“I just thought you might like to. I know I would like to live with you,” he said, stumbling over his words. “We seemed to do pretty well out in France, so I just thought… It doesn’t matter,” he finished, giving up.
I bit my lip for a second before I replied. “I’d really like to live with you. I think it would be great. Of course, I might not be home much, depending on the cases."
“Me neither," Lowell cut in, gladly. “I travel a lot, too. That’s why I thought if there was just the one place to rent, it would work out great.”
“It does make sense,” I said and then smiled at him. “I’d like to live with you, too.”
Lowell's shoulders relaxed down. I hadn't even noticed how much tension he’d been holding in them.
“That’s great,” he said, a grin now etched across his face.
I returned the grin and settled down in my seat. Despite still having doubts about whether Lowell was hiding something from me, I really was looking forward to moving in with him. I liked Lowell a heck of a lot. I just hoped that my feelings weren’t causing my normally excellent judgement to slip.
Time will tell, I promised myself and deliberately forgot about all of the questions I’d been about to ask him.
Only one little voice in my head remained, and it whispered: what if that’s exactly what he was hoping to achieve?
Epilogue
I visited Avery Zoo the day after I returned from the South of France. My best friend, Tiff, had recently questioned my loyalty to my friends back at Avery and I was determined to prove that I was a good friend after all.
Both Tiff and Auryn had been very happy to see me, but I’d been even happier to see Lucky, my kitten. Tiff had been looking after him for me. The tiny kitten I’d saved after he’d been rejected by his mother didn’t look so tiny anymore. He was nearly old enough to be at the stage where kittens were able to go to new homes. The milk formula was also in his past now. I was sorry to have missed a key moment in my little cat’s life, but the time spent at Tiff’s had been great for Lucky. He’d been allowed to socialise with her many other animals and Tiff reported that he’d made many new friends. It boded well for me potentially taking Lucky with me on my future work trips. He’d need to like other animals and have a healthy understanding of which animals were better left alone.
Unfortunately, Auryn’s grandad was not doing nearly as well as Lucky. The elderly man had suffered a heart attack, which he wasn’t expected to ever recover from. He was out of hospital, but bed bound and required carers. Despite the strain this put on Auryn, the young zoo manager looked healthier and happier than when I’d last seen him, several weeks ago.
I’d asked him how running the zoo was going but it had been plain enough to see when I’d walked around my old workplace. All of the animals looked healthy and happy. The information about them had been updated and some of the old exhibits such as ‘how much weight can you pull?’ had been resurrected. In my opinion, Auryn’s father had been well on his way to turning the zoo into a theme park. His view had been that fun curiosities, that also provided an education, were things of the past. I was thrilled that Auryn clearly did not share the same view as his criminal father and had brought them back. I still couldn’t pull as much as an ox, although I secretly suspected that this particular rope was not attached to a weight at all - simply tied onto something that wouldn’t budge.
The young zoo manager had also taken my suggestion of making the running of the zoo a more democratic process to heart. Everywhere I looked, I saw posters advertising the many special events that were taking place at Avery. Auryn told me proudly that each of these events were being organised by individuals or groups of staff who had come up with the concept. He was giving everyone a chance to have their own project and I was sure that the success would speak for itself.
“How are things financially?” I’d asked, when we’d covered everything else. I’d known Auryn long enough that I knew he wouldn’t mind me asking. After all, it was the zoo’s financial situation that had allegedly driven his father, Erin Avery, to such drastic, money-raising lengths.
“I’ve found a great accountancy firm and they've put together a debt repayment plan that should get the zoo back in the black within a year. Isn’t that great? This month, the zoo made a fairly decent profit too and although it’s early days, I think October is going to be even better.”
“That’s amazing,” I’d said, meaning it. Auryn had taken what his father had called an impossible task and was making Avery Zoo into a business again.
“Are you staying here for long?” Auryn had asked.
I hadn’t missed the wistfulness in his voice. I missed Avery Zoo a lot and was very tempted, but there were still zoos who wanted my help and I wanted to be able to give it.
I also happened to know that Auryn’s desire for me to stay wasn't entirely animal welfare related. If I stayed, I wasn’t sure my own motives would remain pure either. Auryn was several years younger than me but he was one of my closest friends and also undeniably gorgeous. I hadn’t wanted to risk our friendship, so Auryn’s wishes had never been fulfilled in terms of us giving a relationship a go. I was glad no one else, not even Tiff, knew about what had happened between us. They’d all think me crazy for turning down the most eligible bachelor around.
“I’ll be back again before you know it,” I’d promised Auryn after I’d spent a couple of weeks at the zoo to check on all of the animals and help Auryn out as best as I could. This time around, I hadn’t really felt needed. It made me sort of sad and happy at the same time.
Avery Zoo was blossoming just fine without me.
&nb
sp; I stroked Lucky’s head and the kitten mewed and pushed against my hand. I had a feeling he was growing up to be a very affectionate cat, but also one who was full of trouble.
Since Lowell’s suggestion of moving in together, we’d discussed our options and as my place was more affordable and also (in my opinion) a cosier home, he was moving in with me. Lucky had shown his streak for mischief while Lowell was moving in. My poor boyfriend had been driven half-mad, believing he’d lost most of the socks he’d brought with him during the move. It wasn't until we moved the furniture in the lounge around that we'd discovered Lucky had hidden them all under the sofa.
Sock thief drama aside, things with Lowell had been going pretty well. Despite promising myself I’d let what had happened in France between him and the agents slide, I had kept a close eye on Lowell. I would never want to deny him independence, but we had made a deal not to keep any secrets from one another when we’d started our relationship. I just didn’t want to be lied to.
Lowell had been working a few small, local cases since we’d been back home. I was more than willing to conclude that whatever had happened in France was over and done with. Lowell was back to his old job, working as a private detective, and seemed as happy as I'd ever seen him.
I tilted my head at the computer screen in front of me, looking at my latest comic and marvelling at the view counter. I had never expected my little hobby to turn into something so successful.
The crowd funding campaign had come to an end and had been 230% funded. Even when you took away the fees the site would claim, it was a massive chunk of money. My house buying deposit fund was certainly going to be looking a little more healthy. Of course, there was a vast amount of work that needed to be done, not to mention printing all of the books I’d promised to people who had pledged money. I had a hard task ahead of me and I’d be lying if I pretended it wasn’t a bit daunting.
The publishing agent had also been in touch since I’d skipped out on our Skype meeting. He was eager to set up another meeting and despite my concerns that a publishing deal would take up yet more of my time and distract from my main job - a job I loved to do - I had agreed to another meeting. The agent was so persistent I felt that I had to at least give them a chance.
I closed the webpage displaying my latest Monday’s Menagerie comic (in which spiders intended for Pallas's cats had escaped and taken over the zoo!) and opened my email account. There was the usual growing slew of fan mail but there was something else, too. I reopened the email I'd received that morning and read it through again.
It was a plea for help.
A zoo in Cornwall had undergone a change of ownership and management after being so widely criticised by the public. The new owners were horrified by the conditions animals had been kept in.
When they'd taken over the zoo, they’d thought it would simply be a matter of building better enclosures and supplying better food and the animals would recover. They’d soon discovered this wasn’t the case. The animals were damaged in more than just physical ways. They needed someone to help restore these animals’ lives to the fullest.
The writer of the email, Jules Hemway, also claimed that despite the hard work they’d put in, people still avoided the zoo. Although I wasn't a PR coordinator, they were hoping that with my already growing reputation, I might be able to change minds and get people to take a chance on the zoo again.
“What do you think, Lucky? Shall we go to Cornwall?” I asked my little black cat. He raised a white paw and patted my chin.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said with a smile.
Jules hadn’t tried to conceal anything in the email. I knew I was accepting responsibility for an entire zoo’s worth of abused animals. It was going to be heart wrenching at first, but I also had a strong feeling that it might be my most rewarding cause yet.
This was a chance to make a real difference, and I was going to take it.
Lions and the Living Dead
1
Prank or Persecution?
Russet coloured leaves swirled in the breeze as I walked down the path that led from the car park to the village hall. I thought there was no place I’d rather spend the autumn than in Cornwall.
I’d just accepted a job working at Pendalay Zoo, situated quite close to Padstow. The zoo had recently been bought and taken over by the Johnson family. I’d met Mr and Mrs Johnson and their frenetic advisor, Jules, the previous afternoon and had immediately decided I liked them.
The Johnsons had made their money working as business consultants for some very impressive companies and they’d finally decided to try their hand at running their own business. A zoo hadn’t been on the cards, but when Rebecca Johnson had turned on the news one night and witnessed a report on the squalor that the animals of Pendalay Zoo were living in, she’d found her calling. They’d bought the zoo and had thrown themselves into renovating the place.
That was when they’d realised it wasn't enough.
I’d been called in to help diagnose and rehabilitate the emotionally, and sometimes physically, scarred animals they'd inherited when they'd bought the zoo. It was only now that the Johnsons were realising they might have made a mistake buying when they had. With the truth about Pendalay out in the open, it wouldn’t have been long before the animals were seized and distributed amongst better zoos. If they'd bought the zoo after that had happened, they’d have been able to start fresh with a group of animals who hadn’t seen the worst that humankind had to offer. Instead, they’d done a deal with the unscrupulous previous owner and had bought the lot. It was their problem now.
I hated to think that the man responsible for so much suffering had made so much as a single penny from selling up, but it was unfortunately the way the world sometimes worked. He’d been let off with a slap on the wrist and it was up to the Johnsons and myself to pick up the pieces.
Well, it wasn’t entirely up to us.
I wasn’t the only expert Jules had hired. During the welcome meeting and yesterday’s tour around the zoo, she’d revealed that I was going to be working as a part of a much larger team. She’d explained that Zara was the head of a team of PR experts. They’d started out specialising in bringing businesses back from the brink, or rebuilding reputations after a PR disaster, but more recently, they’d been working with family attractions. They’d helped out theme parks, farm experiences and (of course) zoos. That's why Jules had hired them.
In front of the Johnsons, Jules had waxed lyrical about how fantastic the company was. When we’d taken the tour minus the owners, she’d changed her tune a little bit. She’d confided that while the PR firm did have a great track record with turning businesses around, there were reviews that claimed the firm focused too much on the spin and not enough on the quality of the place itself. That was even more worrying in the case of zoos and farms, where animals were added into the equation. I'd assured Jules she’d made the right choice bringing me in.
I couldn't say I blamed the PR group for not paying attention to what they were promoting. After all, it wasn’t really their job to worry about animal welfare. I did, however, blame the other zoos and farms for not hiring an animal specialist. I understood that tickets needed to be sold to keep a place open but I was a deep believer that animal welfare should always come first.
I only hoped that the head of the PR company would agree.
A leaf dropped onto my head and slid to the ground a second later when I shook my wayward blonde waves. I may like the Cornish climate in the autumn, but my hair wasn’t quite so sure about the damp and salty air. It had rebelled by puffing out in an electric cloud around my head. Just what I needed before an important meeting!
Zara had contacted me as soon as Jules had passed on my number. Their team had been working on the project for a few days already, but she wanted me to come in, get introduced, and get involved. I hadn’t been so sure about the last part. I had my own job to do and something about the woman’s tone on the phone had hinted to me that she saw
me as just another underling. I’ll put her straight right away, I silently promised myself.
Before I could open the door that led into the hall, it was pulled open. A woman with a short, brown bob, designer glasses, and a couple of out-dated pencilled on eyebrows stood there. A second or two passed while both of us took the other in.
“Zara Banks,” she said, thrusting a hand out towards me.
I gave it a strong shake and returned the introduction.
“I’m glad you could make it here. The meeting actually starts in ten minutes’ time. I just wanted the opportunity to meet you myself and have a little chat,” she said, attempting an encouraging smile.
“It’ll be nice to get a few things sorted,” I said, keeping my chat just as ambiguous as hers. The next ten minutes could go several ways.
To my relief, once we were inside the room Zara had introduced as her office, she warmed up.
“Right! We've got a lot of plans for this place and I basically don’t want anyone on my team to tread on your toes. I’m also hoping we can keep each other updated on work that’s done. That way, we should come up with the best final result,” she said and this time the smile was more genuine.
“That sounds really sensible,” I said, pleased that she wasn’t treating me like one of her employees.
“Fantastic! Well, if you don't mind, I’ll get you to introduce yourself in the meeting. You can say a bit about your past work. Feel free to add in any interesting facts about yourself, too. We’re a friendly company, not a bunch of stuffy suits.”
I nodded, feeling a flutter of misgiving. Speaking in front of people wasn’t a problem but being matey was a lot harder. I knew I didn’t always come across as the most likeable person ever until people got to know me. This kind of sharing always felt forced.
