Madigan Amos Zoo Mysteries : Books 1 - 5 (Madigan Amos Zoo Mysteries Boxset)

by Ruby Loren

  Something cleared in his expression. “That was the woman who died? That’s terrible! I completely forgot her name.” He looked horrified.

  “Jenna was always very friendly to newcomers,” I said.

  He nodded. “She definitely seemed… friendly.” I watched him struggle with his thoughts and decided to let him off the hook by changing the subject.

  “What animals are you including in the wonderland?” I asked.

  Barnaby launched into a detailed description of the reindeer, sledge-trained huskies, and the zoo’s donkeys, which he’d already asked Auryn’s permission to relocate. We chatted about the enclosures the animals would be living in, and how they would be kept from getting bored and still have enough exercise to keep them happy. I was sick of seeing ‘Christmas animals’ confined to tiny enclosures for the benefit of visitors who wanted to pat a reindeer. That’s why I was thrilled when Barnaby explained his ‘immersive experience’ concept. The idea was, the flat green picnic area would be transformed using natural greenery to create a winter woods. There’d be a trail leading to Father Christmas’ cabin in the woods. Along the way, you’d happen upon the animals, much as you would if you were walking through real woods. Their enclosures would be naturally made and as big as possible, allowing them to be viewed at different times during the walk through. Barnaby had acknowledged that visitors probably would want the opportunity to stroke a reindeer, and as that couldn’t be guaranteed in the larger than usual enclosure, would it be okay if the reindeer were led out on a rotational basis to meet visitors? I had approved the idea, knowing that there was nothing wrong with animal and human interaction, if it wasn’t forced, and wasn’t in place for long durations of time. The animal was always right, not the customer.

  “I should let you get on, or you’ll miss your deadline!” I said with a smile.

  He smiled back and I was reminded of what Tiff had said about the man being a catch. I strongly suspected that Jenna wouldn’t be the only one to notice, once the zoo regained its cheery character after it had finished mourning the loss of another one of its own.

  My smile faded a little, as I remembered the tragedies of the past year. So many of them could have been avoided! I wondered how Jenna had died, and if the police would make that information public.

  I wondered if someone really had killed her.

  I heard a fluttering of feathers from right behind me. Instinct learned over the past few weeks made me spin to the left, to avoid the pain of a beak stabbing my backside.

  I’d forgotten I had Lucky with me. In my quick move to avoid the peacock’s attempt to make me a pincushion, I’d dropped his lead.

  Lucky was left at the mercy of one of the nastiest birds I’d ever met!

  I was about to do something brave, like dive in front of the peacock and rescue Lucky, but although I was small, there was a risk of hurting one of the parties. As someone dedicated to animal welfare, I didn’t think I could do it - no matter how nasty I considered the peacocks to be.

  They were too close together to get in-between. I’d just have to hope that Lucky had the good sense to run away before it was too late.

  It would appear, he did not.

  I watched as the fur raised up on the back of his neck and his little tail puffed out like a bottle brush.

  The peacock fluffed its feathers out, and I knew it was preparing to attack my small cat.

  Then it happened, almost faster than my eyes could follow.

  Lucky launched himself over the peacock’s head, which had moved to stab downwards at him. I suddenly realised that Lucky hadn’t been after the bird, but its tail feathers, which were moving so invitingly in the air. He landed in the middle of them, latching on with his sharp little teeth and trying to chew the feathers.

  The peacock squawked its fury and tried to shake him off, but Lucky didn’t seem bothered by its attempts. Then, to my surprise… the peacock ran away.

  This time, Lucky was dislodged from his position, but instead of the peacock turning back to punish him for his insolence, the large blue and green bird kept running and Lucky gave chase.

  “Lucky!” I shouted, throwing Barnaby an apologetic look, before running after the disappearing pair. Lucky still had his lead trailing behind him, and I just knew he’d manage to get caught up on something before long.

  As I sprinted across the grass, trying to gain some ground, I reflected that it was a good thing I wasn’t trying to pursue Avery Zoo’s newest eligible bachelor. Walking a cat on a lead had been enough to give him some doubts about my sanity. I dreaded to think what his opinion of me was now.

  When I rounded the corner, close to the play barn where the hired cleaners were currently scouring all remnants of Jenna’s horrible fate, there was a great rustling of feathers. The peacock got the run up it needed and took off, finally getting beyond Lucky’s reach. My small, black and white cat sat and watched it go with his head tilted to one side. I took advantage of his lapse of killer instinct and pounced on the trailing lead.

  “I’m so glad you’re going to the vet tomorrow.” I bit my lip after I said it. When I’d ended up with Lucky and had then become a zoo consultant, I’d hoped he would be fine travelling around with me. Throughout his early life, I’d done my best to gently expose him to the different animals there were at a zoo. I’d hoped that he might learn which animals were okay to hang out with, and which were not his friend, but now I thought all of that might have been a fantasy.

  Lucky had just chased a peacock. Whilst I applauded his bravery, and I could also see that he’d wanted the feathers - not the bird - I knew I couldn’t let him come with me to zoos if he was going to chase animals. Punishing his instinct was hardly fair on a cat. When I’d taken on the responsibility of being a cat owner, I’d told myself that if Lucky wasn’t suited to life on the road, I’d hang up my consulting boots and settle down at Avery Zoo. That was, if Auryn could find a place for me. I sighed, knowing that it would be disappointing to have to stop doing the job I’d grown to love even more than being a regular zookeeper. But it was as I’d thought earlier - the animal, not the person, was always right.

  I stroked Lucky’s small, but still growing head and walked him back through the zoo. Perhaps there was still hope. Maybe I could teach him some commands? There was no reason why cats couldn’t be trained, just like dogs were. Lucky was still young. He’d also already proved himself to be smart, I realised, thinking back to his escape artist antics at home.

  “We’ll see what we can achieve, okay?” I said to him. No matter what happened, I wouldn’t give Lucky up. He’d saved my life when he was only a tiny kitten, and I knew I was supposed to have him. If Lucky decided we weren’t going to go on the road, then it was probably the right decision.

  I told Tiff about my meeting with Barnaby being cut short for the second time.

  Once she’d finished snorting with laughter and asking me for more precise details of his expression when I’d run after Lucky and the peacock, she’d asked what I thought about him now.

  “I think he’s a good man. I didn’t get a chance to quiz him more specifically about all of this research Auryn claims he’s done about the zoo, but he did say that the events he runs are tailored to the place, rather than plonking the same awful Christmas-themed plastic mess into whatever place they take over. I also managed to get him to chat about the animals featured in the wonderland and… it didn’t sound bad,” I said, carefully.

  Tiff raised her eyebrows. “Wow, that’s praise indeed coming from you,” she joked.

  She passed me a cup of hot chocolate she’d just whipped up using the staffroom hot drinks maker. As hot chocolates went, it wasn’t bad, and Tiff and I even had our own shared supply of squirty cream in the staff fridge. However, when I pulled out the bag of marshmallows I’d kept hidden in my locker, Tiff did roll her eyes.

  “You don’t do anything by halves, do you Madi?” The smile slid from her face and she sighed. I thought I knew exactly what that sigh was abou
t. I’d heard it quite a few times already today. Something was just different, now that a popular member of staff was gone. In spite of her character, which had sometimes rubbed people the wrong way, Jenna was going to be very much missed by us all.

  “It’s so awful…” Tiff began and then shook her head. “I’m sure we’ve all said it a hundred times already, but it doesn’t change what happened.” She took a deep breath and then let it out again. “I know it’s strange to be thinking of other things right now, but I’m really worried about this arts and crafts day Auryn and I are supposed to be organising.” Tiff made eye contact with me, and I knew what was coming next. “It was going great until…”

  I nodded. Until they’d kissed. Since then, the plans had obviously halted.

  “How long is there to go before the day?” I asked.

  “A couple of weeks, pretty much. We should be promoting it like crazy right now! I know the Winter Wonderland is a big focus but I just really thought…”

  “…it would be nice,” I completed for her. “It would be lovely to have a creative day like that and it needs to be given a fair shot, which means promotion.” I ran a hand through my unruly hair. “You know what? I think this has gone on long enough. If I talk to Auryn and try to smooth things over, you’ll talk to him when I’ve done that, right?”

  Tiff nodded. I’d known she’d probably agree. Tiff had always been honest and open about her feelings. I’d suspected from the start that Auryn was showing his young years in this particular area, by giving her a completely unnecessary cold shoulder. If he wasn’t interested in Tiff, it was something he needed to be upfront about. You couldn’t just ignore someone and hope the problem went away - especially someone who you needed to work with closely to ensure the success of the zoo!

  “I will talk to him,” I promised her. Just as soon as I could, I was going to nail Auryn to the wall. Tiff and Auryn were both my best friends and I couldn’t bear for them to have this void between them.

  “What did you think of Claudia?” Tiff suddenly asked.

  Somehow I knew it wasn’t an entirely separate topic.

  I shrugged, knowing better than to say anything too enthusiastic about the new financial advisor when Tiff was in this fragile state. To be honest, I didn't feel too enthusiastic about her myself. While it remained to be seen whether or not her suggestion that they hire White Trees Christmas Events to run the Winter Wonderland would pay off or not, her suggestion about the peacocks was definitely a bad tip.

  “Do you know how she got the job?” Tiff said and from her tone, I could tell she already knew the answer.

  “Tell me,” I said, taking a sip of my gloriously gooey hot chocolate and allowing myself to forget about the body in the barn for five minutes worth of gossip. I actually thought poor Jenna would have approved.

  “Claudia Grant is the granddaughter of Lawrence O’Reilly. He’s the one who suggested Auryn give her a chance. How could Auryn say no to one of his grandad’s oldest friends and the current head of the board of directors?” Tiff said.

  I raised my eyebrows at this unusual method of hiring. I had no reason to doubt the truth of Tiff’s claims, and it was obvious that Auryn must have been put under a lot of pressure to say yes. I’d been so busy wondering about the legitimacy of the Winter Wonderland event team leader I hadn’t spared a thought about Claudia’s background.

  “How did you find out?” I asked Tiff. I hadn’t even known that Auryn had hired Claudia, and Tiff would have told me sooner if a piece of gossip this large had popped up.

  “Lawrence let it slip at the memorial service. I was near to them in the church, and he made some idle comment about her being his granddaughter and him landing her a new job. He should have known better. There’s always someone listening.” She gave me a grim smile.

  “I guess I’d better talk to Auryn about that, too. If she’s good at her job, then that’s one thing. If he’s just employing her because of Lawrence, that’s not okay. The zoo can hardly afford…” I trailed off. I’d been about to say that ‘the zoo can hardly afford to employ excess staff’ but I’d remembered that on those grounds, the zoo could hardly afford to employ me, either.

  “I’ll talk to him,” I amended, realising it was better left there.

  “I hope you’re as good at working your magic with people as you are animals. Otherwise, the arts and crafts day is going to be a complete disaster,” Tiff said with a sad little smile.

  I wished I was able to say something to fill her with confidence, but there was a good reason why I worked with animals, not humans. An animal’s actions could usually be explained by a logical reason. The same thing could not always be said of people.

  I had to wait a whole two days before I finally managed to pin Auryn down for a chat. To be fair, the zoo owner hadn’t exactly been easy to catch resting. With the fallout from Jenna’s death and the festive period to organise, I knew that Auryn would be feeling pretty stressed.

  I wasn’t being idle myself. We’d entered the first real cold snap of the year and there was a lot of work to do making sure that the animals were all set for winter, especially when there were whispers of it being a cold one. Rarer still, snow was expected to fall before Christmas!

  Through text messaging, Auryn and I had managed to arrange a coffee break meeting. I knocked on the door of his office and he shouted for me to come right in.

  I reflected that it was actually the first time I’d seen him sitting in the zoo owner’s office. I’d once had a meeting with his grandad in the very same room. It had suited the old man and founder of the zoo, but Auryn still looked rather lost.

  “I’m going to have the walls knocked down, so I’m closer to the rest of the office staff,” he said, following my facial expressions.

  “Sorry, it’s just not very you. It feels lonely here,” I said, honestly.

  Auryn nodded. “Well, there’s always room for change.” He sighed and I was sorry to hear how unhappy the noise was. “I suppose we have a lot to talk about.”

  “Sure,” I said, trying to keep things upbeat. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get ourselves a couple of hot chocolates before we get started! There’s whipped cream, and I’ve got marshmallows.”

  “Really?” Auryn said, looking a little brighter and then managing to display the megawatt smile that I loved so much about him. “That would actually help a lot.”

  Five minutes later, we were back in his office with the drinks, and the place suddenly looked a lot cosier.

  “We should probably start with today’s news.” I knew it was best to get anything grim out of the way first.

  “Who told you?” Auryn asked, curious.

  “Officer Kelly called to ask if I’d noticed anyone getting Jenna a drink. I figured out the rest. When I asked her if it was poison, she admitted that the lab results suggest she died from a substance that was in her drink,” I told him.

  “You always manage to get the truth,” Auryn said with a little smile.

  I felt a pang when I remembered that what he’d just said wasn’t always the case… Lowell was proof of that. I shook off those thoughts and tried to focus on the misery closer to home.

  “Who told you?” I asked.

  “Treesden called to warn me that the case was being changed from a ‘suspicious death’ to murder. He said there might be media attention and that the police would need to come in and ask staff a lot more questions, so there could be disruption.” He ran a hand through his blonde hair. “Just what we need right before a make or break season.”

  “There’s that much at stake?” I asked, a little alarmed by his flippant statement.

  Auryn shot me a slightly guilty look. “The events team didn’t come cheap. They say that clients usually get a great return on investment, but there are so many unknowns. It all depends on the business.”

  “You thought the risk was worth it,” I stated.

  Auryn nodded. “Claudia helped me calculate the potential. I think she’s righ
t to give me the nudge I needed to say yes. She has some great ideas,” he said, with a smile I thought might be tipping slightly towards dreamy. I was glad Tiff wasn’t here to see it. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it myself.

  “I can’t believe someone would poison Jenna. It’s got to be one of us, too!” I said, bringing the conversation back on track.

  Auryn nodded and then shook his head. “Well, there were also some friends of the family at the party. It could even be that woman who turned up and started yelling things. She was pretty crazy.”

  “The one who claimed to be the illegitimate child of Mr Avery Senior?”

  “No, the other one…” Auryn said with a grin. “Yes - that one.”

  I reflected that at least he was still managing to use humour. “What happened with her?” I asked. Auryn had disappeared to speak to the loud woman, but he hadn’t returned to the party. After the next morning’s traumatic discovery, I’d completely forgotten to ask him if he’d managed to sort out that situation.

  “She actually wasn’t as crazy as she came across. She’s claiming that my grandad had a fling with her mother, and she was the result. Apparently, he never acknowledged that she was his and threatened to do something violent to them if she or her mother ever came close to his family.” Auryn raised an eyebrow at me. “If I’m being honest, I might have been able to believe the first part. My grandma died a long time ago, and I don’t think my grandad sat idle after she’d gone. However, I absolutely can’t believe all the nonsense about violent threats. He’d never have done anything like that. All in all, I’m not sure what to believe.”

  “What did you decide to do?” I asked.

  “I told her to come back with anything she thinks could be used as evidence. I’d like to be fair to her, if her claim is real, but I’m also aware that my grandad dying opens the floodgates for potential con artists to swoop in. I’m not going to fall for anything like that,” he said.

  “That sounds like a very fair and sensible way to have handled it,” I told him.