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

by Ruby Loren

  Jenna’s office was in a small side room, separate from the main office.

  “Sorry I can’t help,” Barnaby said, looking truly apologetic. “I hope you find something useful.”

  “I hope so, too,” I confessed.

  It was strange looking through someone’s stuff knowing that they would never be using it again. Jenna’s office had seemed pretty sparsely furnished, with not many visible belongings at first glance, but as soon as you delved into the desk drawers and the filing cabinet, there actually turned out to be quite a lot.

  The police officers were determined to be thorough, since this was a murder investigation. They started from the windows and gradually went over the room, inspecting every inch of carpet with their fingertips. I wasn’t too surprised when they lifted out the bottom of one of the desk drawers and found an envelope beneath it. Jenna had been a woman with secrets, although I wasn’t certain they were the kind that might point us in the direction of her killer.

  The male police officer’s face turned red and he quickly threw whatever he’d found beneath the drawer in an evidence bag. I thought I could hazard a guess at what the pieces of photographic paper he'd held in his hand showed. Jenna had loved her souvenirs. I only hoped she hadn't been foolish enough to use them to try to bend someone to her will recently…

  A sudden memory of Harry’s proposal on the night of the party popped into my head. I bit my lip. Should I tell the police about Jenna’s history and the bearing it might have? Theoretically, you should always pass on your suspicions, but it felt horrible to speak ill of the dead, especially when there hadn’t even been a motive established. Anyway, the contents of those photos would no doubt give the police a few potential suspects. From what I knew, Jenna had always liked her subjects to be recognisable.

  A further search through her desk drawers revealed little more of interest beyond the fact that Jenna was certainly bending a few of the normal office rules. Everything you might expect to find in a steamy novel was present in the bottom drawer with the flimsy lock on it. I’d have blushed, but honestly… I’d been expecting worse.

  “I don’t know if that’s her usual phone,” I confessed when Officer Kelly opened another drawer and pulled out a large, sleek handset. I was however willing to bet that the phone’s photographic capabilities were excellent.

  “We’ll be able to get into this. Her laptop, too,” she reassured me. “Hopefully we’ll find something that will help us to isolate the facts.”

  I could read between the lines. When she said ‘facts’ she really meant suspects. I thought about telling her to start with the male half of the zoo, but that would be flippant.

  To my relief, Tiff arrived at the door carrying some drinks, saying that Auryn had sent her up to check that everything was going okay. I made eye contact with Tiff, and she gave me the tiniest of smiles. At least Tiff and Auryn seemed to have sorted out their differences.

  “Were you close to the deceased?” Kelly asked, reaching for a tea.

  “As close as Madi was. Jenna was friendly to everyone. She liked to chat,” Tiff said, tactfully

  “We keep hearing that she was a lovely, friendly girl, but someone must have thought differently,” Police Officer Miles piped up, earning himself a stern look from Officer Kelly.

  “Is there anyone who might have felt some ill will towards Jenna?” she asked.

  I looked at Tiff and half shook my head before Tiff pulled a face.

  “There was that person who kept messaging her,” she said.

  I nodded, suddenly remembering.

  “Oh?” Officer Kelly prompted.

  “Jenna liked to use Tinder,” I said. “She told us that a guy she’d been chatting with had started to get aggressive. Unfortunately, she’d given him her number and he was still calling her quite a few times a day, in spite of her trying to block him.”

  “Do you know his name?” Officer Kelly asked.

  “She never said,” Tiff continued for me. “Even if she had, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have remembered.”

  Officer Kelly pretended to look like she genuinely needed more explanation out of politeness.

  “Jenna liked male company,” I said, deciding to take this one. “You’ve probably already realised that. Whoever killed her knew it too, but I’m afraid that won’t narrow the pool of suspects. Within the zoo, she’s always had a reputation for being friendly with any new male members of staff.”

  “Mostly because she’d worked her way through everyone else,” Tiff added, but not unkindly.

  “I see,” Officer Kelly said.

  “It wasn’t just the zoo, either. She lived in Gigglesfield, as many of us who work at the zoo do. I know she was friendly with quite a few of the locals, too.” Tiff looked significantly at Officer Kelly.

  She nodded. “I think I follow you.”

  All of us were thinking of Ernesto.

  “I’ve got her phone open,” the Officer Miles announced.

  I hadn’t even realised he’d been fiddling with it.

  “I don’t see Tinder,” he said after a moment.

  “I think she said she deleted it,” Tiff said. “But I’ve never seen her with that phone.”

  It was just as I’d suspected. The phone in the office had been used for other purposes.

  The officer shut the screen again, rather quickly, I noticed. “We’ll have to get someone at the lab to check for anything,” he muttered.

  “From what you’re both saying, I gather Jenna had quite a few partners?” Officer Kelly said.

  We both nodded, mutely.

  “I know this feels a bit like pointing fingers, but remember, we’re only looking for the person who committed this horrible crime. No one else is going to get in any trouble,” she assured us. I had a nasty feeling I knew what was coming next.

  “We’re going to need a list of names,” she completed.

  It took Tiff and I just as long as I’d expected for us to recount everyone Jenna had been with in recent memory. Once she’d been with someone, Jenna didn’t tend to revisit them, but we’d found it hard to remember her long list, unless we bounced the names off each other in something that felt like chronological order. By the time we finally ran out of steam, both police officers were looking startled.

  “You’re sure about these?” The male officer asked, sceptical that one woman could have had so many conquests. I glanced sideways at Tiff, somehow knowing that the same thing had just occurred to us.

  “One hundred percent sure about those men. Jenna was always pretty chatty, although, I think she did occasionally keep a secret if there was a reason to.” I realised what I’d just said. “She’d never intentionally go after anyone who was married, or anything like that! But there were incidents where she might have been with someone, only for them to get into a longterm relationship right afterwards. She’d keep quiet if they asked her to, I think.” I only knew that from what Jenna had hinted to me from time to time. From that, I’d inferred that she genuinely was as good as her word.

  “So, there might be others, too,” Officer Kelly concluded.

  “You’ll probably want to consider the ones who turned her down, too,” I added. “Jenna didn’t always take the first no to mean ‘no way’.”

  “It just meant a challenge,” Tiff recalled with a little smile.

  “Would you know the names of any of those men?” Officer Kelly asked, looking as though she wished she didn’t have to.

  I pulled a face. “That’s more tricky. Jenna wouldn’t gossip about that, unless she was really trying to pursue them. You’ll probably have to ask every local man of a reasonable age if you want to get the truth.” I thought about that for a second. “If it is one of them, they’re probably not going to tell the truth, are they?” Not unless they were the most inept murderer in the world. Something told me we weren’t due a lucky break.

  “You know, I think she even asked Detective Treesden if he wanted to go on a date,” I said, seeming to remember Jenna h
ad been intrigued by the salt and pepper detective, with his icy gaze and horrible manners. Probably not the last bit.

  Officer Kelly looked like her eyes might pop out of her head.

  “I think we’re nearly done here. I’d better start putting the things we’ve bagged into the car,” Officer Miles said, clearly fighting his own surprise and amusement. Their boss wasn’t above reproach in this case, either!

  “I don’t know that he said yes,” I felt I had to add, doubting that Detective Treesden had fallen for Jenna’s charms.

  Once Officer Miles was gone and Tiff had left to clear away the empty mugs, I turned to Officer Kelly. “Are you sure that your partner who was here today was never involved with Jenna?”

  Officer Kelly’s facial expressions went through a remarkable array of emotions. At first she looked deeply embarrassed and then on the verge of rage.

  “I’ll ask,” she practically growled.

  Too late, I realised I’d stepped on someone’s toes. Clearly, Avery Zoo wasn’t the only place where inadvisable office relationships took place.

  5

  Turkey vs Peacock

  It was with great trepidation that I opened the door to the animal dependancy unit. The police officers had left with their evidence and I’d had to face the reality of the large, aggressive bird I’d locked up in a small room. I’d left it with plenty of food and water, but a bird of that size needed space to roam around. Leaving it there any longer would be cruel.

  When I’d told Auryn about the unexpected arrival, he’d become nearly hysterical with laughter. Something about the idea of someone abandoning a turkey right before Christmas tickled him pink. he’d hypothesised that the bird had been stolen by a well-meaning animal conservationist, and somewhere, someone was without their Christmas dinner. He’d mused about putting up posters but had dismissed the idea. He’d then said if someone had really wanted to save the turkey’s life, we should honour that wish.

  The Winter Wonderland provided a convenient short term solution for the housing of the turkey. The enclosures were large, and I was hopeful that the donkeys would be able to put up with the potential prima-donna antics of the large bird. They were a pretty grumpy pair themselves, so I thought they could be made for each other. The problem was, getting the turkey there.

  I’d grabbed a large cage, used for isolating animals like the capybaras when the vet needed to get up really close. The cage was built for holding rather than transportation, but with the handy addition of my new best friend - the wheeled cart - I was hopeful that I’d be able to get the turkey safely across the zoo and into its new temporary home.

  For once, it was nice to not have to do a job like this alone. The zoo’s bird specialist, Leah, had agreed to help with the transportation, especially as the turkey needed a good health check before it could socialise with other animals. The vet had allegedly already popped over this morning and had a look at the turkey, but judging by the state of the room I could see through the glass of the door, and the aggressive gobbles of the turkey inside, I rather suspected the vet’s examination had consisted of a visual inspection.

  “Are you ready?” I asked Leah, who flashed me a bright and encouraging smile. I wished I was as confident as she was that this would go off without a hitch, but I’d already met the as yet un-named bird.

  “On my count, one, two, three!” I said, pulling open the door, so Leah could push the cage into place. It was the only way we were able to get the cage into the room.

  Leah had initially suggested that one of us go inside first to make sure the turkey didn’t immediately run out. I’d waited, but she hadn’t offered and neither had I. Leah clearly had more experience of turkeys than she was letting on, or perhaps it was the infuriated squawking emanating from the room that gave her a clue as to the nature of the beast inside.

  In hindsight, the turkey’s escape was rather predictable.

  The bird had been kicking up a fuss since we’d arrived, and in spite of its large size, it turned out to be pretty speedy. When I shouted ‘three!’ and pulled open the door, the turkey managed to slip out of the gap before the cage was fully in place. Not wanting to cause the bird injury by crushing it, Leah was forced to abandon the mission and stop pushing the cage forwards. Again, predictably, the turkey dodged around the cage and sprinted away to freedom.

  “I don’t suppose it will fly away and we won’t have to worry,” I joked.

  “Domestic turkeys can't fly,” Leah unnecessarily informed me, probably a reflex from being asked silly questions all day long. “Sorry,” she added, as an afterthought.

  “So much for it being an added attraction to the Winter Wonderland,” I commented.

  Leah made a thoughtful sound. “Maybe it’s for the best. People walking around a wonderland want to see the sort of animals who crop up on Christmas cards, not the ones that end up on the dinner table. God forbid, it might make them feel guilty.”

  “You might have a point, although, I was hoping we could drum up a bit of extra business by auctioning the bird off come Christmas time.” I winked at the bird keeper but she didn’t look amused. “You’ll change your tune after he pecks you,” I told her.

  We both watched as the turkey raced around the corner and out of sight, presumably only moments away from having its first encounter with the general public, who were out in force in the zoo today. It was the grand opening of the wonderland, and a lot of families had come on the freezing Saturday to see what was new at Avery Zoo this Christmas. I hoped they wouldn’t go away remembering the way that the animal they usually had for Christmas dinner had evened the odds this year…

  “I suppose we’d better do something,” I said, reluctantly. “We’ve already got the peacocks running loose. Do you think…?” I tried to look as though I was really considering it, but Leah shook her head.

  “Turkeys are larger and more easily aggravated than peacocks are.” She exhaled. “I know that’s hard to believe, given the bunch we've been saddled with. All I can think is that our peacocks were spoiled rotten before coming here and don’t like it when they don’t get their way.”

  “I’m just waiting for a parent to try to sue the zoo,” I complained.

  “Oh, I’m sure no one’s silly enough to. Loads of stately homes have peacocks running wild around the place. Turkeys on the other hand…” She looked at me. “…tend not to be left running free.”

  Reluctantly, we hefted the cage and set of in a slow, but dogged, pursuit of the turkey.

  We were alerted to the position of our escapee by the chorus of small voices shouting ‘Showdown! Showdown!’. I exchanged an apprehensive look with Leah and together, we walked out of the main zoo and into the play zone to see what was going down.

  The turkey had found the peacocks.

  A pair of male peacocks (the only type Auryn had managed to acquire, for some reason) were displaying their feathers and advancing towards the turkey, who looked equally puffed up.

  “This is not good,” I said, aware that Avery Zoo was about to land itself a reputation for bird baiting. “Any ideas?” I said to Leah, hoping that the bird expert would have some horse whisperer level magic she could work on the feathered idiots.

  “Only painful ones,” she said.

  My heart sank.

  The next five minutes probably provided more entertainment for the watching horde of children than meeting Father Christmas. When the feathers had finally settled and Leah and I were bleeding from multiple peck wounds, the turkey was in the cage and the peacocks were already back to picking on any child that dared get within sprinting distance.

  “This doesn’t seem entirely fair,” I commented, watching the peacocks at work.

  “I know,” Leah agreed. “All we can do is stick with convention. Peacocks roaming around is cool, turkeys aren’t.”

  I shook my head. “The peacocks seemed just as angry as the turkey. I think they scored equal points.” I looked down at my battered hands, which would need antiseptic.


  Leah rested a hand on top of the turkey’s cage. “You know, I’ve had a thought. It might not work out, but I think it’s worth a try. Better than him fighting it out with the donkeys, anyway.”

  That was how the turkey ended up in the emu enclosure with Boris and Margaret.

  “Do you think anyone will notice that he’s, uh…”

  “A turkey?” Leah shrugged. “Honestly, some people will probably assume he’s just got short legs.” We looked at each other and giggled.

  Leah promised to come back to check that the new room mates were continuing to get along, but the turkey had calmed down a lot when we’d put him in the enclosure with some significantly larger counterparts. The emus were a pretty easy-going pair, so long as there wasn’t anything interesting within their reach for them to bite - like a small child. They didn’t seem to mind their new friend.

  “What are you going to call him?” I asked Leah.

  “Trouble,” she joked but then thought a little more. “Bernard, as in Bernard Matthews, the turkey company.”

  “Harsh, but fair,” I said with a smile. A silly name was surely infinitely better than ending up on the table, which is where I suspected this turkey had been heading.

  After the turkey vs peacock fight, I found I had a moment to spare, so I went to walk round the Winter Wonderland. I hadn’t walked across the green area beyond the shop for a couple of days, and to my surprise, it was completely transformed.

  Tall green Christmas trees circled the perimeter. I could hear laughter coming from inside the makeshift forest. Tasteful fake snow had been sprayed on the trees and they glittered in the November sunshine. I walked in the entrance, just in front of an excited family. Once inside, you wouldn’t have known you were still in the zoo. It felt like being in a winter woods. I was amazed by the height of the trees the events team had sourced, but it was certainly worthwhile. The smell of pine was wonderfully Christmassy, and when you did reach the animal enclosures with their woven wooden fences, it did feel like you’d just happened upon them in the woods.